Artsists conception of a halocarbon factory on Mars. Courtesy NASA.
Of course, questions remain as to what is the best way to warm up Mars. One possibility would involve building factories to make gases called ‘halocarbons’. The raw materials would be the Martian soil and the Martian atmosphere. This deliberate polluting of the Martian atmosphere would contribute to a greenhouse effect. There is a certain irony in the fact that the very processes that are destroying our home world on earth, could be the answer to one day creating a new home on Mars.
Finally, after a hundred years or so, the first humans could travel to the red planet as permanent settlers. They would in some respects be imitating the early settlers who travelled to the ‘new world’ of America. These first inter-planetary colonists would be like the Pilgrim Fathers who sailed in the Mayflower to build a new life far from home.
But why would such a momentous enterprise ever be attempted? The financial cost and the commitment of time and resources would far surpass any endeavour in human history. Apart from the mountain climbers’ motivation of ‘because it’s there’, are there any practical reasons compelling enough to embark on this centuries long undertaking? Again scientists are telling us that ‘yes’ there are in fact very sound reasons for doing this. The most persuasive reason is that the very survival of the human race may be at stake. A brief examination of the fossil record reveals how many species have become extinct over the millions of years that life has been struggling to survive on planet earth. Is there any reason to believe that our own end would be any different?
We now know that Asteroid collisions present a real threat to our survival. Many scientists believe that it was an asteroid impact that wiped out most of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Apparently these global killers have struck many times in earth’s history, and the statistical probability is that it will happen again. Add to this the very real possibility that we could cause our own extinction through war, or that some killer plague may one day wipe us all out; and there is a good case for increasing the odds of our survival by spreading our seed to a distant shore.
There is a well-known quote in astronomical circles, ‘We can’t afford to keep all of our eggs in one basket for too long’. If the human race is to guarantee its survival long enough to one day explore the stars and the galaxies, then colonizing Mars could be the most important event in human history; eclipsing the discovery of fire or the splitting of the atom.
One day, our distant progeny maybe buying real estate on Mars. Not just for fun, but to actually build a life there. I wonder if any descendants of those Internet customers who bought Martian land in the early 21st century will be around to claim ownership?
A few years ago I heard about an entrepreneur who made a fortune selling real estate on Mars. People were paying real money to buy ‘title deeds’ to own land on the red planet. Of course the main appeal was as a gag gift for friends, ‘Happy birthday, I bought you 50 acres on Mars.’ A great money-making idea that came and went like so many others birthed in cyber space.
However, scientists are now telling us that there is a real possibility that future generations of homo sapiens may one day be living on our nearest neighbour in space. The technical term for this enterprise is ‘terraforming’, also referred to as ‘planetary engineering’: the act of transforming the atmosphere and the surface of a planet to make it suitable for human life. It may not be as far-fteched an idea as some people think. After all, I can remember as a kid reading that one day rich people would be able to make trips into space. Anyone who keeps up with current events knows that this is now happening. Science fiction has a way of becoming science fact; and the time interval between the conception of futuristic ideas and their actual realization seems to be shrinking.
Transforming an entire planet would of course not be an overnight project. If Rome wasn’t built in a day, then it would entail hundreds of years of sustained development to transform Mars into a place we could call home. Currently the atmosphere there is so thin (100 times thinner than earth) and it is composed mostly of carbon-dioxide, with no oxygen at all; so that an unprotected person would die a rather unpleasant death, decompressing and suffocating in a few seconds. The surface temperature would also make life very tough, even for a polar bear. Also, the thin atmosphere doesn’t trap heat like on earth. This, when combined with the fact that the red planet is also 50% farther from the sun, means that Mars is a very cold place. In fact, the average surface temperature there is minus 60 Celsius (-76 Fahrenheit). A cold day in Alaska would be a vacation by comparison.
Then there are the Martian dust storms. How would you feel if tonight the weatherman told you that a storm would hit your city tomorrow and last for the next five or six months? On Mars storms on a planetary scale can last this long, hiding areas the size of North America under thick red dust.
However, scientists are now telling us that there is a real possibility that future generations of homo sapiens may one day be living on our nearest neighbour in space. The technical term for this enterprise is ‘terraforming’, also referred to as ‘planetary engineering’: the act of transforming the atmosphere and the surface of a planet to make it suitable for human life. It may not be as far-fteched an idea as some people think. After all, I can remember as a kid reading that one day rich people would be able to make trips into space. Anyone who keeps up with current events knows that this is now happening. Science fiction has a way of becoming science fact; and the time interval between the conception of futuristic ideas and their actual realization seems to be shrinking.
Transforming an entire planet would of course not be an overnight project. If Rome wasn’t built in a day, then it would entail hundreds of years of sustained development to transform Mars into a place we could call home. Currently the atmosphere there is so thin (100 times thinner than earth) and it is composed mostly of carbon-dioxide, with no oxygen at all; so that an unprotected person would die a rather unpleasant death, decompressing and suffocating in a few seconds. The surface temperature would also make life very tough, even for a polar bear. Also, the thin atmosphere doesn’t trap heat like on earth. This, when combined with the fact that the red planet is also 50% farther from the sun, means that Mars is a very cold place. In fact, the average surface temperature there is minus 60 Celsius (-76 Fahrenheit). A cold day in Alaska would be a vacation by comparison.
Then there are the Martian dust storms. How would you feel if tonight the weatherman told you that a storm would hit your city tomorrow and last for the next five or six months? On Mars storms on a planetary scale can last this long, hiding areas the size of North America under thick red dust.
The problems and challenges are literally on a global scale, meaning that terraforming Mars to make it fit for humans to settle could take hundreds of years. The first step would be to build an atmosphere. Mars has a lot of carbon-dioxide trapped in polar ice caps. Melting this ice would create a thick carbon-dioxide atmosphere. This would have the effect of raising the planet’s surface temperature as a denser atmosphere begins to trap heat on the surface (much like the ‘greenhouse effect’ on earth). Now water could flow on the surface and plants would be able to grow. The first Martian plants would probably be lichens. In a few decades, a terraformed Mars would witness an explosion of life characterized by pines and oaks, allowing it to become our second home.
Of course, questions remain as to what is the best way to warm up Mars. One possibility would involve building factories to make gases called ‘halocarbons’. The raw materials would be the Martian soil and the Martian atmosphere. This deliberate polluting of the Martian atmosphere would contribute to a greenhouse effect. There is a certain irony in the fact that the very processes that are destroying our home world on earth, could be the answer to one day creating a new home on Mars.
Finally, after a hundred years or so, the first humans could travel to the red planet as permanent settlers. They would in some respects be imitating the early settlers who travelled to the ‘new world’ of America. These first inter-planetary colonists would be like the Pilgrim Fathers who sailed in the Mayflower to build a new life far from home.
But why would such a momentous enterprise ever be attempted? The financial cost and the commitment of time and resources would far surpass any endeavour in human history. Apart from the mountain climbers’ motivation of ‘because it’s there’, are there any practical reasons compelling enough to embark on this centuries long undertaking? Again scientists are telling us that ‘yes’ there are in fact very sound reasons for doing this. The most persuasive reason is that the very survival of the human race may be at stake. A brief examination of the fossil record reveals how many species have become extinct over the millions of years that life has been struggling to survive on planet earth. Is there any reason to believe that our own end would be any different?
We now know that Asteroid collisions present a real threat to our survival. Many scientists believe that it was an asteroid impact that wiped out most of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Apparently these global killers have struck many times in earth’s history, and the statistical probability is that it will happen again. Add to this the very real possibility that we could cause our own extinction through war, or that some killer plague may one day wipe us all out; and there is a good case for increasing the odds of our survival by spreading our seed to a distant shore.
There is a well-known quote in astronomical circles, ‘We can’t afford to keep all of our eggs in one basket for too long’. If the human race is to guarantee its survival long enough to one day explore the stars and the galaxies, then colonizing Mars could be the most important event in human history; eclipsing the discovery of fire or the splitting of the atom.
One day, our distant progeny maybe buying real estate on Mars. Not just for fun, but to actually build a life there. I wonder if any descendants of those Internet customers who bought Martian land in the early 21st century will be around to claim ownership?
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