The Future of Mars

Terraforming

Terraforming-v-to change the landscape to suit our needs

The future of Mars rests in our hands. Terraforming Mars is a project of monumental proportions. Terraforming the Red Planet means changing it into another Earthlike planet. There are many theories on how to do this.

• Making the Atmosphere thicker and breathable
  • to do this, the polar ice caps on Mars would have to be melted
    • Doing this would release CO2 into the atmosphere.
  • Making factories that release greenhouse gases or CFC's to help thicken the atmosphere
  • Making synthetic gases that could warm the planet and stay in the atmosphere for a very long time
  • Covering the planet with flora to help make oxygen to make a breathable atmosphere
  • Thickening the atmosphere will help to keep water stable
  • Slamming ice asteroids made of ammonia and water to help hydrate and thicken the atmosphere
  • Placing giant mirrors in orbit to reflect sunlight to the surface
  • Just flooding the atmosphere with CO2 does warm the planet, but average temperatures are still below freezing
  • Flooding the atmosphere with N2 and O2 does warm the planet, but the average temperature is still below freezing.
  • Adding ammonia and methane warm the atmosphere, but only minutely.
  • CFC's greatly warm the atmosphere
  • To effectively warm the surface of Mars, add
    • CO2 pressure
    • O2 pressure
    • N2 pressure
    • CFC's
• This is a project that could take hundreds or even thousands of years to complete
• Terraforming remains a controversial topic
  • Should we or should we not physically change every characteristic of Mars
• http://spacescience.com/headlines/y2001/ast09feb_1.htm
• http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~mfogg/program2/TerraSim.html