Planetary Engineering Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

The concept of modifying the environment of another planet, so that it can support terrestrial life, is known as terraforming. As a speculative scientific subject, it has been slowly gaining in respectability and, over the past 30 years, has amassed a considerable body of published work. In this paper, the present day capabilities of civilisation to bring about global environmental change are breifly discussed, followed by a review of the progress of research into the terraforming of the planet Mars. Whilst such an undertaking does not appear technologically impossible, whether it will actually happen is an unanswerable question. However, the control space for thought experimentation that terraforming provides is of use for both planetological research and education. The subject is therefore relevant to the present day, as well as to a possible future.

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- Astrobiology, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming, Ecopoiesis
- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Geoengineering, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming

Previous outline proposals for terraforming Mars nearly all require, as a first step, the creation of a dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide, with a surface pressure of ~ 1 bar and with sufficient greenhouse effect to raise surface temperatures above 273 K. However, since it is now thought that the bulk of Mars' CO2 inventory lies either within carbonate rocks, or has been lost from the planet in an early episode of impact erosion, this first step may be more difficult to achieve than commonly appreciated. If carbonate bearing minerals are abundant within the Martian regolith, it would be necessary to devolatilise them to return their store of CO2 into the atmosphere. The most practical way to do this would be through the use of buried thermonuclear explosives. It is shown that at least ten million such explosives, in the multi-megaton range, buried at depths of hundreds of metres would be required. All materials required for their fabrication could be obtained from Martian resources. The most serious objection to such a scheme is that Mars is likely to be settled before terraforming becomes practical, thus ruling out highly energetic or intrusive engineering techniques.

- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Colonization of Mars, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming

As interest in the exploration of Mars intensifies and advancements in technology increase the viability of just such a mission, one of the very first problems facing explorers, and eventually settlers, is adequate shelter. An extremely promising candidate material for the building of these structures is concrete made using Martian soil as the aggregate and Sulphur as the cement. This Martian Concrete is strong, and would be more durable in Mars' weaker gravity, more reusable than regular concrete, and significantly dense 1 , enough to provide a measure of protection from the radiation found on Mars' surface, which is moderately more pervasive than the radiation on Earth's surface. Building these structures by hand would be inefficient and costly, taking time away from other important and urgent activities. The advent and proliferation of 3D printing in Earth based architecture holds many possibilities for application off-world. Since 3D printing technology is advancing and often providing cheaper ways of building many different types of structures of virtually any design. By adapting and redesigning some of the plans and ideas presented for 3D printing structures on the Moon 2 and conceptualizing architecture that would be better suited for the Martian environment, it is possible to build adequate and lasting structures quickly and cheaply using materials found in abundance on the Martian surface. As numerous projects advancements in 3D printing in architecture and construction have demonstrated 3 , 3D printed structures are safe, sound, and easily made. Combining existing technology and Martian Concrete will be the best and most sustainable way to build habitats on Mars.

- by Jonathan Harline and +1
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- Structural Engineering, Planetary Science, Composite Materials and Structures, Mars

Via decrement of mass of planets, we can send the entire planets to far space orbital allocations. We can convert physical matter into energy, it can either get irradiated to outer space, get transmitted back to Earth's potential energy, get used as a self-propellant, or it can get used in a complex model of these systems; it decreases the mass of the planet. By conversion of the matter to energy, Earth will lose some mass that decreases the gravitational fields for Earth; the formulas of the current research are deduced to control the movements of the planets. Celestial bodies, like any other mechanical systems which follow, and are based on, the physical laws of mechanics and dynamical systems, follow these laws. So since the celestial object “A” exerts the “F” force on the celestial object “B”, the celestial object “B” exerts an interactive force “F” on the celestial object “A” also. All celestial objects exert gravitational influences on each other. Scientists believe, once upon a time, the Sun would be much hotter than what it is today. By that point, this high temperature leads to extinction of the entire existence of life on Earth. When the gravitational force changes, a space particle may either get departed from the other particle or come closer to the other particle.

- by Peiman Ghasemi
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- Nuclear Engineering, Mathematics, Earth Sciences, Physics

It is possible in the future that Mars might be transformed into a habitable planet by a process of global environmental engineering known as terraforming. This paper provides a thumb-nail sketch of the terraforming concepts that have appeared in the technical literature, focussing on the steps required in order to render Mars fir for anaerobic life. Its intention is the provide a referenced guide of progress to date for any future researchers of the subject.

- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming, Ecopoiesis

The idea that it might one day be possible to alter the prevailing conditions on Venus so that the planet is made habitable is a popular one. This is not surprising as the concept of 'terraforming' has sprung up largely from the pages of science fiction and popular science publications and has yet received only cursory scientific analysis.
This paper reviews the previous scenarios for the terraforming of Venus and their significant deficiencies are identified. It is shown that in particular, the proposed timescales are too short, and final conditions achieved would be far from those necessary to make Venus truly habitable.
A more detailed model for the terraforming of Venus is presented. Principal findings are that an energy expenditure of ~ 10^30 J, over a time period optimistically estimated at 16500 years would be necessary. The great length of time required to complete the terraforming is more than compensated for by the end result--an earthlike, habitable planet, but still in many respects a unique and exotic world.

- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming, Ecopoiesis

The outcome of terraforming on Mars is examined by considering the function of its biosphere. By borrowing a life-support model of the Earth's biosphere, scenarios of ecopoiesis and full terraforming are contrasted in terms of their energy flow and matter cycling. It is argued that Martian colonists are unlikely to be satisfied with the services provided by the anaerobic biosphere produced by ecopoiesis and that full terraforming will be the specific goal of planetary engineering. The distance of Mars from the sun and its probable lack of a closed rock cycle will require small scale, conscious intervention in biogeochemical cycles to maintain the habitability of the planet. Vernadsky's concept of the noosphere (an envelope of mind) will thus have more relevance to Mars as an abode of life than Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis.

- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Colonization of Mars, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming

Aspects of currently understood planetology relevant to the possibility of terraforming Mars are reviewed. Evidence that Mars may have been naturally habitable in the past, for at least anaerobic life, is supportive of the feasibility of rendering the planet habitable in the future. The physical and the chemical state of the intrinsic resources needed for such a task and their whereabouts are less certain. However, what constraints can be placed provide a context in which superficially realistic terraforming models can be proposed. It is argued that the detailed knowledge needed in order to assess the ultimate realism of terraforming requires the presence of a permanently established population, exploring Mars as part of living there.

- by Martyn Fogg
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- Colonization of Mars, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming, Ecopoiesis

A two-stage terraforming scenario is outlined for Mars. The approach adopted differs from past methodology in two ways. It adopts a more conservative and plausible Martian volatile inventory. Possible planetary engineering solutions, including possible synergic use of terraforming techniques, are examined in detail. In the first stage, the Martian environment is modified to a state where it can support microbial and hardy plant life in approximately 200 years. While this step is conceptually similar to past scenarios, it differs greatly in detail. The second stage deals with the creation of conditions tolerable for human beings over a period of approximately 21,000 years. It is concluded that terraforming Mars is possible but not by the passive, or near-spontaneous, methods favored by some workers. A powerful industrial effort is required both on the planet's surface and in space as will be continuing technological intervention to stabilize the postterraformed regime.

- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Colonization of Mars, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming

One of the stated goals of NASAs Astrobiology Institute is to investigate the possibility of whether life can spread beyond its home planet: What is the potential for survival and biological evolution beyond the planet of origin? This boils down to where we are going as a species, and the really big question is, could Mars have a biosphere once again? In October 2000 a two-day conference entitled The Physics and Biology of making Mars Habitable was organised by Chris McKay at the NASA Ames Laboratory to discuss the possibility of one day changing the climate of Mars to a more Earth-like environment, suitable for terrestrial species to flourish. Twenty six papers, by an international cast of authors, were listed on the programme and the attendance was so good that the venue had to be transferred to a larger auditorium.

- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Colonization of Mars, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming
- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Geoengineering, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming
- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Geoengineering, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming

Humanity is on the verge of having the capability of
constructively directing environmental changes on a planetary
scale. Within the foreseeable future, we will have the
technology to modify Mars' environment, and make it a
habitable planet. However, we do not have enough information
to determine the course of such an event. To our knowledge, no
known terrestrial organism has the capability of living on Mars'
surface under present conditions. However, with some
modification, Mars' environment could be brought into the
survival and growth range of currently known microorganisms.
Using the SHOT Ecopoesis Testbed, we performed
survival/growth experiments to determine the suitability of
potential pioneering life forms for Mars. Included among the
potential pioneers were five genera of cyanobacteria (Anabaena,
Chroococcidiopsis, Plectonema, Synechococcus and
Synechocystis), three partially-characterized Atacama Desert
heterotrophic eubacterial strains, and several desert varnish
isolates. Microorganisms were exposed to a present-day mix of
martian atmospheric gases, but at a pressure of 100 mbar (10
times Mars' current atmospheric pressure). Cultures were
inoculated into samples of JSC Mars-1 soil stimulant and
exposed to full-spectrum simulated martian sunlight. Day/night
temperature cycled from 26°C to -80°C and back. Preliminary
results indicate that both autotrophic and heterotrophic bacteria
can survive in the simulated engineered martian environment.

- by David Thomas
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- Astrobiology, Mars, Ecopoeisis, Terraformation
- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Geoengineering, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming
- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Geoengineering, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming
- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Geoengineering, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming
- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Geoengineering, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming
- by Louis Armand
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- Nuclear Weapons, Deconstruction, Teratology, Chaos Theory
- by Martyn Fogg
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- Planetary Engineering, Terraforming, Astrophysical Engineering

While proposals for settling in the space frontier have appeared in the technical literature for over 20 years, it is in the case of Mars that the ethical dimensions of space settlement have been most studied. Mars raises the questions of the rights and wrongs of the enterprise more forcefully because: (a) Mars may possess a primitive biota; and (b) it may be possible to terraform Mars and transform the entire planet into a living world. The moral questions implicit in space settlement are examined below from the standpoints of four theories of environmental ethics: anthropocentrism, zoocentrism, ecocentrism and preservationism. In the absence of extraterrestrial life, only preservationism concludes that space settlement would be immoral if it was seen to be to the benefit of terrestrial life. Even if Mars is not sterile, protection for Martian life can be argued for either on intrinsic or instrumental grounds from the standpoints of all of these theories. It is argued further that a strict preservationist ethic is untenable as it assumes that human consciousness, creativity, culture and technology stand outside nature, rather than having been a product of natural selection. If Homo sapiens is the first spacefaring species to have evolved on Earth, space settlement would not involve acting outside nature, but legitimately within our
nature.

- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Environmental Ethics, Planetary Engineering, Planetary Protection

Jupiter might be turned into an artificial star by seeding it with a primordial black hole of approximately 10^-4 Earth masses. Eddington limited accretion onto the hole would produce sufficient energy to create an ecosphere ~ 7x10^8 m from Jupiter, giving effective temperatures for Europa and Ganymede similar to the values for Earth and Mars respectively. As the black hole grows, so does its Eddington limit and its accretion luminosity; Jupiter would exponentially brighten. The Galilean satellite zone would remain habitable for ~ 10 -- 100 million years. After this time, Jupiter might be surrounded by a miniature Dyson Sphere until, about half a billion years after stellification, the planet would have to be dismantled to starve the hole of any further mass to prevent it from becoming dangerously over-luminous.
The feasibility of this scenario depends upon (1) the prevalence of primordial black holes; (2) the existence of a technologically advanced civilisation within the future Solar System and (3) a modest to high value for the efficiency of conversion of rest mass to energy for black hole accretion from a dense medium. All three of these assumptions are reasonable, given the magnitude of uncertainty in each case.

- by Martyn Fogg
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- Planetary Engineering, Terraforming, Ecopoiesis, Astrophysical Engineering

The widespread growth of plants on Mars following ecopoiesis has often been invoked as a method of generating atmospheric oxygen. However, one issue that has been overlooked in this regard is the fact that terrestrial plants do no thrive under conditions of low oxygen tension. A review of the relevant botanical literature reveals that the high oxygen demands of root respiration could limit the introduction of most plants on Mars until after terraforming has raised the atmospheric pO2 to 20 - 100 mbar. A variety of physiological strategies are discussed which, if it is possible to implement them in a genetically engineered plant specifically designed for life on Mars, might allow this problem to be overcome.

- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Colonization of Mars, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming
- by Vincent Normand
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- Walter Benjamin, Buckminster Fuller, Postmodernism, Counter Culture
- by Martyn Fogg
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- Colonization of Mars, Planetary Engineering, Terraforming, Ecopoiesis
- by David Thomas
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- Genetic Engineering, Ecopoeisis, Terraformation, Planetary Engineering

Previous studies of the possible abundance of Earth-like, habitable, planets in the Galaxy all suggest that they are very uncommon. Recent analyses of the possibility of terraforming Mars and Venus have shown that such projects would require far greater time, resources and commitment than often supposed. Thus an ever more common view of human destiny is that, if interstellar migration and settlement ever takes place, planet-dwelling as a lifestyle will be almost totally abandoned. This view is challenged, with the aid of a computer simulation of planetary formation and evolution. In contrast to previous work on the prevalence of habitable planets, this study takes into account new ideas concerning the planetary geochemical carbon cycle - a climatic negative feedback process capable of maintaining surface temperatures above 273 K over a wider range of illuminance than previously thought likely. This new model predicts an abundance of 1 habitable planet per 500 field stars, giving a separation between such planets of ~ 32 LY. However, a much more substantial population of planets are predicted (1 per 37 stars) which, whilst not fully Earthlike, would be capable of hosting life and which would be far more amenable to terraforming than Mars or Venus. These 'easily terraformable planets,' which would require little more than a modification of their illuminance levels, would be separated by only ~ 14 LY. Thus, if the possibility of modest terraforming of extra-solar planets is taken into account, the number of potentially Earthlike planetary colonisation sites is greatly increased.

- by Martyn Fogg
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- Planetary Engineering, Terraforming, Interstellar Travel, Ecopoiesis
- by David Thomas
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- Mars, Extremophiles, Terraformation, Planetary Engineering

This paper presents an innovative soft computing architecture based on a combination of DAI (distributed artificial intelligence), fuzzy-genetic driven embedded-agents and IP Internet technology applied to the domain of intelligent-buildings. It describes the nature of intelligent buildings (IB) and embedded-agents, explaining the unique control and learning problems they present. We show how fuzzy -logic techniques can be used to create a behaviour-based multi-agent architecture in intelligent-buildings. We discuss how this approach deals with the highly unpredictable and imprecise nature of the physical world in which the system is situated, and how embedded-agents can be constructed that utilise sensory information to learn to perform tasks related to user comfort, energy conservation, and safety. We explain in detail our machine learning methodology that is based on a novel genetic algorithm mechanism referred to as an associative experience engine (AEE) and present the results of practical experiments. We compare results obtained from the AEE approach to that of the widely known Mendel-Wang method. Finally we explain potential applications for such systems ranging from commercial buildings to living-area control systems for space vehicles and planetary habitation modules.

- by Victor Callaghan and +1
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- Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Design Computation (Architecture), Planetary Science
- by David Thomas
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- Ecopoeisis, Terraformation, Planetary Engineering
- by Teshager Teshager Endale
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- Energy, Wavelet Transform, Scale, Frequency

The growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in denitrifying medium was observed for 14 days in the presence of a
martian soil analog (JSC Mars-1) and elevated CO2 levels. A four-way test was conducted comparing growth of
experimental samples to growth in the presence of inert silica (Earth soil) and normal terrestrial atmosphere.
The combination of 50 mL of fluorescence-denitrification medium and 10 grams of soil additive simulated an
aquatic environment, which was contained in sealed culture bottles. Nitrite assays of the media (to test for
consumption during denitrification), gas sampling from the bottles to observe nitrogen production, and colony
counts to quantify growth rate were all performed at 0, 7 and 14 days after inoculation. Supplemental tests
performed included nitrate assays (to confirm the occurrence of denitrification) and culture fluorescence (as a
non-invasive growth test). Growth and denitrification took place under all conditions, and no significant differences
were observed between samples. These data indicate that the presence of simulated martian regolith and
elevated CO2 have little or no effect on the growth of or denitrification by P. aeruginosa at the concentrations
used.

- by David Thomas
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- Astrobiology, Mars, Terra Sigillata, Pseudomonas
- by Martyn Fogg
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- Astrobiology, Geoengineering, Ecopoeisis, Planetary Engineering

The purpose of this mapping project was to create a cartographically accurate representation of an Exploration Zone at the Eastern Valles Marineris out-flow region within equatorial Mars. There are numerous problems associated with mapping planetary surfaces. Data and imagery for Exploration Zones at a spatial and spectral resolution sufficient for human landing site evaluation and traverse planning have not been acquired yet. Additionally, as technology evolves, it is very difficult to extrapolate which mapping technologies will be used in the near and far future. In order to create this map, assumptions about the future of mapping had to be made, publicly released data for the area of interest had to be sourced, and data analysis had to be performed. One of the key elements of a successful mission is how to communicate the geospatial aspects of the mission planning process to the general public. The results show that using existing data and traditional static car-tographic methods, even extra-terrestrial geographic discoveries can be made and disseminated to the public in an attractive and easily understood format.

- by Eian Ray
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- Cartography, Planetary Science, Planetary Geology, Planetary exploration

By this article we can clearly understand questions like “is it really mentioned in Mahabarata about Pluto?”,who found the Pluto first ? , what is the meaning of Pluto ? “, who named the planet X as PLUTO? “Is it true that SAGE Veda Vyasa mentioned about the planet X in Mahabharata?, What are the recent findings of NASA about the Planet X ( Pluto),? It is just an overview or review article about Pluto, and mention of planet x in Mahabharata at my utmost knowledge, some of the use full data regarding the planet such as density, mass, dia, ….Etc,. by NASA are tabulated here for general understanding,

- by Santhosh A Kumar
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- Planetary Science, Planetary exploration, Extrasolar planets, Vedic Astrology
- by James Schwartz
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- Applied Ethics, Environmental Ethics, Space Policy, Space Exploration