Terraforming Mars

[Phenix]

Another business than could be initiated with the used on non-valuable asteroids dust/rocks toward terraforming Mars. I see it as a very long term process to raise Mars's gravity using cargo class spacecrafts transit the dust/rocks and aim to Earth's similar gravity.

As Mars is nearer to the main asteroid belt it would take less time to transit such materials.

Any URLs on Mars terraformation are welcome :)

[Rhyshaelkan]

Another forum I like to post at had a couple ideas on the subject.

"So my question is. Is Mars too small to have a thick, one ATM, atmosphere? Is it's mass just too small to hold more than just a tenuous atmosphere?

A long term human project might be to set up atmospheric processors(Aliens?). Takes decades? centuries? that is fine. A whole new world to which the human virus can spread.

Possible projects to warm it. Think a sunbather's reflectors at Mars' L4 and L5 liberation points. Titanic size for sure. But this is a whole extra world to colonize. For those that have the need to get away from it all :D"

"A one atmosphere pressure isn't impossible. It's not simplistic: the main problem is what you make it from. The long-term problem is that Mars is too small to keep a 1 bar atmosphere over timescales in terms of 100,000 years, unless continually replenished.

Best evidence (depending on what paleoclimate models you favour) is that a long time ago (3+ billion years), Mars had an atmosphere of about 250mb - 1/4 Earth-now. This is more than enough for large bodies of water, even oceans, in the northern hemisphere. The exact composition is unclear, but CO2 is most likely to have been the main constituent. This would have provided enough atmosphere & warmth to keep water liquid. The presence of large quantities of water ice in permafrost-like deposits has been confirmed by orbiting ground-penetrating radars, so it's possible that warming Mars could make this water available again.

However, where to get the bulk gas? I always favoured crashing comets and other large icy objects onto Mars. Slamming the same spot leads to a depression (aka crater) in which atmosphere will preferentially pool; skimming the atmosphere leads to a more even distribution. Obviously you want to do this before colonisation begins Wink"

"Isn't one of the main issues with colonizing Mars that it has no useful magnetic field to deflect solar wind?"

"Which contributes to loss of atmosphere over many millenia. In terms of the rate at which humans would expect atmosphere to be added, and which would be needed to make terraforming feasible, it's negligible."

"Well, the lack of a strong magnetic field also means that a larger portion of highly energetic cosmic radiation reaches the ground, which might not be all too beneficial to the martians ;)"

"That's got more to do with the 6.5mb pressure. Get the pressure up to a few hundred millibars, and you're talking (literally ;) ). Don't forget - Mars gets 1/4 of the solar flux as Earth does, which helps. "

"It could hold onto an Earth-like atmosphere for millions of years, if not longer. That's short on the time scale of planetary evolution, but long enough for humans.

Heck, even the moon could hold onto an Earth-like atmosphere for millennia."

" As long as the partial pressures of oxygen were high enough and no toxic atmospheres were present, humans could survive at less than one full ATM. I cannot remember the gas laws off the top of my head though.


Planet Perihelion - Aphelion distance (AU) Solar radiation maximum and minimum (W/m²)
Mercury 0.3075 – 0.4667 14,446 – 6,272
Venus 0.7184 – 0.7282 2,647 – 2,576
Earth 0.9833 – 1.017 1,413 – 1,321
Mars 1.382 – 1.666 715 – 492
Jupiter 4.950 – 5.458 55.8 – 45.9
Saturn 9.048 – 10.12 16.7 – 13.4
Uranus 18.38 – 20.08 4.04 – 3.39
Neptune 29.77 – 30.44 1.54 – 1.47

If you could use titanic reflectors at Mars-Sol L4 and L5, and raise the solar input to Earth normal or just shy of. Keep your atmospheric processors stocked with raw material. You could have a terraformed Mars ready for colonization."

[Phenix]

Thanks for your input.

Raising Mars mass will raise core's heat as well and therefore raise the magnetic field just like more energy applied on a coil. The living entities would be even safer that on Earth from radiation perspective.

1/4 of Earth's atmosphere pressure is enough for fauna but the ecocycles for flora would be an issue as both of them are tighten togethere on atmosphere recycling.

The core's heat up will hopefully cause heat up on permafrost then in turn creates Greenhouse effect due to dense atomosphere. Fauna and Flora should be, at some stage of the Greenhouse effect, in balance and prospere.

When all actors (Atmosphere density/pressure, Greenhouse effect, Flora and Fauna) are in harmony, we could go for a colonization business plan.