For some, like asteroids, the answer is no (although there’s an abundance of them between Mars and Jupiter). A central issue for them all is whether the necessary materials are found on Mars or in its general vicinity. The proposed ideas are still more akin to drawing snow forts on a piece of paper than practical solutions. A distinctly tongue-in-cheek article has suggested that the same could perhaps be achieved by the wholesale “export” of fossil fuel company decision-makers to Mars. It would involve setting up factories on the planet with the sole purpose of producing gases such as methane, CO2, and CFCs, alongside water vapor, and releasing them into the atmosphere. We may also try a frontal industrial revolution-style attack. An unknown number of tardigrades were on board the craft and they might still be alive (and if so, they’re probably wondering what just happened to them). They would face harsh living conditions, but the recent Israeli mission to our moon is testament to how hardy microbes are. Genetically engineered microbes could be a way to produce a breathable atmosphere on Mars via the microbes’ photosynthesis. Reflect the sun’s rays onto Mars to vaporize CO2 trapped on the planet in order to trigger a greenhouse effect. If it were a cooking recipe, using mirrors to terraform Mars would go as follows: build a range of massive space mirrors with a diameter about the distance between Washington DC and Philadelphia. The assault with celestial bodies would release masses of CO2, as well as possibly water. We could potentially try doing the same to Mars by hurling either many smaller or a few massive asteroids at the planet. Meet the CandidatesĪsteroids likely played a central role in making Earth the green planet it is today. We’ll get back to how NASA feels about terraforming Mars today, but first let’s meet some of the other possible ways we could go about it. NASA released On the Habitability of Mars: An Approach to Planetary Ecosynthesis in 1976, which highlights genetically engineered photosynthetic organisms and melting the polar ice caps as potential ways of greening Mars. Long before we’d be finished, we’d run out of nukes.įor other ideas, we can turn to sci-fi writers and scientists, including Carl Sagan and NASA. Ethical and legal issues aside, it would probably require us setting off about 3,000 nukes over Mars a day, for about 7 weeks. Perhaps we should start by scratching nukes off the list entirely. Musk himself has since seemed to backtrack a bit, stating that he wasn’t suggesting nukes are the only way to go, only that we should be open to exploring a wide range of options. It’s an idea Musk has floated several times over the last few years, and now it’s got its own t-shirt. Nuking Mars hit viral take-off recently when Elon Musk tweeted that we should considering using nuclear weapons to terraform the Red Planet. Each has its own merits and challenges, but a common factor for all is that they need exponential technologies to advance before being viable. It sounds wild, bordering on crazy, but so do many of the other ideas that have been floated about how we could potentially make Mars support human life. The explosions would, in theory, release CO2 and create a greenhouse effect, thereby increasing its frigid temperatures. One recent suggestion is that it could be done by launching nuclear weapons at Mars. Turning the red planet green is seen as a crucial step towards humankind becoming an interstellar species. Scientists and science fiction writers have been toying with the idea of terraforming Mars for the better part of a century.
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