Destination Mars
The layman’s guide to Elon’s dream
We humans never settle (no, I’m shilling for One Plus), so why just settle with living on earth? Why shouldn’t we colonize Mars? Well, no one is going to complain about having a planet B when a huge asteroid destroys the earth. Mars could be the escape planet! The ultimatum of Homo-sapiens as a species is to save the species, expand and explore till the end — that is if there is an end.
Terraforming and colonizing mars would be the first baby step in the grand scheme of expanding into the great void we call the cosmos. With the earth not being in great shape and with carbon emissions at historic peaks, some say it’s already too late to control global warming and with most politicians never considering it a non-issue, if not now, the need for another habitable planet will be absolutely necessary for the future.
Alright! We need a habitable planet but why mars? Let’s look at a couple of options we’ve got other than mars:
Why not Venus?
The answer is pretty simple — it’s just too hot in there and I don’t want to burn on Venus… plus it’s easier to heat a planet than to cool one.
Why not mercury?
Meh! If Icarus taught me something it is don’t fly too close to the sun.
Why not moons of outer planets?
Some scientists suggest Titan (the largest moon of Saturn) contains evidence of surface liquid and has an atmosphere. So, Titan could be terraformed but we are getting ahead of ourselves, as we need to take into account the distance between the fledgling colony and Earth.
Why Mars?
i) NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provides the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.
ii) Mars has polar ice caps, just like earth.
iii) A Mars day is almost 24 hours. A Mars year is almost 365 days, just like earth.
iv) Mars tilt is 25 degrees, just a fraction away from the Earth’s 23.5 degrees. And because of this tilt, Mars has seasons, just like the earth.
Mars is the best we’ve got. So why not give it a shot?
The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever.
-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
So, let’s explore ways to terraform Mars.
Terraforming is basically transforming a planet into a habitable form. Terraforming a planet is not simple task millions invested in billions are yet to be invested and trillions are to be made after terraforming. Let’s briefly touch on the steps to terraform a planet.
To establish a biodome
After reaching mars we just can’t walk around without a spacesuit (as our body can’t handle the atmospheric conditions of mars or any known planet other than earth for that matter). Biodome is basically a global spacesuit — A dome with optimum atmospheric conditions for us to handle on a foreign planet.
“A structure that could hold life-generating needed oxygen and food for humans”
-Google.
So establishing a biodome would be the first step to establishing a colony on Mars.
So, we’ve established a biodome. Now in order to terraform we’ve got to warm the planet. Yeah, Mars is cold (ranging from -220 degrees F in winters to +70 degrees F in summer in lower latitudes).
Mars has got around 95% carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As we know carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas but still, Mars is cold, as the atmosphere is not thick enough and there’s no heat to trap.
So, let’s see how we can warm the planet.
Elon Musk has a plan to launch a satellite in orbit with large reflectors to direct and focus sunlight to mars. The idea is that over many years, the rise in temperature would release greenhouse gasses.
Also, there are some suggestions to put nukes on the polar ice caps to melt solid carbon dioxide and heat. The polar ice caps are composed of solid carbon dioxide in mars. So, spraying nuclear bombs on icecaps is suggested but the reality of the situation is different. Estimates suggest over 10,000 of the largest nuclear warheads are needed to pull off such a move. Considering the world only has a stockpile of some 13,000 that may be a bit hard, not taking into account the nuclear winter and radioactive fallout would litter the whole planet effectively poisoning the soil. This doesn’t seem like such a great option so let us just stick to the good ol’ mirror.
We need oxygen to breathe
Introducing microbes like cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) to the Martian surface eats up carbon dioxide and releases oxygen, which changes the ecology, which leads to an oxygen-rich atmosphere. Cyanobacteria changed the ecology of the earth more than anything. Usually, plants and trees get credits for being carbon dioxide eaters and for making a green environment. Microbes like cyanobacteria are responsible for around 70% of the oxygen that we breathe today yet they aren’t acknowledged. Cyanobacteria is the early most important ancestor responsible for giving us a green environment. Let’s hope they do the same on Mars.
Now, we need artificial magnetic fields to be introduced
Mars lacks in the magnetic field as compared to earth. Magnetic fields are so important is that they can shield a planet from solar wind and ionizing particles. Earth’s magnetic field prevents most high-energy charged particles from reaching the surface. Instead, they are deflected from the earth, keeping us safe. Early Mars had a thick, water-rich atmosphere, but it was gradually depleted without the protection of a strong magnetic field.
A strong flow of charged particles, either within the planet or around the planet is initiated. It turns out you can create a ring of charged particles around Mars, thanks to its moon Phobos.
This would create a magnetic field strong enough to protect a terraformed Mars. So here we warmed the planet, gave a source for oxygen to breathe, and introduced an artificial magnetic field. Once this is done we’re good to go. But how long does this take? 100 years? 1000 years? Well, it’s hard to predict…
After terraforming and colonizing Mars what happens? Hmmm, interesting…
This could be another interesting story with the visions of the Martian future. Maybe, we’ll consider that for another blog. I guess I’m done here. Let me end in an orthodox way with some quotes-
“The future is vastly more exciting and interesting if we’re a space-faring species than if we’re not,” — Elon Musk
“Mars is there, waiting to be reached.” — Buzz Aldrin
Thank you for your patience. Hope you guys enjoyed it.
Auf Wiedersehen! Till next time!
