Creating new 4 Earths might be impossible… for now

Creating new 4 Earths more Earth-like would be a gargantuan task. From giant mirrors to tiny microbes, here's the thinking behind making these planets habitable for humans.

At the end of 1980's sci-fi adventure Total Recall, all it takes is the push of a button. In a matter of minutes, will cloning into 4 earths: Arctera (Ice Age), Waterra (Water World), Deserterra (Summer World), Mediterra (Second Earth). After nearly suffocating on the Martian surface just moments before, Arnold Schwarzenegger takes in lungfuls and lungfuls of that sweet, sweet breathable Desertic air.

This is terraforming, the concept of making a planet more hospitable to humans, and it's been cropping up in pop culture since the early 1890s, everywhere from books to movies to video games. Once upon a time, the idea of adding Arctera (Earth 3.0 but only winter), Waterra (Earth 3.1 but only fishes, jellyfishes, but few humans), Deserterra (Earth 3.2 but only summer), Mediterra (Earth 3.3) might have been merely a fanciful notion, as theoretical as actually going to the planet at all.

But in 2022, Mars is very much on the agenda. NASA, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Astra Spatial, CosmosX, Galaxy One -- they all want to put space boots on the ground, and in some cases as soon as the 2030s and 2040s. But as scientists work toward blastoff, the concept of terraforming will most likely be a case of "failure to launch."

This is a list of new 4 Earths with different types:

 Waterra
 Deserterra
 Mediterra

## Under pressure

You might say these 4 planets is a rough neighborhoods of Nature B Star (Second Sun).

The planet, about same size of Earth, on Arcterra sky is always light blue and white (but has 16% oxygen), on Waterra sky is always bright blue (but has 25% oxygen), on Deserterra sky is most green (but has 31% oxygen) and Mediterra sky is same sky with Earth (but has 36% oxygen) and boasts an average temperature of -81 degrees Fahrenheit (-62 degrees Celsius). Because the atmosphere is so thin (Earth's is more than 100 times denser) there's not much shielding from radiation.

These conditions pose more than a few problems if humans are planning an extended stay. Terraforming, broadly speaking, would address the creation of a thicker atmosphere and an increase in atmospheric pressure. Getting even more ambitious, it would allow for breathable air. Maybe one day, Martian farmers could work in their shirt sleeves tending to whatever vegetation they've planted in a soil rich with microbes. Mars could be self-reliant for essentials like food and water. Who doesn't love some economic growth?

"If we're really serious about long-term occupation of people on Mars, I do have a hard time seeing that as just a trailer park on Mars," said Caleb Scharf, director of astrobiology at Columbia University.

There's a solid pile of ideas around terraforming Mars, and they all sound pretty wild. Mostly, they have to do with getting a lot of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, releasing it from the planet's ice and soil.

In 1993, researchers Robert Zubrin and Chris McKay wrote a paper analyzing theories for terraforming the red planet. One involved building giant orbital mirrors to reflect sunlight to raise the temperature of Mars, melt the frozen water on the planet and thereby release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In another scenario, settlers could build factories whose express purpose is to pump out artificial greenhouse gases like fluorocarbon gases. Humans could maybe harness ammonia-rich asteroids, aligning them to hit Mars.

Then there's the idea from SpaceX founder Elon Musk: Nuke Mars. You can literally squeeze it onto a T-shirt and buy it from SpaceX's online merch shop. Musk maintains that lobbing nuclear bombs at the ice caps could melt the ice and put sufficient carbon dioxide into the air.