Terraforming Mars

Mars is between 56 million and 400 million kilometers from Earth, depending on the phase of the orbits of Earth and Mars around the Sun.

The first manned missions to Mars will be very dangerous. The most dangerous part will be landing, because the thin atmosphere makes it difficult to slow down a heavy spacecraft. Other dangers astronauts will face will be months-long exposure to space radiation and prolonged weightlessness, and then there are the Martian dust storms....

Artist's conception of a terraformed Mars in four stages of development [right].

Terraforming is the process of transforming a hostile environment into one suitable for human life. The Earth's entire history is one of terraforming and, humans have been terraforming Earth for millennia. We're a terraforming species.

As the most Earth-like planet in our solar system, Mars is a prime candidate for terraforming. In fact, we may see Mars terraforming by the end of this century. In addition, a possible benefit of creating an artificial greenhouse effect on Mars may be learning how to reverse-engineer global warming on Earth.

In order to terraform Mars, however, we would need to engineer an artificial greenhouse effect: warming the planet a minimum of 4'C, ridding it of excess carbon dioxide, thickening the atmosphere and generating soil to support agriculture. The ultimate goal would be to turn Mars into a blue world with lakes, streams and rivers, green valleys, tall forests and roaming Earthly creatures.

Robert Zubrin, Mars Society founder and former aerospace engineer, describes how he believes terraforming would take place:

If one considers the problem of terraforming Mars from the point of view of current technology, the scenario looks like this:

1. A century to settle Mars and create a substantial local industrial capability and population.

2. A half century producing fluorocarbon gases (like CF4) to warm the planet by ~10 C.

3. A half century for CO2 to outgas from the soil under the impetus of the fluorocarbon gases, thickening the atmosphere to 0.2 to 0.3 bar, and raising the planetary temperature a further 40 C.

This will cause water to melt out of the permafrost, and rivers to flow and rain to fall. Radiation doses on the surface will also be greatly reduced.

Under these conditions, with active human help, first photosynthetic microbes and then ever more complex plants could be spread over the planet, as they would be able to grow in the open.

Humans on Mars in this stage would no longer need pressure suits, just oxygen masks, and very large domed cities could be built, as the domes would no longer need to contain pressure greater than the outside environment.

4. Over a period of about a thousand years, human-disseminated and harvested plants would be able to put ~150 mbar (millibars) of oxygen in the Martian atmosphere. Once this occurs, humans and other animals will be able to live on Mars in the open, and the world will become fully alive.

That's the scenario, using current technological approaches. However technology is advancing, and 23rd Century humans will not conduct their projects using 21st Century means. They will use 23rd Century means and accomplish the job much faster than anyone today can suppose.

"We are the consciousness of the universe, and our job is to spread that around, to go look at things, to live everywhere we can. It's too dangerous to keep the consciousness of the universe on one planet; it could be wiped out. Mars will always remain Mars, different from Earth, colder and wilder. But it can be Mars and ours at the same time. And it will be. There is this about the human mind: if it can be done, it will be done. We can do it, so we will do it. So we might as well start."

--Kim Stanley Robinson, Science Fiction Author

The basis of ethics needs to be of benefit to humanity. If there is life on Mars, it is microbial, and its interests can in no way be considered as commensurate with human interests. Those who argue otherwise strike a fashionable pose, but deny their arguments every day through their actions.

If bacterial interests trump human interests, then mouthwash should be banned, chlorination of water supplies should be banned, and antibiotics should be banned. If bacterial interests trump human interests, then Albert Schweitzer and Louis Pasteur should be denounced for crimes against bacteria.

Now, in saying that ethics must be based in human benefit, we need not deny that preserving valuable environments in [sic] important.

It is important to save the amazon rain forest, for example, because a world without an amazon rain forest would be a poorer inheritance for our descendants than one with one, and the degree of the impoverishment exceeds whatever value might be obtained in the short term from slash and burn agriculture.

However, in the case of Mars, the calculation votes the other way, as a terraformed Mars, filled with life, cities, universities, used book stores, and yes, rain forests, would be a vastly richer gift to posterity than the current barren Red Planet.

--Robert Zubrin, Mars Society founder

'If we find life on Mars, the philosophical implications will be profound. If it is unlike Earthly life and has a different genetic code, this will show that living beings evolved separately on two neighbouring worlds. Life is therefore likely to be ubiquitous throughout the galaxy.

'If it has the same genetic code, however, it will indicate that one planet must have contaminated the other - probably by rocks being blasted across the solar system following meteorite impacts. We may really be Martian in origin.

'Given the importance of these issues, we simply cannot risk starting a global experiment that would wipe out the precious sensitive evidence we are seeking,' she added. 'This is just not on.'

--Dr. Lisa Pratt, Nasa astrobiologist, Indiana University

'We now know Mars used to have an atmosphere, but it disappeared for reasons that are still unclear. If we restore Mars's atmosphere, we could easily find it disappeared again. We would have done some devastating things to the planet for a temporary effect. That is certainly not ethical.'

--Monica Grady, planetary scientist, National History Museum, London

In the year 2024, the International Space Agency sends 7 astronauts, one for each continent, to the Red Planet to begin preparations for the first Mars colony.

The colony uses geothermal energy and solar film to provide heat, lighting, energy and to turn atmospheric CO2 into breathable oxygen for the crew and greenhouses. In addition, there are primary and secondary CO2-cooled pebble bed nuclear reactors at the bottom of lava pits shielded with Martian regolith [Martian sand] near the habitat modules.

Five Earth years after Mars Colony Alpha was created, work was begun on the first city, which we'll call Beta. It was built as a subterannean maze, to protect scientists and engineers from space radiation, temperature extremes, dust storms and the like. Since then the next-generation Martian city was built above-ground [image right]:

"We are told that the dome can withstand dust-storms of up to 600 kilometers an hour, but looking up above the tall city towers I'm skeptical. The air outside is thin and toxic, and one small rip in the thin, clear dome would leave the city and its 200,000 inhabitants to suffocate within seconds. Like most of the modern cities on Mars, this new dome is made of a plastic-like material that is weaker than aluminum foil. However, the guide tells us that since the atmospheric pressure is so much higher inside the city than outside, the dome is effectively stronger than any material known to man."

It's now the 23rd century, over 200 years since the first Earthlings began to colonize Mars. People are no longer restricted to pressurized spacesuits and tuna-can habitats. Now they may roam unencumbered, walking along the Martian forests and letting their lungs fill with the cool, crisp air. Beautiful, spacious Martian mud-brick homes look out upon the Martian plain.

The people of Mars are physically different from their Earth ancestors. Martians have had to accommodate gravity 1/3 that of Earth's, which has altered their bones, muscle mass and affected their internal organs. In many ways, the decision to move to Mars has been a one-way journey.

Martians have evolved their own culture over the decades. Although they continue to harbor a certain Earth nostalgia.

NASA orbiter finds possible cave skylights [right].

Scientists believe that underground caves could harbor water and life. The caves could also become habitats for future explorers or, they could be the only structures that preserve evidence of past or present microbial life.

Valles Marineris, or Mariner Valley, is a huge system of canyons stretching east by southeast just below the Martian equator for over 3,000 miles. It is the largest single feature on the planet. More than four times deeper than the Grand Canyon, the roughly parallel canyons have an overall width of 400 miles.

NASA's twin robot geologists, the Mars Exploration Rovers, launched toward Mars on June 10 and July 7, 2003, in search of answers about the history of water on Mars. They landed on Mars January 3 and January 24 PST, 2004 (January 4 and January 25 UTC, 2004).

The polar caps are believed to be made up almost entirely of water ice, which bodes well for a future water supply.

On May 25, 2008, NASA's Mars Phoenix lander [right] is scheduled to descend near the Martian North Pole in an area called "Green Valley," in order to search for water and signs that Mars may have once been suitable for life. The region is a broad, flat valley with the largest concentration of ice outside the polar caps.

In the near term, future missions to Mars may be summed up in three words: Follow the water!

NASA writes: Following the water begins with an understanding of the current environment on Mars. We want to explore observed features like dry riverbeds, ice in the polar caps and rock types that only form when water is present. We want to look for hot springs, hydrothermal vents or subsurface water reserves. We want to understand if ancient Mars once held a vast ocean in the northern hemisphere as some scientists believe and how Mars may have transitioned from a more watery environment to the dry and dusty climate it has today. Searching for these answers means delving into the planet's geologic and climate history to find out how, when and why Mars underwent dramatic changes to become the forbidding, yet promising, planet we observe today.

Do you have what it takes to go to Mars and pioneer a new civilization?

Find out if you have the "right stuff" to join the adventure of a lifetime by taking this 15-question multiple-choice quiz

Good luck!

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