The one about Terraforming Mars and Venus
By: The Basics Of Everything
Tags: Mars, Venus, Earth, Solar System, Terraform

TERRAFORMING

MARS

*The chart above may not be visible in dark mode”

Compared to Earth, Mars has almost no atmosphere. And whatever atmosphere it does have is made almost entirely of CO2. So, there’s no question of breathing on Mars. And we will need a spacesuit to keep us pressurized. Also, without the atmosphere we will get the full blunt of radiation coming from Sun including X-rays and gamma rays. Mars is also 1/3rd the size of Earth so the gravitational attraction humans will feel there will be much less. Mars has lost its magnetic field. And unless we generate one for it, all our terraforming efforts are to be lost in several generations. Oh. And let’s not forget global dust storms. But Mars does have a similar rotation rate to Earth so our days will be of similar length. Mars also has a similar tilt as Earth, giving it seasons.

Without an atmosphere full of greenhouse gases to retain infrared radiation coming from Sun, Mar’s average surface temperature is -80F. So, for the first several generations that live on Mars, the main mission would be to warm up the planet, raise atmospheric pressure, and make Martian air breathable. How do we do that? Well, by using greenhouse gases we can accomplish two of the three things: increase air pressure and warm the planet. Easiest would be if you could find the greenhouse gases on Mars itself rather than lugging it from Earth.

ACCOUNT OF MARTIAN GREENHOUSE GASES

Though Mars lost quite a bit of its atmosphere to space, a significant amount got bound to various elements on ground. The most accessible CO2 reservoir is in the polar ice caps. These ice caps also have frozen water. There are several proposals for how the polar ice cap CO2 can be released. The best leading proposal is to have two well positioned giant mirrors directing all of Sun’s energy on the ice caps. This will sublimate the CO2 into its gas form. To make this even more effective, albedo reduction may be adopted where the ice caps will be covered with dark dust increasing sunlight absorption. Dust from Mars’s moons Phobos and Deimos, which are amongst the blackest bodies in solar system will be ideal for the albedo reduction. Orbital mirrors with about 50 mile radius will be required. Carl Sagan had even proposed covering the ice caps with dark extremophile lichens. Not only will the lichens help the polar ice cap heat up faster, these microorgnanisms will produce their own CO2. But they would have to be lab treated as there are only a handful of microorganisms that can withstand the harsh environment of space. Releasing all this CO2 will raise Martian atmospheric pressure to about 4% of Earth’s and raise the temperature from -80F to -70F. Water vapor is a great greenhouse gas as well. Though we rather leave the frozen water in ice caps to form lakes as Mars warms up, we may have to direct it towards building the atmosphere instead. Some CO2 is bound to rocks on Mars as carbonate minerals. This would be hard to release as breaking down of carbonates require temperatures greater than 575F. This will require a lot of energy and resources. It will add another 2% to the atmosphere. There’s also CO2 dissolved in Mar’s crust. Because the gas is so widespread throughout the crust, any significant CO2 release will require heating of the entire planet. Releasing all of this would add another 1–2% of CO2 to the atmosphere. And still quit a bit of CO2 got buried deep inside Mars. This will be hardest to access but also the area with most CO2. Releasing all the CO2 from here might get us up to 30–40% of Earth’s atmospheric pressure but it’s still not quite enough. But it’s possible that with this amount of CO2 may trigger a runaway greenhouse effect like on Venus. The warming up of planet would increase volcanic outgassing (the biggest volcano in our solar system is Mount Olympus on Mars), making the atmosphere even thicker. But that would take millions of years.

Ok, so Mars doesn’t really have much of anything other than CO2 which is also not enough. We might just have to bring our own. One of the most powerful greenhouse gas, thousands of times stronger than CO2, is chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) — infamous for their destructive effects on Earth’s ozone layer. We can use Fluorine based gas which is safer for ozone layer. Because the compounds are easily destroyed by photolysis, they are extremely short lived. Maintaining the temperature will require continuous production of CFCs. So, we will have to build production factories on Mars. And let’s just say that we will need a LOT of CFCs.

Another possible greenhouse gas is Ammonia (NH³). Problem with this is that it won’t stay as ammonia for long. It will break in Nitrogen and Hydrogen gas within a few hours. So, it may not warm the planet but Nitrogen is a great filler gas. Earth’s atmosphere is 70% Nitrogen. Filler (buffer) gas help reduce Oxygen toxicity. A crazy proposal for getting Ammonia to Mars is by bombarding it with comets from Kuiper belt. We could send many drones that would each nudge an ammonia rich comet towards Mars. Their precision will have to be dead on considering Earth is right next door. Also we would need about 10,000 comet. And Kuiper belt is really far away. Comets are mostly gas so won’t damage the Martian surface much; instead the gas will sublimate up and get caught by Mars’s gravity.

There’s also the option of using Methane as a greenhouse gas (CH4). There is evidence of Methane pockets under the surface from Curiosity’s data. We could try mining that. Worst scenario, we could also try importing Methane from Titan which has plenty. Plus it’s closer than Kuiper belt. Some bacteria also produce Ammonia and Methane. But we will have to at least partially terraform the planet before most microorganisms can survive there. Or with CRSPR and future of genetic engineering we may be able to manufacture just the right microorganisms.

Latest research shows that Silica aerogel can warm the planet by mimicking Earth’s greenhouse effects. The researchers show that a two to three-centimeter-thick shield of silica aerogel could transmit enough visible light for photosynthesis, block hazardous ultraviolet radiation, and raise temperatures underneath permanently above the melting point of water. Silica aerogels are 97 percent porous, meaning light moves through the material but the interconnecting nanolayers of silicon dioxide infrared radiation and greatly slow the conduction of heat. These aerogels are used in several engineering applications today, including NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers.

Silica aerogel

In the best case scenario, the warming of the planet may take about 100 years. After which the water that’s frozen underground will fill in dried up river beds again. We also need Oxygen. Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE), placed inside the latest Mars rover, Perseverance, will produce a small amount of pure oxygen from Martian CO2 in a process called solid oxide electrolysis. Based on the success of this experiment, we can set up large scale models of this. If our planet by this point has a decent atmospheric pressure and CO2, we can also place cyanobacteria in Martian soil to help produce oxygen. It’s cyanobacteria that billions of years ago triggered the Great Oxygenation Event on Earth changing its entire ecology. But this method will take 100,000 years to make Mars’s air breathable.

Next, we need vegetation for nutrition as well as for more oxygen. But in order to grow anything in Mars’s soil we will have to rid it of its perchlorates which is extremely toxic. This could be done with the right bacteria that can survive on Mars and breakdown the toxins.

It will take time. A lot of time and a lot of resources to terraform Mars. It won’t happen for many generations. But it’s definitely doable. Many scientists have recommended biodomes instead. These domes will be just like Earth. But outside the domes will be the same deadly barren Mars. Some people may not prefer a world with boundaries. I personally think the biodomes are a great idea to have our Martians feel at home while they do the hardest jobs of their lives. But there will eventually come a day when they would be able to step out of these domes and breathe fresh air on Mars. Of course, people who don’t want the Mars life anymore will always have the option of coming back on Earth with the next spacecraft (which should fly every 2 years because of Mars’s Opposition). Having biodomes will also eliminate the need for genetically modified organisms. We could just have cyanobacteria ingrained in the ecosystem of the domes.

But we still haven’t resolved one big problem. Mars’s missing magnetic field. It’s not clear how we would go about restoring Mars’ magnetic field, but we might be able to build an artificial one. Previously NASA scientist Jim Green proposed a concept of placing a magnetic dipole satellite with a 1–2 tesla magnet placed in an orbit between Mars the Sun. This would provide a magnetosphere protecting Mars’s atmosphere from harmful solar radiation. The satellite would have to be placed in one of the Lagrange points. The Lagrange Point is a location of gravitational equilibrium that ensures the structure remains between Mars and the sun. This isn’t easy but definitely possible.

Elon Musk in not crazy for starting so early. He is brilliant for giving humanity a head start on an extremely difficult problem.

BUT WHY TERRAFORM IN THE FIRST PLACE?

I know many people who believe that the main reason we want to terraform other planets because we have almost broken Earth. Then why not just fix Earth? Wouldn’t that be a hundreds of magnitude easier than terraforming an extreme planet? Yes, of course that would be easier — IF the many proponents of fossil fuels and the many more disbelievers of global warming stop adding hurdles. But that’s not it. This is not the only reason we want to terraform.

Earth has faced 5 extinctions in its history. We are currently amidst the 6th one. There are many many reasons for extinctions from Earth’s natural albeit a bit dramatic internal homeostatic mechanism (ice ages) to the possibility of collision with asteroids (like the one that killed the dinosaurs). We are also not always the best of people. There are wars, fight for nuclear power, exponential increase in technology, election of corrupt officials in power. Based on current trends, it only seems like a matter of time before there is a third world war that thanks to our advanced technology will completely destroy Earth. We could be struck with another pandemic with a much higher mortality rate. Then we have the problem of an ever growing population that doesn’t seem to slow down. Given the vast time of the cosmos, it only seems like a matter of time before something goes wrong. And given the vast spaces of cosmos, it will be the saddest story ever if we extinguished before anyone even knew we existed.

Our fear to remain unknown is so strong that both Pioneer and Voyager spacecrafts that were launched with intention to maybe one day leave the solar system have were equipped with a memorabilia of Earth.