Science Forums 2

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by Thunderbird

Terraforming Mars


NASA has on occasion suggested that the human race could one day colonize Mars, and also initiate life to take hold on the surface. I understand that there have been nigh Sayers in the past about the limits of science, and I hate to be one, but I do not believe this at all feasible. It is a dead planet, and always will be, period.... What do you think ? Does NASA know something about Geophysics that I do not?

Smack mars with a few dozen large comets, or broken pieces of large objects from the area that Pluto occupies should bring enough volatile compounds in to make an atmosphere. The greenhouse effects from those gases would raise the temps and then you could introduce extremeophile organisms from the earth, eventually even oxygen producing bacteria. Then you could introduce higher organisms. It would only take a few thousand to tens of thousand years. The atmosphere should last for few million years before it became necessary to bring in more volatile compounds. It is feasible but it would a very long term project. As for the whole planet needing to be alive from the core outward. Not necessary to transplant life from the Earth to Mars, the whole active Earth thing makes life more likely to exist here for longer periods of time but eventually the Earth will die when the earth looses it's magnetic field and then looses it's atmosphere. Even the Earth will die but it could be resuscitated by adding the volatile compounds that will be lost over time.