Posted on 11/14/2006 7:41:19 PM PST by KevinDavis
Mirrors in orbit around Mars could create Earth-like conditions on a small patch of the planet's surface, according to a NASA-funded study. The extra sunlight would provide warmth and solar power for human explorers, but some experts say the mirrors may be hard to deploy.
Scientists and science-fiction authors have long dreamed of turning Mars into a more Earth-like planet for future human colonists. The process, called terraforming, involves thickening Mars's atmosphere and increasing its temperature. But schemes to transform the entire planet would take centuries and would require enormous resources.
Now, Rigel Woida, an engineering student at Arizona State University in Tucson, US, is investigating the possibility of "terraforming" just a small patch of the planet's surface by focusing sunlight on it from orbiting mirrors.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.newscientist.com ...
Governor Schwarzenegger terraformed Mars in a matter of minutes in "Total Recall."
But seriously, this is very interesting.
I agree..
If we start to terra form, let's leave out the G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate.
In addition to all the technical problems.
Somehow I just don’t get the concept of balloons in space. Why would you use balloons in space?
If the mirror is in space it does not need to be buoyant.
It also seems to me a balloon would have a convex shape which would disperse light rather than focus it on a specific area.
Great lines in that one. "Get your ass to Mars...Get your ass to Mars...Get your ass to Mars..." "You're in a Johnny Cab" "Consider that a divorce". Wasn't a safe place to hang out, though.
The biggest problem I see is the radiation that reaches the martian surface.
A saturn like ring system might be the answer. It is a bit beyond our ability to create. Maybe a retarded monkey fish frog could pull it off, but not us creationists.
maybe they aren't balloons per se, but just inflatable foil mirrors. but right -- why bother with anything inflatable when you can just unfold a big framework/foil mirror
Unfurling a mirrored surface by filling a balloon with gas is easier and more reliable than unfurling or building a rigid frame to hold a mirrored sheet in
orbit.
Also, the amount of pressure needed to keep the balloon up is miniscule: the balloons could be assembled by fusing flat panels of flexible but relatively inelastic material, so the minimal energy surface would not need to be highly convex as is the case with a balloon made of a single piece of highly elastic material.
This sounds practical, I could imagine setting up a dome structure in a large crater and focusing the sunlight on it. It would make it quite warm.
I seem to remember the Russians attempting to do this over some of their colder regions of the country a few years ago. I believe it failed to deploy properly in space.
...but some experts say the mirrors may be hard to deploy.elsewhere in the news, the Elephant Man had a little puffiness around the eyes. For that kind of money, the Sahara could be refoliated.
Gotta get a magnetic field going there too to help radiation protection.
By the time we're ready to makeover Mars, we will have made Earthly deserts bllom, for practice.
If they're trying to warm up the surface, they don't need "space mirrors"... they just need a space heater! :-)
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