With approximately 6.7 billion humans inhabiting the Earth today and as I think of the global warming hoopla it’s apparent that dry space here on our planet is running thin. Land reclamation is an option but that can only go so far. At the rate that our seas are rising, more drastic steps must ensure the survival of our species. The recent advances in space exploration has kept my hopes up that perhaps terraforming can eventually solve that problem.
What is terraforming? Terraforming, in a nutshell, means turning planets, moons and other heavenly bodies with harsh environments into places similar to Earth where humans can live. It is, at best, a hypothetical concept yet to be proved feasible. Carl Sagan, the guy who wrote the book ‘Contact’ (the one made into a Jodie Foster movie), first came up with the crazy idea of seeding Venus’ atmosphere with algae to improve its atmosphere. Algae?! Sagan pointed out that Earth was in fact a planet similar to Venus — it was laced with carbon dioxide that not one UFO dared tread it (ok that’s another story right there). But thanks to algae and that scientific process called water evaporation, Earth’s atmosphere is now a wonderful mix of oxygen and nitrogen gas. Fascinating, eh?
Now, all signs are pointing to Mars as the most viable target for terraforming. Surface exploration by land rovers reveal that Mars once had water and possibly harbored life, and later photos show that river channels are awash with water to this day. But Mars’ atmosphere, just like Venus, is made up of mostly carbon dioxide (95%) and only traces of oxygen and nitrogen. A two-fold approach to warming the planet involves shooting rockets containing CFC’s (yes, those dreaded chemicals that are ruining our planet) on to Mars’ polar caps followed by introducing algae and bacteria on the melted ice. A series of chemical reactions will result to a warmer climate, but it may take hundreds of years before it becomes suitable for human occupation. Apart from Venus and Mars, the moon Europa is also a candidate, but extreme radiation coming from Jupiter and its sheer distance from the Earth makes that practically impossible.
Yeah, it’s all wishful thinking. But what I would do to be around when the first man lands on the planet Mars. That would be the single-most important step to making my terraforming dreams a reality. For all the mistakes we’ve made here on Earth, I believe we can all make up for in Mars.
To infinity and beyond!
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September 29th, 2008 at 9:40 am
sweet research, i dont even have the patience to watch the news and you saw this? anyway, if they say it is feasible, then it MAY be possible.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:42 am
i’d be dead when that time comes. hmmm. hehhee. if worse comes to worst, i’d still stay on earth.
it will take millions of years before they can convert at least 5% of the total CO2 volume in mars. hehehe. even earth is having problems maintaining the 21% oxygen volume. hehehe.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:48 am
interesting theory. by then i hope travel fare to Venus & Mars won’t be in the millions anymore.
September 30th, 2008 at 1:16 am
And I thought I was the geeky one. It’s now Drew vs Winston. LOL!
September 30th, 2008 at 9:18 am
it’s a scary thought. Was this post inspired by Wall-E?
hehehe.
October 8th, 2008 at 8:00 am
How can we planet hop? Can they transfer everybody to another planet? Or are they going to choose another Adam and Eve for another planet to start a human race? Who will it be? Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt? Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise? Joke lang po…
Moreover, I think Mars is okay but it has a lot of craters. Meaning, it is always hit by asteroids. Yikes!!!
October 9th, 2008 at 3:32 am
Human intellect now-a-days are so advance when it comes to science and technology. But the problem is we don’t value maximum utilization of our resources capacity for advancement of human civilization… the capitalist are controlling these potentialities because of their greed.
In the future, when MORALISTS OF THE WORLD UNITE.. we will have maximum utilization of our potentialities… to find better a planet for human settlement.
This is future studies… no wonder SELF-DETERMINATION is a critical issue from NATIONALISM TO UNIVERSALISM
October 12th, 2008 at 1:51 am
interesting. haven’t checked your blog for some time & i’m glad i did.
i love these type of sci-fi ideas. i’m all for it. heck, if it’s ok with sagan…
October 13th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
I’d rather live in Axiom with Wall-E and Eve
October 13th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
this is something new…interesting for an earthling like me
October 14th, 2008 at 12:06 am
the talk about terraforming Mars had been around for ages. I think we should “discover” a better propulsion system first before we can think of conquering Mars. :). I hope the first warp-speed capable engines would be developed in my lifetime hehe (been watching a lot of Star Trek reruns lately)
October 15th, 2008 at 8:14 am
hmmm masarap parin tumira sa earth hehe. .and siguro abo na tayo bago pa man mangyaring mga bagay nato hehe. .
October 20th, 2008 at 5:57 am
Though terrforminh is an interesting dream (it will be a reality in several century probably), it’s too bad you are like a lot of others believing blindly that “our earth lacks enough space for humanity and thus the future of our species is at risk” … There’s plenty of space, just it often need to be adapted so that human can live there. The only overcrowded areas are the new megalopols. Outside, it’s rather ok.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:41 pm
interesting! but i don’t think it would be feasible to transform mars’ atmosphere to something like humans can live with. we can’t even solve our earth’s global warming issues.. hmmmmm…