TE R R A F O R M I N G THE JOURNEY TO A SECOND WORLD
TE R R A F O R M I N G THE JOURNEY TO A SECOND WORLD
WRITTEN BY ANDREW LIM AND CELINE LITYO DESIGN BY CELINE LITYO
TE R R A F O R M I N G THE JOURNEY TO A SECOND WORLD
Science fiction has always dreamed of life on other planets just like it is on earth. There is a method in doing such, it is called terraforming. Terraforming is the hypothetical transformation of an environment such as plants, where hostile living conditions (atmosphere, temperature, human ecology) are adjusted. After the arduous process of terraforming a body, Earth like-life should be possible. With worries about our world’s rising pollution and population, many people are starting to think that life on another planet must be an option. This document lists the challenges, methods and history of terraforming.
TE R R A F O R M I N G THE JOURNEY TO A SECOND WORLD
HISTORY James Edward Oberg, born on November 7, 1944, in New York, United States, is an American NASA (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration) engineer and also a journalist. He was the first to organize Terraforming colloquium activity in 1975. He then went on to publish a book in 1981 called “New Earths”, where he popularized the term Terraforming and explained the concepts behind it. Fig 1: James Oberg. Scientists have considered 2 planets in our solar system fit for terraforming: Venus and Mars. In 1961, the Journal of Science published Carl Sagan’s (astronomer) terraforming strategies for Venus, including seeding Venus’ atmosphere with algae to combat the planet’s runaway greenhouse effect. Subsequently, Sagan’s 1973 Icarus “Planetary engineering on Mars” also presented 2 possible techniques of transforming the martial atmosphere.
The idea of “shell worlds” was later introduced in 2009 by Kenneth Roy, an engineer in the US Department of energy. The model imagines a world where a foreign planet is “shelled”, so that its atmosphere is encased in favorable conditions while transformation takes place. This hypothetical idea could be more easily accomplished in smaller bodies/planets. Shells could be made of all sorts of materials, depending on the planet. For example, Mars could be terraformed using a shell of dirt, Kevlar fiber and steel, which still allows safe pressure and oxygen levels inside. Since shells encase the entire planet, artificial lighting must be used to mimic earth like conditions and environments. The heavy industry for docking and loading would be located outside of the shell. So far, “shell worlds” have many advantages that other methods do not. The encasement protects the planet in making from ultraviolet radiation from other celestial bodies.
TE R R A F O R M I N G THE JOURNEY TO A SECOND WORLD
Let’s talk about Mars, nicknamed the “earth’s little brother”, it is the most frequently hypothesized planet in the topic of terraforming. Conditions needed to be satisfied to be able to live in MARS 1. The distance between the Sun and Mars is approximately 208.99 million kilometers. This implies that the amount of sunlight and heat reaching Mars is relatively low as compared to Earth, which explains the low temperature(-62.8°C). To be able to live on Mars, humans need supplies of heat or warm temperature. 2. Water supplies/water processing system. This is very vital because a human being would die in a matter of days if they do not drink. Furthermore, the incredibly low temperature does not allow water to remain in its liquid state. This means that even if there is water, it will definitely be in forms of ice/liquid’s solid state. 3. Food or agricultural systems. Mars's atmosphere consists mostly of carbon dioxide (95%), which is crucial for the growth of plants. It is also known that Martian soil has some of the nutrients required for plants to grow. This is good news! However, we must remember that plants cannot grow in extremely cold temperatures. 4. To achieve earth like conditions, Mars is in great need of artificial thickening of the atmosphere. The process requires melting ice to release water and increase the density of oxygen to the atmosphere, but we have to consider Mars’ “Triple Point” of water. The triple point of water refers to the set of conditions in which all 3 states (solid, liquid and gas) can exist. On Mars, water in the form of ice would directly sublime into gas due to its low atmospheric pressure (600 Pa). Terraforming efforts would have to alter the planet’s pressure first so that water can exist in the form of liquid on the surface. 5. Pressure is not the only setback in the development of Mars, temperature is also a factor that needs to be altered. Buffer gases like nitrogen and other stable greenhouse gases such as sulfur hexafluoride and 1,1,1-Trichloro ethane have to be provided in massive amounts for the warming of Mars’ temperature. However, this
TE R R A F O R M I N G THE JOURNEY TO A SECOND WORLD
process could be a costly one. It is estimated that 150 million tons of these gases are required for this project. 6. The soil in mars is also found to be laden with radioactive carbon-14 and sulfur35, which gives the Martian soil a red color. Martian soil is highly radioactive, as observed by NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey Spacecraft Radiation Experiment. This is a direct result of a very weak magnetosphere. The magnetosphere shields the earth from interplanetary space weather and shields us from particle cosmic radiation, especially from the sun. Being constantly exposed to solar flares and cosmic rays for hundreds of millions of years, radiation is definitely a health issue for living things.
We tend to think of terraforming as an instant solution to world’s problems, like an instant new world for humans. However, after the first initial processes are complete, it would take more than 10000 years for the atmosphere to suit human requirements and around 100 to a few thousand years for plants to thrive.
Terraforming methods that may solve these problems • Installing large orbital mirrors. These large orbital mirrors are used to reflect sun rays to melt the ice caps on Mars. This will not only provide a water source, but also release the carbon dioxide trapped inside the ice caps. The trapped carbon dioxide gases are then released into the atmosphere. Since carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, it can trap heat which would eventually increase the temperature on Mars due to the thickening of the atmosphere. Fig 3: Prototype of the large orbital mirror
The carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere can then be used to help grow plants. Since there is a relatively warmer temperature, source of water, and Martial soil that already contains the required nutrients, the plants, such as sweet potatoes and carrot, can now grow. Fig 4. Plant growth
TE R R A F O R M I N G THE JOURNEY TO A SECOND WORLD
Fig 5: Contents of the soil
Isn’t this interesting? As mentioned earlier, it is a hypothetical process. This is because terraforming is not possible with the technology we currently have. According to Bruce Jakosky, there isn't enough carbon dioxide gas to make the atmosphere warmer/thicker. As also mentioned earlier, pressure is also another setback. If these setbacks cannot be deciphered, humans will not be able to conduct activities in a way similar to how humans do it on Earth. Maybe in the near future, technology will be able to solve our issues, allowing us to migrate to other planets.
TE R R A F O R M I N G THE JOURNEY TO A SECOND WORLD
REFERENCE LIST 1. https://science.howstuffworks.com/terraforming2.htm 2. https://www.zmescience.com/space/mars-terraforming-scenario-technique53543/ 3. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources/highschool/chemmatt ers/past-issues/2016-2017/april-2017/surviving-on-mars.html 4. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/can-plants-grow-with-mars-soil/ 5. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources/highschool/chemmatt ers/past-issues/2016-2017/april-2017/growing-green-on-the-red-planet.html 6. https://www.universetoday.com/127311/guide-to-terraforming/ 7. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/2018/mars-terraforming 8. https://www.labroots.com/trending/plants-and-animals/15467/grow-plantsmars 9. https://www.zmescience.com/space/mars-terraforming-scenario-technique53543/ 10. https://astronomy.com/news/2017/05/could-we-live-on-mars 11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Oberg 12. http://www.jamesoberg.com/terraform.html 13. https://www.space.com/23082-shell-worlds-planet-terraforming-technologyinfographic.html 14. https://www.space.com/23063-terraforming-planets-shell-worlds.html 15. https://marspedia.org/Terraforming 16. https://phys.org/news/2016-11-bad-mars.html FIGURE REFERENCE LIST 1. https://www.velikovsky.info/james-oberg/ 2. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/472569.New_Earths 3. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/grow_web_feature2 _ps.png 4. https://1.bp.blogspot.com/IKMO2gKYZnk/WEuuEWxiguI/AAAAAAABQns/09M5nohSGoclz9iMyelWJwsiA0clLoMXw CLcB/s1600/paraterrforming4.jpg 5. https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/08/zubrin-and-mckay-plans-forterraforming-mars-with-giant-orbital-mirrors-cited-by-elon-musk.html 6. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Comparative-analysis-of-the-averageelemental-composition-of-Martian-soil-and-the_tbl2_299530069 7. https://www.space.com/23082-shell-worlds-planet-terraforming-technologyinfographic.html Cover https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5f/38/61/5f38614bd5035acee9a8caac28f4acff.jpg https://space-facts.com/wp-content/uploads/mars.jpg