Re: How to really terraform (part 1)

From: Rodney Kelp (rodneykelp605_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 06/15/04 

Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2004 20:51:06 -0400

Mars is dead. The molten iron core has solidified and the magnetic field has
colapsed. There is no protection from solar blast. It can't be terraformed.
Move on to other solar systems with habitable planets.

"Andrew Usher" <k_over_hbarc@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:6e197594.0406122144.39b65632@posting.google.com...
> 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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