Terraforming - life beyond earth
With approximately 6.7 billion humans inhabiting the Earth today and as I think of the global warming hoopla it’s apparent that dry space here on our planet is running thin. Land reclamation is an option but that can only go so far. At the rate that our seas are rising, more drastic steps must ensure the survival of our species. The recent advances in space exploration has kept my hopes up that perhaps terraforming can eventually solve that problem.
What is terraforming? Terraforming, in a nutshell, means turning planets, moons and other heavenly bodies with harsh environments into places similar to Earth where humans can live. It is, at best, a hypothetical concept yet to be proved feasible. Carl Sagan, the guy who wrote the book ‘Contact’ (the one made into a Jodie Foster movie), first came up with the crazy idea of seeding Venus’ atmosphere with algae to improve its atmosphere. Algae?! Sagan pointed out that Earth was in fact a planet similar to Venus — it was laced with carbon dioxide that not one UFO dared tread it (ok that’s another story right there). But thanks to algae and that scientific process called water evaporation, Earth’s atmosphere is now a wonderful mix of oxygen and nitrogen gas. Fascinating, eh?
Now, all signs are pointing to Mars as the most viable target for terraforming. Surface exploration by land rovers reveal that Mars once had water and possibly harbored life, and later photos show that river channels are awash with water to this day. But Mars’ atmosphere, just like Venus, is made up of mostly carbon dioxide (95%) and only traces of oxygen and nitrogen. A two-fold approach to warming the planet involves shooting rockets containing CFC’s (yes, those dreaded chemicals that are ruining our planet) on to Mars’ polar caps followed by introducing algae and bacteria on the melted ice. A series of chemical reactions will result to a warmer climate, but it may take hundreds of years before it becomes suitable for human occupation. Apart from Venus and Mars, the moon Europa is also a candidate, but extreme radiation coming from Jupiter and its sheer distance from the Earth makes that practically impossible.
Yeah, it’s all wishful thinking. But what I would do to be around when the first man lands on the planet Mars. That would be the single-most important step to making my terraforming dreams a reality. For all the mistakes we’ve made here on Earth, I believe we can all make up for in Mars.
To infinity and beyond!
No comments:
Post a Comment