Living on Mars
On the surface, the red planet’s freeze-dried world of rocks, ice, and dust looks like an unlikely place to plant a garden.
But rocks and minerals found by the Mars rovers show it must once have had warmer, habitable living conditions.
Now, using photo-realistic CGI visualizations, we’ll make a science fiction dream of Mars - a world of trees, rivers, and blue skies - a plausible future, bringing it to life after three-and-a-half billion years in a deep freeze.
The first and most important step in making Mars habitable is to warm it up, raising the average temperature 35 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. (Average Mars temperature is about -81 degrees Fahrenheit.)
Bold concepts on how to warm up Mars range from detonating hydrogen bombs and guiding space rocks on a collision course with Mars to setting up little factories on the planet whose intent is to produce greenhouse gases.
Much of the new Mars would be an icy world, like summer above the Arctic Circle, with atmospheric pressure equivalent to a mountain twice the height of Mt. Everest.
The next step is turning Mars green and producing a breathable atmosphere, which will be a much longer and more difficult process.
Lichen and moss, which thrive on carbon dioxide, will be the first imports of plant life from Earth, perhaps 50 to 100 years after warming begins. They build soil, create more nutrients and pave the way for grass and woody shrubs.
Once established, Martian forests will spread on their own, improving the soil and the atmosphere, creating a livable world for more than just plants.
It could take 100,000 years for trees to transform an icy blue Mars with a carbon dioxide atmosphere into a warm, green planet with enough oxygen for humans to breathe.
A fully terraformed Mars may never be as warm and wet as Earth because it’s too small and too far from the sun. Low elevations where the atmosphere is thicker and regions near the equator will be the warmest.
Ha ha. If you're lucky enough to read my comment, don't waste your time on... *alternative fuel* wink wink.
Just from the summary, you know it does NOT address the main problem with Mars:
it's NOT low temperatures
it's NOT low atmospheric pressure
it's NOT atmosphere composition (either now or future, doesn't matter)
it's NOT scarcity of water
it's NOT whatever irrelevant problems the filmers (sic) address
The problem with Mars is NO MAGNETIC FIELD!
Period.
There's no solution to that with current (read "up to 100 000 years from now), so calm down and eat your cookies.
Hear that, musky guy?
Why are we moving to mars when life is perfect here?
It is high time the planet should mobilise its financial resources in terraforming other planets, not for wars and nuclear weapons! We seem to forget how small we are in the universe!
How are they going to build a dome? Wouldn't gravity make it impossible for the construction materials to stick together?
Perhaps they should also be sending people that have already adapted to thin oxygen where other people develop hypoxia and continue the evolution of these people while working on planting moss from the artic ect to attempt to build a more friendly environment there.
Indigenous highlanders living in the Andean Altiplano in South America, in the Tibetan Plateau in Asia, and at the highest elevations of the Ethiopian Highlands in east Africa have evolved three distinctly different biological adaptations for surviving in the oxygen-thin air found at high altitude.
How do you eat, and actaully live on mars though?
how would we handle radiation problems?
Exploring Mars for the purpose of human colonization is the smartest thing we can do. In many ways. It is said, that we should be a multi-planet species. It makes sense, if we rely on just our planet, what happens when that day comes where, we've used up all of our resources and have become over-populated? instead of just waiting for that day to come, which, China already faces, we should just spread out. Let people decide whether or not they wish to become citizens elsewhere. Be it, a floating city in space, or a colony on the moon/ mars. Think about how many jobs it would create anyway. It would be reminiscent to the day the New World was discovered, but on a MUCH larger scale.
the video ain't working
The sky is already blue and the soil is not very red. it's more tan, like the Arizona desert.
Terraforming mars is just a mindplay, would be a cute daydream or topic of conversation when you're really bored if not for the fact that current precious resources are beeing invested into it's exploration, just becouse the media puts accent on this red chunk of rock. Sure, life might have existed there, but sending robots there to check should suffice.
In my opinion, the moon and overcomming our surrounding radiation belt should be our main focus space-exploration wise. Would be logical to take "small" but ferm steps considering our resources are limited.
If exploring all of earth's undiscovered species is not mentaly satisfying enough, and really want to look for life or signs of extinction/formation of it in our solar sistem, then my bet would be on Europa rather then Mars.
However, penetrating Titan's atmosphere will grant us accces to oceans of fuel, and would improve our chances to succesfully thrive and explore in more detail the above mentioned (provided no real alternative energy solution is found).
Perhaps if we survive as species long enough, and catch the sun's expansion, earth would become too hot, and the new goldielocks zone would be set around Mars (perhaps it happend in the past?). Nice and optimistic scenarios to think of :)
Or, if you really want to go wild about it, why not adopt Arthur C. Clarke's ideea and transform Jupiter into our second sun, and thus forming an artificial binary solar sistem and in turn create more life sustaining planets?
I think of such things every now and then, but each time I do it, I can't help but amuse myself of how limitless human arrogance and ignorance is.
good show thx
my name is Kendon Ares, I am a descendant of the first colonists of this world who all took the same surname. It is 2255 and I am 26 yrs old (earth) and I am 4.31 meters tall, due to the lower gravity. I was fortunate enough to survive my birth as my mother was also native-born and her pulmonary system was adapted (so many of the new-arrivals do not deliver). My chest size is 75 cm because of the atmospheric pressure and my beagle stands at 36 cm. If I went to earth, I would collapse in pain and probably die. Welcome to terraformed Mars. We are a new species.
glad they finally mentioned the lack of geothermic activity didn't think they would get to it. wander if they could use haarp to kick start it and cold fusion labs once that gets off they groud could produce oxygen faster
@ Tommy Gunz Sorry but we really would be better off not curing cancer... can you imagine the population if everyone lived to 100...just insane...we need to die a natural death and go meet Jesus or Ahlah ...that is the natural course of life!
In respect to the microbes as well we should watch to see if there is life and use it as a STUDY tool to figure out our own genesis secrets. A 2nd genesis could solve cancer.
Well its all well and good, but without a magnetosphere mars would continue to lose its atmosphere. Not to mention what would happen to us in a solar storm if we were on the planet.
I don't agree that we should leave Mars to the "Martians". We don't have any "responsibility" towards microbes, for crying out loud. Just because they have the potential to evolve into something with intelligence over millions of years, doesn't make them sacred.
What a waste of taxpayers money.
Who the hell wants to live on Mars?
The scientists say the world will end in 2012. Anyways can we really trust what they are saying here.
They have to invent something to take government money.
Who cares if the human race will be wiped out in the future?
They can't fix earth and are worried about Mars.
The excuse that they will mine minerals on Mars.
If they do fix Mars; the only ones that would live there would be the rich, and the politicians to escape the destruction they did to earth.
@Waldo; Hang in there man! Go get it done and come back for some more intellectual slap-fighting here on topdocs.
@Achems; Me too, I have a well established love hate relationship with humanity. Some say it is an unhealthy relationship so I got a dog. Nothin but love there.
@Waldo
Good luck with your major, hope everything falls into place for ya.
@420 Vision
Earths oceans were once red with iron oxide as well. It should have time to settle and be buried by a few layers of sediment in the time scale they are looking at from beginning of the project to actual habitation and seeding of animal life.
@ Reasons Voice
"The world needs idiots... Just not as many as we have !"
~ Ed the Sock (MuchMusic)~
we should be flying by now, instead of killing each other, over and over.
If we could terraform Mars into an Earth like place there still would be one big problem preventing the onset and sustainability of life,.. iron oxide(rust). This oxidation product which gives Mars it's red color would be impossible to control leaching out of the surface rocks into the new waters turning them blood red and highly toxic,..
Iron oxide is an enzyme inhibitor and the reason why few multicellular creatures can survive within rusty water.
just a thought...
@ Reasons voice
I have no issue with gun ownership, under sensible conditions though. I have issue with the exact lack of gun control in Arizona, and that they are pushing for even less control. Besides, I differ with Brewer on a host of issues, but thats for another day.
I am sure I will be back. I am being overly dramatic cause I am stressed about other things. I just need to lay low for awhile and get some home work done. Thanks all, peace.
@RV:
You got that right, sometimes I actually hate people, well for a while anyway. (LOL)