Final Project

Rahul R.

Legislator:  Toby Goodman, Representative

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Terraforming: Turning the Red Planet into a Green Planet

 

          The general view of Mars today is that of a dry, cold, inhospitable, and barren planet. Hollywood has helped nurture this notion with such films as Mission to Mars and The Red Planet in which Mars is portrayed as an alien wasteland. Although Mars may look like this now, there is evidence that suggests that the planet may have once supported life, even if it was only of the microbial state. If Mars was able to support life then, scientists are quite sure that with a few manipulations of the atmosphere, we could once again turn the barren landscapes of Mars into a lush, plant-friendly environment.

          There are a few steps to be taken in order to start terraforming the planet. The first of these steps is outlined in a Scientific American article by Christopher P. McKay. He suggests that the first crucial step is to warm the planet up. Although this sounds very simple, the prospect of warming a near Earth-sized planet is daunting. It is hypothesized that heating the planet up will have the effect of melting a small percentage of the polar ice caps and thus releasing carbon dioxide and water vapor into the thin atmosphere. It is believed that nitrogen would also be released from the Martian soil, another key ingredient in creating a thick, plant-friendly, carbon dioxide atmosphere. There have been a few methods proposed as to how to go about warming Mars. Many of these, however, are impractical or too costly. The most efficient way of warming the planet is to use a resource more powerful than anything man-made: sunlight. The Sun’s energy, if correctly trapped, could drastically increase the temperature on Mars. It has been suggested that injecting perfluorocarbons into the atmosphere would quickly create a super greenhouse effect, trapping the warmth of the sun, which would raise the temperature of Mars to the point where carbon dioxide would start melting from the ice caps. The released carbon dioxide would thicken the atmosphere, and further the greenhouse effect. If all goes well, the steady rise of temperature will eventually surpass that of 0° C and warrant the melting of water in the ice caps. With such a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere and an abundance of water, plants would easily thrive. We may have to import soil, for the nitrate levels of the Martian soil are unknown at this time. The plants would slowly help convert a small percentage of the atmosphere into oxygen. Although levels of oxygen will never reach those of the breathable level, the Mars with a thick atmosphere is still much promising and kinder to life than it is now. It is agreed that warming the planet is the ideal first step, but some scientists think that instead of attempting to terraform Mars on a large scale, we should take it in smaller steps. Richard L. S. Taylor of British Interplanetary Society believes that terraforming is beyond us now and isn’t economically feasible as well. He suggests that we begin terraforming a very small area of the planet, say 6 kilometers in area, by constructing a large greenhouse that would replicate an Earth-like atmosphere that would not only be easier to maintain, but would ensure profit to those investors at home who wish to see gains in their lifetime. This idea of terraforming on a microcosmic scale is known as paraterraforming. Yet another option, as proposed by Robert M. Zubrin is to deploy large mirrors into orbit around Mars that would focus the Sun’s intense sunlight on the polar caps and melt them. However, it would be a long and arduous task to build, launch, position, and maintain a mirror of the magnitude needed to cause a noticeable effect on the temperature of Mars. These mirrors would require a diameter of 10 kilometers at the smallest and 40 kilometers at the largest make a difference, which is way out of the reaches of our technological and economical capabilities. Although I am a strong supporter of the progression of science, I do not feel that terraforming Mars is an ethical act. One may argue that there is nothing ethical about it and at best no life is being taken or harmed, but I still believe that we don’t have a right to play creator with objects as large as planets (not to be taken in a religious sense). Instead of seeing Mars as last resort for human habitation, we should instead redirect our efforts in saving the planet we have under our feet before we attempt to “screw up” another one. The knowledge that we would gain by terraforming Mars would be enormous, but would also distract us from preserving our own planet.

Last Updated: 09/07/01