Category Archives: Terraforming Mars

Destiny 2s science fiction future several hundred years from now includes a human race, and a couple sort-of human subspecies, colonizing the solar system at large. Miraculously, some of these planets we get to explore are alien-like worlds far beyond the realms of possibility or are they?

The science behind terraforming is mostly a theoretical science that has not been executed by humankind yet, but has been vastly explored in movies such as the Alien universe as well as literature and TV shows, like The Expanse (one of the best sci-fi TV shows based on books). And of course, video games and board games too (were looking at you, Terraforming Mars).

However, the video game Destiny 2 may have some more realistic portrayals than you might expect of what a terraformed planet might look like. So, heres how each of the current planets in Destiny 2 stack up in how terraforming might transform these worlds.

Seen briefly in Destiny 2 and a main destination in the first Destiny, Venus is a lush jungle world with almost constant storms and a thick fog keeping visibility to a minimum. While youd think stepping outside in a Venusian storm would mean your skin would be dissolved by the acid rain, in Destinys case thats not what happens.

In Destinys timeline, the Traveler transformed Venus atmosphere to something similar to Earths, if the whole planet were a rainforest. The magic energies also blessed the planet with exotic plant and animal life, granting people the ability to breathe largely without difficulty in the open air. However, after the Traveler left and sometime after the Collapse the cataclysmic event where a mysterious force nearly wiped out all of mankind in the solar system and the Traveler with it Venus has become a harsher environment with ...vents that blasted sulfuric gases and lightning storms plaguing the skies above.

Barely habitable, Venus sits somewhere between a lush garden and the sickly yellow hellscape it once was. Efforts of the post-Collapse fleets do portray some kind of project to restart or complete the terraforming of Venus, but this story has yet to bear any real fruit. Like in this video by Kurzgesagt that explains the process of terraforming Venus step-by-step, it seems like the Traveler changed Venus atmosphere by converting the carbon dioxide through chemical reactions and cooled the planet to a point where the temperature was habitable.

Then there was the miraculous blessing of the Light that advanced evolution over the course of a few centuries rather than millennia or eons, so life quickly appeared. Somewhere along the lines, the terraforming was halted, or reversed, by something and Venus became this in-between world. So, you could survive the atmospheric pressures of Venus, but you might not want to be breathing the air for too long due to the excessive presence of sulphur in the air from the geothermal vents.

Appearance-wise, the planet makes a lot of sense with its yellow sky, the rocky ground mixed with jungle life, and the deserts out in the fictional wasteland areas of Venus. What we see portrayed here in Destiny 2 is very similar to what little weve seen of Venus real-life surface, thanks to various space missions like the Soviet Venera-13. The mix of fantasy and realistic portrayals of this otherwise wicked landscape give Bungies depiction of a colonized Venus a rather good outlook, apocalypse from beyond our galaxy be damned.

Appearing in both Destiny and Destiny 2, up through to the launch of the expansion Beyond Light in 2020, Mars was the classic desert-like destination video games are known for. Harsh windstorms whipping around ruins of buildings, red sand dunes piled up in the streets, and a pale white sky like midday in Death Valley paints a rather grim picture for this planet.

Even though the first cutscene in Destiny from 2014 showed that the Traveler did terraform Mars by introducing an atmosphere and even rain, the unrelenting winds and sands didnt recede at all. Even centuries after the initial colonization of Mars, Destiny 2 depicts constant severe winds and desert conditions despite a habitable atmosphere for humans. Plant life was at least present at some point, with petrified trees and weeds scattered about the environment.

Comparing the conditions of a terraformed Mars to what weve seen from real life expeditions to the red planet, its entirely feasible that a somewhat failed terraforming of Mars would look like how Destiny portrays it. No matter how much you make it rain, the red dirt would be pretty much everywhere because of all the iron in the surface soil. Images from high-profile missions like the Curiosity rover or the Viking lander show a desert landscape with reddish, rocky soil and a bright sky during the day. Comparatively, its a very accurate translation to what a terraformed Mars could be like. The desert surroundings portray a livable, but somewhat bleak environment that could quickly overtake any civilization if it is neglected for too long due to excessive weathering.

Europa, the smallest Galilean moon of Jupiter, is the newest destination to be featured in the Destiny 2 expansion Beyond Light, released in November of 2020. Probably one of the more important destinations in Destiny, Europa is a barren arctic environment swirling with strong winds and ice storms. Weather-beaten outposts dot the landscape, ruined by neglect, or destroyed by ongoing conflict. Even though the Traveler did not terraform this moon, that did not stop the various organizations from Earth coming to Europa to uncover this worlds many secrets.

What little we do know about Europa is fascinating. The real icy moon of Jupiter does seem to harbor liquid oceans, possibly of actual water, covered with a thick layer of water-ice. The red veins seen from images of Europa captured by NASA indicate the presence of heavy minerals in the ice. Europa in Destiny 2 also shows similar reddish hues in chunks of ice around the explorable areas, which is consistent with our own real-life discoveries. Some studies also presume that Europa could be home to some form of life in its liquid oceans given the correct conditions.

The representation of Europa in Destiny 2 is based on real ideas with some artistic license mixed in. For example, the constant blizzards are a great tool for conveying mood in the video game, but in reality there is no observable wind on Europa. Facilities like the Braytech labs and Deep Stone Crypt would likely be how we could live on Europa long-term, with buildings that penetrate down into the ice and utilize the contents of the ice to generate oxygen for air to breathe. The buildings would be sealed by airlocks, and climate control systems would assist in creating livable conditions for people.

While a lot of Bungies depictions of these places are largely fantastical ideas of colonized worlds blessed by some space-magic, theyve clearly done their homework here on how to create viable living spaces in these hostile environments. You can tell there has been some real thought put into the back story, weaving in existing interpretations of how humankind would colonize these worlds using advanced technology, as well as what a little help from an omniscient being would do.

Its safe to say that Bungie know what theyre doing when it comes to blending science and fantasy they are, after all, the original creators of the famous sci-fi military franchise Halo, which has been going strong for 20 years. Their depictions of a future well out of our grasp is grounded in real science and Destiny 2 reveals what we find to be a great execution of what our off-Earth endeavors would look like (failures and all). Of course, there are some embellishments to build up a bit more excitement and interest, but this has helped to create this unique Destiny universe of thats definitely worth exploring.

If you want to learn more about Destiny 2, then youll want to read the science behind Destiny 2s Lorentz Driver weapon. If that hasnt quite quenched your thirst for knowledge, then check out the 5 most realistic space movies too and see how scientifically accurate they really are.

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How realistic are the terraformed planets of Destiny 2? - Space.com

Thats the stage "The Expanse" laid out for its first season, which explored this fragile ecosystem through various characters with disparate allegiances. Theres Josephus Miller (Thomas Jane, sporting a fedora and floppy space haircut), a Belter detective of the classic mold who unravels a conspiracy surrounding a missing rich girl. Theres UN undersecretary Chrisjen Avasarala (Oscar nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo, with a mouth as filthy as her costumes are gorgeous), working every political angle to stave off war.

And dont forget the surviving crew of the ice hauler Canterburyled by Steven Straits reluctant do-gooder James Holdenon the run from sinister forces in their stolen Martian gunship they eventually name Rocinante (after Don Quixotes horse).

Future seasons expand the cast, and the shows scope, to suitably operatic effect. In season two, we get a glimpse of Mars stake in the fight through Martian Marine Bobbie Draper (Frankie Adams), wholl grow to become a trusted ally of both Avasarala and the Roci crew. The internecine conflicts between various factions of the Belt play out through more moderate (David Strathairns Klaes Ashford, Cara Gees Camina Drummer) and radical (Jared Harris Anderson Dawes, Keon Alexanders fanatical Marco Inaros) voices.

This is compounded by the protomolecule, the shows sole concession to the fantastical, whose properties shift and change as it carries out its mercurial purpose. (Eventually, it builds an interstellar Ring near Uranus that permits transit to other unoccupied systems, leading to a new Gold Rush that widens humanitys existing fractures.)

From theintricately-structured first episode, "The Expanse" lays out a lived-in sci-fi universe that embraces the real-world physics of space travel, and the ways those limitations can exacerbate existing human conflicts like resource distribution and political power. Ice and water are more valuable than gold, and a missing shipment in the Belt can lead to riots and rationing. Belter terrorists can be tortured simply by sending them to Earth to suffer in its more punishing gravity. Rising oceans and overpopulation on Earth have led to increasing demand for resources from space, further motivating humanitys hope to maintain its stranglehold on the Belt.

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Here Comes the Juice: The Expanse Changed How We Think About Sci-Fi Storytelling | TV/Streaming - Roger Ebert

At Space.com, we love board games and we've been on the hunt for the best Cyber Monday space board game deals this weekend and come up with an interstellar haul.

Whether it's a space-faring twist on a classic family game or a whole new style of play, there are many well-rated games that have gone on sale for Black Friday. Read on below for a look at Terraforming Mars, The Search for Planet X and more great space board game deals for Black Friday.

If you're looking for more deals during Black Friday, we've compiled a range of deal hubs covering everything from Cyber Monday VR headset deals to Cyber Monday Binocular deals. We've also got specialized deal hubs for Cyber Monday Lego space deals and Cyber Monday telescope deals if youre looking for something in particular.in the meantime, here's what we've found for great space board game deals this Cyber Monday.

Right now, The Search for Planet X is on sale for $34.99 at Amazon, down from $44.99, and allows you and some friends to play as astronomers that are trying to find a hypothetical planet.

A companion app allows players to perform scans and attend conferences to gain information about where these celestial objects are located. A player wins the 60 to 75-minute game by successfully finding the location of Planet X.

The Crew - Quest for Planet Nine is slashed to just $5.09 at Amazon, a 66% savings, and is a space game that offers three to five players engage in a trick-taking card game that gets harder the longer you play.

As players complete 50 different missions across the solar system, they need to work together in this collaborative game in order to win.

Who wouldn't want to go to the moon? You can land (see what we did there) Apollo: A Collaborative Game for $11.99 at Amazon (that's 50% off) for Black Friday.

The game is inspired by the real-life NASA lunar missions (it's full name is literally "Apollo: A Collaborative Game Inspired by NASA Missions") and it is suited for two to five players. The goal is simple: get to the moon and back in the year 1961.

We're sure NASA would have loved to have made its own moon landing at half the price.

Dune: A Game of Conquest and Diplomacy is a board game from Gale Force Nine that puts you in the shoes of young Paul Atreides (or if you prefer, a Harkonnen) in a contest to win control of the most important planet in the galaxy: Dune, Arrakis, a desert planet. The game is 9% off for Black Friday at $45.68, down from $50.

Suitable for 2 to 4 players ages 12 and up, this game puts you in the science fiction classic by author Frank Herbert (and the 2021 film remake) to play as one of four different factions: House Atreides (yay!), House Harkonnen (boo!), the Fremen (yay!) and the Imperium (boo!). You goal: Win control of Arrakis and its valuable Spice. The average game takes from 30 to 60 minutes.

it's worth noting that there are two other versions of the Dune board game from Gale Force Nine. The Classic version is 8% off at $45.79 and meant for 2 to 6 players; and a separate version, Dune: Betrayal from the 2021 film, is $39, but not on sale. That game is meant for 4 to 8 players.

When it comes to Star Wars Monopoly, "this is the way."

Monopoly Star Wars: The Mandalorian Edition is just $20 at Amazon, saving you 52% (about $22) in a unique twist on the traditional Hasbro board game. The game features player tokens of recognizable characters like The Mandalorian (of course), Ahsoka Tano, Boba Fett and Bo-Katan, and each of them has their own special abilities and a character card.

Grogu, AKA Baby Yoda, does make an appearance on the board, and you'll have to protect him (and use his sweet Force skills) of you land on his spot. Finally, the Empire won't sit quietly while you play with your friends, so you'll have watch out for Stormtrooper, Dark Trooper and Moff Gideon enemies to make sure they don't get Grogu. May the Force be with you always!

Terraforming Mars, which is 26% off at Amazon, asks players to both work together (yet also compete) to build a sustainable habitat on Mars for humanity to thrive. Players split into factions of different corporations (each with their strengths for resources) to warm the planet Mars, find water and more make the place fit to live.

You can get Twilight Imperium for 27% off and save $45 at Amazon to score one of the most popular space opera board games available today. The base game has been a round for more than 20 years, and this deal will land you its 4th edition.

Twilight Imperium is an intergalactic battle board game with gameplay that's reminiscent of Dungeons & Dragons. It puts each player in command of one of 17 different factions like the trade masterminds Emirates of Hacan or the wormhole-hopping Ghosts of Creuss. Once factions are set up, players compete in war, trade, politics and allegiances to rule the galaxy.

The well-rated Race for the Galaxy card game is now 43% off at Amazon, a savings of $15. With this game, two to four players work to build their own galactic civilizations and gain victory points in the process.

Race for the Galaxy is made of cards that represent worlds, technical or social developments. Players can choose from seven different action cards in each round, and each round consists of five possible phases. Once you get your footing and find yourself wanting more, you can check out Race for the Galaxy extension games such as Xeno Invasion or Alien Artifacts.

Star Wars Imperial Assault is 20% off at Amazon, a savings of $20, and offers a game that's both suitable for single play or up to a group of five. The game places participants within the original trilogy.

You can play as a hero of the Rebellion or fight alongside the Galactic Empire to battle over conflicting objectives with other players.

Be sure to check out Space.com's Cyber Monday Space deals, or our guide to the Best space board games of the year.

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Cyber Monday space board game deals: Save up to 66% on space and sci-fi board games - Space.com

Hypothetical modification of Mars into a habitable planet

The terraforming of Mars or the terraformation of Mars is a hypothetical procedure that would consist of a planetary engineering project or concurrent projects, with the goal of transforming the planet from one hostile to terrestrial life to one that can sustainably host humans and other lifeforms free of protection or mediation. The process would presumably involve the rehabilitation of the planet's extant climate, atmosphere, and surface through a variety of resource-intensive initiatives, and the installation of a novel ecological system or systems.

Justifications for choosing Mars over other potential terraforming targets include the presence of water and a geological history that suggests it once harbored a dense atmosphere similar to Earths. Hazards and difficulties include low gravity, low light levels relative to Earths, and the lack of a magnetic field.

Disagreement exists about whether current technology could render the planet habitable. Other objections include ethical concerns about terraforming and the considerable cost that such an undertaking would involve. Reasons for terraforming the planet include allaying concerns about resource use and depletion on Earth and arguments that the altering and subsequent or concurrent settlement of other planets decreases the odds of humanity's extinction.

Future population growth, demand for resources, and an alternate solution to the Doomsday argument may require human colonization of bodies other than Earth, such as Mars, the Moon, and other objects. Space colonization would facilitate harvesting the Solar System's energy and material resources.[2]

In many aspects, Mars is the most Earth-like of all the other planets in the Solar System. It is thought[3] that Mars had a more Earth-like environment early in its geological history, with a thicker atmosphere and abundant water that was lost over the course of hundreds of millions of years through atmospheric escape. Given the foundations of similarity and proximity, Mars would make one of the most plausible terraforming targets in the Solar System.

Side effects of terraforming include the potential displacement or destruction of indigenous life, even if microbial, if such life exists.[4][5][6][7]

The Martian environment presents several terraforming challenges to overcome and the extent of terraforming may be limited by certain key environmental factors. Here is a list of some of the ways in which Mars differs from Earth, which terraforming seeks to address:

Mars doesn't have an intrinsic global magnetic field, but the solar wind directly interacts with the atmosphere of Mars, leading to the formation of a magnetosphere from magnetic field tubes.[13] This poses challenges for mitigating solar radiation and retaining an atmosphere.

The lack of a magnetic field, its relatively small mass, and its atmospheric photochemistry, all would have contributed to the evaporation and loss of its surface liquid water over time.[14] Solar windinduced ejection of Martian atmospheric atoms has been detected by Mars-orbiting probes, indicating that the solar wind has stripped the Martian atmosphere over time. For comparison, while Venus has a dense atmosphere, it has only traces of water vapor (20 ppm) as it lacks a large, dipole induced, magnetic field.[13][15][14]Earth's ozone layer provides additional protection. Ultraviolet light is blocked before it can dissociate water into hydrogen and oxygen.[16]

The surface gravity on Mars is 38% of that on Earth. It is not known if this is enough to prevent the health problems associated with weightlessness.[17]

Mars's CO2 atmosphere has about 1% the pressure of the Earth's at sea level. It is estimated that there is sufficient CO2 ice in the regolith and the south polar cap to form a 30 to 60 kilopascals [kPa] (4.4 to 8.7psi) atmosphere if it is released by planetary warming.[18] The reappearance of liquid water on the Martian surface would add to the warming effects and atmospheric density,[18] but the lower gravity of Mars requires 2.6 times Earth's column airmass to obtain the optimum 100kPa (15psi) pressure at the surface.[19] Additional volatiles to increase the atmosphere's density must be supplied from an external source, such as redirecting several massive asteroids (40-400 billion tonnes total) containing ammonia (NH3) as a source of nitrogen.[18]

Current conditions in the Martian atmosphere, at less than 1kPa (0.15psi) of atmospheric pressure, are significantly below the Armstrong limit of 6kPa (0.87psi) where very low pressure causes exposed bodily liquids such as saliva, tears, and the liquids wetting the alveoli within the lungs to boil away. Without a pressure suit, no amount of breathable oxygen delivered by any means will sustain oxygen-breathing life for more than a few minutes.[20][21] In the NASA technical report Rapid (Explosive) Decompression Emergencies in Pressure-Suited Subjects, after exposure to pressure below the Armstrong limit, a survivor reported that his "last conscious memory was of the water on his tongue beginning to boil".[21] In these conditions humans die within minutes unless a pressure suit provides life support.

If Mars' atmospheric pressure could rise above 19kPa (2.8psi), then a pressure suit would not be required. Visitors would only need to wear a mask that supplied 100% oxygen under positive pressure. A further increase to 24kPa (3.5psi) of atmospheric pressure would allow a simple mask supplying pure oxygen.[22][clarification needed] This might look similar to mountain climbers who venture into pressures below 37kPa (5.4psi), also called the death zone, where an insufficient amount of bottled oxygen has often resulted in hypoxia with fatalities.[23] However, if the increase in atmospheric pressure was achieved by increasing CO2 (or other toxic gas) the mask would have to ensure the external atmosphere did not enter the breathing apparatus. CO2 concentrations as low as 1% cause drowsiness in humans. Concentrations of 7% to 10% may cause suffocation, even in the presence of sufficient oxygen. (See Carbon dioxide toxicity.)

According to scientists, Mars exists on the outer edge of the habitable zone, a region of the Solar System where liquid water on the surface may be supported if concentrated greenhouse gases could increase the atmospheric pressure.[18] The lack of both a magnetic field and geologic activity on Mars may be a result of its relatively small size, which allowed the interior to cool more quickly than Earth's, although the details of such a process are still not well understood.[24][25]

There are strong indications that Mars once had an atmosphere as thick as Earth's during an earlier stage in its development, and that its pressure supported abundant liquid water at the surface.[26] Although water appears to have once been present on the Martian surface, ground ice currently exists from mid-latitudes to the poles.[27][28] The soil and atmosphere of Mars contain many of the main elements crucial to life, including sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon.[29]

Any climate change induced in the near term is likely to be driven by greenhouse warming produced by an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and a consequent increase in atmospheric water vapor. These two gases are the only likely sources of greenhouse warming that are available in large quantities in Mars' environment.[30] Large amounts of water ice exist below the Martian surface, as well as on the surface at the poles, where it is mixed with dry ice, frozen CO2. Significant amounts of water are located at the south pole of Mars, which, if melted, would correspond to a planetwide ocean 511 meters deep.[31][32] Frozen carbon dioxide (CO2) at the poles sublimes into the atmosphere during the Martian summers, and small amounts of water residue are left behind, which fast winds sweep off the poles at speeds approaching 400km/h (250mph).[citation needed][original research?] This seasonal occurrence transports large amounts of dust and water ice into the atmosphere, forming Earth-like ice clouds.[33]

Most of the oxygen in the Martian atmosphere is present as carbon dioxide (CO2), the main atmospheric component. Molecular oxygen (O2) only exists in trace amounts. Large amounts of oxygen can be also found in metal oxides on the Martian surface, and in the soil, in the form of per-nitrates.[34] An analysis of soil samples taken by the Phoenix lander indicated the presence of perchlorate, which has been used to liberate oxygen in chemical oxygen generators.[35] Electrolysis could be employed to separate water on Mars into oxygen and hydrogen if sufficient liquid water and electricity were available. However, if vented into the atmosphere it would escape into space.

Terraforming Mars would entail three major interlaced changes: building up the magnetosphere, building up the atmosphere, and raising the temperature. The atmosphere of Mars is relatively thin and has a very low surface pressure. Because its atmosphere consists mainly of CO2, a known greenhouse gas, once Mars begins to heat, the CO2 may help to keep thermal energy near the surface. Moreover, as it heats, more CO2 should enter the atmosphere from the frozen reserves on the poles, enhancing the greenhouse effect. This means that the two processes of building the atmosphere and heating it would augment each other, favoring terraforming. However, it would be difficult to keep the atmosphere together because of the lack of a protective global magnetic field against erosion by the solar wind.[36][37][38][39]

One method of augmenting the Martian atmosphere is to introduce ammonia (NH3). Large amounts of ammonia are likely to exist in frozen form on minor planets orbiting in the outer Solar System. It might be possible to redirect the orbits of these or smaller ammonia-rich objects so that they collide with Mars, thereby transferring the ammonia into the Martian atmosphere.[40][18] Ammonia is not stable in the Martian atmosphere, however. It breaks down into (diatomic) nitrogen and hydrogen after a few hours.[41] Thus, though ammonia is a powerful greenhouse gas, it is unlikely to generate much planetary warming. Presumably, the nitrogen gas would eventually be depleted by the same processes that stripped Mars of much of its original atmosphere, but these processes are thought to have required hundreds of millions of years. Being much lighter, the hydrogen would be removed much more quickly. Carbon dioxide is 2.5 times the density of ammonia, and nitrogen gas, which Mars barely holds on to, is more than 1.5 times the density, so any imported ammonia that did not break down would also be lost quickly into space.

Another way to create a Martian atmosphere would be to import methane (CH4) or other hydrocarbons,[42][43] which are common in Titan's atmosphere and on its surface; the methane could be vented into the atmosphere where it would act to compound the greenhouse effect.[44] However, like ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4) is a relatively light gas. It is in fact even less dense than ammonia and so would similarly be lost into space if it was introduced, and at a faster rate than ammonia. Even if a method could be found to prevent it escaping into space, methane can exist in the Martian atmosphere for only a limited period before it is destroyed. Estimates of its lifetime range from 0.64 years.[45][46]

Especially powerful greenhouse gases, such as sulfur hexafluoride, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), or perfluorocarbons (PFCs), have been suggested both as a means of initially warming Mars and of maintaining long-term climate stability.[18][19][47][30] These gases are proposed for introduction because they generate a greenhouse effect thousands of times stronger than that of CO2. Fluorine-based compounds such as sulphur hexafluoride and perfluorocarbons are preferable to chlorine-based ones as the latter destroys ozone. It has been estimated that approximately 0.3 microbars of CFCs would need to be introduced into Mars' atmosphere in order to sublimate the south polar CO2 glaciers.[47] This is equivalent to a mass of approximately 39 million tonnes, that is, about three times the amount of CFCs manufactured on Earth from 1972 to 1992 (when CFC production was banned by international treaty).[47] Maintaining the temperature would require continual production of such compounds as they are destroyed due to photolysis. It has been estimated that introducing 170 kilotons of optimal greenhouse compounds (CF3CF2CF3, CF3SCF2CF3, SF6, SF5CF3, SF4(CF3)2) annually would be sufficient to maintain a 70-K greenhouse effect given a terraformed atmosphere with earth-like pressure and composition.[19]

Typical proposals envision producing the gases on Mars using locally extracted materials, nuclear power, and a significant industrial effort. The potential for mining fluorine-containing minerals to obtain the raw material necessary for the production of CFCs and PFCs is supported by mineralogical surveys of Mars that estimate the elemental presence of fluorine in the bulk composition of Mars at 32 ppm by mass (as compared to 19.4 ppm for the Earth).[19]

Alternatively, CFCs might be introduced by sending rockets with payloads of compressed CFCs on collision courses with Mars.[34] When the rockets crashed into the surface they would release their payloads into the atmosphere. A steady barrage of these "CFC rockets" would need to be sustained for a little over a decade while Mars changed chemically and became warmer.

Mirrors made of thin aluminized PET film could be placed in orbit around Mars to increase the total insolation it receives.[18] This would direct the sunlight onto the surface and could increase Mars's surface temperature directly. The 125 km radius mirror could be positioned as a statite, using its effectiveness as a solar sail to orbit in a stationary position relative to Mars, near the poles, to sublimate the CO2 ice sheet and contribute to the warming greenhouse effect.[18]

Reducing the albedo of the Martian surface would also make more efficient use of incoming sunlight in terms of heat absorption.[48] This could be done by spreading dark dust from Mars's moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are among the blackest bodies in the Solar System; or by introducing dark extremophile microbial life forms such as lichens, algae and bacteria.[citation needed] The ground would then absorb more sunlight, warming the atmosphere. However, Mars is already the second darkest planet in the solar system, absorbing over 70% of incoming sunlight so the scope for darkening it further is small.

If algae or other green life were established, it would also contribute a small amount of oxygen to the atmosphere, though not enough to allow humans to breathe. The conversion process to produce oxygen is highly reliant upon water, without which the CO2 is mostly converted to carbohydrates.[49] In addition, because on Mars atmospheric oxygen is lost into space (unlike Earth where there is an Oxygen cycle), this would represent a permanent loss from the planet. For both of these reasons it would be necessary to cultivate such life inside a closed system. This would decrease the albedo of the closed system (assuming the growth had a lower albedo than the Martian soil), but would not affect the albedo of the planet as a whole.

On April 26, 2012, scientists reported that lichen survived and showed remarkable results on the adaptation capacity of photosynthetic activity within the simulation time of 34 days under Martian conditions in the Mars Simulation Laboratory (MSL) maintained by the German Aerospace Center (DLR).[50][51]

One final issue with albedo reduction is the common Martian dust storms. These cover the entire planet for weeks, and not only increase the albedo, but block sunlight from reaching the surface. This has been observed to cause a surface temperature drop which the planet takes months to recover from.[52] Once the dust settles it then covers whatever it lands on, effectively erasing the albedo reduction material from the view of the Sun.

Since 2014, the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program and Techshot Inc are working together to develop sealed biodomes that would employ colonies of oxygen-producing cyanobacteria and algae for the production of molecular oxygen (O2) on Martian soil.[53][54][55] But first they need to test if it works on a small scale on Mars.[56] The proposal is called Mars Ecopoiesis Test Bed.[57] Eugene Boland is the Chief Scientist at Techshot, a company located in Greenville, Indiana.[53] They intend to send small canisters of extremophile photosynthetic algae and cyanobacteria aboard a future rover mission. The rover would cork-screw the 7cm (2.8in) canisters into selected sites likely to experience transients of liquid water, drawing some Martian soil and then release oxygen-producing microorganisms to grow within the sealed soil.[53][58] The hardware would use Martian subsurface ice as its phase changes into liquid water.[56] The system would then look for oxygen given off as metabolic byproduct and report results to a Mars-orbiting relay satellite.[55][58]

If this experiment works on Mars, they will propose to build several large and sealed structures called biodomes, to produce and harvest oxygen for a future human mission to Mars life support systems.[58][59] Being able to create oxygen there would provide considerable cost-savings to NASA and allow for longer human visits to Mars than would be possible if astronauts have to transport their own heavy oxygen tanks.[59] This biological process, called ecopoiesis, would be isolated, in contained areas, and is not meant as a type of global planetary engineering for terraforming of Mars's atmosphere,[55][59] but NASA states that "This will be the first major leap from laboratory studies into the implementation of experimental (as opposed to analytical) planetary in situ research of greatest interest to planetary biology, ecopoiesis, and terraforming."[55]

Research at the University of Arkansas presented in June 2015 suggested that some methanogens could survive in Mars's low pressure.[60] Rebecca Mickol found that in her laboratory, four species of methanogens survived low-pressure conditions that were similar to a subsurface liquid aquifer on Mars. The four species that she tested were Methanothermobacter wolfeii, Methanosarcina barkeri, Methanobacterium formicicum, and Methanococcus maripaludis.[60] Methanogens do not require oxygen or organic nutrients, are non-photosynthetic, use hydrogen as their energy source and carbon dioxide (CO2) as their carbon source, so they could exist in subsurface environments on Mars.[60]

One key aspect of terraforming Mars is to protect the atmosphere (both present and future-built) from being lost into space. Some scientists hypothesize that creating a planet-wide artificial magnetosphere would be helpful in resolving this issue. According to two NIFS Japanese scientists, it is feasible to do that with current technology by building a system of refrigerated latitudinal superconducting rings, each carrying a sufficient amount of direct current.[62]

In the same report, it is claimed that the economic impact of the system can be minimized by using it also as a planetary energy transfer and storage system (SMES).

During the Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop[14] in late February 2017, NASA scientist Jim Green proposed a concept of placing a magnetic dipole field between the planet and the Sun to protect it from high-energy solar particles. It would be located at the Mars Lagrange orbit L1 at about 320 R, creating a partial and distant artificial magnetosphere. The field would need to be "Earth comparable" and sustain 50T as measured at 1 Earth-radius. The paper abstract cites that this could be achieved by a magnet with a strength of 12 teslas (10,00020,000 gauss).[63] If constructed, the shield may allow the planet to restore its atmosphere. Simulations indicate that within years, the planet would be able to achieve half the atmospheric pressure of Earth. Without solar winds stripping away at the planet, frozen carbon dioxide at the ice caps on either pole would begin to sublimate (change from a solid into a gas) and warm the equator. Ice caps would begin to melt to form an ocean. The researcher further argues that volcanic outgassing,[dubious discuss] which to some degree balances the current atmospheric loss on Earth, would replenish the atmosphere over time, enough to melt the ice caps and fill 17 of Mars' prehistoric oceans.[64][65][14]

A plasma torus along the orbit of Phobos by ionizing and accelerating particles from the moon may be sufficient to create a magnetic field strong enough to protect a terraformed Mars.[66]

The overall energy required to sublimate the CO2 from the south polar ice cap was modeled by Zubrin and McKay in 1993.[18] If using orbital mirrors, an estimated 120 MW-years of electrical energy would be required in order to produce mirrors large enough to vaporize the ice caps. This is considered the most effective method, though the least practical. If using powerful halocarbon greenhouse gases, an order of 1,000 MW-years of electrical energy would be required to accomplish this heating. However, if all of this CO2 were put into the atmosphere,it would only double[30] the current atmospheric pressure from 6 mbar to 12 mbar, amounting to about 1.2% of Earth's mean sea level pressure. The amount of warming that could be produced today by putting even 100 mbar of CO2 into the atmosphere is small, roughly of order 10K.[30] Additionally, once in the atmosphere, it likely would be removed quickly, either by diffusion into the subsurface and adsorption or by re-condensing onto the polar caps.[30]

The surface or atmospheric temperature required to allow liquid water to exist has not been determined, and liquid waterconceivably could exist when atmospheric temperatures are as low as 245K (28C; 19F). However, a warming of 10K is much less than thought necessary in order to produce liquid water.[30]

The rest is here:

Terraforming of Mars - Wikipedia

Hypothetical planetary engineering process

Terraforming or terraformation (literally, "Earth-shaping") is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology of a planet, moon, or other body to be similar to the environment of Earth to make it habitable by Earth-like life.

The concept of terraforming developed from both science fiction and actual science. Carl Sagan, an astronomer, proposed the planetary engineering of Venus in 1961, which is considered one of the first accounts of the concept.[1] The term was coined by Jack Williamson in a science-fiction short story ("Collision Orbit") published in 1942 in Astounding Science Fiction,[2] although terraforming in popular culture may predate this work.

Even if the environment of a planet could be altered deliberately, the feasibility of creating an unconstrained planetary environment that mimics Earth on another planet has yet to be verified. While Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and even the Moon have been studied in relation to the subject, Mars is usually considered to be the most likely candidate for terraforming. Much study has been done concerning the possibility of heating the planet and altering its atmosphere, and NASA has even hosted debates on the subject. Several potential methods for the terraforming of Mars may be within humanity's technological capabilities, but at present, the economic resources required to do so are far beyond that which any government or society is willing to allocate to it.

The long timescales and practicality of terraforming are also the subject of debate. As the subject has gained traction, research has expanded to other possibilities including biological terraforming, paraterraforming, and modifying humans to better suit the environments of planets and moons. Despite this, questions still remain in areas relating to the ethics, logistics, economics, politics, and methodology of altering the environment of an extraterrestrial world, presenting issues to the implementation of the concept.

The astronomer Carl Sagan proposed the planetary engineering of Venus in an article published in the journal Science in 1961.[1] Sagan imagined seeding the atmosphere of Venus with algae, which would convert water, nitrogen and carbon dioxide into organic compounds. As this process removed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the greenhouse effect would be reduced until surface temperatures dropped to "comfortable" levels. The resulting carbon, Sagan supposed, would be incinerated by the high surface temperatures of Venus, and thus be sequestered in the form of "graphite or some involatile form of carbon" on the planet's surface.[3] However, later discoveries about the conditions on Venus made this particular approach impossible. One problem is that the clouds of Venus are composed of a highly concentrated sulfuric acid solution. Even if atmospheric algae could thrive in the hostile environment of Venus's upper atmosphere, an even more insurmountable problem is that its atmosphere is simply far too thickthe high atmospheric pressure would result in an "atmosphere of nearly pure molecular oxygen" and cause the planet's surface to be thickly covered in fine graphite powder.[3] This volatile combination could not be sustained through time. Any carbon that was fixed in organic form would be liberated as carbon dioxide again through combustion, "short-circuiting" the terraforming process.[3]

Sagan also visualized making Mars habitable for human life in "Planetary Engineering on Mars" (1973), an article published in the journal Icarus.[4] Three years later, NASA addressed the issue of planetary engineering officially in a study, but used the term "planetary ecosynthesis" instead.[5] The study concluded that it was possible for Mars to support life and be made into a habitable planet. The first conference session on terraforming, then referred to as "Planetary Modeling", was organized that same year.

In March 1979, NASA engineer and author James Oberg organized the First Terraforming Colloquium, a special session at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston. Oberg popularized the terraforming concepts discussed at the colloquium to the general public in his book New Earths (1981).[6] Not until 1982 was the word terraforming used in the title of a published journal article. Planetologist Christopher McKay wrote "Terraforming Mars", a paper for the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society.[7] The paper discussed the prospects of a self-regulating Martian biosphere, and the word "terraforming" has since become the preferred term.[citation needed]In 1984, James Lovelock and Michael Allaby published The Greening of Mars.[8] Lovelock's book was one of the first to describe a novel method of warming Mars, where chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are added to the atmosphere.

Motivated by Lovelock's book, biophysicist Robert Haynes worked behind the scenes[citation needed] to promote terraforming, and contributed the neologism Ecopoiesis,[9] forming the word from the Greek , oikos, "house",[10] and , poiesis, "production".[11] Ecopoiesis refers to the origin of an ecosystem. In the context of space exploration, Haynes describes ecopoiesis as the "fabrication of a sustainable ecosystem on a currently lifeless, sterile planet". Fogg defines ecopoiesis as a type of planetary engineering and is one of the first stages of terraformation. This primary stage of ecosystem creation is usually restricted to the initial seeding of microbial life.[12] A 2019 opinion piece by Lopez, Peixoto and Rosado has reintroduced microbiology as a necessary component of any possible colonization strategy based on the principles of microbial symbiosis and their beneficial ecosystem services.[13] As conditions approach that of Earth, plant life could be brought in, and this will accelerate the production of oxygen, theoretically making the planet eventually able to support animal life.

In 1985, Martyn J. Fogg started publishing several articles on terraforming. He also served as editor for a full issue on terraforming for the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society in 1992. In his book Terraforming: Engineering Planetary Environments (1995), Fogg proposed the following definitions for different aspects related to terraforming:[12]

Fogg also devised definitions for candidate planets of varying degrees of human compatibility:[14]

Fogg suggests that Mars was a biologically compatible planet in its youth, but is not now in any of these three categories, because it can only be terraformed with greater difficulty.[15]

An absolute requirement for life is an energy source, but the notion of planetary habitability implies that many other geophysical, geochemical, and astrophysical criteria must be met before the surface of an astronomical body is able to support life. Of particular interest is the set of factors that has sustained complex, multicellular animals in addition to simpler organisms on Earth. Research and theory in this regard is a component of planetary science and the emerging discipline of astrobiology.

In its astrobiology roadmap, NASA has defined the principal habitability criteria as "extended regions of liquid water, conditions favorable for the assembly of complex organic molecules, and energy sources to sustain metabolism."[16]

Once conditions become more suitable for life of the introduced species, the importation of microbial life could begin.[12] As conditions approach that of Earth, plant life could also be brought in. This would accelerate the production of oxygen, which theoretically would make the planet eventually able to support animal life.

In many respects, Mars is the most Earth-like planet in the Solar System.[17][18] It is thought that Mars once had a more Earth-like environment early in its history, with a thicker atmosphere and abundant water that was lost over the course of hundreds of millions of years.[19]

The exact mechanism of this loss is still unclear, though three mechanisms in particular seem likely: First, whenever surface water is present, carbon dioxide (CO2) reacts with rocks to form carbonates, thus drawing atmosphere off and binding it to the planetary surface. On Earth, this process is counteracted when plate tectonics works to cause volcanic eruptions that vent carbon dioxide back to the atmosphere. On Mars, the lack of such tectonic activity worked to prevent the recycling of gases locked up in sediments.[20]

Second, the lack of a magnetosphere around Mars may have allowed the solar wind to gradually erode the atmosphere.[20] Convection within the core of Mars, which is made mostly of iron,[21] originally generated a magnetic field. However the dynamo ceased to function long ago,[22] and the magnetic field of Mars has largely disappeared, probably due to "loss of core heat, solidification of most of the core, and/or changes in the mantle convection regime."[23] Results from the NASA MAVEN mission show that the atmosphere is removed primarily due to Coronal Mass Ejection events, where outbursts of high-velocity protons from the Sun impact the atmosphere. Mars does still retain a limited magnetosphere that covers approximately 40% of its surface. Rather than uniformly covering and protecting the atmosphere from solar wind, however, the magnetic field takes the form of a collection of smaller, umbrella-shaped fields, mainly clustered together around the planet's southern hemisphere.[24]

Finally, between approximately 4.1 and 3.8 billion years ago, asteroid impacts during the Late Heavy Bombardment caused significant changes to the surface environment of objects in the Solar System. The low gravity of Mars suggests that these impacts could have ejected much of the Martian atmosphere into deep space.[25]

Terraforming Mars would entail two major interlaced changes: building the atmosphere and heating it.[26] A thicker atmosphere of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide would trap incoming solar radiation. Because the raised temperature would add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, the two processes would augment each other.[27] Carbon dioxide alone would not suffice to sustain a temperature above the freezing point of water, so a mixture of specialized greenhouse molecules might be manufactured.[28]

Terraforming Venus requires two major changes; removing most of the planet's dense 9MPa (1,300psi) carbon dioxide atmosphere and reducing the planet's 450C (842F) surface temperature.[29][30] These goals are closely interrelated, because Venus's extreme temperature is thought to be due to the greenhouse effect caused by its dense atmosphere. Sequestering the atmospheric carbon would likely solve the temperature problem as well.

Although usually disregarded as being too hot, Mercury may in fact be one of the easiest bodies in the solar system to terraform. Mercury's magnetic field is only 1.1% that of Earth's but it is thought that Mercury's magnetic field should be much stronger, up to 30% of Earth's, if it weren't being suppressed by certain solar wind effects.[31] It is thought[by whom?] that Mercury's magnetic field was suppressed after "stalling" at some point in the past (possibly caused by the Caloris basin impact) and, if given a temporary "helping hand" by shielding Mercury from solar wind by placing an artificial magnetic shield at Mercury-Sun L1 (similar to the proposal for Mars), then Mercury's magnetic field would "inflate" and grow in intensity 30 times stronger at which point Mercury's magnetic field would be self sustaining provided the field wasn't made to "stall" by another celestial event.[citation needed]

Despite being much smaller than Mars, Mercury has a gravity nearly identical in strength to Mars due to its increased density and could, with a now augmented magnetosphere, hold a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere for millions of years.

To provide this atmosphere, 3.51017 kilograms of water could be delivered by a similar process as proposed for Venus by launching a stream of kinetic impactors at Hyperion (the moon of Saturn) causing it to be ejected and flung into the inner solar system. Once this water has been delivered, Mercury could be covered in a thin layer of doped titanium dioxide photo-catalyst dust which would split the water into its constituent oxygen and hydrogen molecules, with the hydrogen rapidly being lost to space and a 0.2-0.3 bar atmosphere of pure oxygen being left behind in less than 70 years (assuming an efficiency of 30-40%).[citation needed] At this point the atmosphere will be breathable and nitrogen may be added as required to allow for plant growth in the presence of nitrates.

Temperature management may not be required, despite a equilibrium average temperature of ~159 Celsius, there exists millions of square kilometres at the poles with an average temperature of 0-50 Celsius, or 32-122 Fahrenheit (an area the size of Mexico at each pole with habitable temperatures). The total habitable area is likely to be even larger given that the before mentioned photo-catalyst dust would raise the albedo from 0.12 to ~0.6, lowering the global average temperature to tens of degrees and potentially increasing the habitable area. Temperature may be further managed with the usage of solar shades.[citation needed]

Mercury may be the fastest celestial body to terraform at least partially, giving it a thin but breathable atmosphere with survivable pressures, a strong magnetic field, with at least a small percentage of its land at survivable temperatures at closer to the north and south poles provided water content was kept low so as to avoid a runaway greenhouse effect.

Although the gravity on Earth's moon is too low to hold an atmosphere for geological spans of time, if given one, it would retain it for spans of time that are long compared to human lifespans.[32][33] Landis[33] and others[34][35] have thus proposed that it could be feasible to terraform the moon, although not all agree with that proposal.[36] Landis estimates that a 1 PSI atmosphere of pure oxygen on the moon would require on the order of two hundred trillion tons of oxygen, and suggests it could be produced by reducing the oxygen from an amount of lunar rock equivalent to a cube about fifty kilometers on an edge. Alternatively, he suggests that the water content of "fifty to a hundred comets" the size of Halley's comet would do the job, "assuming that the water doesn't splash away when the comets hit the moon."[33] Likewise, Benford calculates that terraforming the moon would require "about 100 comets the size of Halley's."[34]

It has been recently proposed[when?] that due to the effects of climate change, an interventionist program might be designed to return Earth to its usual and more benign climate parameters. In order to achieve this, multiple solutions have been proposed, such as the management of solar radiation, the sequestration of carbon dioxide using geoengineering methods and the design and release of climate altering genetically engineered organisms.[37][38]

Other possible candidates for terraforming (possibly only partial or paraterraforming) include large moons of Jupiter or Saturn (Titan, Callisto, Ganymede, Europa, Enceladus), and the dwarf planet Ceres.

Many proposals for planetary engineering involve the use of genetically engineered bacteria.[39][40]

As synthetic biology matures over the coming decades it may become possible to build designer organisms from scratch that directly manufacture desired products efficiently.[41] Lisa Nip, Ph.D. candidate at the MIT Media Lab's Molecular Machines group, said that by synthetic biology, scientists could genetically engineer humans, plants and bacteria to create Earth-like conditions on another planet.[42][43]

Gary King, microbiologist at Louisiana State University studying the most extreme organisms on Earth, notes that "synthetic biology has given us a remarkable toolkit that can be used to manufacture new kinds of organisms specially suited for the systems we want to plan for" and outlines the prospects for terraforming, saying "we'll want to investigate our chosen microbes, find the genes that code for the survival and terraforming properties that we want (like radiation and drought resistance), and then use that knowledge to genetically engineer specifically Martian-designed microbes". He sees the project's biggest bottleneck in the ability to genetically tweak and tailor the right microbes, estimating that this hurdle could take "a decade or more" to be solved. He also notes that it would be best to develop "not a single kind of microbe but a suite of several that work together".[44]

DARPA is researching the use of photosynthesizing plants, bacteria, and algae grown directly on the Mars surface that could warm up and thicken its atmosphere. In 2015 the agency and some of its research partners created a software called DTA GView a 'Google Maps of genomes', in which genomes of several organisms can be pulled up on the program to immediately show a list of known genes and where they are located in the genome. According to Alicia Jackson, deputy director of DARPA's Biological Technologies Office, they have developed a "technological toolkit to transform not just hostile places here on Earth, but to go into space not just to visit, but to stay".[45][46][47][48]

Also known as the "worldhouse" concept, paraterraforming involves the construction of a habitable enclosure on a planet that encompasses most of the planet's usable area.[49] The enclosure would consist of a transparent roof held one or more kilometers above the surface, pressurized with a breathable atmosphere, and anchored with tension towers and cables at regular intervals. The worldhouse concept is similar to the concept of a domed habitat, but one which covers all (or most) of the planet.

It has also been suggested that instead of or in addition to terraforming a hostile environment humans might adapt to these places by the use of genetic engineering, biotechnology and cybernetic enhancements.[50][51][52][53][54]

There is a philosophical debate within biology and ecology as to whether terraforming other worlds is an ethical endeavor.[55] From the point of view of a cosmocentric ethic, this involves balancing the need for the preservation of human life against the intrinsic value of existing planetary ecologies.[56]Lucianne Walkowicz has even called terraforming a "planetary-scale strip mining operation".[57]

On the pro-terraforming side of the argument, there are those like Robert Zubrin, Martyn J. Fogg, Richard L. S. Taylor and the late Carl Sagan who believe that it is humanity's moral obligation to make other worlds suitable for life, as a continuation of the history of life transforming the environments around it on Earth.[58][59] They also point out that Earth would eventually be destroyed if nature takes its course, so that humanity faces a very long-term choice between terraforming other worlds or allowing all terrestrial life to become extinct. Terraforming totally barren planets, it is asserted, is not morally wrong as it does not affect any other life.

The opposing argument posits that terraforming would be an unethical interference in nature, and that given humanity's past treatment of Earth, other planets may be better off without human interference.[citation needed] Still others strike a middle ground, such as Christopher McKay, who argues that terraforming is ethically sound only once we have completely assured that an alien planet does not harbor life of its own; but that if it does, we should not try to reshape it to our own use, but we should engineer its environment to artificially nurture the alien life and help it thrive and co-evolve, or even co-exist with humans.[60] Even this would be seen as a type of terraforming to the strictest of ecocentrists, who would say that all life has the right, in its home biosphere, to evolve without outside interference.

The initial cost of such projects as planetary terraforming would be massive, and the infrastructure of such an enterprise would have to be built from scratch. Such technology has not yet been developed, let alone financially feasible at the moment. With the addition if government funded it will most likely be rejected. John Hickman has pointed out that almost none of the current schemes for terraforming incorporate economic strategies, and most of their models and expectations seem highly optimistic.[61]

National pride, rivalries between nations, and the politics of public relations have in the past been the primary motivations for shaping space projects.[62][63] It is reasonable to assume[by whom?] that these factors would also be present in planetary terraforming efforts.[citation needed]

Terraforming is a common concept in science fiction, ranging from television, movies and novels to video games.

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Terraforming - Wikipedia

Todays chart is best viewed full-screen. Explore the high resolution version by clicking here.

Sailors have been circumnavigating the high seas for centuries now, but what could be found beneath the sunlit surface of the ocean remained a mystery until far more recently. In fact, it wasnt until 1875, during the Challenger expedition, that humanity got its first concrete idea of how deep the ocean actually was.

Todays graphic, another fantastic piece by xkcd, is a unique and entertaining look at everything from Lake Superiors ice encrusted shoreline down to blackest, inhospitable trench (which today bears the name of the expedition that first discovered it).

The graphic is packed with detail, so well only highlight a few points of interest.

Deep in Siberia, abutting a mountainous stretch of the Mongolian border, is the one of the most remarkable bodies of water on Earth: Lake Baikal. There are a number of qualities that make Lake Baikal stand out.

Depth: Baikal, located in a massive continental rift, is the deepest lake in the world at 1,642m (5,387ft). That extreme depth holds a lot of fresh water. In fact, an estimated 22% of all the worlds fresh water can be found in the lake.

Age: Baikal (which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is estimated to be over 25 million years old, making it the most ancient lake on the planet.

Clarity: Interestingly, the water in the lake is exceptionally clear. In winter, visibility can extend over 30m (98ft) below the surface.

Biodiversity: The unique ecosystem of Lake Baikal provides a home for thousands of plant and animal species. In fact, upwards of 80% of those species are endemic, meaning they are unique to that region.

Since 1964, a hard-working research submersible named Alvin has been helping us better understand the deep ocean. Alvin explored the wreckage of RMS Titanic in 1986, and helped confirm the existence of black smokers (one of the weirdest ecosystems in the world).

Though most of the components of the vessel have been replaced and upgraded over the years, its still in use today. In 2020, Alvin received an $8 million upgrade, and is now capable of exploring 99% of the ocean floor.

We know more about the surface of Venus than the bottom of the ocean. The potential for discovery is huge. Anna-Louise Reysenbach, Professor of Microbiology, PSU

The deepest point in the ocean is the Mariana Trench, at 11,034 meters (36,201 feet).

This trench is located in the Pacific Ocean, near Guam and the trenchs namesake, the Mariana Islands. While the trench is the most extreme example of ocean depths, when compared to surface level distance, its depth is shorter than Manhattan.

Obviously, the context of surface distance is wildly different than vertical distance, but it serves as a reminder of how narrow the explorable band of the Earths surface is.

The ancient Greek word, byssos, roughly means unfathomable, bottomless gulf. While there is a bottom (the abyssopelagic zone comprises around 75% of the ocean floor), the enormous scale of this ecosystem is certainly unfathomable.

Objectively, the abyssal plain is not the prettiest part of the ocean. Its nearly featureless, and lacks the panache of, say, a coral reef, but there are still some very compelling reasons were eager to explore it. Resource companies are chiefly interested in polymetallic nodules, which are essentially rich manganese formations scattered about on the sea bottom.

Manganese is already essential in steel production, but demand is also getting a substantial lift from the fast-growing electric vehicle market. The first company to find an economical way to harvest nodules from the ocean floor could reap a significant windfall.

Demand for resources can force humans into some very inhospitable places, and in the case of Deepwater Horizon, we chased oil to a depth even surpassing the famed Marianas Trench.

Drilling that far below the surface is a complicated endeavor, and when the drill platform was put into service in 2001, it was hailed as an engineering marvel. To this day, Deepwater Horizon holds the record for the deepest offshore hole ever made.

After the rigs infamous explosion and subsequent spill in 2010, that depth record for drilling may stand the test of time.

Continued here:

Terraforming 101: How to Make Mars a Habitable Planet

Terraforming Mars is one of the great dreams of humanity. Mars has a lot going for it. Its day is about the same length as Earth's, it has plenty of frozen water just under its surface, and it likely could be given a reasonably breathable atmosphere in time.

But one of the things it lacks is a strong magnetic field. So if we want to make Mars a second Earth, we'll have to give it an artificial one.

The reason magnetic fields are so important is that they can shield a planet from solar wind and ionizing particles. Earth's magnetic field prevents most high-energy charged particles from reaching the surface. Instead, they are deflected from Earth, keeping us safe.

The magnetic field also helps prevent solar winds from stripping Earth's atmosphere over time. Early Mars had a thick, water-rich atmosphere, but it was gradually depleted without the protection of a strong magnetic field.

Unfortunately, we can't just recreate Earth's magnetic field on Mars. Our field is generated by a dynamo effect in Earth's core, where the convection of iron alloys generates Earth's geomagnetic field.

The interior of Mars is smaller and cooler, and we can't simply "start it up" to create a magnetic dynamo. But there are a few ways we can create an artificial magnetic field, as a recent study shows.

Ideas for generating a Martian magnetic field have been proposed before, and usually involve either ground-based or orbital solenoids that create some basic level of magnetic protection.

In the TV series The Expanse, you can see a couple of scenes where you catch a glimpse of them. While this latest study acknowledges that might work, it proposes an even better solution.

As the study points out, if you want a good planetary magnetic field, what you really need is a strong flow of charged particles, either within the planet or around the planet. Since the former isn't a great option for Mars, the team looks at the latter.

It turns out you can create a ring of charged particles around Mars, thanks to its moon Phobos.

A torus of charged particles could give Mars a magnetic field. (Ruth Bamford)

Phobos is the larger of the two Martian moons, and it orbits the planet quite closely. So closely that it makes a trip around Mars every 8 hours. So the team proposes using Phobos by ionizing particles from its surface, then accelerating them so they create a plasma torus along the orbit of Phobos.

This would create a magnetic field strong enough to protect a terraformed Mars.

It's a bold plan, and while it seems achievable the engineering hurdles would be significant. But as the authors point out, this is the time for ideas.

Start thinking about the problems we need to solve, and how we can solve them, so when humanity does reach Mars, we will be ready to put the best ideas to the test.

This article was originally published by Universe Today. Read the original article.

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Scientists Reveal Crazy Plan to Terraform Mars With an Artificial Magnetic Field - ScienceAlert

KSR

In my book, these decisions are made by a nation-state that has suffered an enormous climate disaster. The state wants the temperatures cooler instantly, no matter the side effects, and no matter what the rest of the world thinks.

I can imagine that happening obviously, I did imagine it but I think that could happen in the real world, because we are closing in on temperatures that will cook people who arent protected by electricity. And that will be a game changer in the nation-states where it happens.

The word geoengineering is too broad, and the knee-jerk reaction on the Left is disturbing to me because its too simplistic; it wants heroes and villains. Its a very 1995-style response. Now that were verging on unlivable temperatures and a mass extinction event in an all-hands-on-deck situation, we might want to cool the planet for five years or so by throwing dust up into the atmosphere, which is solar radiation management.

There are obvious problems with that, but its no longer a get-out-of-jail-free card for capitalism going on the way it is. Nobody who has proposed it is discussing it that way. And if you think of them as snidely twirling their mustaches, the corporations might say that this will allow them to burn all the rest of our fossil carbon. No, it wont. First of all, its a very minor gesture in the earth system to imitate a Pinatubo minor enough that we could actually do it as human beings, which shows how small it is.

The engineering in geoengineering implies that we know enough to do it, which is hubristic and wrong. Some people are calling it climate restoration, to try to get to the ends rather than the means involved. Others think that name is a bit of a lie, because were never going to be able to restore the climate that existed in 1800. Im not so sure about that. I offer climate restoration as a way to rethink this issue.

But the issue is too big for geoengineering to deliberately interfere in the earth system in order to try to mitigate climate change. Is that what it means? Maybe climate change will come down if you pour a whole bunch of iron filings into the ocean; then it has a plankton bloom. Then the plankton die and go to the bottom, so that the carbon is on the bottom of the ocean. Nobody likes that plan because the ocean is already stressed out. And who knows what might really happen in terms of knock-on effects?

We dont know what the secondary effects would be, and they could be worse than the cure, which is true enough to give one pause. But solar radiation management has come to peoples attention because it actually could be done. It should probably be limestone dust, like calcium carbonate, rather than sulfur dioxide, which is what volcanoes put up in the atmosphere. Sulfur dioxide eats away at the ozone layer, but limestone dust is inert, and its there in the atmosphere anyway.

If you put up more, it falls to the ground; its problematic if it falls and melts more ice in the Arctic. But in any case, it falls to the ground. Five years later, youre back to square one. You dont have to do it permanently forever in order to keep the temperature from increasing. In fact, you would plan to do it just once in a hundred years, to avoid getting caught in that trap, and see what the effects are over five years.

Its not by any means the most dangerous thing that were contemplating. And its probably not as dangerous as the generation of nuclear power plants that we built. Nuclear power is another horrific no-go zone for the American left, a capitalist power danger for the future, et cetera. But what if the nuclear power is being generated by thorium rather than uranium, and the by-products are less dangerous for future generations?

In other words, everything has to be on the table. There is no leftist truism that I trust, except that justice and sustainability are the overriding considerations of civilization, and ought to be our lodestone, our guiding star, for everything that we consider. Were in a mass extinction event thats just beginning, and we have to dodge it. Everything else needs to be considered, not ruled out.

The resistance to the idea of geoengineering shows the category error of confusing science and capitalism. Its the assumption that this process would only be done by capitalists trying to retain their power, but what if it were being done by scientists to keep millions of people from dying in the tropics? Then it becomes an argument about means over ends. And weve already pumped more than a hundred parts per million of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Every corner of the planet has been geoengineered, accidentally and stupidly as a by-product, or ignorantly. We didnt know that these side effects were going to happen, and then when we knew, we either changed, or we didnt. Thats when you become innocent or a criminal.

Im comforted to see a paper in Nature that describes pumping water out from underneath the glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland to slow the melting process. Thats geoengineering. What could you complain about there? Nothing, because that water pump from the bottom of the glaciers is a trivial amount of water, and then it just freezes on the top. There are no bad side effects that can be predicted with solar radiation management.

It is said that there might be effects on the monsoon in South Asia; if true, that would be bad. The monsoon is variable, but its very important. The glaciers are also important; they come out of the Himalayas and provide a water supply to South Asia, and the glaciers are going fast. A climate modeling exercise that postulates damage to the monsoon is maybe not as powerful in an argument as the actual melting of the glaciers that form the water supply for a billion people.

Everything has to be put back on the table the arguments from 95 about moral hazard and capitalist power need to be set aside for the current moment of desperate emergency.

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Kim Stanley Robinson on Science Fiction and Reclaiming Science for the Left - Jacobin magazine

In James S.A. Coreys nine-volume space opera The Expanse, humanity has expanded outward into the solar system, but political tensions between the needs of Earth, Mars, and the asteroid belt are coming to a head. The series launched in 2011 with Leviathan Wakes, an ambitious but gripping novel that introduces a sprawling group of characters with widely varying goals and intentions. The books have been adapted into a memorable, engaging TV series, which ran for three seasons on Syfy, then was picked up by Amazon Studios for an additional three-season run.

Authors Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham, who publish under the James S.A. Corey pen name, say season 6 of The Expanse isnt the end of the show, but it may be the end for its Amazon run. Season 6 launches on Amazon Prime on Dec. 10. But Franck and Abrahams Leviathan Falls is intended as the finale for the book series. Its out Nov. 30 from Orbit books. Heres an advance look at a chapter from Leviathan Falls, finding the crew of the Rocinante on an infiltration mission:

It pinged us, Alex said. His voice was a light almost singsong that meant he thought they were screwed.

Jim, sitting on the ops deck with a tactical map of Kronos system on the screen and his heart going double time, tried to disagree. Just because hes knocking doesnt mean he knows whos home. Lets keep acting like what were acting like.

The Rocinante was acting like a small-haul freighter, a class of ship thick on the ground in Kronos system. Naomi had tuned the Epstein to run just dirty enough to change their drive signature without generating too much extra waste heat. A set of extra plating welded to their hull at an underground shipyard in Harris system had altered their silhouette. A slow dribble of liquid hydrogen was pumping out across the top of the ship and changing their thermal profile. When Naomi had gone over the plan to layer on camouflage, it had seemed comprehensive. It was only the threat of violence that made Jim feel exposed.

The enemy frigate was called the Black Kite. Smaller than the Storm-class destroyers, it was still well armed and had the self-healing outer hull that made Laconian ships hard to kill. It was part of a hunting group scouring all the inhabited systems for Teresa Duarte, runaway daughter of High Consul Winston Duarte, heir apparent to his empire, and, for the time being, apprentice mechanic on the Rocinante.

This wasnt the first time theyd seen it. Any follow-up? Jim asked.

Just the ladar ping, Alex said. Think I should warm up the peashooter, just in case?

Yeah, lets do that was on the edge of Jims mind when Naomis voice answered instead. No. Theres some evidence that their next-generation sensor arrays can recognize rail-gun capacitors. That feels unfair, Jim said. What a crew does with its railgun capacitor in the privacy of its own ship shouldnt be anyone elses business.

He could hear the smile in Naomis voice. While I agree in principle, lets keep the guns offline until we need them.

Copy that, Alex said.

Still no follow-up? Jim asked, even though he had access to all the same logs Alex did. Alex checked anyway.

Comms are dark.

Kronos wasnt quite a dead system, but it was close. The star there was large and fast-burning. There had been a habitable planet in the goldilocks zone there at one pointat least enough that the protomolecule had been able to hijack the biomass needed to build a ring gate. But in the strange eons since the gates formation and humanitys stumbling into the alien ruins, the goldilocks zone had moved. The original life-bearing planet hadnt quite been engulfed by the star yet, but its oceans had been boiled to nothing and its atmosphere stripped away. The only native life in Kronos was on the wet moon of an outlying gas giant, and that wasnt much more than viciously competing continent-sized sheets of slime mold.

The human inhabitants of Kronos were around ten thousand miners on seven hundred thirty-two active sites. Corporations, government-sponsored interest groups, independent rock hoppers, and unholy legal hybrids of all three were stripping palladium out of a nicely rich scattering of asteroids and sending it out to anyone still building air recyclers or working on adjustment-terraforming projects.

Which was everyone.

Kronos had been the edge of the Transport Unions reach back in the day, then the ass end of the Laconian Empire, and now no one really knew what it was. There were hundreds of systems like it, all through the gate network: places that either werent self-sufficient yet or didnt plan to be, more focused on digging out their own little economic niche than any broader coalition. The kinds of places where the underground could usually hide and repair their ships and plan for what came next. On the tactical map, asteroids marked by orbit, survey status, composition, and legal ownership swirled around the angry star as thick as pollen in springtime. The ships were clumped around the excavation and survey sites by the dozen, and as many more were on lonely transits from one little outpost to another or on errands to gather water for reaction mass and radiation shielding.

The Black Kite had come through the ring gate three days before, torpedoed the undergrounds radio repeater at the surface of the gate, and then burned gently to remain in place like a bouncer at a pretentious nightclub. The ring gates didnt orbit the stars so much as remain in fixed position as though theyd been hung on hooks in the vacuum. It wasnt the strangest thing about them. Jim had let himself hope that blowing up the undergrounds pirate transmitter would be all the Kite did. That the enemy would finish its little vandalism and fuck off to cut the metaphorical telegraph wires on some other system.

It had stayed, scanning the system. Looking for them. For Teresa. For Naomi, functional leader of the underground. And for him.

The comm display lit up the green of an incoming transmission, and Jims gut knotted. At their present range, the battle wouldnt come for hours, but the rush of adrenaline was like someone had fired a gun. The fear was so present and overwhelming that he didnt notice anything odd.

Broadcast, Alex said over the ship comms and from the deck above Jim. Weird its not a tightbeam I dont think hes talking to us.

Jim opened the channel.

The womans voice had a clipped, emotionless formality that was like the accent of the Laconian military. as offensive action and treated as such. Message repeats. This is the Black Kite to registered freighter Perishable Harvest. By order of Laconian security forces, you will cut your drive and prepare for boarding and inspection. Refusal to comply will be viewed as an offensive action and treated as such. Message repeats

Jim filtered the tactical map. The Perishable Harvest was about thirty degrees spinward of the Roci, and burning toward the wide, angry sun. If theyd gotten the message, they hadnt complied with it yet.

Is that one of ours? Jim asked.

Nope, Naomi said. Its listed as property of a David Calrassi out of Bara Gaon. I dont know anything about it.

With light delay, they should have received the Black Kites command ten minutes before the Rocinante did. Jim imagined some other crew in a panic because theyd received the message hed been dreading. Whatever happened next, the Rocinante was out of the crosshairs for the moment at least. He wished he could feel the relief a little more deeply.

Jim unstrapped from the crash couch and swung around. The bearings hissed as it shifted under his weight.

Im heading down to the galley for a minute, he said. Grab a coffee for me too, Alex said.

Oh no. Not coffee. Im maybe up to some chamomile or warm milk. Something soothing and unaggressive.

Sounds good, Alex said. When you change your mind and get some coffee, grab one for me too.

On the lift, Jim leaned against the wall and waited for his heart to stop racing. This was how heart attacks came, wasnt it? A pulse that started fast and then never slowed until something critical popped. That was probably wrong, but it felt that way. He felt that way all the time.

It was getting better. Easier. The autodoc had been able to supervise the regrowth of his missing teeth. Apart from the indignity of needing to numb his gums like a toddler, that had gone well enough. The nightmares were old acquaintances by now. Hed started having them on Laconia while still a prisoner of High Consul Duarte. Hed expected them to fade once he was free, but they were getting worse. Being buried alive was the most recent version. More often it was someone he loved being murdered in the next room and not being able to key in the lock code fast enough to save them. Or having a parasite living under his skin and trying to find a way to cut it out. Or the guards on Laconia coming to beat him until his teeth broke again. The way that they had.

On the upside, the old dreams about forgetting to put on his clothes or not studying for a test seemed to be off the rotation. His weirdly vindictive dream life wasnt all bad.

There were still days when he couldnt shake the sense of threat. Sometimes a part of his mind would get trapped in the unfounded and irrational certainty that his Laconian torture team was about to find him again. Others, it was the less irrational dread of the things beyond the gates. The apocalypse that had destroyed the protomolecules makers and was on the path to destroying humanity.

Prices taken at time of publishing.

The biggest science fiction series of the decade comes to an incredible conclusion in the ninth and final novel in James S.A. Coreys Hugo-award winning space opera that inspired the TV series, now from Amazon Studios.

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Leviathan Falls: Read an excerpt of the final book of The Expanse before release - Polygon

Terraforming Mars is one of the great dreams of humanity. Mars has a lot going for it. Its day is about the same length as Earths, it has plenty of frozen water just under its surface, and it likely could be given a reasonably breathable atmosphere in time. But one of the things it lacks is a strong magnetic field. So if we want to make Mars a second Earth, well have to give it an artificial one.

The reason magnetic fields are so important is that they can shield a planet from solar wind and ionizing particles. Earths magnetic field prevents most high-energy charged particles from reaching the surface. Instead, they are deflected from Earth, keeping us safe. The magnetic field also helps prevent solar winds from stripping Earths atmosphere over time. Early Mars had a thick, water-rich atmosphere, but it was gradually depleted without the protection of a strong magnetic field.

Unfortunately, we cant just recreate Earths magnetic field on Mars. Our field is generated by a dynamo effect in Earths core, where the convection of iron alloys generates Earths geomagnetic field. The interior of Mars is smaller and cooler, and we cant simply start it up to create a magnetic dynamo. But there are a few ways we can create an artificial magnetic field, as a recent study shows.

Ideas for generating a Martian magnetic field have been proposed before, and usually involve either ground-based or orbital solenoids that create some basic level of magnetic protection. In the TV series *The Expanse*, you can see a couple of scenes where you catch a glimpse of them. While this latest study acknowledges that might work, it proposes an even better solution.

As the study points out, if you want a good planetary magnetic field, what you really need is a strong flow of charged particles, either within the planet or around the planet. Since the former isnt a great option for Mars, the team looks at the latter. It turns out you can create a ring of charged particles around Mars, thanks to its moon Phobos.

Phobos is the larger of the two Martian moons, and it orbits the planet quite closely. So closely that it makes a trip around Mars every 8 hours. So the team proposes using Phobos by ionizing particles from its surface, then accelerating them so they create a plasma torus along the orbit of Phobos. This would create a magnetic field strong enough to protect a terraformed Mars.

Its a bold plan, and while it seems achievable the engineering hurdles would be significant. But as the authors point out, this is the time for ideas. Start thinking about the problems we need to solve, and how we can solve them, so when humanity does reach Mars, we will be ready to put the best ideas to the test.

Reference: Bamford, R. A., et al. How to create an artificial magnetosphere for Mars. Acta Astronautica 190 (2022): 323-333.

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An Absolutely Bonkers Plan to Give Mars an Artificial Magnetosphere - Universe Today