Terraforming:  Just a Mars in Earth’s clothing. So Earth is great.  I wish I could have two of them.  I guess I’m not the only one, because some scientists have begun to speculate on how we could turn Mars into an “earth-like” planet.  One of the reasons Earth is just so damn livable is because it has abundant water, the basis for life, and a thick atmosphere of gases that provides pressure and prevents the liquid in our bodies from just boiling off in the vacuum of space. Mars has none of these things.  BUT, there may be water buried under the poles of Mars. So, what would it take to “Terraform” Mars, and basically turn it into earth? The American Museum of Natural History explored this recently, and here is what they came up with: Imported photosynthetic organisms could turn the largely carbon dioxide-heavy atmosphere into an oxygenated one just like they did on earth 3500 million years ago. Blasting open the ice at the poles of mars could liberate a large water supply, to be used by these same photosynthetic organisms. Factories could be set-up to support solar-radiation harvesting and, weird bonus, produce greenhouse gases.  Since Mars’ atmosphere isn’t as thick as earth’s, more greenhouse gases would be welcome there to heat up the planet from it’s chilly -70 degrees Celsius state and turn it into a cool(warm!) place for people to hang. And if all that sounds too hard, just throw some asteroids at it!  Attaching rockets to asteroids and hurling them into Mars could warm the planet, turn that ice into water, and provide a new source of Nitrogen to Mars’ Nitrogen-starved atmosphere.  These methods are all beyond extreme, and I don’t think we’ll be turning Mars into Earth in anyone’s lifetime.  But, thinking more about this problem can help us to consider new ways to reverse desertification and create more arable land back home, which I am always 100% okay with. 

Terraforming:  Just a Mars in Earth’s clothing.

So Earth is great.  I wish I could have two of them.  I guess I’m not the only one, because some scientists have begun to speculate on how we could turn Mars into an “earth-like” planet.  One of the reasons Earth is just so damn livable is because it has abundant water, the basis for life, and a thick atmosphere of gases that provides pressure and prevents the liquid in our bodies from just boiling off in the vacuum of space.

Mars has none of these things.  BUT, there may be water buried under the poles of Mars. So, what would it take to “Terraform” Mars, and basically turn it into earth?

The American Museum of Natural History explored this recently, and here is what they came up with:

  • Imported photosynthetic organisms could turn the largely carbon dioxide-heavy atmosphere into an oxygenated one just like they did on earth 3500 million years ago.
  • Blasting open the ice at the poles of mars could liberate a large water supply, to be used by these same photosynthetic organisms.
  • Factories could be set-up to support solar-radiation harvesting and, weird bonus, produce greenhouse gases.  Since Mars’ atmosphere isn’t as thick as earth’s, more greenhouse gases would be welcome there to heat up the planet from it’s chilly -70 degrees Celsius state and turn it into a cool(warm!) place for people to hang.
  • And if all that sounds too hard, just throw some asteroids at it!  Attaching rockets to asteroids and hurling them into Mars could warm the planet, turn that ice into water, and provide a new source of Nitrogen to Mars’ Nitrogen-starved atmosphere. 

These methods are all beyond extreme, and I don’t think we’ll be turning Mars into Earth in anyone’s lifetime.  But, thinking more about this problem can help us to consider new ways to reverse desertification and create more arable land back home, which I am always 100% okay with. 

Tags: mars science terraforming