terraforming – Techdirt (original) (raw)
Stories filed under: "terraforming"
DailyDirt: Making Mars More Like Earth
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
The goal of living on Mars is getting some media attention (because everyone continues to want to save Matt Damon apparently). It’s seriously difficult to live on Mars unless we make some major changes to its atmosphere and climate, and somehow turn the clock back to make Mars warmer and more water-friendly. People are thinking about ways to terraform Mars, but it’s an enormous project that isn’t quite environmentally friendly to our alien neighbors (if they exist).
- Elon Musk made an offhand remark about terraforming Mars quickly — using nuclear weapons. Musk has elaborated a bit, saying he’s talking about exploding nuclear fusion bombs above BOTH the north and south poles of Mars — every few seconds — to create artificial suns that would warm up the surface of the red planet. Sure, that’d be a great way to get rid of some nuclear weapons, right? (Hold on. Does Musk have nuclear weapons?!?) [url]
- The microbial colonization of Mars is another way we might make Mars a bit more habitable for us. Terraforming an entire planet with microbes would take a while (an eon?), but the Earth itself is evidence that it can be done. The right microbes to do the job might even already exist here at home. [url]
- Lessons from Biosphere 2 might teach us a few things about how to terraform Mars — and instead of detonating nuclear weapons over our neighboring planet, we might just want to pollute its atmosphere with perfluorocarbons to get a runaway greenhouse gas effect going. But perhaps we shouldn’t be messing with other planets when we have no idea what we’re doing to our own. [url]
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Filed Under: biosphere 2, colonization, elon musk, mars, microbes, nuclear weapons, space, space exploration, terraforming
DailyDirt: It's Not So Simple To Get To Mars…
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
The shortest distance between the Earth and Mars varies depending on where the two planets are in their respective orbits. In July 2018, Mars will be a little under 36 million miles away (pretty close to the closest possible distance of 33.9 million miles). However, it’s not quite as simple as shooting a big rocket aimed in the right direction. If astronauts are going to survive the trip (and the return?), no one has the technology to do that yet. Manned space exploration sounds like a noble venture, but funding it seems to be a big problem.
- NASA has a bunch of unsolved problems that it’s asking the public to help solve. There are monetary rewards for solutions that could help establish colonies on Mars. Innocentive is handling the submission process, and some of the challenges have already been awarded. (The challenge for achieving independence from Earth is ending just a couple days after July 4th.) [url]
- How does the US measure up in the modern space race? Perhaps we’re asking the wrong questions, and the space race shouldn’t be about competition as much as global cooperation and collaboration. Over 70 countries have some kind of space program now, but maybe we shouldn’t be trying to elbow our way past fellow humans to claim mining rights in deep space? [url]
- If people really see Mars as a “backup planet” for our existing biosphere, perhaps we ought to make it more comfortable before we go there. Terraforming Mars with genetically engineered microbes might be the way to do it. Or not. Should we really be messing around with planetary-scale biology experiments? [url]
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Filed Under: astronauts, biotech, crowdsourcing, gmo, manned missions, mars, space, space exploration, space race, terraforming
Companies: darpa, innocentive, nasa
DailyDirt: Life on Mars
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Manned missions to Mars have been in the works for decades, but we still haven’t worked out all the details for getting humans to safely set foot on the red planet. Technology has clearly improved since the 1970s, so we’re likely closer to solving the challenges of landing people on Mars than ever before. Some astronauts might accept a one-way ticket, but it might be nice for those adventurers to have a committed, long-term supply line so that their excursion lasts as long as possible. Here are just a few links that might be interesting for future astronauts.
- Curious features on the surface of Mars could be explained by blocks of dry ice carving out tracks as they slide down slopes, leaving behind odd “linear gullies” after the frozen carbon dioxide sublimes. If any one-way astronauts make it to Mars, they should try out this kind of snowboarding, #YOLO! [url]
- Ancient plants found on Earth could help us look for similar kinds of life on Mars. Bryophytes might be more easily grown in the harsh conditions of space, and some of these plants can reprogram themselves to adapt and grow into different kinds of plants. [url]
- The Office of Planetary Protection tries to protect extra-terrestrial environments in space from contamination caused by human activities. But preventing biological contamination from Mars-bound spacecraft could be a waste of effort and funding, according to some scientists. [url]
If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Filed Under: astrobiology, astronauts, bryophytes, dry ice, mars, office of planetary protection, snowboarding, sterilization, terraforming
Companies: nasa