Category Archives: Mars Colonization

In Brief

Bill Nye doesnt believe well ever colonize Mars, but if we do, he has an idea of how our bodies might adapt to survive on the Red Planet. He recently shared it via his Tuesdays with Billseries for Big Think.

Humans born on Mars might have a tough time surviving on Earth. The surface gravity of Mars is only 38 percent of what we have here on Earth. That means the hearts of humans born on that planet might not be able to tackle as much aerobically on Earth. In fact, astronauts who travel to Mars and stay therelong enough for their bodies to adjust to the lower level of gravitywill likely experiencepermanent changes in circulation, muscle strength, and bone density, making it impossible for them to return to Earth.

Would our bodies ever truly adapt to Mars? Well, evolution is slow. In fact, the process is barely noticeable. Serious selection pressure would be necessary for it to have a discernible effect on the population, for example, only the offspring of women who could handle Martian gravity surviving long enough to reproduce.

Some people believe that terraforming planets such as Marsis a better idea rather than waiting for our bodies to adapt to the planets environment, wed change the environment to adapt to us. In the case of Mars, wed have to alter its ecology, atmosphere, topography, temperature, and other traits.

Ultimately, Bill Nye doesnt see it happening although he likes the question being asked!

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Bill Nye Answers: If Humans Colonize Mars, How Will We Evolve? - Futurism

March 16, 2017 Buzz Aldrin wants to establish a permanent colony on Mars and he has a plan to make it happen. But bringing that plan to fruition requires communicating his vision to others.

Dr. Aldrin set out to do so at South by Southwest this week, describing a small but permanent colony of 150 residents on the planet. Unlike the one-way journeys proposed by some advocates of Mars colonization, he pictures prospective residents signing up for 10-year round trips. The moon, which made him a household name in 1969, features in his plan as a resupply station for the Mars colony.

On Tuesday, Aldrin revealed a new tool for sharing his dream: a 10-minute virtual reality immersion into life on the moon and Mars, produced in partnership with virtual reality company 8i and guided by Aldrin himself. By giving people the tools to "experience" the possibilities for themselves, he hopes to encourage enthusiasm for Mars exploration something scientists say can only help.

Anything that elevates people above the petty daily realm is good, says Paul Davies, a physics professor at Arizona State University who has written extensively about Mars colonization, in a phone interview with The Christian Science Monitor. What Buzz Aldrin is doing, its inspiring.

Many, including Aldrin, have been fascinated by Mars since around the time of the first moon landing. In the past few years, a journey to Mars has taken off in the public consciousness. NASA satellites have produced images of the planets surface, while rovers have collected soil samples and sniffed for life. The Obama administration set a goal of going to Mars and returning humans safely to Earth some time in the 2030s, while billionaire and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has released plans to create a self-sustaining city of 1 million people on the planet. And from The Martian to National Geographics MARS miniseries, its become ever easier for people to envision life on the red planet.

His status as the second man on the Moon, as well as his academic background, mean Aldrin is uniquely positioned to advocate for colonizing Mars. Aldrins stature definitely gives him a power to inspire enthusiasm that others lack, writes Dirk Schulze-Makuch, a professor at Washington State Universitys School of the Environment, in an email to the Monitor.

Nor is this his first foray into virtual reality. A holographic image of Aldrin guided visitors to the Kennedy Space Centers Discover: Mars exhibit, which ended in January.

The opportunity to get up close and personal with a walk on Mars is so exciting, said Therrin Protze, chief operating officer of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, in a press release. "We cant wait for our guests to experience the thrill of it."

That exhibit closed on January 1, but Aldrin's new virtual reality experience can continue to bring the possibilities of Mars to a broader audience. It will be released on Friday through a number of VR providers.

The immersive tool provides a "great experience of almost being there and that's going to be wonderful for expressing a number of ideas, Aldrin told CNBC in an interview at South by Southwest.

But the challenge may not be as Aldrin seems to suggest inspiring recruits, Professor Schulze-Makuch says.

When Paul Davies and I suggested the Mars One-Way Mission Concept many years ago, we had about 1,000 emails from people who wanted to volunteer though we never asked for volunteers (and obviously did not have ourselves the means or technology)," he says.

The missing ingredient is the money and political will.

But virtual reality has proven itself as a fundraising tool for charities, helping them engage with key audiences in a meaningful way. Aldrins film could similarly help space-travel advocacy groups encourage Congress or private investors to fund a colony on Mars.

Professor Davies, however, is uncertain of the merits of this approach. NASA is an inherently conservative organization, he says, and there are simply too many risks for them to consider sending human missions at this point.

With that in mind, he says, the virtual reality experience is going to be pretty marginal in terms of its impact on public policy.

Even if NASA or some other entity were to agree, creating a self-sustaining community on Mars will likely take centuries, he says, adding that we currently have very little idea of what it would take to have a self-sustaining ecosystem on Mars.

For now, the virtual reality experience may inspire people to get involved with planning for such missions. Virtual reality is increasingly available in classrooms, Davies notes, describing a virtual field trip to a Mars-like environment in Australia in which his Arizona State students participate.

But its important that the possibilities of virtual reality not become more enticing than exploration itself, Schulze-Makuch points out.

It might inspire many people, but it could also have the opposite effect, that people become content to experience it in virtual reality and not willing to undergo the hardships of spaceflight anymore, he writes.

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Buzz Aldrin dreams of a colony on Mars: Could VR make it a reality? - Christian Science Monitor

Sure, your fancy Brooklyn brew may taste like oats or whatever, but is it a microgravity brew?

Budweiser is currently working on how to brew beer on Mars, for some reason. Adweek reports that the company announced its plans to "research and produce a microgravity brew" at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas.

On a panel moderated by noted Martian Kate Mara and retired astronaut Clayton Anderson, the company discussed the logistics of brewing beer in space. "When you're in a zero-gravity environment, a beverage with carbonation is going to be an issue," Anderson said.

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However, Budweiser's still working hard at it, because sometimes, you just gotta focus on what you can do instead of what you should do! "When we can enjoy a few ice-cold Buds on the Red Planet, that will be the moment when we can truly realize our dreams of space colonization," Budweiser vice president Ricardo Marques said.

Anheuser-Busch's vice president of marketing innovation, Val Toothman, also added that the Martian beer will "take the Budweiser experience to a whole other level." "We know that colonization of Mars could be a decade or two away, but we want to make sure that Budweiser is the beer that people are toasting with on Mars when we get there," he said.

Capitalism, the Martian way.

Seven Earth-Like Planets Orbit One Nearby Star

(H/T Adweek)

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Budweiser Is Trying to Make It Possible to Brew Beer on Mars - Esquire.com

As scientists search for life on Mars and plot a way for people to live there in the future, Budweiser is hard at work figuring out how to make life in space a little more fun by developing a beer made just for the Red Planet.

Today at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas, Budweiser announced its plans to research and produce a microgravity brew, on a panel moderated by The Martian star, Kate Mara, with retired astronaut Clayton Anderson, who discussed the future of space colonization. Ricardo Marques, vp of Budweiser, and Val Toothman, Anheuser-Buschs vp of marketing innovation, outlined the experiments and research that will go into the Martian beer.

The biggest challenge of brewing beer a space is the lack of gravity. When youre in a zero-gravity environment, a beverage with carbonation is going to be an issue, Anderson explained. However, Budweiser is researching options to work with the micro-gravity environment that exists on Mars to develop a beer that can be consumed there.

Its a dream that builds off of our relentless focus on innovation, Marques said. When we can enjoy a few ice-cold Buds on the Red Planet, that will be the moment when we can truly realize our dreams of space colonization.

This takes the Budweiser experience to a whole other level, Toothman added. We know that colonization of Mars could be a decade or two away, but we want to make sure that Budweiser is the beer that people are toasting with on Mars when we get there.

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Budweiser Is Exploring How to Brew Beer on Mars Adweek - Adweek

Mars Rover.NASA/JPL/Cornell University, Maas Digital LLC/Wikimedia

At this point, most of the world already knows about the ambitious project by Elon Musks SpaceX company to send people to colonize Mars. Now, NASA is joining in, with the expected backing of the entire US government. Congress just passed a resolution that not only provides the agency more funding but also gives it clear orders that people need to be on the red planet by 2033.

With this new order, the mission to Mars has just rocketed to the top of NASAs list of long-term goals. The resolution outlined exactly what the agency is supposed to do with the new budget it was given, from improving space exploration activities to finding ways to actually colonize Mars.

In a rather rare twist within the political sphere, it doesnt seem like the current administration is going to oppose this order either. Both democrats and republicans are in agreement that humanity needs to be able to leave the Earth and go populate another planet if they are going to survive the calamities brought about by climate change.

It is the sense of Congress that expanding human presence beyond low-Earth orbit and advancing toward human missions to Mars in the 2030s requires early strategic planning and timely decisions to be made in the near-term on the necessary courses of action for commitments to achieve short-term and long-term goals and objectives, the bill reads.

One of the things that are bound to make this endeavor a lot easier is the roadmap that NASA has already prepared for Congress to look at. The plan is reasonably comprehensive and provides a lot of hope that this goal is actually achievable, Futurism reports. This plan also puts the US on common grounds with other nations who are also hell bent on getting people off this planet and into another one.

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NASA Mars Project Ordered By US Congress, Colonization By 2033 A Must - EconoTimes

The journey of NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has been filled with close calls and amazing discoveries. Now, a new documentary chronicles the life (thus far) of this incredible mission.

"Voyage of Curiosity: A Martian Chronicle" is primarily an extensive roundup of the science discoveries that this little robot has made since its arrival on Mars in 2012. The film also provides a timeline of the major events of the mission, including the 7 minutes of terror while the rover was being lowered onto the surface.

The movie excels in its handling of the technical details of the mission. There is love and affection in the way it documents things, such as the intricate movements required by the rover's flex arm to collect and analyze samples; the way mission scientists process images from the surface to make it easier for geologists to identify rock features; or why the rover scuffs the Martian dirt "like a batter at home plate" before digging into it. [Amazing Mars Photos by NASA's Curiosity Rover (Latest Images)]

The documentary " Voyaging of Curiosity: A Martian Tale" chronciles the life and science discoveries of NASA's Mars Curiosity rover.

With extensive images of Mars' surface taken by Curiosity and other explorers, as well as simulations and animations, the movie "offers audiences the chance to see Mars and vicariously touch and taste the Red Planet from the rover's point of view," according to a statement from the filmmakers, obtained by Space.com.

Curiosity's main mission was to find out if Mars could have supported life in the past. Although Mars' surface may resemble a homogenous, rocky desert today, the documentary helps illuminate the significance of thedifferent rocky featuresthat Curiosity discovered and explored. As the rover crossed the Martian surface, it found more and more evidence of ancient lakes and rivers, but also of repeated droughts and floods. The history of Mars was not only wet, but evolving.

The documentary " Voyaging of Curiosity: A Martian Tale" chronicles the life and science discoveries of NASA's Mars Curiosity rover, including the "seven minutes of terror" when the robot was being lowered down onto the Martian surface.

Mar's atmosphere has also changed over many eons, and is still changing today; this fact unfolded over several years, thanks to the work of Curiosity and critical observations by the MAVEN probe orbiting Mars. An atmospheric chemistry lesson might not seem like great entertainment, but "Voyaging of Curiosity: A Martian Tale" delivers this information in a succinct way.

The movie also ties these science discoveries to the possibility of humans one day visiting Mars. The rover has taken readings of the radiation on the surface (a serious hazard for humans); it found high levels of perchlorates in the soil that can be used for rocket propellant (a plus for possible Martian colonization) but which are also toxic to humans (a minus for future Martian visitors).

Watching the documentary is a fun reminder of the major events in Curiosity's life, such as when the rover had to cross treacherous terrain or climb mountains. Or when it played ;"The Happy Birthday Song" one Earth-year after it touched down on the Martian surface. The movie is an excellent roundup of much of the science that Curiosity uncovered, and a reminder that every mission is an adventure with unexpected twists and turns.

The 90-minute documentary is available on Amazon.com's XiveTV channel. The movie is free for Amazon Prime members and can be rented in HD for $2.99. (Full disclosure: The film was written and directed by Dave Brody, a former executive producer for Space.com.)

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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Curiosity Rover Documentary Details Mars Robot's Science Discoveries - Space.com

It turns out MarkWatney, the protagonist in 2015's hit movie The Martian,may have been right: potatoes can grow on Mars.

Using information and some guidance from NASA's Ames Research Center, a new experiment by the International Potato Centerhas found that potatoes can be grown in Mars-like conditions.

The experiment was conducted in soil in theAtacamaDesert in Peru, whichis most similar to what is found on Mars.

There is a difference between soil and dirt: soil has organic matter, dirt does not. What the institute used is soil, but it has only minute traces of organic matter and is most like what we'd find on Mars.

On Feb. 14, the researchers placed a container with soil and the tuber into a specially made, hermetically sealedCubeSat (a small satellite used in space research). They placed it in a lab in Peru and delivered nutrient-rich waterand made adjustments to temperature based on a Martian day as well as pressure, oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Sensors constantly monitored the conditions, and two cameras were set up to track the progress (if you're keen on watching a potato grow, you can watch it live here).

Within 10 days, a shoot emerged from the soil.

As Mars is atarget for human colonization, with both NASA and SpaceX announcing plans to put humans on or, at the very least, around the planet within the next 10 years, this new research is relevant.

In order for humans to survive on the planet, clearly they would need food and water.But shipping these necessities can be quite expensive, as the cost of a rocket launch corresponds with payload weight. Growing the food on sitewould be the most cost-effective way of settling on the Red Planet.

As for why potatoes might be grown, they are a relatively hardy crop with multiple uses and more than 4,500 varieties.

"It's not a question of if, it's when. When will we be on Mars? And when will we be growing plants there?" said Chris McKay from NASA's Ames Research Center. "Everything we're doing now is preparing for that."

Ray Wheeler, who studies plant physiology for NASA,points to the success of growing food on the International Space Station as proof that we are working towardself-sustenance in space. In 2015, astronauts ate lettuce grown on the station, a first.

Some day, colonists on Mars could use the planet's dirt to farm potatoes, or more. (NASA)

The challenge on the space station was getting water and oxygen to the roots of plants growing in microgravitywhere there is no up or down. That success is a step in a process that will eventually lead to an unmanned experiment on the surface of Mars, andeventually to astronauts growing food there themselves, he said.

So, could human fertilizer be used, as it was inThe Martian? Wheeler said yes, but perhaps we might want to use urine instead of feces, since we produce more of it. As well, urine doesn't carry the risk of bacteria and contamination. However, Wheeler noted that biomass from growing plants could be recycled or composted.

"Programs of this sort would take tens of years to evolve," Wheeler said. "It would be expensive. But I certainly think it's achievable in the next 100 years."

The institute's discovery has Earth-bound applications as well: the researchers hopethat it willhelp the cultivation of potatoes in extreme climate conditions here at home.

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Potatoes on Mars? Research suggests spuds could be grown on Red Planet - CBC.ca

Published time: 7 Mar, 2017 09:01Edited time: 7 Mar, 2017 11:20

NASA has announced a bold plan to terraform Mars for future human colonization by deploying a massive magnetic shield that would orbit our nearest neighbor, protecting it from the elements while allowing a new atmosphere to form.

The shield would act as a de facto magnetosphere, shielding Mars from the ravages of solar winds and debris, with the ultimate aim of allowing liquid water to flow across the surface of the planet, according to scientists.

This proposal, if implemented, would certainly be preferable to Elon Musks proposed nuclear bombardment of the Martian ice caps.

NASA's Planetary Science Division director, Jim Green, told the Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop last week that placing a magnetic shield between Mars and the sun would allow a magnetosphere to form which would be a precursor to a fully-fledged atmosphere.

READ MORE: Incredible high-def images show ancient flooding remnants on Mars (PHOTOS)

This situation then eliminates many of the solar wind erosion processes that occur with the planets ionosphere and upper atmosphere allowing the Martian atmosphere to grow in pressure and temperature over time, Green and his team of researchers explained in an supplementary paper.

While it may sound far-fetched, the team points to similar systems already in place in orbit around the Earth to protect astronauts from solar radiation. They also believe that were such a magnetic shield deployed to protect Mars, the planet could regenerate atmospheric pressure up to half that of Earth in a matter of a few years.

This is not terraforming as you may think of it where we actually artificially change the climate, but we let nature do it, and we do that based on the physics we know today, Green said.

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NASA proposes shield around Mars to aid human colonization - RT

March 3, 2017 by Matt Williams, Universe Today Artist's conception of a terraformed Mars. Credit: Ittiz/Wikimedia Commons

NASA proposes a magnetic shield to protect Mars' atmosphere

This week, NASA's Planetary Science Division (PSD) hosted a community workshop at their headquarters in Washington, DC. Known as the "Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop", this event ran from February 27th to March 1st, and saw scientists and researchers from all over the world descend on the capitol to attend panel discussions, presentations, and talks about the future of space exploration.

One of the more intriguing presentations took place on Wednesday, March 1st, where the exploration of Mars by human astronauts was discussed. In the course of the talk, which was titled "A Future Mars Environment for Science and Exploration", Director Jim Green discussed how deploying a magnetic shield could enhance Mars' atmosphere and facilitate crewed missions there in the future.

The current scientific consensus is that, like Earth, Mars once had a magnetic field that protected its atmosphere. Roughly 4.2 billion years ago, this planet's magnetic field suddenly disappeared, which caused Mars' atmosphere to slowly be lost to space. Over the course of the next 500 million years, Mars went from being a warmer, wetter environment to the cold, uninhabitable place we know today.

This theory has been confirmed in recent years by orbiters like the ESA's Mars Express and NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN Mission (MAVEN), which have been studying the Martian atmosphere since 2004 and 2014, respectively. In addition to determining that solar wind was responsible for depleting Mars' atmosphere, these probes have also been measuring the rate at which it is still being lost today.

Without this atmosphere, Mars will continue to be a cold, dry place where life cannot flourish. In addition to that, future crewed mission which NASA hopes to mount by the 2030s will also have to deal with some severe hazards. Foremost among these will be exposure to radiation and the danger of asphyxiation, which will pose an even greater danger to colonists (should any attempts at colonization be made).

In answer to this challenge, Dr. Jim Green the Director of NASA's Planetary Science Division and a panel of researchers presented an ambitious idea. In essence, they suggested that by positioning a magnetic dipole shield at the Mars L1 Lagrange Point, an artificial magnetosphere could be formed that would encompass the entire planet, thus shielding it from solar wind and radiation.

Naturally, Green and his colleagues acknowledged that the idea might sounds a bit "fanciful". However, they were quick to emphasize how new research into miniature magnetospheres (for the sake of protecting crews and spacecraft) supports this concept:

"This new research is coming about due to the application of full plasma physics codes and laboratory experiments. In the future it is quite possible that an inflatable structure(s) can generate a magnetic dipole field at a level of perhaps 1 or 2 Tesla (or 10,000 to 20,000 Gauss) as an active shield against the solar wind."

In addition, the positioning of this magnetic shield would ensure that the two regions where most of Mars' atmosphere is lost would be shielded. In the course of the presentation, Green and the panel indicated that these the major escape channels are located, "over the northern polar cap involving higher energy ionospheric material, and 2) in the equatorial zone involving a seasonal low energy component with as much as 0.1 kg/s escape of oxygen ions."

To test this idea, the research team which included scientists from Ames Research Center, the Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of Colorado, Princeton University, and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory conducted a series of simulations using their proposed artificial magnetosphere. These were run at the Coordinated Community Modeling Center (CCMC), which specializes in space weather research, to see what the net effect would be.

What they found was that a dipole field positioned at Mars L1 Lagrange Point would be able to counteract solar wind, such that Mars' atmosphere would achieve a new balance. At present, atmospheric loss on Mars is balanced to some degree by volcanic outpassing from Mars interior and crust. This contributes to a surface atmosphere that is about 6 mbar in air pressure (less than 1% that at sea level on Earth).

As a result, Mars atmosphere would naturally thicken over time, which lead to many new possibilities for human exploration and colonization. According to Green and his colleagues, these would include an average increase of about 4 C (~7 F), which would be enough to melt the carbon dioxide ice in the northern polar ice cap. This would trigger a greenhouse effect, warming the atmosphere further and causing the water ice in the polar caps to melt.

By their calculations, Green and his colleagues estimated that this could lead to 1/7th of Mars' oceans the ones that covered it billions of years ago to be restored. If this is beginning to sound a bit like a lecture on how to terraform Mars, it is probably because these same ideas have been raised by people who advocating that very thing. But in the meantime, these changes would facilitate human exploration between now and mid-century.

"A greatly enhanced Martian atmosphere, in both pressure and temperature, that would be enough to allow significant surface liquid water would also have a number of benefits for science and human exploration in the 2040s and beyond," said Green. "Much like Earth, an enhanced atmosphere would: allow larger landed mass of equipment to the surface, shield against most cosmic and solar particle radiation, extend the ability for oxygen extraction, and provide "open air" greenhouses to exist for plant production, just to name a few."

These conditions, said Green and his colleagues, would also allow for human explorers to study the planet in much greater detail. It would also help them to determine the habitability of the planet, since many of the signs that pointed towards it being habitable in the past (i.e. liquid water) would slowly seep back into the landscape. And if this could be achieved within the space of few decades, it would certainly help pave the way for colonization.

In the meantime, Green and his colleagues plan to review the results of these simulations so they can produce a more accurate assessment of how long these projected changes would take. It also might not hurt to conduct some cost-assessments of this magnetic shield. While it might seem like something out of science fiction, it doesn't hurt to crunch the numbers!

Explore further: NASA awards launch services contract for Mars 2020 rover mission

More information: http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/V2050/pdf/8250.pdf

NASA has selected United Launch Services LLC of Centennial, Colorado, to provide launch services for a mission that will address high-priority science goals for the agency's Journey to Mars.

Looking across the Mars landscape presents a bleak image: a barren, dry rocky view as far as the eye can see. But scientists think the vista might once have been quite different. It may have teemed with water and even been ...

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission has identified the process that appears to have played a key role in the transition of the Martian climate from an early, warm and wet environment that might have ...

Why is Mars cold and dry? While some recent studies hint that early Mars may have never been wet or warm, many scientists think that long ago, Mars once had a denser atmosphere that supported liquid water on the surface. ...

NASA said Monday it is on track to launch its Maven probe to Mars next month to find out why the Red Planet lost much of its atmosphere.

After 10-month voyage across more than 400 million miles of empty space, NASA's MAVEN spacecraft reached Mars on Sept. 21st 2014. Less than 8 hours later, the data started to flow.

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The nature of the dark matter which apparently makes up 80% of the mass of the particles in the universe is still one of the great unsolved mysteries of present day sciences. The lack of experimental evidence, which could ...

Earlier this week, NASA hosted the "Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop" at their headquarters in Washington, DC. Running from Monday to Wednesday February 27th to March 1st the purpose of this workshop was to ...

European astronomers have recently studied the chemical composition of the low-mass globular cluster designated NGC 6362. Their detailed analysis of chemical abundances for 17 elements in the cluster provides important insights ...

Mars may have been a wetter place than previously thought, according to research on simulated Martian meteorites conducted, in part, at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

The recent detection of gravitation waves (GW) from the merger of two black holes of about thirty solar-masses each with the ground-based LIGO facility has generated renewed enthusiasm for developing even more sensitive measurement ...

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Great research! Plus we never know when we here on Earth might need such a shield temporarily.

Also, the Solar Wind will exert some torque. Will it push the unit aside?

While numbers are crunching, how many phone pole sized magnetic spears would I have to throw at Mars' poles to give it a permanent magnetic field? Let's get ta mining those asteroids! Phobos looks kinda handy. Good start on a factory, right there. Throw the waste at the planet, it's GONE!

Yes, I am sure if we needed to deploy a temporary shield from a extinction event solar flare, a lot of countries would object. (NOT!)

Novel idea. Wouldn't L1 be a little far away, tho? And as far as a temp deployment of a shield to prevent an extinction level solar flare - how much warning do you think we'd have? There wouldn't be enough time to ask countries about it, much less put it on a rocket, position it and then get it powered up...

One last point. Where does this guy get this "unique" idea of this odd shaped magnetotail/magnetopause? Has he never seen the teardrop diagram of EM fields in space? Where in nature is this "unique" magnetotail/magnetopause observed? Me thinks these guys are modeling this with some pseudoscientific MHD models. If you want a magnetic field to protect the planet you had better figure out a way to get the planet to generate it.

Doesn't that depend on how far into the future(from now) it happens. Perhaps by then we will have a month or more warning.

As cantdrive85 pointed out, how do you obtain this long, trailing cylindrical field when the field would be expected to form a much shorter teardrop shape?

Can we build and deploy a large enough and strong enough magnet to protect Mars from the L1 point?

As an alternate to a huge magnet at L1, could we deploy multiple smaller magnets in orbit around Mars to maintain a magnetic shield from solar radiation?

Correction. The L1 point is not all that stable. We would need to provide active stabilization to maintain the magnet at that point.

Well, it looks remarkably similar to the illustration for the Earth, here: https://en.wikipe...etopause

And then you would have to consider the field strength they are proposing of 1-2 Tesla. That is way stronger than what we see at Earth, which is measured in microtesla. Still, the equations are on the Wiki page. Any competent plasma physicist could run them. Nobody from EU, however, due to a) lack of the suitable code, and b) lack of ability and qualifications.

Pretty cool idea, but would this be particularly necessary? Mars lost its atmosphere over geologic timescales. Current losses to solar wind are basically negligible. Should we terraform and bulk up the atmosphere, solar wind losses would be greater, but it still would take hundreds of thousands to millions of years to lose appreciable mass. Radiation protection could be provided by the denser atmosphere and subsequent ozone layer. This wouldn't be quite as protective as the proposed magnetosphere, but also wouldn't require the creation of a truly massive dipole in space (think energy requirements)

Well there you go, he must have gone to Wiki to do his research.

Wylie played with magnets... Looked what happened!

Err, no, I could have quoted figures from any number of scientific papers, including Alfvn's, but it was easier to just link to something more accessible. Get an education. Stop pretending that you have even clue one about plasma physics. You quite obviously haven't. All you are doing is embarrassing yourself. As usual.

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NASA proposes a magnetic shield to protect Mars' atmosphere - Phys.Org

Shannon Nangle finished her PhD ready to take on a new challenge and set her sights on research to help makeMars colonization possible. But she isnt pursuing research on rocket fuels or space suits. Shes using synthetic biology to improve biomanufacturing of needed resources using simple inputs like sunlight,water, and CO2.

In 2015, a collaboration between Pam Silver and Daniel Noceras lab showed that the bacteriumRalstonia eutropha could be used along with water splitting to create biomass andfusel alcohols. Then in 2016 they followed up with bionic leaf 2.0 that useda more biocompatible catalyst to beat the efficiency of natural photosynthesis. Now, the technology has to beexpanded and scaled up to take on the many potential applications of an efficient solar to bioproduct technology.

To find out about the latest work to help move the bionic leaf out of the lab and maybe one day to Mars, I met with Shannon and graduate student Marika Ziesack, both members of Pam Silvers lab, in their Harvard Medical School lab space. I saw the benchtop setup for testingRalstonia eutrophawiththe biocompatible catalysts. A power source connects to the small electrodes that sit in the compartment with the bacteria. As the electricity is applied it splits waterwhich as H2O has two hydrogens and one oxygen atom into hydrogen and oxygen. The bacterium,Ralstonia eutropha in this case, can then use that hydrogen along with carbon dioxide to produce biomass like thebio-plastic precursor polymer polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB).

Ralstonia eutrophacan also be engineered to overproduce certain fatty acids and enzymes that allow for more biopolymers than just PHB. Thats one of the improvements that Shannon and Marika are working on so that biopolymers with different structural properties can be produced and used as biodegradable materials here on earth or as renewable building blocks on Mars.

Other engineering improvements can be made so the bacteria can tolerate stresses like high salt concentrations that can improve conductivity of the solution. They even mentioned the possibility of a bacterium that can grow in a mixture that includes urine waste to allowmore sustainable water recycling. Bacteria grown in a lab or production facility usually need a feedstock of biomass that can end up being the big cost in the bioplastic production. With sunlight, water, and air as inputs its possible to bypass the expensive feedstocks that would be normally be used to create these bioplastics.

To truly tackle applications like space exploration, synthetic biology will need to prove itself in the field. Others have noted that synthetic biology can be crucial to a Mars mission but first it has to get off of a lab bench. Thats why the team at Harvard areworking on more portable versions of the bionic leaf to hopefully show that it could work outside of the labusing only resources readily found on Earth or on Mars: solar power, water, and carbon dioxide.

Among the many challenges of Mars colonization would be the need to use resources found on Mars instead of bringing everything from Earth. This use of resources found in space is usually referred to as in situ resource utilization, and it would be necessary for long term space missions or colonization. There is a different set of resources out in space than on Earth, but in the last few years NASA has shown that water exists on Mars with frozen deposits reaching the amount of water in Lake Superior. Then if solar power can be used to split that water then hydrogen would be produced and you would just need CO2 to produce bioplastics. Fortunately, even though Mars atmosphere is 100 times less dense than on Earth, 96% of it is made up of CO2. So if a technology like synthetic biology can reliably turnwater and CO2 into useful materials would be ideal for conditions on Mars.

Then once engineered bacteria can convert the in situ resources into something useful like bioplastics, further processing can be done to make needed tools. With bioplastics that can mean 3D printing of products that are made in a renewable fashion with biodegradable materials. So even if this technology never makes it to Mars it may finds ways to replace some of the harsh chemical processes we currently use with biological processes.

Biology has already found a way to do many chemical processes extremely efficiently without high heat or harshchemicals often used in industrial processes. As researchers learn to harness the diverse biological pathways that already exist there will be more opportunities to engineer cells that can replace chemical reactors. More sophisticated models could even lead to predictions of exactly which pathway should be used to meet your final product needs. The possibility of taking advantage of so many capabilities that biology provides is what excites so manyover synthetic biology as a technology.

But for now,the bionic leaf and other promising synthetic biology tools will haveto prove how they can scale and perform in tough conditions outside of the lab. As they do that, synthetic biology researchers like Shannon will be moving us toward the big goals likemaking Mars colonization possible.

Link:
Synthetic biology to help colonize Mars - PLoS Blogs (blog)