What would it take to make Mars a habitable planet like Earth?

When I was in middle school, my biology teacher showed our class a science fiction movie.Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.”

What attracted me to the plot was its depiction of “The Genesis Project” – A new technology has transformed a world of dead aliens into one teeming with life.

After watching the film, my teacher asked me to write an essay on such technology. Was it realistic? Was it ethical? To channel our inner spoke: Is it logical? This work made a great impression on me.

Fast forward to today, and I am an engineer and professor Developing technologies to extend human presence beyond Earth.

For example: I am working on advanced propulsion systems that take spacecraft beyond Earth orbit. I help develop lunar construction technologies to support NASA’s mission Long-term human presence on the Moon. I was in a group that showed up How to 3D-Print Habitats on Mars.

Sustaining people beyond Earth will require a lot of time, energy and imagination. But engineers and scientists are beginning to overcome many challenges.

A partial checklist: food, water, shelter, air

After the Moon, the next logical place for humans to live beyond Earth is Mars.

But is it possible to terraform Mars — that is, to make it Earth-like and support life? Or is it just science fiction?

To survive on Mars, humans would need liquid water, food, shelter and an adequate atmosphere Oxygen to breathe And thick enough to retain heat and protect from the sun’s radiation.

But Martian atmosphere has Almost all carbon dioxidealmost without oxygen. And it’s very thin – only 1% as dense as Earth.

A less dense atmosphere can withstand less heat. Earth’s atmosphere is thick enough to retain enough heat to support life Greenhouse effect.

But Mars has so little atmosphere that nighttime temperatures drop to 150 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-101 degrees Celsius).

What is the best way to provide an atmosphere to Mars?

Although there are no active volcanoes on Mars right now—at least as far as we know—scientists can trigger volcanic eruptions with nuclear explosions. Gases are deeply trapped In a volcano will be released later moves through the atmosphere. But that plan is a bit counterintuitive because the explosions would also introduce deadly radioactive material into the air.

A better idea: deflecting watery comets and asteroids to crash into Mars. It also releases gases from below the planet’s surface into the atmosphere while releasing the water found in comets. NASA has already proven it Asteroids can be redirected — but relatively large ones, and lots of them, should make a difference.

Makes Mars comfortable

There are many ways to warm the planet. Giant mirrors, for example, could be built in space and placed in orbit around Mars Reflects sunlight on the surface And heat it up.

A recent study proposed that Mars colonies could spread AirgelAn ultralight solid material, on the ground. Airgel acts as insulation and traps heat. This can be done all over Mars, including the polar ice caps, where airgel can melt existing ice to form liquid water.

To grow food, you need soil. on earth, became soil of Five items: Minerals, organic matter, organisms, gases and water.

But Mars is covered in a loose, dusty blanket Regolith. Think of Mars as sand. Regolith contains few nutrients, not enough for healthy plant growth, and it provides some nasty chemicals. called perchloratesEarth is used in fireworks and explosives.

Cleaning up the regolith and making it viable It won’t be easy. What does a foreign soil need? Some Mars is compostcould have been done by adding Terrorists For that – hardy microbes imported from Earth Survive even in harsh conditions. Genetically engineered organisms are also possible.

By PhotosynthesisThese organisms begin to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. Eventually, as Mars became more life-friendly for Earth-like organisms, the colonists could introduce even more complex plants and animals.

Providing the right ratio of oxygen, water and food is very complicated. On Earth, scientists have tried to simulate this 2 in biosphereA closed ecosystem consisting of marine, tropical and desert habitats. Although all of Biosphere 2’s environments are controlled, even there scientists struggle to get the balance right. Mother Nature really knows what she’s doing.

A house on Mars

Buildings can be 3D printed; Initially, they must be compressed and preserved until Mars attains Earth-like temperatures and air. of NASA Lunar-Mars autonomous construction technologies The program explores how to do this properly.

There are many more challenges. For example, Unlike EarthNot for Tuesday Magnetic fieldIt protects a planet from solar wind and cosmic radiation. Without a magnetic field, too much radiation occurs to keep organisms healthy. There are Ways to create a magnetic fieldBut so far the science is very speculative.

In fact, all of the technologies I’ve described are beyond current capabilities at the scale required to ground Mars. Creating them requires enormous research and money. While the Genesis device of „Star Trek III” could terraform a planet in minutes, it would take centuries or thousands of years to terraform Mars.

There are a lot of ethical questions that need to be resolved before people can start turning Mars into another Earth. Is it right to make such drastic permanent changes to another planet?

If all of this makes you frustrated, don’t be. As scientists develop innovations to terraform Mars, we’ll use them to make life better on Earth. Remember the technology we’re developing to 3D print habitats on Mars? Now, I’m part of a team of scientists and engineers using the same technology to print houses on Earth — something that could help solve The world’s housing shortage.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read on Original article.