Re: How to really terraform (part 1)

From: Andrew Usher (k_over_hbarc_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 06/14/04 

Date: 13 Jun 2004 21:20:33 -0700

quibbler <quibbler247@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<MPG.1b36885c56a89af9989868@news.individual.net>...
> In article <20040613120017.15665.00000599@mb-m24.aol.com>,
> tkalbfus@aol.com says...
>
> > We could instead build a pipeline from the poles to the equator,
>
> That would probably be a bit easier, but still no small chore.
>

Let's assume that we're pumping water, as mentioned below. We need
from each pole 200 billion lb/d, which is 37,000 cfs. If the flow rate
is 10 ft/s you'd need a 70' pipe! Also, you're going to have to build
a network of pipes around the ice cap so that there is not a trensport
bottleneck, which would require those millions of trucks. It is
perhaps cheaper in the long run, though.

>
> > use solar
> > power to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen
>
> Solar energy will be less intense from the poles and less intense on
> Mars anyway. You'd probably need quite huge solar panels to electrolyze
> the quantities of water mentioned. If one wants to use solar, one might
> try to just coat the ice with black materials that would encourage local
> melting and sublimation.
>
> >, release the oxygen and
> > transport the hydrogen via the pipeline to the equator,
>
> > Then we separate oxygen
> > from the local rocks and combine it with hydrogen to make water.
>
> Sounds like a lot of additional work.
>
> > You see it
> > would be easier to send hydrogen through the pipelines than water as the
> > hydrogen won't freeze.
>
> It would be easier to just heat the water up periodically than to
> electrolyze it. In any event one imagines that one would bury the
> pipeline and further insulate it if necessary. Introducing impurities
> into it would allow it to stay colder also and actually you could pump
> partially frozen slush without much problem. Your only challenge would
> be to prevent complete freezing, but with sufficient pressure and
> heating that probably wouldn't happen. H2 can actually be quite energy
> intensive to pump, surprisingly. It's also highly corrosive.

Yes, this plan is rather bad. For the flow rate I specified, it would
require 100 TW at the poles, and even more at the equator. This
exceeds considerably our entire power use on Earth.

How do you propose we keep the water hot? It seems that each heating
stage is effectively another pump, with the same energy costs as the
first pump.

Andrew Usher

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Earth The Giant Pump
    ... > true that gravity is apparently stronger at the poles. ... > pipe from the poles to the equator and generate flow. ... The water pressure at sea level at the poles and at the ...
    (sci.energy)
  • re:Earth The Giant Pump
    ... If water wants to naturally flow from the poles to the equator with no ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: Earth The Giant Pump
    ... true that gravity is apparently stronger at the poles. ... pipe from the poles to the equator and generate flow. ... The water pressure at sea level at the poles and at the ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: Earth The Giant Pump
    ... Then why isn't water continuously flowing from the poles to the ... There is no resistance to the free flow of water in the ... already moved to the equator though. ...
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  • Re: How to really terraform (part 1)
    ... One could probably build the pipeline from insulative materials like ... For that matter, since water is a polar molecule, ... So part of the fluid can be burned to generate heat and energy to ...
    (sci.space.policy)