Final Project

Jacob M.

Legislator:  Tommy Merritt, Representative

(Click on the image above to enlarge.)

The Atmosphere Factory

While in thought about a topic for this final project, my mind dwelt on Mars. With the current population growth, people will have to find accommodations on otherwise unused places. Of these places, Mars is a primary choice. Keeping this in mind, it seemed to me that just letting the big rock twirl around the Sun was quite a waste of time. Although people could live in the cramped confines of a Martian spaceship and later base, that is not a desirable way to live. The answer to such a problem was obvious: we must terraform Mars. But there lies the problem. We currently have no viable way of undertaking such an operation. Although numerous strategies have been suggested - ranging from flying to the Oort Cloud, commandeering some comets, and crashing them into Mars to simply drilling holes into theoretical underground aquifers - none are quite workable solutions as of yet. After much pondering, I decided that I couldn't come up with a way to terraform Mars that wasn't new. To this end, I created a device that wouldn't terraform Mars (unless given a considerably long time), it would simply allow more options and increase the chance of their success.

The device, designated as the Atmosphere Factory, will steadily convert more of the carbon dioxide into oxygen.

The core of the unit is the algae tanks. Although other means could've been used, I choose blue-green algae to do the conversion. Artificial means could later be employed, but such a method would take a lengthy time to develop. Also, the algae need no extra devices to do its job. Each factory has a set of four tanks. The round tanks measure four feet across and six inches high. To make sure that the algae doesn't overpopulate itself, a predator would have to be included in each tank. A prime choice for a predator would be a chemiluminescent bacterium, which would not only ensure a stable population, but would also keep surviving algae healthy. If no such UV-emitting bacterium exists, geneticists would have to cobble up some for such a method to be workable. Another population control method would be to have a device around the tanks that removes the excess algae from the tanks.

To deal with the excess biomass, there are two different methods. The first is to incorporate a biomass reactor with the factory. However, I could not conceive of how to make an efficient biomass reactor for such a device as the factory. One alternative that furthers the factory's function of slowly altering Mars is to send the extra algae to a chamber beneath the set of algae tanks. The lower chamber would be for nurturing plants capable of surviving the foreboding Martian surface. The foot tall structure would birth an altered grass specimen. Although it would get nutrients from a water/nutrient solution, a plant capable of making some use of the Martian soil would be preferable. The plant would also need to have a waxy covering to keep in as much moisture as possible. If this latter method worked, it could benefit missions to Mars quite a bit. Similar to a reverse-desertification, widespread plant growth would considerably cut down on the severity of the Martian dust storms, which can coat things in massive quantities of the flour-like dust. If such plants proved to be uncooperative, the lower section could be replaced by two more algae tanks.

The upper column consists of the odometer, barometer, computer, and beamed energy target. One of the main hazards of having equipment on Mars is the sandstorm. To protect against this threat, I incorporated the odometer and barometer into the factory design. If the winds pick up or if there is a sudden change in barometric pressure, a protective bubble will be lowered around the factory. The barometer might not even be worth using considering the much less dense Martian atmosphere. The bubble would ideally be an aerogel bubble, approximately a foot thick. An additional section of this bubble is the beam concentrator located at the bubble's top. This feature would counter any effects that a sandstorm would have on beamed energy. Such a bubble would not only protect against flying debris, but it would also be quite light. The lessened weight would allow a smaller, more energy conservative motor to be installed. This is an important quality because the factory needs to be able to run on as little power as necessary. Also to this end, a computer using Mag-RAM would be ideal. With the electromagnetic memory, the computer would have instant boot up time and wouldn't have to be on for very long at all, decreasing the energy drain further. All this talk of energy brings me to the next point - power. I have three types of power production that could power the craft. The first is using an onboard solution and Mars's iron surface and a large galvanic cell. A second method would be to design the in-tank biome in such a way that the tanks would be able to provide for their own energy. A biokinetic method such as this would require a very careful selection and requires more than my limited knowledge. The third method would to use beamed energy.  Until the sandstorms are conquered, I would suggest using a microwave beam.  Normal light beams would be inoperative in the thick cover of a sandstorm.  Considering Mars's heightened distance from the Sun and its lesser atmosphere, energy satellites would need to be carefully engineered to use a variety of power production methods. The satellite would also be capable of sending the factories commands such as lifting up the bubble or sending one of the micro-rovers on an away mission.

The Outer Ring is mainly support for the inner columns. By default, the entire outer ring would consist mostly of power cells, which would allow the factory to weather storms and such. The other item, which makes a quarter of the outer ring, is a carbon dioxide compressor. This is quite an important device, for Earth-side plant life needs a bit more air pressure than Mars provides. This might remedied if a specialized algae could be manufactured. One of the optional things I have included in the pictured model is a garage. The main function of the garage is to house the micro-rovers. The micro-rovers, which I found out about recently, require little power, which is very important for the factory with its low maintenance and power requirement. Considering the recent advent of micro-rovers, creating a garage would need a couple of years to further develop the versatile rovers. Also housed in the garage are feed-in lines.  The main use for these lines would be to refill the nutrient solution in the possible plant column.

Although most of this was based on my imagination, I am required to cite some sources. To satisfy this requirement, I will cite Popular Science and some unknown e-news site for the knowledge of the micro-rovers. For my knowledge of aerogel, I give thanks to the Discovery Channel and the NASA sites. For my ideas, I thank the plethora of science fiction books that I have read throughout my life. To finish of the second page, I will recap on my factory. The name is the Atmosphere Factory. Its function is to create oxygen, slowly terraforming Mars and allowing for other options. It consists of the inner columns (upper and lower), the outer ring, the protective armor, and the aerogel bubble. Hopefully this is enough words because I have run out of ideas and this is close to two pages on my computer anyway. And with this sentence, the massive internet work load is complete, whoo-hoo!

Last Updated:  09/07/01