Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Best Way to Make Mars Habitable: Inject Greenhouse Gas
space.com ^ | 02/03/05 | Robert Roy Britt

Posted on 02/03/2005 9:09:22 PM PST by KevinDavis

The best way to make Mars habitable would be to inject synthetic greenhouse gases into its atmosphere, researchers said Thursday.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: climatechange; mars; space; terraforming
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-40 last
To: konaice
So how would one propose to generate enough of any greenhouse gasses on mars to make an effect anytime soon?

Well, first you get der Arnold up there, and he has to kill his wife and find out he's really a bad guy and then he finds the Martian atmosphere machine and then.....

21 posted on 02/03/2005 10:00:46 PM PST by KellyAdmirer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: KellyAdmirer

HAHAhahaa


22 posted on 02/03/2005 10:05:35 PM PST by MaxMax
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: adiaireton8
The problem is that without a magnetic field, to solar wind rips against the atmosphere, eventually stripping it away. It's like putting a bowl of dry rice in front of a fan.

Of course slamming Europa (or one of the other two large water-rich Jovian moons) into Mars could help solve the mass problem, too.

23 posted on 02/03/2005 10:10:37 PM PST by Question_Assumptions
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

As always Mars needs Women!


24 posted on 02/03/2005 10:12:21 PM PST by xp38
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

And take some big mousetraps with ya.
25 posted on 02/03/2005 10:13:44 PM PST by RandallFlagg (Roll your own cigarettes! You'll save $$$ and smoke less!(Magnetic bumper stickers-click my name)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Question_Assumptions

Since the Martian orbit has ben somewhat stable the last few thousand years or so, I don't think slamming something big against it is too good an idea...

Anybody know what the escape velocity is on Mars? If the temp is high enough, molecules high in the atmosphere might just fly right away from Mars.

But I'm too tired right now to figure out kinetic energies and Boltzmans constants...


26 posted on 02/03/2005 10:17:31 PM PST by djf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: xp38
Don't count Dejah Thoris out.

27 posted on 02/03/2005 10:19:42 PM PST by RandallFlagg (Roll your own cigarettes! You'll save $$$ and smoke less!(Magnetic bumper stickers-click my name)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: djf
It's all a matter of angles. And, let's face it, if we had a way to move Europa away from Jupiter and into Mars, adjusting the orbit of the post-collision Mars shouldn't be that big of a deal.
28 posted on 02/03/2005 10:24:53 PM PST by Question_Assumptions
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

Wow! Can we ship our greehouse gases to Mars along with all the environmental whackos ..??


29 posted on 02/03/2005 10:30:30 PM PST by CyberAnt (Where are the dem supporters? - try the trash cans in back of the abortion clinics.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Question_Assumptions

Yeah, probably. But it's kind of like a few years back when a buncha eggheads in Europe decided they wanted to build a black hole and hold it in a magnetic field.

Any clown who thinks he can build a black hole, well, if I figure he's even got a small chance of actually doing it, that's about the time I start loading my weapons.


30 posted on 02/03/2005 10:30:37 PM PST by djf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Pro-Bush

Eh, they'll all be glad enough to take our money once we get there...


31 posted on 02/03/2005 10:36:34 PM PST by WestVirginiaRebel ("Senator, we can have this discussion in any way that you would like.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Noachian
When do the environmentalist wackos start marching to "Save Mars!"

You joke. Mark my words. It will happen.

32 posted on 02/03/2005 11:00:17 PM PST by ModelBreaker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Question_Assumptions
On a program on PBS (NOVA) they discuss the Earth's magnetic field and how it will soon dwindle away to the point that the earth's atmosphere will no longer be protected. Maybe a thousand years or so from now.

Magnetic Storm transcript

33 posted on 02/04/2005 12:31:16 AM PST by DirtyHarryY2K (''Go though life with a Bible in one hand and a Newspaper in the other" -- Billy Graham)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: ModelBreaker

OK, you guys know that I am to the right of Attila the Hun, a confirmed space cadet, and a child of St. Robert Heinlein. However, I think its a mistake to go to the only other planet in this system that appears to harbor life and contaminate the hell out of it. The first time an astronaut takes a potty break you're gonna have terran organisms all over that rock. Let's at least use sterilized probes to catalog the existing life forms and preserve them before we wipe them out. The solar system is full of outstanding, dead rocks that we can colonize, strip mine, and pollute to our profit. Besides, why climb down into yet another gravity well when we can get around free space with so little delta V?


34 posted on 02/04/2005 7:37:59 AM PST by darth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: djf
Any clown who thinks he can build a black hole, well, if I figure he's even got a small chance of actually doing it, that's about the time I start loading my weapons.

Curious... would you have said "Any clown who thinks he can fly thru the air in a giant box made of wood, well, if I figure he's even got a small chance of doing it, that's about the time I start loading my weapons.", about 100 years ago or so?
35 posted on 02/04/2005 7:44:21 AM PST by Bulwark
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis
Moholes will do way more than greenhouse gases.

The bulk of Mars's atmosphere is already CO2 and it's damn cold there. A couple orbiting space mirrors, some moholes and Nitrogen scooped out of titan's atmosphere will thicken it up enough in about 500 years to walk on the surface with a face mask. Need at least 500 or so millibars of pressure, equivalent of the top of Everest before we'll be able to walk around outside of a suit. Right now Mars is about 7 Millibars, there's a long long ways to go.
36 posted on 02/04/2005 8:10:23 AM PST by Malsua
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: djf
But it's kind of like a few years back when a buncha eggheads in Europe decided they wanted to build a black hole and hold it in a magnetic field.

Just a quick question, are you talking in general with the upcoming CERN collider or is there a specific to which you're referencing? I don't recall a specific initiative to make a BH, I'd be quite interested in reading what these knuckleheads wanted to try.

37 posted on 02/04/2005 8:13:11 AM PST by Malsua
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis
Karnak is not dead;...
(holding envelope to head)
Question; What does do liberal(s) Dream about when they dream....

__________________________________________________________
Answer; "Best Way to Make Mars Habitable: Inject Greenhouse Gas"

38 posted on 02/04/2005 8:19:50 AM PST by hosepipe (he)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DirtyHarryY2K
Yes, but that program talks about a reversal, which means that it will start up again but South will be North. That's OK because that happens fairly quickly (hundreds or thousands of years), it's happened before, and catastropic atmosphere erosion takes a long time (millions of years). We'll survive reversal. Now if they said the core was shutting down, we'd be in big trouble.

The reason why I mentioned slamming Europa into Mars is not only that Mars needs more water and atmosphere but also to add the heat of the collision and the mass of Europa's core. I suspect that the reason why the Earth has such a hot core and good magnetic field lies with the Mars-sized body that slammed into the early Earth creating the Moon. While a lot of the light material flew off to form the Moon, a lot of the heavier material sank into the Earth's core, not to mention the energy released by the collision. Basically, it liquified and reformed the Earth with a heavier core and probably more water and atmosphere.

39 posted on 02/04/2005 9:49:39 AM PST by Question_Assumptions
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]


Note: this topic is from 2005.
cries out for a caption.

Margarita Marinova: Turning the Red Planet Green Inevitable Step | Interview | August 29, 2005, Monday

40 posted on 11/27/2010 1:54:40 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-40 last

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
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

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