Re: How to really terraform (part 1)

From: quibbler (quibbler247_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 06/13/04 

Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2004 16:12:21 -0600

In article <6e197594.0406122144.39b65632@posting.google.com>,
k_over_hbarc@yahoo.com says...
> OK, the only solar system body that can be terraformed realistically
> is Mars.

Earth could be re-terraformed to a greater extent than it is right now.
Some of our desert and tundra regions could be made more hospitable.
Some of the potential terraforming technology we may wish to use on mars
might be tested on regions of earth, such as the Sahara, which used to
be a lush grassland around 10kya.

> Venus is too hot, and has too much CO2.

Yes, well Venus would certainly be hard to terraform completely.
Grazing impacts might blast away parts of the atmosphere and form ice
rings. In turn the grazing asteroid bodies might become shepherd moons.
Large quantities of debris in the upper atmosphere might aid in
reflecting excess light, at least for a few centuries, cooling things a
bit.

<snip>

> If we build solar-powered trucks that can carry 200 Klb ice,

Train systems might speed the process a bit, though building tracks
would be a large added expense. Hovercraft may also have certain
advantages.

> Mars is now warm enough for liquid water to exist during the
> summer in some places,

Just putting water vapor into the air would probably not warm up Mars
sufficiently. Here might be a case where judicious use of greenhouse
gases might be useful. Bacteria can produce methane, though they need
some foodstock to live on while they do their work. I suppose that
bacteria can be specially bred and engineered for survival in the
subsurface soils and crevasses of Mars. 

-- 
      Quibbler (quibbler247atyahoo.com)
"It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the 
threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, 'mad cow'
disease, and many others, but I think a case can be 
made that faith is one of the world's great evils, 
comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to 
eradicate."  -- Richard Dawkins

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