Terraforming Mars

As a child, my elementary school provided the sixth graders with a terrific magazine, Time for Kids. This magazine was full of all kinds of exciting articles on scientific discoveries, but the only article that I can truly remember, that really genuinely caught my interest, was a small blurb about the possibility of terraforming Mars. There is evidence that Mars was once a much warmer planet (now it's average temperature is well below zero, although it has extremes of up to 75 degrees Fahrenheit), and the conditions of the atmosphere are remarkably similar to that of Earth just a few billion years ago.

Here is the composition of Mars' atmosphere (courtesy of How Stuff Works.com):

• 95.3 percent carbon dioxide
• 2.7 percent nitrogen
• 1.6 percent argon
• 0.2 percent oxygen

In contrast, Earth's atmosphere consists of 78.1 percent nitrogen, 20.9 percent oxygen, 0.9 percent argon and 0.1 percent carbon dioxide and other gases.

However, humans could, theoretically, introduce forces to heat the planet and change its atmospheric composition, simulating the process that happened on Earth years and years ago. Some of the ideas that have been introduced by astronomers range from hitting mars with giant nitrogen invested asteroids, melting the ice caps with space mirrors, or introducing Oxygen producing factories or bacteria onto the planet's surface. Of course, there are several other theories on how Mars could be terraformed, all of which would take at least a hundred years, if not several hundred millennia.

The reason that I am more pro-Mars than pro-Moon is that a moon colony would be completely dependent on the Earth, a quick fix that would divert valuable resources that could be used to turn Mars into a green, oxygenated, livable planet. Whether or not the Earth is really facing a global catastrophe of overpopulation and environmental destruction is still relatively up for debate, and we don't know what paths nations will take in the next few hundred years. Having an alternative on the way, however, a backup planet that could slowly, eventually be colonized and provide us with a new frontier could only be a good thing, and the possibility of it taking thousands of years would prevent Earthlings from getting the attitude that because there is a spare, they can spoil the Earth. Being a social scientist more so than a natural scientist, I find the social implications of a new frontier to be completely fascinating.

Anyway, I found this simple and clear article to describe the process in greater detail, for anyone who is interested: Terraforming Mars