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Mars Terraforming Debate
blackhelicopter writes "This Guardian article describes the implications of terraforming Mars - the subject of NASA's forthcoming debate. Quote from Dr Lisa Pratt, a Nasa astrobiologist, concerning life probably already on Mars: 'We simply cannot risk starting a global experiment that would wipe out the precious sensitive evidence we are seeking'."
Given our experiences with Biosphere 2 and my own attempts at gardening, I think Mars is safe for a while.
Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
Oh no! We'll destroy the non-existant yet vibrant ecosytem!
Is this political flamebait story day?
Hey, if we really are in one, I get first dibs on the free jetpacks.
Seriously, these guys seem to be using this as a ploy to get more funding. I.e., if the planet earth gets screwed up, we have a backup planet we can egress to..
Expect to see many more re-runs of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn in the near future.
1) Hire Hollywood strongman 2) Hire anorexic woman 3) makeup crappy plot 4) press wierd alien button in movie and release steam 5) ??? 6) profit?
Next thing you know those crazy Reds are taking down the space elevator and Mars is one moon short!
I stole this Sig
I must have missed the terraforming in Bush's Mars promises. I think we have some time before the crews are ready to roll in which to look for life. However, in case any Martians object, we'd put the plans on display. (I suggest Grover's Mill, New Jersey, where they're sure to see it.)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Maybe this generation doesn't, but past generations have been able to build things. The pyramids, the Great Wall of China. Back in my days we spent days moving one-ton blocks from one side of the road to the other. With our tongues. It's just these young pups, and their MTV generation short attention span, and their lazy work ethic. Young whipper-snappers.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Then, of course, there will be all those mars patents to file.
I'm allready getting ready to a couple. The first relates to the use of circular device mounted on a central pivot to ease the problem of transport over the martian surface, whilst the second one is all about the application of temperature elevated hydrogen hydoxide in space colonization.
And if you thought that was boring you obviously havn't read my Journal ;-)
Plus smashing stuff into a planet could be sort of fun.
So, keep your balls and eat more pizza!
And if you thought that was boring you obviously havn't read my Journal ;-)
That matches what I've always thought too. Planets are nice places to visit, but I wouldn't want to live on one.
-WolfWithoutAClause
"Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"See you, space cowboy...
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Why bother wasting time with science stuff? The decision will be made by this administration based on whether it is supported by Scripture.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Inside "Total Recall" Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking a space journey to Mars, where the Martians are a people living under repression, maybe somewhat like the Palestines today.
Arnold, "Douglas Quaid" inside the movie, is actually a former martian who was also a spy on earth. However he got busted and certain parts of his memory was erased. Coming back to Mars Quaid starts to remember things.
The best part of that movie is the last 5 minutes, where Quaid suddenly remembers how to free the Martian people living in closed controlled environments, also with suers underground. He remembers there is a thousands of years old installation underground, which needs to be activated, Quaid also remembers suddenly how that is done, and what we see happen is actually Terraforming performed in a couple of minutes! A semi gas-explosion-release is activated and the atmosphere fills up, and a blue sky and clouds are formed.
Robert
Wow...the amount of anti-human hate going on in this discussion is mind-bending. - I personally don't discriminate between all living organizms. If I could kill all living creatures in one shot I would have done it by now. At this point in time I am just trying to learn how to genetically modify viruses.
You can't handle the truth.
There is already water on mars... just look at this picture.
Well, it's obvious that we should terraform Mars cause like a billion years ago, it was the then present Martians that terraformed Earth. The least we could do is return the favour and continue the cycle. Its well known fact that the Martians nuked themselves in one of their many World Wars and the legacy of life continues on in us. Maybe they some sent small rover here and attached was a bacteria hidden in the airbag somewhere and it was the actual start of life on this planet.
Whoops, my tinfoil hat fell off... let me get that before anything happens...
---- The geek shall inherit the Earth.