Slashdot Mirror
DARPA Is Already Working On Designer Organisms To Terraform Mars
MarkWhittington writes: Space visionaries dream of a time when human beings will not only settle Mars, but will terraform the Red Planet into something more Earth-like, with a breathable atmosphere, running water, and a functioning biosphere. Evidence exists that Mars was more or less Earth-like billions of years ago before the atmosphere leached away into space and the water became frozen under the ground and at the poles. Terraforming Mars is decades away from the beginning and probably centuries away from the end. But DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is already genetically engineering organisms that will help turn the Red Planet blue, according to a story in Motherboard.
Thought the whole atmosphere issue was due to Mars not having a functioning magnetic field anymore?
I always thought the main issue with life on mars was the lack of a magnetic field
On earth we have a big lump of metal spinning at the core, this generates the field needed to protect us from the solar wind
but in the case of mars it's theorised that this isn't the case
without a magnetic field, this means more solar wind
lots of radiation goodness and thinner atmosphere since the solar wind blasts the edge of the atmosphere away from the planet, similar to constantly thinning it out
also less pressure equals liquids boiling off, which is probably why all the water is ether only frozen or underground
although I'd admit if they did get something to grow there it'd be fun to see all the fallout style mutations cropping up at the poles
Surely if we have the technology to turn a dead worl into a living one, we must have the technology to properly maintain an already living one.
I'm no saying we shouldn't explore other worlds,just that we should start our explorations from secure footings...
Surely if we have the technology to turn a dead worl into a living one, we must have the technology to properly maintain an already living one.
Well yeah, the earth is 97% terraformed, we just need to get it a few degrees cooler. :-)
We can't have a technological solution to global warming, we can't have climate engineering, that doesn't forward the political agendas of centralization of authority and redistribution of wealth. Only political/social solutions to global warming are acceptable. We can't just keep using science and engineering to escape malthusian(-like) catastrophes.
are the back to the 90's style?
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
on Mars would be awesome! Then I reread the headline more closely...
It seems to me that it would be far easier to adapt ourselves to Mars by modifying our genetics than to change the characteristics of an entire planet.
You do realize, that if you can terraform Mars into Earth 2, then you have all the basic problems licked for figuring out and solving climate change on Earth.
Can we at least learn all about the planet in detail before we go destroyi... i mean "modifying" it?
As I understand it, while there's oxygen aplenty bound up in the soil, and some carbon dioxide just lying there frozen on the ground, and even water if you look under the surface, there's a serious nitrogen deficiency. 78% of our atmosphere is nitrogen, and it's one of the building blocks of life, not to mention it's what makes it thick enough to breathe, but Mars's atmosphere only has about 2% nitrogen, and that's pretty much a vacuum by earth standards anyway. There's some fossilized fixed nitrogen in the soil, but most of it blew away in the solar wind long ago, and its not coming back unless someone finds a comet of frozen N2 and crashes it into the red planet. WIthout it, you're just not getting a viable biosphere.
The surface gravity on Mars is 38% of that on Earth. The lower gravity of Mars requires 2.6 times Earth’s column airmass to obtain 100 kPa pressure at the surface. Mars also lacks a magnetosphere, which poses challenges for mitigating solar radiation and retaining atmosphere. The lack of a magnetosphere is thought to be one reason for Mars's thin atmosphere. Solar-wind-induced ejection of Martian atmospheric atoms has been detected by Mars-orbiting probes. Earth abounds with water because its ionosphere is permeated with a magnetosphere. The hydrogen ions present in its ionosphere move very fast due to their small mass, but they cannot escape to outer space because their trajectories are deflected by the magnetic field. Venus has a dense atmosphere, but only traces of water vapor (20 ppm) because it has no magnetic field. The Martian atmosphere also loses water to space. Earth's ozone layer provides additional protection. Ultraviolet light is blocked before it can dissociate water into hydrogen and oxygen. Because little water vapor rises above the troposphere and the ozone layer is in the upper stratosphere, little water is dissociated into hydrogen and oxygen
Today's vices may be tomorrow's virtues.
Mars presents untold challenges because it's so bloody cold, it's atmosphere is so thin and it's magnetic field is non-existent. We should be FAR more interested in Venus. I'd love to see what would happen if we dumped a canister of extremeophile bacteria into Venus. They could remove the sulfur from the atmosphere in time and actually allow the heat that makes Venus a hell to escape into space. And it would be FAR easier to manipulate Venus into loosing atmosphere than it would be to gain atmosphere on Mars. Venus also has a strong magnetic field like the earth. We'd also have the advantage on Venus of being able to live in the clouds. Normal earth air and earth pressures would float in the Venusian atmosphere. Not only that but if we can learn to slow the runaway greenhouse effect on Venus it would only help us on earth.
We like mars because we can land on it without problems but it's devoid of life for a reason. Venus is far more interesting in my opinion. We have microbes on earth right now that could easily survive on Venus. This isn't true with mars because the UV on mars will kill even microbial life.
Wait...aren't you the guy who maintains that climate change on earth isn't a problem that needs to be solved?
Not over the course of a century. But it might be at some point after that. And there's always a chance I'm wrong.
Really, why don't we put some effort into unfucking Earth before we start fucking with another planet? Should be much easier as Earth is still very hospitable.
Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!
Vote for Bernie in 2016!
So why start solving a problem now when we can wait until the last minute!
That is stupid. Because we have more than one priority. After all, if climate change or whatever it gets called in a century were the only thing we cared about, then we could solve simply by killing 90% of humanity off. Nothing else is as effective, especially if you are in a hurry.
And why is it special to solve that particular problem now rather than the other millions of problems which we could also be solving right this minute?
You shouldn't sell yourself short - it's almost a certainty you're wrong!
If only you had evidence to back your opinion.
The consequences of a mistake in re-engineering Earth's climate are considerably higher than on Mars.
This space intentionally left blank
The consequences of a mistake in re-engineering Earth's climate are considerably higher than on Mars.
Yes, that's why you do small scale things first. Things that are transitory like cloud seeding to reflect sunlight. It takes a substantial effort to screw things ups. We didn't get to the current situation through a few small or medium scale experiments.
Plus there is really no alternative. Greening the economy/industry won't happen in time. Demand for power will increase as billions enter the middle class and demand their little luxuries and status symbols. You can wish and wish and wish that solar and wind could scale to meet this demand but it won't, not in time. Better get used to the idea that we need to figure out how to make some temporary shade and reflect more sunlight out of the atmosphere.
Exactly. So why is it that we can't address climate change now?
Cost/benefit. Sure, we could do something now, but why?
Here ya go!
Sorry, that's not evidence. You'd have done something cute whether I was mostly right or wrong. So I can't distinguish between hypotheses using that link.
or the show's off.
So here is an idea... no idea of effectiveness, though that could be tested in a lab. Implementation like any terraforming or atmosphere creation scheme is all pretty fantastical. Anyway I know from reading various sources that water, specifically tanks of water can be used as effective shielding against radiation. What if when they are designing what the atmosphere is to be consisted of, they attempt to make it at certain levels pretty soupy with suspended water vapor. A couple km thickness of the stuff might block enough radiation. Of course that will likely make the surface pretty dark, making plant life difficult. Though likely a lot of rainfall, which would be good. Though it would be a pretty bleak dank dark soggy world, much like England.
Then again, perhaps the water would absorb the radiation, creating "Rad Rain", which can't be good.
Mars prospector: "A Rad Rain is commin' sonny, I can feel it in me bones. Best take cover in a local vault until it passes through I reckon."
Without a magnetosphere to hold the atmosphere on the planet, the sun's solar wind will keep stripping mars's atmosphere off the planet.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
Just think, now you can jump high enough to break your own legs when you fall!
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
Did all those martian cars cause their global warming?
And I have some good "ranch land" in Wyoming to sell DARPA and their believers.