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/sci/ - Science & Math

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File: 142 KB, 1292x319, Terraforming_Mars_transition_horizontal_SMALL.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1284564 No.1284564 [Reply] [Original]

HOW TO TERRAFORM MARS ON A REASONABLE TIME SCALE

1) send autonomous robots to the base of valles marinaris, they process mars regolith into CO2, let them keep on pumping until the base of the canyon has something approaching earth pressures (since it's so low down, the air column will be easy to maintain). Then use it as an on-surface base of operations. saturate the air with some water vapor to keep dust particles on the ground.

2) while 1 is going on, find a big ol' asteroid (maybe one that was on the way to earth) strap some rockets to it, and position it at the Lagrange point between mars and the sun. mine it into a large disc with a hole in the center to allow sunlight in. make it into a gigantic magnetic field generator, and place a UV screen in the central hole. the EM field blocks nasty solar flares, and the UV screen makes martian UV exposure earth-like.

3) seed the base of the canyon with algae to begin the atmospheric conversion process from CO2 to O2. make some automated factories to make more of those CO2 conversion robots.

4) keep this up until the atmospheric pressure is high enough to sustain basic plants. lots of weeds should do fine, accelerating the production of an O2 atmosphere. At this point you should make some orbital mirrors to melt the polar ice caps and add some much needed water vapor to the infant atmosphere

5) HOPEFULLY heat will build at this point, and frozen ground water will start to melt and bubble to the surface, covering respectable portions of the planet in water.

6) plant larger plants like large pine trees near rivers and lakes to finalize the atmospheric conversion

7) ?????

8) REAL ESTATE SALES


and hopefully all of this can be done within 100 years.

>> No.1284596

too bad the obama administration's fuckups will prevent this from beginning for a while

>> No.1284606

>>1284596
/new/ is <--- way.

>> No.1284623

Send supplies to Mars (we will be sending a LOT) using solar sails. Once there turn the sails into orbital mirrors.

>> No.1284622

your whole proposition fell apart at number 2. It would require colossal amounts of energy to move an asteroid large enough to what you want it to do into any lagrange point. The magnetic field generator is really just speculative theoretical technology anyways. this would take an extremely long time, primarily because the technology isnt even known yet, and even if it was, the economic costs would be so high it would be rendered virtually pointless and wasteful to even try putting this plan into action.

>> No.1284630

>>1284622
Theoretical how? Humanity understands electromagnetism like the back of its hand. The problem is one of engineering and construction, not theory.

>> No.1284633

>>1284630
like how to generate and maintain the energy needs of a magnetic field that can encapsulate and protect an ENTIRE FUCKING PLANET FROM THE GODDAMN SUN

>> No.1284649

HOW TO TERRAFORM MARS:

1) Increase its mass so that it can hold an atmosphere.
2) Re-melt its core so that it can have a magnetosphere

Whoops! Seems like we'd actually have better luck just blasting the dense atmosphere off of Venus.

>> No.1284655

There have been much more simple propositions as how to terraform a planet, and those are wholesale minus the idiocy

>> No.1284661

>>1284633
not an entire planet, just the area needed at the lagrange point.

intensity is the problem, not area.

then again, slap a few nuclear reactors on that asteroid and you're probably good to go

>> No.1284665

1)build a big tube from inside earth's atmosphere to mars
2)pump our extra CO2 and greenhouse gasses to mars
3)everything falls into place

Solve climate change and terraforming mars with one tube.

>> No.1284669

Long-term terraforming of Mars will be impossible given what we're capable of for the time being.

Short-term terraforming will work for awhile, not sure how long, nobody around here has bothered to do the math, ever. But it'll fail eventually.

The problem is, Mars doesn't have enough gravity. Which means it can't hold onto a significant atmosphere. Protection from the solar wind really isn't the big deal here.

the tl;dr of it is basically that oxygen/nitrogen move fast enough to reach escape velocity on Mars. [Like Hydrogen does on Earth].

>> No.1284677

>>1284633
I take it you weren't part of the thread awhile back where a link laid it all out?

>> No.1284684

>>1284649
>increase mass
>dur hur

>> No.1284685
File: 10 KB, 429x410, 1272502660133.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1284685

>>1284665

>> No.1284705
File: 15 KB, 328x357, 1275298388978.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1284705

Hey OP, what if I told you there was a system that could accomplish this?

>> No.1284713

>>1284649
Venus is no good either. It has no magnetosphere [well, kinda one, but IIRC it's generated by the solar wind interacting with the atmosphere, so removing the current atmosphere would... not be good.] and it also has a day that lasts about 300 earth days, so one side of the planet is going to be scorched, while the other side is cold.

>> No.1284725

>>1284684
>Obvious sarcasm
>dur hurr

>> No.1284726

Also, if you combine both Mars and Venus together, they still don't equal Earth's mass and gravitational pull.

>> No.1284728
File: 14 KB, 200x160, planet-crash.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1284728

OK NIGGERS, IM GONNA WIN MESELF A NOBEL PRIZE HERE.

Mars is too cold.
Venus is too hot.

Mars has too thin of an atmosphere.
Venus has too thick of an atmosphere.

Mars lacks an active liquid core.
Venus has too much fucking seismic activity.

Mars has very low surface pressure.
Venus has very high surface pressure.

Mars is 11% Earth's mass.
Venus is 82% Earth's mass.
Together, their mass will be very fucking similar to Earth.

WE NEED TO FUCKING CRASH VENUS AND MARS TOGETHER TO FORM A NEW HABITABLE PLANET.

MAKE IT HAPPEN.

>> No.1284737

>>1284728
Fucking brilliant.

>> No.1284745

>>1284726
>>1284728
Hivemind...?

>> No.1284749

>>1284661
im sure that by the time we are considering teraforming mars we will have mastered cold fusion, and space has no shortage of hydrogen and cold

>> No.1284761

>>1284728
Yes, because we totally have the technology to crash planets together. I say we fucking do it.

>> No.1284762

>>1284728
Don't forget that when crashed together, they will be a more comfortable distance to the sun. Place them at a Sun-Earth Lagrange point for maximum effectiveness.

>> No.1284783

>>1284728
GENIUS

>> No.1284815
File: 4 KB, 126x126, 1275249553609s.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1284815

>>1284728
GENIUS

>> No.1284854

>>1284762
Langrange points aren't quite stable enough for my liking. Also there's the problem of moving planets. Anyway, here's a page simulating them (Ugh, in java, but still)

>http://burtleburtle.net/bob/physics/kempler.html

With masses so similar in size it doesn't work well. Also, the collision would probably remove an awful lot of atmosphere.

>> No.1284875

>>1284705

Nanotech etc.

>> No.1284881

>>1284726
>>1284728
>>1284762

fuck, no, needs to be in earth's orbit just far enough away that we dont crash into eachotehr

>> No.1284918
File: 40 KB, 1000x410, the solution.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1284918

>>1284728

Going to post this in every terraforming thread I come across henceforth.

>> No.1284940

>>1284564
Ok so how do you build a gigantic martian UV/solar flare shield? Also, that magnetic field ain't blocking out gamma rays.

Seems like you'd need a FUCKING HUGE superconducting magnet made of exotic matter for the necessary magnetic field strength. Also that disk shape will do you no good. You'd need a magnetic field with a similar shape to earth's, so that all that high value equatorial real-estate isn't irradiated.

>> No.1284945

>>1284728
brilliant
we can make this happen with fucking magnets
magnets, magnets EVERYWHERE

>> No.1284964

>Use nanobots to turn huge amounts of iron on surface into a giant city
>only put atmosphere indoors
>giant underground city covering entire planet
>no dust storms, no atmosphere
>still have to deal with lack of water, though
Need to capture a few dozen comets.

>> No.1284972

Dude if we could combine Mards and Venus and have it on the same orbit as Earth but on the opposite side.. Think how easy it would be to travel between the too. Just jump of Earth and Wait till Marvus comes along to Catch you.

>> No.1284978

>>1284564
Read the books "Red Mars" and "Green Mars". They used a lot of floating mirrors to create a type of orbital Fresnel lens that stayed between Mars and the Sun that unlocked everything into the atmosphere.

>> No.1284979

>>1284749
>implying cold fusion has anything to do with hydrogen or being cold

fuck

>> No.1284981

OP! Hold your horses!
We are going to need 50 megatons of unobtainium before we try this shit.

>> No.1284993

>>1284978
Shit I didn't even see this >>1284544 thread when I posted.

>> No.1284997

>>1284728
so how do we move a planet on a reasonable timescale? Oh yeah, if you want to build FUCK HUGE ROCKETS, you're gonna need some reaction mass, like the atmosphere of the planet you want to move. Let's not forget that the surface of Venus is hot enough to melt steel and many other industrial metals.

Use asteroids to do momentum exchange? Shit takes a long time bro.

>> No.1285033

>>1284997
Large magnetic accelerators on the surface would be the best idea. Not that it matters, the idea is fucking stupid.

>> No.1285118

>>1285033
Um. The effective muzzle velocity will be decreased by escape velocity and atmospheric drag. All exhaust will have to clear the planet's gravitational pull. And if you impart significant thrust on most planets, your rocket is actually a drill ^.^

>> No.1285138

>>1284564
Yeah, OP. That sounds completely realistic.

>> No.1285140

>>1285118
>magnetic accelerators
>rockets
Make up your mind.

>> No.1285197

>>1285140
>Make up your mind.
They're the same thing, except a railgun is a rocket with rocks in. They work the same way - reaction mass velocity, reaction mass amount, and fuel requirements are what matter.

>> No.1285209

>>1285197
Except apples aren't organges bro. A computer is a snake is a rock is a cloud is a star...

>> No.1285257

venus makes much more sense given its similar size and gravity to earth. mars low gravity and distance from the sun would make it impossible for earth life to adapt to (well humans anyway - the whole bone and muscle loss thing)
A giant solar shield for venus would be job one and importing ungodly amounts of hydrogen and nitrogen from the outer solar system to make water and a breathable atmosphere. Anyway this would take collosal patience.

>> No.1285286

The problem with crashing two planets together is that the energy released would probably cause both to go molten for several thousand years.

On the idea though, what if we were to place a fairly large object in an elliptic orbit around the sun that could redirect a fair portion of the asteroid belt into mars?

>> No.1285320

>>1285197
>Except apples aren't organges bro. A computer is a snake is a rock is a cloud is a star...
Fine, a rock launcher would be much better than a rocket. The rocket would have to be mounted above the atmosphere to significantly work before removing the planet's atmosphere. In a vacuum they would work the same - and eventually they'd both make a vacuum ;)

>> No.1285342

>>1285320
Most planets aren't comprised primarily of volatiles. There would be a limited supply of fuel for rockets and the velocity of the ejected mass would depend highly on the fuel used. With an accelerator however any mass can be used (most of the planet if need be) and it could be accelerated to relativistic speeds.

>> No.1285358

>>1285342
> limited supply of fuel for rockets
When moving planets, this is not the problem. But yeah, a launcher is better.
>could be accelerated to relativistic speeds.
Yeah, you could beam solar power from orbital stations, but that's hard as hell to do in an atmosphere. Or in a maglev track. The switching alone isn't possible without revolutionary new electromagnets with no hysteresis.

>> No.1285780

Couldn't you just crash something into venus in order to increase it's rotation speed?

>> No.1285790

>>1284564
Real estate sales on Mars are already happening. Ahnald the Governator and Clinton are a few who have purchased land on Mars.

>> No.1285812

>>1285790
Which'll mean jack shit once someone actually goes there and claims it.