Terraforming Other Planets?

[Boerseun]

Hey - this is fun to watch!

UncleAl, your turn...

[Boerseun]

Terraforming planets will be easiest with planets most like Earth (duh).
With that in mind, I reckon we scrap Venus. Not only does it have a nasty acid atmosphere (the least of our problems), it simply rotates too slow. A lazy afternoon on Venus lasts a few months.

Mars, on the other hand, is a smaller gravity well, making for easier launches, its day is only an hour longer than Earth days, much friendlier atmosphere, closest to an 'Earth-like' planet we can get in the solar system, except for Earth itself. Mars has a lot of oxygen trapped in the ground as rust, giving the planet its red colour. It only needs extraction. Apparently, water is no problem either.
I'd say give Mars a go - and the cheapest and easiest will be to genetically engineer a species of algae and bacteria to operate in lichen-fashion, tint the planet green, and produce oxygen from the iron oxide as a by-product. Rocket these lichens to Mars, seed the surface with it, and sit back and relax. Relax for about a million-odd years, I guess, and hope humanity is still around to pluck the fruits of your labour.

Just kidding - it can probably be speeded up. But it still doesn't answer the fundamental question: Why, precisely would we want to do it? What would we gain? What are the benefits? Technically, it's no problem - even with today's technology in mind.

[Eclogite]

Originally Posted by Boerseun

Terraforming planets will be easiest with planets most like Earth (duh).But it still doesn't answer the fundamental question: Why, precisely would we want to do it?

Here are some possibilities

Purpose 1:To provide an alternative home for humanity lest some natural, or man made, disaster render the Earth unihabitable.
Purpose 2: We moved Out of Africa. If we are to move into the Solar System it would be nice to have somewhere reasonably homely to live.
Purpose 3:When we achieve interstellar colonisation voyages the experience of terraforming Mars will be invaluable.

Although, I am reminded of a reason given (for a different matter) by a former boss.
"Why would we want to do that? For much the same reason a dog licks its balls. Because it can."

Oh, I almost forgot:
Purpose 4:It would piss off Uncle Al.

[Boerseun]

We used to be slugs a few kazillions years ago. We lived in the sea, and would've died had we slithered onto land back then. Then we eventually changed into humans over a long span of time, being segmented bugs, amphibians and reptiles along the way, until we at last settled into our human form. All these other forms were only preparatory stages for what we are today. Not that we have reached the culmination of evolution, not by any means - being an amphibian set the stage for becoming a reptile as much as being a reptile set the stage for becoming a mammal. There is no end in sight.

What does this have to do with terraforming?
Quite a lot, actually.

Us humans are also just setting the stage for our new form. And our new form will consists of that which is the best of us and eliminate that which is the worst. And the essence of our being is intelligence. Once we can figure out a way of transporting that intelligence to machines, we can spread throughout the universe without worrying about surviving on other planets. Having to rely on stuff like water and oxygen would be passe, so 21st century - all we'd need is a source of energy, and we'd be set.

If that's the case, if humanity is slowly changing into its next form, terraforming would be pretty pointless. Those little rover buggies on Mars might be an indication of where we're headed. Not only as scientists, but as a species.

Yeah - I'm talking crap. But it's fun, nonetheless.