Terraforming Mars

[seventeethdecember2016]

Just asking some basic questions.

If we were able to terraform Mars, how long will it actually take for it to be habitable?

What is the outlook on terraforming in the not to distant future?

What would be needed to terraform the planet?

Also, please add any more information if possible.

[Bostana]

Well,
I figure it would take a while and we won't see it in our lifetime. And a lot of work will need to be done just to plant one tree on mars. But if it is successful it will probably be one of the most greatest scientific breakthroughs in Human History.

But as I said, a lot of work, I mean just look at the Carbon Dioxide Facts:

Carbon dioxide sublimation
There is presently enough carbon dioxide (CO2) as ice in the Martian south pole and absorbed by regolith (soil) around the planet that, if sublimated to gas by a climate warming of only a few degrees, would increase the atmospheric pressure to 300 millibars,[7] comparable to twice the altitude of the peak of Mount Everest. While this would not be comfortably breathable by humans, it would eliminate the present need for pressure suits, melt the water ice at Mars's north pole (flooding the northern basin), and bring the year-round climate above freezing over approximately half of Mars's surface. This would enable[citation needed] the introduction of plant life, particularly plankton in the new northern sea, to start converting the atmospheric CO2 into oxygen. Phytoplankton can also convert dissolved CO2 into oxygen, which is important because Mars's low temperature will, by Henry's law, lead to a high ratio of dissolved CO2 to atmospheric CO2 in the flooded northern basin.

[Leonid Brozhnev]

There's a pretty good Wiki article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming_of_Mars) on the subject... as far as I can see, it would likely take centuries to become habitable outside of living in controlled environments, but it's possible with careful intervention... like the introduction of liquid water and suitable life to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. I heard Asparagus is pretty well suited to life on Mars.

[Yazman]

As long as there's no life there I'm probably cool with terraforming Mars. I've read it would take ~4-500 years to achieve with what we currently know, although I like to think that if we were actually IN a position where terraforming Mars was a real concrete matter of policy, it wouldn't take anywhere NEAR that long.

[Permanent Revolutionary]

I agree with Yazman.
When (and I truly mean we will) we get the knowledge to terraform Mars I believe it would take no longer than 20 years.

Carl Sagan has some wonderful ideas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g566gjtwBq4

[Raúl Duke]

Where can I sign up to join a communist Mars colony?

Space exploration and the like has always interested me.
Supposedly, it would take quite some time; I think the current idea is to have controlled settlements that would deal with minutia of the terraforming process.

[Aurora]

Doesn't Mars lack a magnetosphere making an atmosphere impossible in the face of solar wind?

[Leonid Brozhnev]

It has a very weak magnetosphere. Apparently it's as strong as Earth's at the poles, but is 100-1000 times weaker everywhere else. It makes the existence of liquid water on Mars' surface almost impossible and is probably the largest obstacle we'd need to overcome if we wanted to terraform the planet.

[Raúl Duke]

I've heard of that as well.
We should start our permanent controlled-environment terraforming operations colonies in the poles than!

I'll sign up... I already live a boring lack-luster life wouldn't mind being in space as long as I have a constant flow of books to read and tasks to do.

[Book O'Dead]

Here's more info on terraforming Mars: Forget it, it's a pipe dream!

[Zav]

Just asking some basic questions.

If we were able to terraform Mars, how long will it actually take for it to be habitable?

What is the outlook on terraforming in the not to distant future?

What would be needed to terraform the planet?

Also, please add any more information if possible.
1000 years into the project we would still need space suits.

You might as well stop thinking about it.

More gas than we have, more water than we have, and enough fuel to fill a tank the size of the Moon. Essentially we'd need to find another livable planet to make one.

If we're going to terraform something, it should be the Moon first. The question to ask would be whether the extra space would be worth the effort to begin with.

[Ele'ill]

we should terraform the sun

[Leonid Brozhnev]

If we're going to terraform something, it should be the Moon first. The question to ask would be whether the extra space would be worth the effort to begin with.

Not likely to happen for a very long time either, not until we invent something that can produce artificial gravity. You could live a long healthy life on the Moon with it's low gravity given you never returned to Earth and given you never had children. In general, Mars is in much better shape for terraforming than the Moon, but until we can simulate Earths gravity outside of Earth, people who live in colonies on the Moon or Mars for prolonged periods will likely never be able to return to Earth, or they risk being crushed by the gravity here.

To be honest, if terraforming Mars was our ultimate goal, we'd need to do it before anybody sets up a permanent home there. We may find ourselves having to direct comets and asteroids into the planet to increase the temperature. Given this, I'm kinda skeptical as to if we'll ever terraform Mars to begin with... more likely we'll simply survive on Mars one eco-dome at a time.

[Permanent Revolutionary]

Terraforming Mars is theoretically doable. There is however a huge question of logistics and such.

[homegrown terror]

the real question is this: once it's terraformed, and human civilisation is cultivated there, will the left have a presence in the form of MARSist-Leninists?

[Luís Henrique]

we should terraform the sun

That would take twice the time, because we would only be able to work by night.

Luís Henrique

[Jimmie Higgins]

Where can I sign up to join a communist Mars colony?

Check out the "red Mars" trilogy.:lol:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2d/Red_mars.jpg/150px-Red_mars.jpg

[Yazman]

Cut the silly talk guys, this isn't the place. Go to Chit Chat if you want to post jokes.

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

It has a very weak magnetosphere. Apparently it's as strong as Earth's at the poles, but is 100-1000 times weaker everywhere else. It makes the existence of liquid water on Mars' surface almost impossible and is probably the largest obstacle we'd need to overcome if we wanted to terraform the planet.

That and Mars doesn't have the Nitrogen needed to make a 70% nitrogen atmosphere the way we have. Who would want to live in a highly-flammable 90% O2 atmosphere? You'd blow up half of the planet for lighting a blunt.

Also another issue with the magnetosphere is that it is necessary to protect the planet's atmosphere from getting "blown away" by solar wind. I have heard that as one theory for why the conditions for life on Mars ceased some time ago.

[homegrown terror]

That and Mars doesn't have the Nitrogen needed to make a 70% nitrogen atmosphere the way we have. Who would want to live in a highly-flammable 90% O2 atmosphere? You'd blow up half of the planet for lighting a blunt.

Also another issue with the magnetosphere is that it is necessary to protect the planet's atmosphere from getting "blown away" by solar wind. I have heard that as one theory for why the conditions for life on Mars ceased some time ago.

mars is "geologically dead," meaning that it's core has ceased all movement and the mantle has cooled and solidified. it is the revolution of the iron core of the earth that gives us a magnetosphere, so unless you could figure out a way to jump-start a planet's core, or adequately mimic it's effects (both VERY daunting tasks) i'm afraid we'd need some other way to keep a stable atmosphere on mars.

[Zav]

mars is "geologically dead," meaning that it's core has ceased all movement and the mantle has cooled and solidified. it is the revolution of the iron core of the earth that gives us a magnetosphere, so unless you could figure out a way to jump-start a planet's core, or adequately mimic it's effects (both VERY daunting tasks) i'm afraid we'd need some other way to keep a stable atmosphere on mars.
1. Drill a big-ass hole to the center of Mars.
2. Mine all the uranium.
3. Place uranium in the center of Mars.
4. ?
5. Profit!

Seriously you'd need to do that, somehow create a Martian Big Splat, or get one big fucker of a refrigerator magnet. It's quite impossible. Unless we find another livable planet, the only way we'll live on one besides Earth is with biodomes and pathological fears of asteroids.

[Ele'ill]

1. Drill a big-ass hole to the center of Mars.
2. Mine all the uranium.
3. Place uranium in the center of Mars.
4. ?
5. Profit!


Then fly from mars to the sun to harvest sunspots and ultimately make the star inhabitable.

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

It's impossible. Mars is uninhabitable. There is a planet they found a few months ago in another galaxy that is near to the distance from its sun like earth and could sustain life. One day planet earth will die, one day the sun will glow out, and one day humanity will die off.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

It's impossible. Mars is uninhabitable.

Why? The fact that Mars is not currently habitable without technological support doesn't come into it, because the objective of terraforming is to change that state of affairs.


There is a planet they found a few months ago in another galaxy that is near to the distance from its sun like earth and could sustain life.

Mars is a hell of a lot closer.


One day planet earth will die, one day the sun will glow out, and one day humanity will die off.

What about that planet you mentioned? The Sun's got a good four or five billion years left on the clock, that would be more than enough time to move to a younger star system.

[Ele'ill]

We're gonna want to see what we can do with Mars and its moons cause it's gonna possibly need to be replicated later on in other systems.

[Permanent Revolutionary]

It's impossible. Mars is uninhabitable

Yes, we know that. But most evidence supports the theory that Mars once was habitable and indeed harbored life.
So it could happen again, with our help.

[Q]

One day planet earth will die, one day the sun will glow out, and one day humanity will die off.

Besides the comments Noxion already made, I'll add that humanity - in its current form - has only existed for around 200 000 years and our evolution will likely rapidly increase, be it with artificial help from technology in the next few centuries.

To say that we'll still be around like we are today when the Sun dies out in 5 to 7 billion years is totally not grasping evolutionary processes. We might well be a computerized species by then, or we created our own artificial Sun to replace the old one, a Dyson sphere is pretty likely or we found way to harness so much energy as to bend space-time and colonise the galaxy or put the Sun back in an earlier state of its life or actually create our own space-time continuum that follows whatever laws of physics we like and keep the Sun around as a museum piece.

Either way: It is highly unlikely we'll just be here to watch the Sun swallow up the Earth as it becomes a red giant.

[DasFapital]

I've always felt Venus would be a better target for terraforming. Its around the same size as Earth and already has an established atmosphere, we just have down something about its super sized greenhouse effect.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

I've always felt Venus would be a better target for terraforming. Its around the same size as Earth and already has an established atmosphere, we just have down something about its super sized greenhouse effect.

Another problem with Venus is that the Venerian day is equal to 243 Earth days.

[DasFapital]

Another problem with Venus is that the Venerian day is equal to 243 Earth days.
I'm sure we can speed up her rotation some how