Teraforming

[Anonymous No.5890378]

So if mankind plans to 'teraform' another planet - namely Mars, then why doesn't it address a rather obvious problem? Radiation

Teraforming suggests making a planet habitable for humans, by eventually generating atmosphere, and air to breath by using plant life. But it doesn't account for the obvious problem of radiation. How would teraforming work on Mars if it is geologically dead?

No hot core so there is no magnetic field to protect against lethal solar winds, which would most likely kill off the plants in the first place.

What does /sci/ think of teraforming anyways?

[Anonymous No.5890381]

Just dome over the entire planet like in Space Balls

[Anonymous No.5890389]

>>5890378
Drill into the core with Bruce Willis. Drop a thousand hydrogen bombs in there in the hope they make things right.

[Anonymous No.5890397]

>>5890381
>>5890389

OP here, those answers are as outlandish as teraforming in the first place, lol . Not mad or anything, since I myself can't take this so called 'theory' seriously anyways.

It would be more probable to have a colony on Mars living in some kind of radiation-proof shelter than it is to 'teraform' a dead planet. :D

[Anonymous No.5890406]

>>5890397
Its more likely we will terraform venus than mars. Its called Earth's sister planet for a reason

[Anonymous No.5890427]

>>5890406
Now I am really curious to know how that would work out. Yes there is an atmosphere since it is geologically active, however there is too much of it.

Everything we (as the human race - Russians and US) that sent to Venus only survived for an hour or two at best before being crushed by the atmosphere.

It would probably be even hotter if there was even less atmosphere anyways since it is closer to the sun.

It is still more probable that Mars would be colonized than any human ever even setting foot on Venus.

[Anonymous No.5890444]

Well I guess they would have to address that problem

How might be an interesting task as Earth does it with massive magnets and (we all know they are hard to understand but) to make a big enough one would take some doing...

Going underground might be a sensible option. I don't think there would be a big problem with living indoors - fucks sake most of 4chan live indoors anyway

I think that Mars would be nice but it might give me some funny dreams about Arnold Schwartznegger and three boobed ladies... yeah three boobs

[Anonymous No.5890451]

>>5890444
OP here, lol so true, and yea at least Total Recall does have a probable scenario. Underground structures, and whatever is above ground has some kind of shielding/filters.

Sure you could generate a field, but such a field on a planetary scale on Mars would require immense amount of energy, which would be impossible to maintain anyways.

Oh yea and assuming Mars is colonized there is one other problem, one of it's moons either Phobos or Deimos is supposed to crash into Mars in a few million years because of gravity, though maybe by that time mankind would figured that out as well?

Also, three-boobed aliens? I would definitely 'get my ass to Mars' in a hurry :D

[Anonymous No.5890452]

>>5890427

Cloud colonies.

[Anonymous No.5890457]

>>5890452
Yes I heard about that, though the material of the colonies would have to be impervious to the acidic content of the clouds. Even if it would be above the clouds, there are winds in the hundreds of mph that would also make the colonies move about. Makes me feel a bit of motion sick just thinking about it :p

[Anonymous No.5890459]

>>5890378
>No hot core so there is no magnetic field to protect against lethal solar winds, which would most likely kill off the plants in the first place.
the earth's hot core is caused by tidal forces of the orbiting moon.... so if you want to find habitable plantes (for earthlings), you start by looking for planets with similar big & close moons.

but yea.

terraforming mars is sci-fi BS. it might be possible to alter the atmospheric gas mix but the place still isn't going to be livable

[Anonymous No.5890460]

>>5890452

>if anything goes wrong, we'll plunge into a pressurized inferno of acid and lava.

Sounds like something Humanity would build.

[Anonymous No.5890461]

>>5890451
LOL

I'm pretty sure phobos and deimos could be blasted into smaller more manageable pieces and then flown off into space or mined.

>>5890457
There was a proposal that this would happen because the density of the atmosphere is supposedly enough to make it easy to float above the sulphurous clouds.

[Anonymous No.5890462]

>>5890459
>earth's hot core is caused by tidal forces of the orbiting moon

[Anonymous No.5890467]

>>5890459
OP here, exactly though many ideas are based off of sci-fi, but yea teraforming just can't work, since what atmosphere is generating by teraforming will be gone.

I do still think it is at least possible to live on Mars though - just have to do it either underground or have a structure to shelter the colonists from radiation. That is at least plausible.

[Anonymous No.5890474]

>>5890459
>the earth's hot core is caused by tidal forces of the orbiting moon

OP here, umm....no, it would be from the core inside the earth spinning which generates the magnetic field.

[Anonymous No.5890479]

>>5890378
This is what happens when people attempt to use ass pulls to 'fit' their theories. Its forced logic, in a silly attempt to disregard the metaphysical nature of the universe. Lets not forget, the conditions on earth are far too perfect and accurate to have been a co-incidence or the magical roll of dice. All this shit was planned and everything manifested to support life, as it was intended.

Now stop watching your stupid sci-fi movies, leave your bunker, take off your tinfoil hat and get some fresh air.

[Anonymous No.5890486]

>>5890459
>the earth's hot core is caused by tidal forces of the orbiting moon....

[Anonymous No.5890490]

>>5890451
>>5890444
>Engineering concept:
>It takes 10x as much money to build down than up.

[Anonymous No.5890489]

>>5890459
>the earth's hot core is caused by tidal forces of the orbiting moon...

even a priest would get up and bitchslap you for your ignorance.

[Anonymous No.5890498]

>>5890479
OP here, who says I am in a bunker or have a tinfoil hat on? I was merely curious. I am not interested in some kind of 'divine plan' or intelligent design theory.

Also it seems you are implying that sci-fi subjects have no merit whatsoever to science fact. I wonder where we would be if we disregarded a lot of authors that had an imagination.

As far as teraforming is concerned I already knew it wasn't possible, but why shouldn't I explore possible alternatives.

The earth isn't going to last forever, and mars is just another option for mankind to move to if need be. Why is that so farfetched?

[Anonymous No.5890501]

>>5890479
>all this b8
I hate it when people forget how many stars there are and how many stars have planets and the number of outcomes there could have been in a planets forming.

[Anonymous No.5890513]

>>5890501
The day you discover life on another planet, or find one which replicates the conditions on earth, I will accept defeat and join your cult, till then I maintain my stance.

There are potential planets, but there are also potential problems, too big, too small, not enough oxygen, too much toxic gas concentration in the atmosphere, think atmosphere, radiation.

[Anonymous No.5890517]

>>5890406
Hell no, Venus is the worst shithole in the entire solar system. Constant acid rain, 90.8atm surface pressure among other things. I'd rather go to Pluto than fucking Venus

[Anonymous No.5890523]

>>5890501
>super earths
>there are literally shit loads of them

[Anonymous No.5890526]

>>5890513
>also
>drake equation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation

[Anonymous No.5890543]

>>5890378
Not to mention the fact that it's lack of magnetic field is the reason it does not have any atmosphere in the first place, any new atmosphere will just end up getting blown away again.

[Anonymous No.5890558]

>>5890378
Just a question, it may be stupid: Is it possible to generate that magnetic field artificially?

[Anonymous No.5890559]

>>5890543
OP here, I already implied that in other posts, plus implied on the original. No way to actually teraform since no magnetic field to maintain the atmosphere.

Still doesn't mean Mars couldn't be colonized, it just means either living underground or having a protective structure to shield from radiation and it being pressurized enough so the human body could live inside.

[Anonymous No.5890564]

>>5890558
OP here, see >>5890451

Again it might be possible, but how would you maintain it? You would need constant supply of energy somehow.

[Anonymous No.5890565]

>>5890558
with electricity you can, I doubt it would be feasible for a planet though

[Anonymous No.5890566]

It's not impossible, just incredibly impractical and expensive.

[Anonymous No.5890679]

Terraforming Mars would be a long and difficult process and is probably out of our reach for the foreseeable future, but it's not impossible. A thick enough atmosphere to support Earth life would also stop some of the radiation.

The hardest part would be generating the atmosphere.

[Anonymous No.5890708]

>>5890679
OP here, interesting - but since the radiation levels would still be higher than normal exposure, both humans and plant-life would have to adapt and be able to survive even be unaffected by the radiation.

Sure teraforming would theoretically answer the question about the temperature on Mars, since essentially you are trying to intentionally cause a greenhouse effect to trap more heat from the sun, plus Mars does have a lot of CO2. - 95.32%.

Still sounds as impractical as generating a magnetic field though.

[Anonymous No.5890716]

Build a giant space-hose from Venus to Mars to move some of the atmosphere.

Venus and Mars both become habitable in one fell swoop.

[Anonymous No.5890724]

>>5890708
I don't want to sound callous but life doesn't have to be "unaffected" by the radiation, it just has to tolerate it enough to survive and procreate.

[Anonymous No.5890747]

>>5890427
>It would probably be even hotter if there was even less atmosphere anyways since it is closer to the sun.
What is greenhouse effect?

[Anonymous No.5890750]

>>5890459

The Earth's hot core is based on two things. Size and radioactives in the mantle (whose overall affect is also dependent upon size).

The moon has next to no influence on this. What it does do is keep the axis of the Earth more or less stable.

[Anonymous No.5890752]

>>5890543

Actually, you are mistaken. The main thing keeping Mars from retaining its atmosphere is its small size.

[Anonymous No.5890755]

>>5890490
Although it may be cheaper to build down in such circumstances as you just need to bring enough tools to mechanically excavate the correct amount of space for your colony, rather than having to dig foundations, bring raw materials to build upwards, additional mechanical devices (like cranes) to aid in construction, etc, etc.

For a large colony, underground is clearly best

Mars will probably be mined for any minerals it may have

[Anonymous No.5890759]

>>5890724
Even if the offspring weren't massively deformed, you would still end up with successive generations of low-IQ issue. It would be a disaster and a race of subhumans would slowly evolve.

[Anonymous No.5890762]

I thought this was addressed?

We cover the entirety of Mars with a black moss that thrives on the radiation from the sun. This moss with photosynthesize, creating a habitable atmosphere over the course of half a millennium (or so)

Then we release the most adaptable known organisms (cockroaches) to devour the moss once the atmosphere is more hospitable.

Human squads can of course be sent to kill the roaches afterwards. I'm sure that would be easy to handle, they're just cockroaches, right?

[Anonymous No.5890765]

>>5890762
I feel like I've read this somewhere

Oh, right

[Anonymous No.5890778]

>>5890406
how the fuck would you terraform a planet that has h2so4 rain non stop and has 100ish atm..........

[Anonymous No.5890784]

>>5890778

Just add water.

Drop a few comets onto it.

[Anonymous No.5890782]

>>5890564
like a nuclear furnace 227,936,640 km away?

[Anonymous No.5890794]

>>5890378
>go to mars
>heat rocks
>put it in core

PROBLEM SOLVED.

[joker !KNs1o0VDv6 No.5890844]

Why not start Terraforming mars right now?

If look back at the year 2013 from the year 2113, we will wish we had a century of progress of doing it.

If we start now, by the year 2213, humans might beable to walk on mars without needing a suit.

[Anonymous No.5890855]

>>5890844
Why not now? Because of incompetence. There is no money in it. We can't into anything useful, unless it is war and weaponry.

Why not a lot of things really? Why not cures for diseases instead of just treatments? Well then pharmaceuticals wouldn't make money.

In most cases profit trumps progress.

[Anonymous No.5890927]

>>5890844
What do you have in mind?

[Anonymous No.5890932]

>>5890752
wrong as fuck
the primary reason mars lacks an atmosphere is because without a magnetic field, it can't protect itself from solar radiation that literally blasts the atmosphere away.

earth has a magnetic field, without it earths gravity wouldn't be sufficient to keep our atmosphere. Mars doesn't, and it barely has an atmosphere. Simple as that

[Anonymous No.5890964]

>>5890513
Remember, we (life on Earth), adapted to our environment. The environment didn't adapt to us.

[Anonymous No.5891013]

>>5890406
Evil sister

[Anonymous No.5891417]

>>5890932

Nope. There is an equation that tells you how long it is before, at a given gravitational potential, pressure, and temperature, gas molecules of a certain weight will toss themselves past escape velocity. Mars, at current temperatures, had about a billion years or so of atmo. Charged particles caused almost none of it. Now, charged particles are still a serious danger to people on the ground because ionizing radiation, but the only affect they have on the air is to heat it up.

[Anonymous No.5891425]

>>5890932

>solar radiation that literally blasts it away

Do you think the solar wind is some kind of torrential spacehurricane? If we instill an atmo on Mars, it would take millions of years for it to deplete, if not tens or hundreds. It's a complete non-issue since we're not going to be on Mars that long and even if we are, we'll come up with a better solution somewhere in that time.

[Anonymous No.5891433]

>>5891425
This
If worst comes to worst we can wrap some superconductors around the equator and make our own magneto sphere.
Or set up a bunch of smaller ones in orbit to absorb some of it.

[Anonymous No.5891749]

>>5890459
>the earth's hot core is caused by tidal forces of the orbiting moon.... so if you want to find habitable plantes (for earthlings), you start by looking for planets with similar big & close moons.
hurr

[Anonymous No.5891761]

>>5890679

Wouldnt it take millions of years for it to dissapate anyways? I dont see the whole atmosphere dissipation thing as a problem within a realistic timeframe

[Anonbowler !glPw6/K0N6 No.5891762]

>Plans on colonizing other planets
>Haven't even colonized the Moon

[Anonymous No.5891766]

>>5891762

but the moon sucks

[Anonymous No.5891774]

If we had the technology to terraform another planet, we'd have the technology to transform Earth into an ecological Eden for one millionth the cost... so I'm sure we'll do that first.

Right now we're having trouble solving the 400 parts per million carbon dioxide in the atmosphere problem... so I assume the 950,000 parts per million carbon dioxide in the atmosphere problem tech is a long ways off.

[Anonymous No.5891787]

Why don't we terraform Jupiter?
Imagine a world that was so big, land would be super cheap.

[Anonymous No.5891789]

>>5891787
Jupiter is a gas planet. As in... it's not a rocky planet. As in, it's just a really fucking large sphere of poison.

[Anonymous No.5891791]

>>5891789
hence TERRAforming, as in terrain.
duh, fucking idiot.

[Anonymous No.5891794]

Do earth sized gas planets exist? Can they exist?

[Anonymous No.5891795]

>>5891791
But Jupiter CAN'T be terraformed you fucking idiot. Unless you somehow almechy'd all the fucking gases that form it into solid.

[Anonymous No.5891797]

>>5891795
What don't you understand about TERRAFORMING. FORMING INTO TERRAIN LIKE EARTH.

So if you TERRAFORM jupiter, it becomes like earth, but jupiter sized.


Are you rusing me or are you just really this retarded?

[Anonymous No.5891801]

>>5891762
the moon is a given

[Anonymous No.5891802]

>>5891797
You fucking NIGGER. Jupiter is made out of fucking HYDROGEN. There's no solid mass in fucking Jupiter. Jupiter has no terrain to be terraformed in the first place.

[Anonymous No.5891810]

>>5891797
It would be unbelievably difficult and ridiculously complicated.
I think it would be easier just to travel to a different solar systems and use those.

[Anonymous No.5891814]

>>5891802
You're too retarded to explain this to, but I'm going to try.

>terraforming means to transform into earthlike terrain
>jupiter is a gas planet
>apply terraforming to jupiter to transform it into earthlike terrain
>live on it

I don't think I can put it any simpler for a fucking moron like you.

[Anonymous No.5891822]

>>5891787
Too much gravity.
a huge hassle as it is on earth.

[Anonymous No.5891823]

>So if mankind plans to 'teraform' another planet - namely Mars, then why doesn't it address a rather obvious problem?
The real problem is the lack of magnetic field which is due to an inactive core. And its practically impossible to solve that problem unless we literally had godlike advances.

[Anonymous No.5891825]

>>5890451
This is pretty much the only way, if we go to Mars we would have to build Biodomes and enclosed complexes that would sustain life.

[Anonymous No.5891833]

>>5891810
>stretch a giant elastic sheet over Jupiter
>live on sheet
>have big valves for gas mining, blowing asteroids away, and launching more spacecraft

Dyson balloon!

[Anonymous No.5891839]

>>5891833

I like you

[Anonymous No.5891861]

>>5890378
>lethal solar winds, which would most likely kill off the plants in the first place.

I don't think so. They might have a lot of mutations, but there are plants that can survive quite a bit of radiation. And that's not even accounting for what we could do by specifically bioengineering them for the environment.

Anyway, terraforming is such a far, FAR distant future goal that it's almost pointless to try to speculate how to solve problems using current technology, when we'll have crazy new capabilities by then.

[Anonymous No.5891863]

>>5891814
What the fuck...

[Anonymous No.5892049]

>>5891762
There isn't really incentive to colonize the moon.

[Anonymous No.5892075]

>>5892049
>staging area for deep space
>mineral & resource mining
>helium 3
>experimental base
> <1G banter

There are plenty of reasons

[Anonymous No.5892083]

>>5891761
Yes. Atmospheric dissipation is a non-issue over human-relevant time frames, since if we had the capability to create an atmosphere on Mars, we'd also have the capability to maintain it against gradual depletion.

[Anonymous No.5892084]

>>5892075
>staging area for deep space
Can do that from earth orbit
>mineral & resource mining
We are better off mining asteroids
>helium 3
M-muh helium-3!

We need to quit fucking around and wasting time with our space program. We have the technology to colonize mars today. But no one wants to put in the money or effort required.

[Anonymous No.5892095]

>>5892084
>launching things from earth with enough fuel to get to the moon to be refilled and head for deep space

>launching all that fuel from earth

One of these is full retard, the other has potential to ease costs and improve feasibility.

[Anonymous No.5892099]

>>5892095
>get to the moon to be refilled and head for deep space
Refilled with what, your helium-3?

If we can get some asteroid mining going we could have all the fuel we want available to us in earth orbit.

[Anonymous No.5892100]

>>5891863
You're getting rused. Calm down.

[Anonymous No.5892102]

OP you mention any life on Mars would need to be free of all radiation, but this is a misconception. Life on Earth actually -requires- a small background level of radiation to stay healthy, which we're not 100% sure why yet.

As of right now, your chance of getting cancer here on Earth is in the ballpark of 20%, and living on Mars would raise that chance to only a few percentages. Rounding up to 25%, that's still just a jump from one in five people to one in four getting cancer. Now, considering how advanced we would have to be in order to even think of terraforming, I think cancer itself won't be too much of a medical problem.

The biggest issue with terraforming Mars isn't the radiation, it's simply the extreme cost and timescale needed.

[Anonymous No.5892105]

>>5892099
>If we can get some asteroid mining going we could have all the fuel we want available to us in earth orbit.

Because the moon isn't in earth orbit?
Also it's not an either/or situation you mong. Do both faggot.

You can go hard or you can go home.

[Anonymous No.5892111]

>>5892105
>Also it's not an either/or situation you mong.
>because money is infinite
>because we would need more resources from the moon, after we mine enough heavy metals to supply earth for a decade

[Anonymous No.5892114]

>>5891774
Depends on your definition of terraform. I say being able to walk most of the surface in a parka and a oxygen mask is enough. (you can already do this in the lowest altitudes in the hottest summer months) This would make it inhabitable for many other forms of life and considerably easier to live on.
As for general living habitats for humans you build underground.
Also Mars's radiation isn't that dangerous especially with a partially restored atmosphere. The ionosphere would block most of the radiation.

>>5891013
GLORIOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST PROBE

>>5892049
Spaceport
Helium 3 mining

>>5890427
Venus actually sits on the inner edge of the habitable zone. Its atmosphere (most likely caused by volcanic activity related to a planetesimal impact) makes it completely uninhabitable. This also explains its SLOW rotation. This atmosphere causes a intense greenhouse effect. It however would be pointless to terraform Venus. it would be both harder then Mars and far less practical. For the following reasons.
Insanely long day/night cycle
Deeper in the suns gravity well
Will be uninhabitable long before earth and even longer before mars gets baked

>>5890389
>>5890406
STOOPEED

[Anonymous No.5892120]

>>5892111
>because money is infinite
>because it takes infinite money

> after we mine enough heavy metals to supply earth for a decade
unless you're planning on stopping all production after a decade, yes, you'll need more resources after that.

Idiot.

I don't understand why you're advocating capturing a rock and placing it into earth orbit when we have a giant one already there, that we've already landed on....

[Anonymous No.5892122]

>>5892111

>asteroid mining
>can't go to the moon because moneys

How retarded are you? Resources from asteroid mining means that money is no longer a serious issue wrt space.

[Anonymous No.5892126]

>>5892111
>claims we will have shit loads of resources from mining asteroids
>thinks that going to the moon after this would bee to expensive
>thinks that mining asteroids is easier than mining the moon

uhhhhh

[Anonymous No.5892264]

>>5890778
have giant orbital hoover sucking up the h2so4,
then have a giant orbital water reservoir dumping water onto the planet

[Anonymous No.5892268]

>>5891795
giant orbital hoover