Terraforming possible? or is it just sci-fi?

[Doktor Faustus]

Very possible. In our lifetimes? No.

[Shippai]

To begin with, you need a planet that isn't habitable but is in the habitable zone around its star, and there aren't any in our neighborhood.

Mars is.
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[Rukentuts]

Terraforming is possible. But a suitable planet with water and the right atmospheric composition would still need to be located first.

[Dundebuns]

Mars is.
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It comes close to the outer reaches of the habitable, but not close enough. you would be able to engineer the planet to hold terran life, but you'd have to constantly act to maintain it. You could increase the atmospheres greenhouse gas content to compensate for the greater orbit distance from the sun, but then you wouldn't have an earth like planet any more, which is the aim of terraforming.


https://www.e-education.psu.edu/astr...nt/l12_p4.html

Once, in the past, mars was in the habitable zone, but that would have been when the sun was a much more luminous star. One must remember that as the star ages, the habitable zone will also change.

[Deleted]

I would imagine it is possible WITHIN reason

Terraforming could take centuries to alter a planet, rather than the Sci-Fi ideas of a few hours,days etc.
Terraforming would be limited to a select few planets, where the conditions would allow for the planet to change (Mercury no matter how hard you try will always be to extreme to terraform for example, you will never get it to a habitable condition.)

[Shakadam]

Terraforming is very possible, just extremely expensive and takes a long time.

About Mars' magnetic field: You could either build a series of enormous planet-encircling superconductive rings to create a artificial magnetic field (It wouldn't be as strong as a "natural" field but it might be sufficient), or you could try to "restart" the core of Mars, evidence suggests that Mars had a magnetic field like Earth a long time ago so it might be possible, although I have no idea how you'd do that.

[Deleted]

Current technology says yes, actually, but it would take a very long time.

True, with current technology it would take about 50.000-100.000 years if I'm not mistaken.
But that's without counting all the advanced in technology there would be over the years. It would probably be a bit shorter.

Still, it's not such a viable option currently. Costs too much and we wouldn't benefit from it for a long time.

[Faroth]

I still stand by the position that anything science fiction, anything we can technologically imagine, is possible. It just requires the time for us to discover the tools to make it possible.

Those automatically opening doors at the grocery store and the mall? THAT was once "just sci-fi" but now we consider it so common we don't think of it as a technological advancement or engineering development.

[RüneRS]

To begin with, you need a planet that isn't habitable but is in the habitable zone around its star, and there aren't any in our neighborhood.

I saw some documentary once that stated Venus would be the easiest to form, since it still in the habitable zone and it already has an atmosphere. The tricky part is to 'cleanse' the atmosphere there. This is the hardest part, since we can't even keep our own atmosphere clean

[haxartus]

I saw some documentary once that stated Venus would be the easiest to form, since it still in the habitable zone and it already has an atmosphere. The tricky part is to 'cleanse' the atmosphere there. This is the hardest part, since we can't even keep our own atmosphere clean

Of course it is easier since it has a working atmosphere and it's closer to the sun. But still doesn't have a stable magnetic field.
The cleansing part is quite simple, just dump a huge amount (4 quadrillion tons) of hydrogen in the atmosphere and it will fix itself via the Bosch reaction. Jupiter has enough hydrogen to terraform Venus a few million times over, but they are quite far from each other so it would be relatively difficult to transport it.
The second problem would be reducing the sunlight reaching the surface by about 50%, which won't be difficult if we have managed to achieve the first step of the process.

[Pugbot]

Hey I was just thinking, scientists are spending so much time on trying to find habitable planets and planets with life on them. Are they even working on ways to terraform planets like mars or even the moon. It sounds like sci-fi to me but it would be really cool if it was possible to do, even if just in a small scale as an experiment, is this something scientists are looking into?

Sorry for the english, not my native language.

The answer is yes. Some aspects of it would be easier than others though. Basically imagine a planet as a soup of many different ingredients, you have to be able to make your friends bowl of soup mirror your bowl of soup for you to survive in it, meaning you have to rearrange the chemicals that are already on the planet in a way that you could survive in. This only works if proper ingredients are already there. If they aren't there then you're talking about manually moving them there, or creating elements from base elements on a grand scale which is extremely difficult and not within our capability at the moment.


Some people say its not worth it to do so I read. This is WRONG. If as humans our goal is to survive, then the only way to make sure we don't all die out in one cataclysmic event (deathwing?) is to get off this planet. Cataclysmic events that could wipe out all life, or at least life as we know it, happen ALL THE TIME on the cosmic timescale. Humans are a very briefly lived and new species on this planet, we also seem quite fragile and very much need to planet to remain exactly how it is for at least another 100 years or so before we could consistently defend ourselves from cataclysmic events. If its not a natural disaster that will wipe us out then it is ourselves that will wipe us out. Technology will increase to the level that I could make a nuclear bomb in my backyard, or WORSE. Diseases, viruses, asteroids, earthquakes, global climate change, nuclear winter, volcanoes, etc. This is just a short list of ways humanity could cease to exist.

We must get off this rock to make sure we survive the next 500+ years.

[Dundebuns]

Of course it is easier since it has a working atmosphere and it's closer to the sun. But still doesn't have a stable magnetic field.
The cleansing part is quite simple, just dump a huge amount (4 quadrillion tons) of hydrogen in the atmosphere and it will fix itself via the Bosch reaction. Jupiter has enough hydrogen to terraform Venus a few million times over, but they are quite far from each other so it would be relatively difficult to transport it.
The second problem would be reducing the sunlight reaching the surface by about 50%, which won't be difficult if we have managed to achieve the first step of the process.

Not quite. Its atmosphere contains lots of sulphur, so you'd need to clean that up. Also, it's just outside the habitable zone, just like Mars. If you could truck it up to around Earths orbit, then, maybe.

Some people say its not worth it to do so I read. This is WRONG. If as humans our goal is to survive, then the only way to make sure we don't all die out in one cataclysmic event (deathwing?) is to get off this planet. Cataclysmic events that could wipe out all life, or at least life as we know it, happen ALL THE TIME on the cosmic timescale. Humans are a very briefly lived and new species on this planet, we also seem quite fragile and very much need to planet to remain exactly how it is for at least another 100 years or so before we could consistently defend ourselves from cataclysmic events. If its not a natural disaster that will wipe us out then it is ourselves that will wipe us out. Technology will increase to the level that I could make a nuclear bomb in my backyard, or WORSE. Diseases, viruses, asteroids, earthquakes, global climate change, nuclear winter, volcanoes, etc. This is just a short list of ways humanity could cease to exist.

We must get off this rock to make sure we survive the next 500+ years.

This is a lot of conjecture. Terraforming a planet would be pointless until you have overwhelming amounts of spare resources, because there are easier alternatives. You can build some very convincing habitats in space without the need for a planet and an atmosphere. The only real problem that restricts that is the lack of gravity unless you're on something that spins at an appropriate speed, or you build it on a rock with a comparable gravitational pull to the earth. It's as pointless as constructing a Dyson sphere. It's cool and useful if you do, but it takes a lot, and you could probably do without. I agree however, that if we don't get out into space proper within the next few generations, the human race is doomed.

[Pugbot]

Not quite. Its atmosphere contains lots of sulphur, so you'd need to clean that up. Also, it's just outside the habitable zone, just like Mars. If you could truck it up to around Earths orbit, then, maybe.



This is a lot of conjecture. Terraforming a planet would be pointless until you have overwhelming amounts of spare resources, because there are easier alternatives. You can build some very convincing habitats in space without the need for a planet and an atmosphere. The only real problem that restricts that is the lack of gravity unless you're on something that spins at an appropriate speed, or you build it on a rock with a comparable gravitational pull to the earth. It's as pointless as constructing a Dyson sphere. It's cool and useful if you do, but it takes a lot, and you could probably do without. I agree however, that if we don't get out into space proper within the next few generations, the human race is doomed.

I don't disagree here. Terraforming could be an indication of a more serious transition into off-earth colonization while our first attempts could be very much like something in the movie Total Recall (original) or even space stations. But any structure large enough to maintain even hundreds of thousands of people would have to be near as difficult to build and maintain as terraforming a planet and even more prone to a single event that could wipe them all out than living on a planet would.

I don't recall exact details and don't have time to look them up, but some serious thought has went into what is actually needed to terraform Mars has it not? I remember it concluded that in <50 years we could walk around Mars with only an oxygen mask but it would take several hundred to produce breathable atmosphere. The main point being engineering black plants (to absorb sunlight) that would melt the water at the polar caps and that would slowly create an atmosphere thick enough to protect the surface from the sun, obviously we couldn't turn it into a tropical paradise very quickly but if we're looking at realistic goals of colonizing other planets then I think our plans have to include that this can take 100's of years and no matter what the inhabitants on the planet could be heavily reliant upon technology and perhaps even genetic engineering or cyborg enhancements to survive, which I think is an inevitable part of our future anyways.

[yetgdhfgh]

I hear it could be possible to terraform mars

There is suppose to be loads of ice water underneath mars but its frozen so all we need to do is heat up the planet

and to do that we need to actually do something weve been trying to stop here on earth Global warming

when mars has a very thick carbon dioxide atmosphere it would heat up the planet and melt the water then we could try to plant oxygen producing organisms and plants to convert that carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen

now im not a scientist and im sure this process would take hundreds if not thousands of years to complete to make mars a replica of earth if its even possible at all

[bekilrwale]

Pretty sure it is 100% possible. Now is anyone willing to invest the astronomical amount of money it would cost to terraform a planet? nope. And I don't think the technology is currently available to pull it off without a hitch.

[PACOX]

Its complete possible, we've been practicing climate controlled on a small scale for years. Greenhouses, animal exhibits, etc. We don't currently have the means to do it outside of small enclosed environments. Also we don't really have a place to test large scale climate changing technology. Do large scale test on Earth and risk screwing up our ecosystem.

[Deleted]

To begin with, you need a planet that isn't habitable but is in the habitable zone around its star, and there aren't any in our neighborhood.

Sure there are. Mars and even Venus are perfectly in the habitable zone. Especially Mars as sun is getting hotter as it ages. Venus is just so hot because of the massive greenhouse atmosphere and Mars a bit on the cold side because it has almost no atmosphere. Still, if Mars did have the same conditions like Earth, same atmospheric pressure etc. water.. it would actually be pretty comfortable, especially close to the equator and in a few (hundred?) million years, it would actually be in a better position than Earth.

[Cows For Life]

^ This is the biggest problem for a terraformation of mars. Without it, there is no magnetic field, no tectonic movement, there would be no currents (should they ever want a sea), and more importantly, if a solar flare hit the planet you could kiss your ass goodbye.

Interestingly enough, I was randomly reading about the possibility of terra-forming Venus last night. Theoretically possible but the technology to do it within reasonable time scales (decades) does not exist yet.

Just thinking about Venus, you'd have to bring your own ocean's worth of hydrogen (to make water), capture most of the carbon in the atmosphere, change the spin of the planet or build an orbital system to reflect/capture sunlight and solar radiation, and more... that takes a lot of tech and energy. We can't do that yet.

[Deleted]

Well it's possible, it has to be, otherwise our planet wouldn't have the atmosphere and conditions it has now.

Could we theoretically do it? Sure, just copy what naturally occurred. Will we be able to do it? Depends, but it wont be something we see in the lifetimes of the next few generations. To begin with, you need a planet that isn't habitable but is in the habitable zone around its star, and there aren't any in our neighborhood.

You also have to think, would it be worth it? We can create artificial environments that we can survive and thrive in. Would it be worth using all that energy and all the resources to turn another planet into something we can live and breath on?

So, to answer your original question, partly Sci Fi

Hahaha, you make it sound so easy. Ofcourse our planet developed the conditions to support life, over millions of years and massive changes. So we could probably do it in a Tuesday.

[muto]

Yes it's possible, but it would require a ton of resources, which would be extremely, extremely costly, and take a super long time.