Although the history of human beings is very short compared to the history of the earth, since we know that the earth cannot be habitable forever, we will wonder whether human beings have a chance to survive on other planets. From another perspective, it also helps us think about whether we have the ability to correct the earth's environment if it changes significantly. There are many candidates for terraforming in the solar system.
The word terraforming, coined by Jack Williamson in a science fiction short story in 1942, now has an ambiguous range of meanings: a pure fantasy of making other worlds or earth itself earthlike; an actual plan B for life on an uninhabitable planet or a synonym for climate geoengineering (Pinkus, & Woods, 2019). The two most common reasons why other planets should be considered for terraforming are: the survival of human civilization and the resistance of the biosphere to possible disasters (natural or man-made), and the huge space resources for the expansion of human society.
Venus and Mars are visible to the naked eye, so they have been discovered and named since ancient times. People have long ago said that there may be life or even intelligent life on Venus or Mars. We have seen many traces of Martians and Venusians in science fiction movies. There are even hypotheses that Earthlings are descendants of Venusians or Martians. Now that we have sent various probes to Venus and Mars to collect data. There is growing evidence that there is no such intelligent life. But whether there are microorganisms or life forms that we are not familiar with is still unknown.
The four rocky planets in the inner solar system are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Venus is the second planet from the sun and the closest planetary neighbor to Earth. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and the second closest planet to Earth. The habitable zone of the solar system refers to the range in which liquid water can exist on the Earth's surface, considering only the brightness and distance of stars. As you can see from the image on the right, Venus is near the inner edge of the habitable zone, while Mars is on the outer edge of the habitable zone. Venus and Mars are often our preferred candidates for terraforming due to their close distance and their similarities to the Earth.
Venus is a rocky, terrestrial planet like Earth with a radius of 6,052 kilometers. It is roughly 0.95 the size of Earth and 0.82 as massive.
475 °C. Unlike Earth, which has a variable temperature range, Venus' surface temperature changes very little. This uniform temperature is due to two primary causes - the lack of tilt on its axis and the atmospheric conditions.
Venus has a thick, toxic atmosphere full of carbon dioxide, with thick clouds of yellow sulfuric acid that trap heat and create a runaway greenhouse effect. Atmospheric pressure is 90 times that of the Earth's surface.
Venus rotates backward on its axis compared to most other planets in the solar system. This means that, on Venus, the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. Venus rotates very slowly on its axis – one day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days. The planet orbits the Sun faster than Earth, however, so one year on Venus takes only about 225 Earth days, making its day longer than its year.
Venus does not have a significant magnetic field because of its slow rotation, any liquid metallic portion of its core could not be rotating fast enough to generate a measurable global magnetic field.
Mars is a terrestrial planet with a radius of 3,390 kilometers. It is about half the size of Earth and its gravity is 0.375 that of Earth.
Temperatures on Mars average about -63 °C. However, temperatures range from around -140 °C in the wintertime at the poles, to +21 °C over the lower latitudes in the summer.
Mars's atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide and some water vapor. It is about 100 times thinner than Earth's. Without a "thermal blanket," Mars can't retain any heat energy. The average surface pressure is only about 610 Pa which is less than 1% of the Earth's value.
As Mars orbits the Sun, it completes one rotation every 24.6 hours, which is very similar to one day on Earth. A year on Mars lasts 687 Earth days. The axis of Mars is tilted at 25 degrees and 12 minutes relative to its orbital plane.
Mars' current magnetic field is very weak, with strengths of at most about 1500 nanotesla. Earth's, by comparison, is more than 40 times stronger than Mars'. Mars once had a global magnetic field like Earth's, but the iron-core dynamo that produced it shut down billions of years ago, leaving only a small amount of magnetism behind due to magnetized minerals in the Martian crust.
For Venus, the hope is that the planet has an atmosphere (pressure and composition) similar to Earth's. If people had to live in special sealed settlements and could only walk out of those settlements in special space suits, any widespread colonization of other planets would be impossible. There are several important parts to modifying Venus, including the modification of the atmosphere, the formation of surface water and lakes, the adjustment of the autobiographical time and the generation of the magnetic field (Bolonkin, 2015).
Carbon dioxide and high temperature on Venus actually promote each other. Once some carbon dioxide can be removed, the temperature will drop. Conversely, if the temperature drops significantly, then some carbon dioxide will also be removed from the atmosphere. Suppose we start by removing carbon dioxide. If so, the following methods can be used.
Microbes that can survive in extremely high temperature and acidic conditions are genetically engineered to transport them into the atmosphere of Venus, using carbon dioxide and light as energy sources. These microbes slowly consume carbon dioxide in the process of survival and reproduction.
British scientist Paul Birch proposed bombarding Venus' atmosphere with hydrogen. The resulting reaction would produce graphite and water, the latter of which would fall to the surface and cover roughly 80% of the surface in oceans. Given the amount of hydrogen needed, it would have to be got directly from one of the gas giants or many asteroids.
The concept of solar shades has been discussed, in which a group of small spaceships blocks the sunlight hitting the surface of the planet, or a giant mirror directly reflects the sunlight back into space, so as to achieve the effect of reducing the surface temperature.
Another alternative is the solar mirror, which can be set up in the atmosphere or on the surface of Venus. The mirrors can consist of large arrays of light-reflecting balloons, as well as carbon nanotubes or graphene sheets. The former solution has two advantages: First, atmospheric mirrors can be fabricated on the planet using the rich carbon resources native to Venus. Second, Venus' atmosphere is dense enough that large structures like mirrors can easily float above the clouds.
If you do not change the rotation of Venus, you can change the frequency of light. A set of orbital sunglasses is set up between Venus and the sun. Combined with solar mirrors in polar orbits, a 24-hour light cycle can be created on the surface of Venus.
Or we can also start from accelerating the rotation speed of Venus, such as using celestial bodies to collide with the surface of Venus or fly close by celestial bodies with a diameter greater than 96.5 kilometers. It has also been proposed to use a mass accelerator or dynamic compression device (a device envisaged by the study that uses a magnetic field to accelerate mass flow) to generate the forces needed to speed up Venus' rotation, eventually making its day-night cycle the same as Earth's.
For Mars, atmospheric pressure must have increased by a factor of at least 100. The global average temperature must increase by at least 60 K. In addition, long-term requirements for habitability require: Water reserves on the Martian surface. Changes in the chemical composition of the Martian atmosphere and reductions in surface UV flux (Beech, 2009).
The Martian polar cap is a reservoir of carbon dioxide and water on Mars and is several kilometers thick. If the carbon dioxide, which has been frozen into dry ice, can be melted and released into the atmosphere, the Martian atmosphere can be made a little denser. At the same time, we're lucky because this carbon dioxide happens to be a greenhouse gas (and so is water vapor), so its entry into the atmosphere could add to Mars' plans to warm it up.
First, build a super mirror with a large diameter (more than 100 kilometers), put it in an orbit above Mars, and rely on reflected sunlight to heat up Mars. Second, search for asteroids containing ammonia to hit Mars in space, releasing ammonia, a greenhouse gas, to heat up Mars. Or directly bomb Mars with a nuclear bomb to heat up the planet rapidly. Third, and what humans are best at, building various chemical factories on Mars and constantly releasing greenhouse gases. According to scientists’ calculations, using this method, the temperature of Mars can be increased by 28 degrees within 30 years.
The atmosphere of Mars is so thin and its density is only 1% of that of Earth's. Under such low pressure, liquid water would not exist on the surface of Mars. Scientists have found liquid water beneath the Martian poles, but not on the surface. Mars itself will also release some gas as its temperature rises. The carbon dioxide stored in the soil is released, which increases the Martian pressure step by step. The ice buried in the soil also melts and evaporates into water vapor, which can lead to some rain and snow.
When the Martian atmospheric pressure reaches 20% of the Earth's atmospheric pressure, the average temperature in the equatorial region of Mars will remain above zero, lakes and rivers will form there, and humans can grow suitable plants to generate oxygen. There is no shortage of carbon dioxide on Mars, the gas that plants use for photosynthesis. Another point is that there are many minerals on Mars, such as iron oxide, and people can use abundant minerals to make enough oxygen.
If an asteroid with a diameter of more than 100 kilometers hits Mars at a suitable speed and angle, the lava inside Mars can be activated, and the magnetic field of Mars will also be established. However, the scale of such an impact is too large. At present, human technology cannot do it at all, and if Mars is hit by such an impact, the situation of the entire planet will be greatly changed.
In addition, some scientists have imagined placing a huge magnetic satellite near Mars. The magnetic satellite is located at the L1 Lagrangian point between Mars and the sun, and the magnetic field generated by it is used to shield it. The impact of the solar wind on the Martian atmosphere. This method is relatively easy, but it is still not achievable by today's human technology, because the magnetic field produced by this magnetic field generator has a diameter of 10,000-30,000 kilometers, and the largest magnetic field produced by humans is not even one kilometer in diameter.
We often watch documentaries about the universe together at home. We love discussing the unknown and the possibilities of exploring the universe. We started playing the Terraforming Mars board game one month ago, and in the process, we explained to our son why we need to increase the temperature and oxygen level. The effect on each card is also interesting, we'll take a closer look to see if it's scientific.
My son just had his 7th birthday party last week. The theme of the party was the Space and he made planet plates to hold food from pottery class. We also bought planet magnets, planet postcards, and planet candies. Instead of regular candles, we used planet lights. When the candles are supposed to be blown out, the kids tapped the planets to make them go out. The best part is we also made a star piñata. The kids blasted the star at the end of the party, candies fly out as if a supernova explosion created new elements. My son's classmates all said the party was so cool!
Pinkus, K., & Woods, D. (2019). From the Editors: Terraforming. Diacritics, 47(3), 4-5.
Bolonkin, A. (2015). Terraforming Mercury and Venus. In Inner Solar System (pp. 437-449). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Beech, M. (2009). Terraforming: The Creating of Habitable Worlds.
Day, C. (2021). Terraforming Mars. Physics Today, 74(7), 8.