/sci/ - Science & Math

Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars
Image Credit: Viking Project, USGS, NASA
Explanation: The largest canyon in the Solar System cuts a wide swath across the face of Mars. Named Valles Marineris, the grand valley extends over 3,000 kilometers long, spans as much as 600 kilometers across, and delves as much as 8 kilometers deep. By comparison, the Earth's Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA is 800 kilometers long, 30 kilometers across, and 1.8 kilometers deep. The origin of the Valles Marineris remains unknown, although a leading hypothesis holds that it started as a crack billions of years ago as the planet cooled. Several geologic processes have been identified in the canyon. The above mosaic was created from over 100 images of Mars taken by Viking Orbiters in the 1970s.

Let's say I were to take a celestial body let's say 3 to 4 times the size of Pluto and fling it towards Mars. How fast would that planet need to be going to combine with Mars into a single planet with a molten iron core (and maybe a moon or two for good measure)? How long would it take for Mars to cool down to the point where (human) life could live on it?

Basically I'm writing a Science Fiction novel with a terraformed Mars and I was wondering if this would be an effective way of going about terraforming it.

http://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html
Link from
>>6182096

http://mars-one.com/en/
So who else is going to mars?

>>5278688
>Either of which is not interesting in the slightest.

That would be very interesting. It is more and more evidence of life (current or past) in Mars. That would mean the all the building blocks are there. Running water in the past, warm temperatures and aminoacids.
If it is methane they found, then it could indicate current biological activity.

Where did the oxygen that oxidized Mars' surface came from? Earth's oxygen is the result of photosynthesis by organisms and there are red rocks of that period to show. Is the fact that Mars' surface is oxidized evidence of life in the history of Mars?

http://news.discovery.com/space/mars-life-viking-landers-discovery-120412.html

Some complexity analysis on Mar's soil are "too high" to be only from geological activity, a strong indication of life. You should note that life has not been found, but this seems to indicate that there is some out there.

>>4106832

FML.

/sci/ help me understand something. I'm taking intro astronomy, and my professor asked us to look at this photo and the popular deep field photo. He then went around the class asking every student what they saw. No one identified Mars. I repeat.. they didn't know the photo was of MARS. Why? I can't wrap my mind around how I'm the only person in a room of 20 students who can identify Mars. Feels bad, man. I'm annoyed that science isn't taken seriously in high schools, where these people should have learned things like this before going to college. What is this I don't even?

pic related, it's the image shown in class.

>>3361274

Do you believe humanity will ever become a multi-planet species? What are the benefits of colonizing Mars besides surviving a planet wide catastrophe and finding life there?

I'm just fascinated by the idea that humans might someday colonize this beauty.

>Millions of years?
I want to exist not as a individual human. I wish to exist as a fringe expression of personality in a gigantic hivemind, unbound by gravity. Free from politics.

Think of the entire 4chan collective floating in space. Millions of individuals all pooling their experience, opinions and knowledge into one center, yet no one is kind.

I wish to exist as part of this. We would be legion, we would be immortal and we could cross the void of space, it may take decades, centuries, millenias, but we would prevail. Or most distant eyes would give us views from thousands of years ago while we see new fronteirs never witnessed by intelligent beings.

We could even take the step into Intergalactic space. Darkspace. Almost pitch black, the only light availible for hundreds of thousands of years would be of the distant starts of the galaxies. And we would travel trough this almost infinite void, as true citizens of the universe.

I Have a Dream /sci/. I think it's beautiful, and I hope to see it fulfilled.

Discuss

What do you think, will humans colonize mars in the next 20 years?

I don't necessarily mean regular civilian population, but more like a long-term research stations like we have in the arctics. something stable enough to withstand the elements and provide basic life needs for a group of researchers for a duration of atleast half a year.

Hey /sci/ if the moon and mars are "dead," is there still a molten core inside of them?
Is there any heat coming internally out of these two places? Which one is hotter?
I was wondering, cuz if we do colonize we need to be able to keep our feet warm.

>implying my low mass could ever hold the significant amount of atmosphere needed to create a habitable environment. Also, enjoy your cosmic radiation due to the lack of a magnetic field.