Serious answers only, please. Do you believe in the possibility of terraforming Mars?

Answer 1

I've read a lot about it and it seems like in theory it could be done. It could take a century to do it or more and that is just to build the atmosphere and warm the planet. It is beyond our technology though do do anything about the fact that Mars lacks the strong magnetic field that the Earth has that protects us from solar radiation. This would be a very big obstacle to overcome in terrafarming Mars.
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Read more about it here:
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming_of_Mars
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Answer 2

I believe it would be technically possible, given unlimited time and money. As other answerers have mentioned, the idea has been kicked around for a long time in SF circles, so a lot of the problems have been thought about fairly thoroughly.

However, due to the long timescales required and the almost inconceivable amounts of money that would also be required, I don't think it is politically possible with our current technology or any reasonable extrapolation. If, for instance, we managed to resolve most of the outstanding problems with nanotechnology and produce a genuinely cheap, reliable, mature nanotech industry, the cost of the project might fall far enough to become a political possibility.

However, I find it difficult to believe that even in those circumstances, there wouldn't be better ways to spend the same money repairing some of the ecological damage we have here - a problem that is orders of magnitude smaller (though probably no easier, because the pressure on our ecological resources that caused the first problem will not have gone away), and will benefit more people than terraforming another planet could ever do.

Answer 3

No. Mars lacks a magnetic field which can protect it's atmosphere from solar wind so a bigger atmosphere will not be possible in the very long term.

However it might be possible to get much better conditions in low elevations between the tropics if the atmospheric pressure can be raised. This might give some of these low lying regions a climate similar to high altitude Ecuador or Peru. You might call this "areoforming" from another word for Mars - "Ares". This word was used if not coined by Kim Stanley Robinson in the Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars series.

Some calculations indicate that raising the polar temperatures by 4C would cause the CO2 in the polar caps to all go back to atmosphere. The greenhouse effect from the thicker CO2 atmosphere would then take over and make the planet even warmer. This could replicate what it was like many millions of years ago with liquid water flowing on the surface.

Where the energy to do this can come from is a problem. However spreading coal dust, soot or black plastic film on the polar caps might heat them up enough in sunlight to get some increase in atmospheric pressure. Alternately the idea of mirrors floating in space reflecting extra sunlight back to the planet might work but the mirrors would have to be hundreds of kilometres across.

Another possibility is aerobraking ice asteroids in the Martian atmosphere. This could add carbon dioxide, water, ammonia, methane. Many asteroids would have to be accelerated from the outer solar system to the inner for this to work to a worthwhile extent and it would take nuclear powered robot spacecraft to do it.

The atmosphere may stay as CO2 but at a higher pressure. This would be poisonous but not corrosive and would be extra shielding from cosmic and solar radiation. Mars currently does have an ozone layer which protects from some UV already.

There would be little harm in increasing the oxygen content to several percent using cyanobacteria but if the atmosphere was breathable it probably would not have a sufficient greenhouse effect to keep the planet warm.

If the planet was warm enough it would be possible to get about outside without anything more than winter type clothing while carrying a light backpack with an oxygen supply in it.

For a real speculation, imagine that wormhole / stargate technology is a reality and even more important, fairly cheap. One wormhole transfers hot high pressure gas from Venus to Mars. Another transfers billions of tonnes of warm seawater to Mars from Earth, moderating sea level rises here. Put a heat exchanger in orbit around the Sun and the seawater arrives on Mars very hot. It's all good.

Answer 4

Mars's water is probably mostly underground, while its oxygen is combined with iron in its soil, giving Mars its red color. There is also plenty of carbon dioxide, but again it is combined with the soil. Getting them into the atmosphere will be difficult but not impossible. The sci fi book Red Mars (Kim Stanley Robinson) is a pretty good story about terraforming Mars.

Answer 5

No I don't. It is silly to think that Mars is just sitting there in a delicate state that would allow a small factor introduced by people to change the whole planet's climate. I think Mars is in a stable state where natural forces we don't understand are keeping Mars the way it is now, and it would take far more of a change than we could realistically implement to change the planet.

Answer 6

Yes, I believe it to be possible. Mars already has water ice and dry ice, as well as a carbon dioxide atmosphere. If you melt the dry ice, you get lots of carbon dioxide to set up a nice greenhouse warming effect. That melts the water ice and makes things hospitable for simple Earth organisms. Oxygen can be extracted by algae from the carbon dioxide, so even a breathable amosphere should be relatively easy create. It's going to take ages, though, so don't expect to see it happen during your lifetime!

Answer 7

yeah there is if Earth builds a colony at the future terraforming will take years to do

Answer 8

I tend to doubt it. Most experts say that the gravity of mars is too weak to retain the lighter gasses required for human life.

Answer 9

=S wt duz terraforming mean ?

Answer 10

hi jack, im not that bright at this stuff, i just wanted to say hello, xxxxxxxxxxx