How to really terraform (part 1)

From: Andrew Usher (k_over_hbarc_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 06/13/04 

Date: 12 Jun 2004 22:44:58 -0700

OK, the only solar system body that can be terraformed realistically
is Mars. Venus is too hot, and has too much CO2. Titan is too cold,
and too reduced - we'd never get n oxygen atmosphere.

The #1 problem on Mars is the lack of surface water. A lot of it is
frozen in the soil, but there's also a substantial amount in the polar
caps. In fact, all of Mars's surface water has ended up at the poles.
Why is this? Well, ask why it doesn't happen on Earth. After all,
evaporation << precipation at our polar caps also.

The answer is that the polar caps are recycled by means of the oceans,
icebergs calve and melt. Mars doesn't have any oceans, so this can't
happen there. So the first thing that has to be done on Mars is to get
the ice off the poles and into the equatorial regions where it will
evaporate. If we get enough H2O into the atmosphere, there will be
clouds, then snow (it's too cold for rain as of yet).

Mars has a diameter of about 22 1/2 million feet (Earth = 42
millions). This gives a surface area of 1,600 trillion sq ft. Gravity
as 0.39 g, but because of the colder temperature the scale height is
only 2.0 times Earth's or 50,000 ft.
The total atmospheric volume is thus 80 million trillion cu ft.

The average temperature is around -70 F where the vapor pressure of
ice is about
16 microbar, equaling 1.0e-6 lb/ft^3. This gives a saturated
atmosphere of 80 trillion lb H2O. If the mean humidity were 50% (as on
Earth), and about 20% of this was precipitated per day, this would
give 8 trillion lb/d.

We need to evaluate how much of this H2O is 'locked up', or will not
re-enter the atmosphere. It is likely that any falling above the
latitude of 60 degrees - about 1/6 the area of the planet - will not.
If the precipitation rate here is 1/4 the average for the whole area,
about 5% of the snow will be 'locked up'. This is 400 billion lb/d.

Now it is true that H2O vapor is a greenhouse gas and would warm the
planet. The equilibrium perhaps (assuming constant RH) would be up to
30 F warmer than the present. This would raise the precipitation
severalfold but also lower the lock up ratio, and I therefore will use
the above figure as a gross estimate.

We must transport that amount of ice from the poles to the equator,
forever.
If we build solar-powered trucks that can carry 200 Klb ice, and these
can make one round trip every 40 days (this is a speed of 10-12 mph
average), then they deliver 5 Klb/d. We would then need 80 million
such trucks. This seems to be a tall order. Note, though, that any
conceivable terraforming scheme must address this issue as ice will
always accumulate at the poles. A northern ocean may eventually solve
half the problem (via icebergs), but the southern hemisphere's terrain
prohibits it.

Once we have done this, a large part of the terraforming problem is
solved. Mars is now warm enough for liquid water to exist during the
summer in some places, and some oxygen will be liberated by the
decomposition of peroxides in the soil by water. Lakes will form in
low points, though frozen most of the year. If possible,
photosynthetic bacteria should be introduced now.

Whether they can or not, another problem is the relative lack of N2
and O2 in the air. This can be addressed by finding deposits of
nitrates, which must exist if there has ever been liquid water (and,
almost certainly, there has). Bacteria should be employed to decompose
nitrates, but, if they still can not survive, mechanical means must
do. Solar-thermal furnaces seem to be the best bet. Sodium nitrate
will not decompose if heated by itself, so it shall be intimately
mixed with silica-rich rocks. This enables exothermic decomposition.

In whichever order these have been done, there will now be an
increasing quantity of N2 and O2 in the air, a hydrological cycle, and
photosynthesis slowly reducing the excessive CO2 concentration.

The next step is to plant trees, which are far more effective in
sequestering carbon. There will now be sufficient N2, O2, and water in
certain places; the obstacle here is the soil requirements. I have no
real knowledge here, but I believe soil can be imported from Earth in
the quantities needed for the trees (the necessary transportation will
be practical at this point).

When the pressure reaches 200 mb (anywhere on Mars) it becomes
possible to go outside with bottled oxygen only, and lose the space
suits - a large convenience, and doubtless an incentive to further
colonisation.

I will leave the rest to part 2, which I will post a week from today.
But first, a word on the concept of terraforming.

There seems to be a large contingent in space exploration (not,
apparently, on this newsgroup) that opposes terraforming for
ecological reasons. In my opinion, such people can not be reasoned
with and must be simply ignored. Their belief flies in the face of
Man's history. From the beginning of civilisation, we have been
modifying our environment. This is, in fact, the key distinction
between the primitive and us: the savage, like the animals, adapts
himself to his environment, while civilised man modifies the things
around him to fit his desires. There is no way around this: if you
reject environmental modification, you can only live in the stone age.
(To people that don't believe in this nonsense, this paragraph likely
sounded trite and ridiculous.)

Andrew Usher

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