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SimEarth: Terraforming Mars by the Numbers

Posted by timothy on from the plug-in-values-for-q dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Today NASA has an online terraforming simulation based on the McKay/Zubrin/Fogg model of Mars' weather modification. The simulation shows that the greening of Mars can be done in at least three ways: 1) mirrors melting stored carbon dioxide in tropical soil and polar dry ice; 2) a fluorocarbon (CFC) factory; 3) blowing a vent thruster in the side of a methane-rich asteroid and engineering a collision (perhaps many impacts, but a mere 0.3 km/s impulse drive if using an outer solar system asteroid, such as Chiron, beyond Saturn). Irrespective of the merits or wisdom of these huge engineering projects, their simulation allows moving back the clock to a previous time when Mars was blanketed by greenhouse gases, and thus much warmer."

4 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. The Martians won't allow this by uncoveror · · Score: 3, Funny

    We will never terraform Mars. We will never colonize Mars. It is already inhabited by an advanced underground civilization called the Zhti Ti Kofft, and they are getting tired of us. We better leave Mars alone, or we could be toast!

    --
    The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
  2. Cost-effective terraforming by DuckDuckBOOM! · · Score: 2, Funny
    3) blowing a vent thruster in the side of a methane-rich asteroid and engineering a collision
    ...and carry the impact live on pay-per-view. Might even make a profit.
    --
    Life is like surrealism: if you have to have it explained to you, you can't afford it.
  3. I don't want to spoil anything, but... by jlo · · Score: 2, Funny

    shouldn't we preserve the nature of Mars, like we do here on Earth?;)

    *j*

    --
    To steal my idea you'd have to make me forget it. Otherwise you'd just be copying it.
  4. Measurement units by masterkool · · Score: 2, Funny
    You gotta love their units. From the article:
    Scientists have proposed building mylar mirrors that would have a diameter of 250 km (155.34 miles) and cover an area larger than Lake Michigan
    and

    The sudden raise in temperature would melt about a trillion tons of water, which is enough water to form a lake, with a depth of one meter, that could cover an area larger than the state of Connecticut

    I'm glad to know that the proposed terraforming of Mars is using the common units of "Connecticuts" and "Lake Michigans".
    --
    I once shot a man who posted too many, "Imagine a beowulf cluster of these"