Terraforming (literally, “Earth-shaping”), is a process of transforming a celestial body to make it habitable to humans. The concept was developed out of science fictions and science facts. Even though NASA claims that such engineering of making the environment of other planet to be habitable for human is not feasible, the theme of ‘terraforming’ create such a nice visualization of how does the planets will look in the future.
Mars
The above image shows a nice visualization of the process of terraforming Mars. In the visualization, the main water source come from the north pole, which then flows southward, filling the lower northern region of Mars, then flowing into the vaults of Valles Marineris, and later also filling the low lying craters. The temperature would probably be 5 degree more than that of average Earth, since the polar caps is missing from the picture :). Also in the visualization, trees are amazingly abundant, maybe because of the rich iron content in the soil (??).
In this view, the Tharsis Bulge on the left center shows 4 main volcanoes of Mars, all extinct, and all snow-capped. The highest one, the Olympus Mons (the standing alone white splotch) is about 25 km high. The volcano lies just on the edge of a coastline. The area between the sea and the volcano is likely to be an extremely popular resort area, providing leisurely activities such as swimming and skiing. Considering the low escape velocity of Mars (0.377 times that of Earth, the lowest escape velocity of all planet, even lower than Mercury), swimming in Mars would be extremely easy as you would be able to leap out from the water like a dolphin, and you is able to make a longest jump with your ski, probably as far as 500 meter! (talk about exaggeration..)
Moon
This will be our view of the waxing gibbous in the future. Since the moon locked its rotational period with its orbital period toward Earth, the moon will always shows this side to Earth. There is little land on this hemisphere because this side of the moon are mostly low lying region.
On the other hand, the dark side of the moon is higher in elevation. The sea on the south of this side is the lowest region in the Moon, sort of the Mariana Trench of the moon (probably more of a low basin). It is actually the South Pole Aitken, which is until now, the largest impact crater in the solar system. Moon will probably be able to grow a well-distributed forest, since the wind power will moves easily in Moon’s low gravity (although the ability of moon to hold a thin atmosphere is questionable, moon will probably have a thicker atmosphere like, same kind of atmosphere as Titan). The low gravity creates another interesting activity to do in Moon, you can probably splash a water with your hand up to the height of 10 meters.
Venus
In the future, the nickname “Sister Planet” will be much more appropriate for Venus. Unlike Mars and Moon, Venus has almost the same escape velocity as Earth does (about 90% Earth’ gravity), so the Earth-feel will still be there in Venus. Venus will probably be a more fertile than Earth, because land and water is well-spread in Venus, so mild water-influenced weather is basically everywhere. One of the most extreme differences in Venus is that there will be no seasonal change. Terraformed Mars will have seasons, but with a rotational tilt of 0, Venus will have no season at all. The most unearthy thing in Venus is that the sun always rises in the west and sets in the east, after lingering for 8 (Earth) months in the sky.
Why don't we just stick to our own planet before we go around messing up somebody else's planet? After all, earths gotta last awhile.
ReplyDeleteI like Europa. It would be easier to terraform Europa than places like: Mars, Titan, Pluto, Eris, Venus, Mercury and so on. The reason is that see of liquid water below. Think, if there was something swimming around down there,... I'm not sure I would be seen on Europa very much longer. Problems would be plentiful. Stuff like: Radiation from Jupiter, No atmosphere, the freezing temperatures, were to get food, and power sources.
ReplyDeleteThat would be easy to fix. On the way to Europa, Just ram asteroids into Europa. It would have more mass and could hold an atmosphere. radiation from Jupiter would be a problem I admit but if you built your domes or houses or whatever you'd call them with lead and concrete you'd have no problem. If you moved to Ganymede, It would be easier. That moon has the sea of water, and it has a magnetic field around it. The magnetic field should protect you from radiation. So I'd ram my asteroids into Ganymede. If you put plants in your dome, They'd make plenty of oxygen, and dispose of carbon dioxide. With more of an atmosphere, the ice floating on the "Sea" would melt. That would flood everything. I guess you could put all that excess water on Leda the smallest moon of Jupiter.
ReplyDeleteVenus is out of the Goldilocks zone. (habitable planet zone) So terraforming it wouldn't work.
ReplyDeleteAll will have sustainable life but the differences are:the day/night cycle,the year cycle,and the gravity.But other than that,its going to be similar to Earth.
ReplyDeletea lunar human would be 9-12 feet tall,a martian human would be 7-10 feet tall.A venerian human would be the same height.But when humans get adapted to these alien seasons,days,and gravity,they will be alien themselves.
ReplyDeleteIts great to put life on 4 worlds not one.Two is better than one:)
ReplyDeleteI want to live on Mars to go to the popular resort area and take a hike up Olympus Mons.
ReplyDeleteThis can be a solution to population growth.Venus can be terraformed because its similar size,mass,and gravity.Mars can be terraformed because it has all resources needed for life.(Just heat it up).The moon can be terraformed because 1AU is the right distance in the moon is in it.So if we can get some atmosphere from Venus then put it on the moon,temperatures will be earth like.During Lunar Eclipse,it will trap heat instead of cooling down.But this will be it.In the not too distant future....
ReplyDeleteThe moon is too small to hold an atmosphere. So how about putting a huge dome around it to prevent atmosphere from escaping into space. And Venus needs a solar shade. Thats how terraforming it would work. Earth will last a while but not forever. Its too dangerous to put all life on one planet. Astroid impacts leads to mass extinctions and resources will run low. So colonizing the entire solar system would be a good idea. Not sticking to dying Earth. Thus we can terraform Jovian moons with radiation deflectors. And terraform Titan due to its abundance of nitrogen and frozen water. We can terraform places that are too small to hold an atmosphere with a huge global dome preventing the atmosphere from ejecting into space. Pluto has an abundance of nitrogen ice. With future technology, it could be converted into water. And the outer solar system recieves too little sunlight. So solar mirrors can be added for heating and more solar energy for plants to grow. Thus global domes pretecting the atmosphere and inhabitants could also deflect solar/cosmic rays and radiation. This is how we can colonize the entire solar system. THE END
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