For years and decades now the concept of terraforming Mars has kept researchers and science experts on their feet scratching their heads to find a solution. This enthusiasm came from various fictional novels and movies that have given scientists hope that perhaps they can implement this idea. According to research, Mars has the potential to be humanity’s second home and they are trying to make this concept a reality.
If Mars is ever to be terraformed, it will be a monumental task. Terraforming Mars could take decades or even centuries in its initial stages. Additionally, we do not have the technological capacity to implement this initiative. This sobering realisation highlights the enormous obstacles that stand in our way of realising the aim of altering the Red Planet. NASA needs to reassess the grand dream of Terraforming Mars
The dream or vision of making Mars a planet that can give life to humanity is an interesting one. This concept has been part of scientific language and conversation for decades now and it promises not to just give humanity a different perspective, but, also to serve as plan B as the Earth is changing. Scientists have hypothesised that humanity may establish conditions conducive to human life on Mars by releasing greenhouse gases and altering Martian.
NASA has admitted to this impossible mission stating that It is not possible to terraform Mars with current technology. Mars’ thin atmosphere and deficiency in vital resources such as enough carbon dioxide that would be required to start a greenhouse effect and warm the planet are the main obstacles. The idea of converting Mars into an environment more like Earth is significantly more difficult than first thought due to the harsh reality of the planet’s current status.
Therefore, the issue is not entirely based on technology, but also based on the enormity of the resources needed. Less than 1% of Earth’s atmosphere is found on Mars, and the planet does not have a magnetic field to shield it from cosmic radiation. It is therefore a wise idea for scientists and researchers to discard this idea since reports state that it could take thousands of decades to implement this idea. Unless a new technology advances enough to take on this big idea. Obstacles on the journey to a habitable Mars: Scientific, material, and time
Mars does not have the nature or resources that are similar to Earth that can even give us hope. If it comprises less than 1% of what the Earth attributes, then it could be a waste of time, resources and investments. Due to the abundance of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere (earth), heat is retained and a rather stable climate is produced. Mars’s sparse atmosphere prevents the planet from efficiently retaining heat.
According to Bonsor (n.d.), NASA is reportedly developing a solar sail propulsion technology that would harness solar energy to power spaceships through the use of enormous reflective mirrors. Placing these massive mirrors a few hundred thousand kilometres away from Mars would be another way to use them: to heat the Martian surface by reflecting solar radiation.
NASA has found that, even in the event that all of Mars’ CO2 could be released, the atmospheric pressure required for human survival without a spacesuit would not be produced. The entire accessible carbon dioxide is insufficient to generate a habitable atmosphere, and transferring more gases from Earth or other celestial planets is currently beyond our technical capabilities.
The lack of a magnetic field on Mars presents another significant difficulty. The Earth’s magnetic field is essential for protecting the world from solar winds and dangerous cosmic radiation, which would otherwise remove our atmosphere. Mars has a thin atmosphere now because billions of years ago, the planet lost its magnetic field. It is just not possible to build an artificial magnetic shield using the technologies available today in order to terraform Mars.
The idea of terraforming may not be fully realised for several millennia, even though humans might visit Mars this century. It took the Earth billions of years to develop into a planet on which plants and animals could flourish. It is not an easy task to change the Martian landscape to resemble Earth. To create a livable environment and introduce life to the icy, arid planet of Mars, generations of human creativity and labour will be required (Bonsor, n.d).
No matter how bad things get on earth, they will be much, much easier to improve to habitable conditions than Mars. The difference in resource investment required is so many orders of magnitude as to be almost unquantifiable in terms that relate to any real world economic activity. Like, 1000 years of the entire productive capacity of the Earth to even begin to meaningfully change the climate of Mars to something where we could live there.
Why is it natural for humanity to spread? All three of those issues on earth are extremely solvable through a different economic system. We don’t even need new technology. Population growth is obviously not going to continue for ever - it’s already declining. Our planet has more than enough resources to live here sustainably until the sun burns out in a few hundred million years. We simply need to stop allowing a parasitic class to destroy things for their own short-term gain. You might scoff at the infeasibility of that task, but I promise you it is far easier than shipping billions of people through space and all the resources necessary to sustain them on a planet where not only are they not evolved to live, but where the conditions for life are worse than literally any spot on Earth. It simply doesn’t make sense.
Humanity has 3 purposes in my opinion. 1- make and consume art (in whatever form that may be). 2- protect life. 3- explore. We have always wanted to visit new places, go to new frontiers. Yes, we can lessen the strain on earth by better resource management, moving away from destructive practices.
We aren’t going to stay just on this rock. And whoever gets their first might have a bigger say in what life is like beyond earth. The Soviets, Americans, China, they all knew the value in ensuring we aren’t just stuck here and we actually progress.
It’s probably what I’m most passionate about. And it upsets me when someone casts aside an entire academia because “we don’t need it” or “it’s too hard”. What do they want? Just to be stagnant and have the same life as previous generations? What’s the point?
China needs to step it up, fuck really any government needs to step it up. Because if not China, it’s going to be the US or some billionaire loser who will set up slave camps and ensure Raytheon gets their money for installing missile launchers on the moon or something stupid.
I don’t think you have any understanding of just how hard it is. I did the math: https://hexbear.net/comment/5484726
To summarize, at our current energy output, it would take 4.7 billion years to create a sufficiently massive atmosphere on Mars for human habitability.
Current energy output. We are getting closer to fusion energy every day. I’m also literally never taking a hexbear users “I did the math” comment as scientific fact.
Don’t have to terraform mars, just have to get a decent population off of one rock.
How much more energy production is there to hit? If you increase it by a thousand times (you won’t) then it will only take about 5 million years! And again, what about the energy we need on earth? The math is not complex. The energy to complete the task at hand simply isn’t available to us and, on any timescale that matters, never will be.
Where are you going to put them that won’t be like living in the worst prison on earth but 100x more dangerous and 10000x more isolated?
Hey you know what isnt hard? Not replying to every user on this thread so you can hit them with an “ackshully”