Do you think Mars should be terraformed?

General » General Discussion

Site Notices

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Do you think Mars should be terraformed? (Page 1 of 3)

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:50:05 PM EDT

I'm not talking right now, but in like 50 years. So if we could do it, should we do it?

Poll Inbound

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:52:00 PM EDT

[#1]

Manifest destiny!

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:52:05 PM EDT

[#2]

I think your timeline is way off, but it'll have to happen if the species is to expand and flourish.

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:55:23 PM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
I think your timeline is way off, but it'll have to happen if the species is to expand and flourish.

or possibly: "...if the species is to survive."

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:55:39 PM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
I think your timeline is way off, but it'll have to happen if the species is to expand and flourish.

I meant more serious plans of terraforming Mars to start becoming expanded upon.

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:56:27 PM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
Manifest destiny!

This

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:56:43 PM EDT

[#6]

We need a backup plan in case something happens to Earf. Mars, you're next.

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:56:54 PM EDT

[#7]

Hell yes.

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:57:12 PM EDT

[#8]

Why wait? Let's start sending liberals there now.

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:57:14 PM EDT

[#9]

IIRC Mars doesn't have a significant barrier against the Sol's solar wind. They are what turned it into the dust bowl that it is today. Earth has a very active core. Mars does not. It produces a field that deflects the solar wind, thus keeping it from stripping our atmosphere down to almost nothing.

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:57:15 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:

Quoted:

I think your timeline is way off, but it'll have to happen if the species is to expand and flourish.

I meant more serious plans of terraforming Mars to start becoming expanded upon.

Gotta get there first, and establish a colony. Frankly, that is a bit of a stretch. We also lack the political will, economic clout and technology to terraform.

ETA: Hell, we can't even figure out what an extra few percent of CO2 will do on THIS planet, much less how to terraform another planet

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:57:22 PM EDT

[#11]

Heck yea.
We have to have somewhere from which to base our Titan terraforming efforts.

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:58:03 PM EDT

[#12]

Lack of magnetosphere means atmosphere cannot be maintained.

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:58:24 PM EDT

[#13]

Terraforming won't start in 50 years...it will take us centuries to get to that point. But yes, it should be done.

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:58:46 PM EDT

[#14]

What is this? Red Faction?

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:59:01 PM EDT

[#15]

Hell yeah.

But of course the enviro weenies will probably say man should never change anything about nature, even if it means Mars remains uninhabitable and we all die on Earth because they refused to allow us to leave and spread out.

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:59:02 PM EDT

[#16]

Absolutely. We'll need to find a way to permanently increase the atmospheric pressure, which is hard considering that there's no magnetosphere and is therefore vulnerable to the solar wind.

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:59:26 PM EDT

[#17]

Mars for the Martians!!!!!!

Posted: 4/20/2010 1:59:33 PM EDT

[#18]

Quaid, start the reactor.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:00:42 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:

Lack of magnetosphere means atmosphere cannot be maintained.

The thing is, if you somehow have access to the technology and energy to contemplate terraforming a planet, I'm pretty sure you can figure out a way to surround the planet with a magnetic field.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:00:46 PM EDT

[#20]

Yep send iin the terraformers...Lets get a Shake and Bake colony going

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:03:50 PM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:

Quoted:

Lack of magnetosphere means atmosphere cannot be maintained.

The thing is, if you somehow have access to the technology and energy to contemplate terraforming a planet, I'm pretty sure you can figure out a way to surround the planet with a magnetic field.

With a big magnet. Uh, yeah, right.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:04:38 PM EDT

[#22]

Mars is mostly a bunch of worthless rock. It'll never really be inhabitable.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:04:42 PM EDT

[#23]

Heck yes we should. Why not? You guys that voted no, speak up and give us your reasons. I would be interested to hear the arguments against it.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:07:12 PM EDT

[#24]

But first establish a functional moonbase. One that a Mars mission could be launched from. If you could build a Mars mission launched from the moon you would not have to lift out of a 1 G well versus a 1/6 G well. The moon would have to be mined for minerals and water.

It would also be necessary to guide asteroids and comets into orbit for minerals and H20.

All that's going to take a couple of hundred years. YMMV

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:09:53 PM EDT

[#25]

Hell yes. Unless an intelligent species inhabits a planet, it's fair game. "Nature" my ass. Dead hunks of rock don't get environmental protection... Damn hippies, that's just asinine wanting to preserve something as useless as Mars.

ETA - Why oppose it for technical considerations when we don't have the technology to terraform yet anyway?

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:10:16 PM EDT

[#26]

If we can't survive here, there is no amount of land that will be enough.
Think of it like income, live within your means and all is well; live beyond your means, and you will need credit to stay above water. You would need an ever increasing credit line to stay afloat.
Now if there is something there that we need, like a new energy source or a rare element not found here in quantity, then by all means take it.
I do not believe population will ever be a just reason to colonize or terraform another world, we would run out of food before space.
If there are to many people, they will just have to learn self-control or starve.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:10:49 PM EDT

[#27]

Sooner or later we are gonna get wiped out from natural or man made disasters. If the human race wants to survive we need to spread to other planets.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:14:29 PM EDT

[#28]

Maybe, but if they encounter this I recommending taking off and nuking the entire site from orbit:

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:14:53 PM EDT

[#29]

Terraform Mars, then populate it with dinosaurs. It would be an awesome hunting paradise. We could feed hippies to the velociraptors.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:15:14 PM EDT

[#30]

Quoted:

Quoted:

Lack of magnetosphere means atmosphere cannot be maintained.

The thing is, if you somehow have access to the technology and energy to contemplate terraforming a planet, I'm pretty sure you can figure out a way to surround the planet with a magnetic field.

With a big magnet. Uh, yeah, right.

Ringing the planet with a superconducting electromagnet would be easy compared to creating an atmosphere.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:19:53 PM EDT

[#31]

Quoted:
IIRC Mars doesn't have a significant barrier against the Sol's solar wind. They are what turned it into the dust bowl that it is today. Earth has a very active core. Mars does not. It produces a field that deflects the solar wind, thus keeping it from stripping our atmosphere down to almost nothing.

THIS, Mars will never be like Earth. The core is SOLID and doesnt produce the magnetic field necessary.

We can have domed bases on the planet but it will never be like Earth.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:20:27 PM EDT

[#32]

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:21:26 PM EDT

[#33]

Mars colony + space marines=awesome

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:22:29 PM EDT

[#34]

As long as we send the liberals there so they can create their own utopia without messing with ours

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:26:40 PM EDT

[#35]

The world is ending in 2012 duh!

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:32:03 PM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:
What is this? Red Faction?

I hope so, I can't wait for the future so I can show Colonel Masako my rail driver.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:40:58 PM EDT

[#37]

Not just yes but hell yes.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:43:39 PM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:
Not just yes but hell yes.
http://i44.tinypic.com/fmuk4k.jpg

My thoughts exactly!

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:44:50 PM EDT

[#39]

Well the only way to wake a planet like Mars up and create a Magnetosphere is to crash a large moon into it.., and then wait a hundred million years for it to be ready for terra forming... Otherwise your attempts would be a waste of time. No protection from Sun=no way to retain an atmosphere.

Not gonna happen.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:45:05 PM EDT

[#40]

I think Earth is a precious cradle that humanity was created in. It is vulnerable of course, that's why I support colonization of other planets/moons where the resources exist for humanity to survive.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:46:55 PM EDT

[#41]

A better question would be "Why shouldn't Mars be terraformed?"

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:48:59 PM EDT

[#42]

If we fuck up its not a big deal we can just leave, so lets go for it.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:49:10 PM EDT

[#43]

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:49:17 PM EDT

[#44]

Earthlings, just doing the jobs Martians won't.

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:49:47 PM EDT

[#45]

Quoted:

A better question would be "Why shouldn't Mars be terraformed?"

You have a large rocky celestial body you can relocate and smash into Mars that is at least 50% the present mass of Mars?

Posted: 4/20/2010 2:51:20 PM EDT

[#46]

As others have said, Mars has too many problems to be terraformed to the point where we can diddly-bop around on the surface without pressurized suits.

It's more realistic to eyeball Alpha Centauri and see if their are any inhabitable worlds around either star or at least ones that could be terraformed followed by a global project to work up the tech to make the 4.2 Light year trip.