Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Space mirrors could create Earth-like haven on Mars
New Scientist Space ^ | 11/14/06 | David Shiga

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 ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: mars; space

1 posted on 11/14/2006 7:41:23 PM PST by KevinDavis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: RightWhale; Brett66; xrp; gdc314; anymouse; NonZeroSum; jimkress; discostu; The_Victor; ...

2 posted on 11/14/2006 7:41:56 PM PST by KevinDavis (Nancy you ignorant Slut!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

Governor Schwarzenegger terraformed Mars in a matter of minutes in "Total Recall."

But seriously, this is very interesting.


3 posted on 11/14/2006 7:43:15 PM PST by Aetius
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Aetius; All

I agree..


4 posted on 11/14/2006 7:45:14 PM PST by KevinDavis (Nancy you ignorant Slut!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

If we start to terra form, let's leave out the G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate.


5 posted on 11/14/2006 7:47:31 PM PST by BigBlueJon (Superman wears Jack Bauer pajamas to bed.......Jack Bauer wears George W pajamas.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis
Not to rain on her sqaure kilometer, but what about all those long lasting dust storms?

In addition to all the technical problems.

6 posted on 11/14/2006 7:51:00 PM PST by Calvin Locke
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis
The concept calls for 300 reflective balloons, each 150 metres across, arranged side-by-side to create a 1.5-kilometre-wide mirror in orbit around Mars.

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.

7 posted on 11/14/2006 7:57:50 PM PST by Pontiac (All are worthy of freedom, none are incapable.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Aetius
Governor Schwarzenegger terraformed Mars in a matter of minutes in "Total Recall."

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.

8 posted on 11/14/2006 8:04:39 PM PST by Golden Eagle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Calvin Locke

The biggest problem I see is the radiation that reaches the martian surface.


9 posted on 11/14/2006 8:10:14 PM PST by cripplecreek (If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: cripplecreek

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.


10 posted on 11/14/2006 8:17:05 PM PST by rawcatslyentist (When true genius appears, know him by this sign: all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Pontiac

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


11 posted on 11/14/2006 8:19:19 PM PST by verum ago (The Iranian Space Agency: set phasers to jihad!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Pontiac

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.


12 posted on 11/14/2006 8:26:50 PM PST by The_Reader_David (And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know. . .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: verum ago
Dynamic stability and control. You don't need much inflation to rigidize and stabilize an inflatable structure. A sheet of metalized mylar by itself will flop all over the place in space. Make it two layers sealed at the edges with some adhesive at strategic points and a few psi of any gas, and you now have a stable and controllable structure that can even be designed to focus the reflected sunlight to a specific point.
13 posted on 11/14/2006 8:27:56 PM PST by anymouse
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

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.


14 posted on 11/14/2006 8:43:23 PM PST by Brett66 (Where government advances ? and it advances relentlessly ? freedom is imperiled -Janice Rogers Brown)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis
...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.
15 posted on 11/14/2006 10:03:53 PM PST by SunkenCiv (I last updated my profile on Monday, November 13, 2006 https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

Gotta get a magnetic field going there too to help radiation protection.


16 posted on 11/15/2006 5:24:21 AM PST by nuke rocketeer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv
For that kind of money, the Sahara could be refoliated.

By the time we're ready to makeover Mars, we will have made Earthly deserts bllom, for practice.

17 posted on 11/15/2006 8:23:21 AM PST by jmcenanly
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

If they're trying to warm up the surface, they don't need "space mirrors"... they just need a space heater! :-)


18 posted on 11/15/2006 10:04:24 AM PST by mwyounce
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson