Re: Planetary science - biology

Hi there!

I hate to be negative, but I just think terraforming Mars is not
really an option. One of the main problems is that as far as I know,
Mars has low nitrogen reserves, so creating a nitrogen rich atmosphere
is sadly not an option. And it is very cold. And you only have traces
of water. And radiation is high. And there is no air to breathe. And
there is no precipitation. Also, lichens tend to have a very slow
metabolism, so even if you deliver a truckload of lichens and they all
survive somehow, they will take millions of years to make a detectable
change.

I think instead of terraforming it makes more sense to adapt humans
more to the Martian environment. Think of super space suits which
shield radiation, keep you warm and recycle water and oxygen to allow
you to travel from one safe base to the other. In this scenario Mars
can stay as hostile as it wants, as by constructing more and more
bases the possibilities are endless.

On Jan 30, 9:45 pm, Mega <masterstorm...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello @ all,
>
> I'm also into space exploration and I thought about bacterial
> terraforming. I know it will be far in the future, not in the next
> decades... So it's very hypothetically.
> Just thought it may be interessting for some of you too, so I share my
> thoughts...
>
> There have been experiments suggesting that lichens could survive
> Martian conditions...
>
> Mars is the most friendly and still nearest planet we know.
> Yet the problem about Mars is that there is too less pressure in most
> areas to make water be liquid.
> But there's one region, Hellas Planitia, which is far below the
> standard topographic datum of Mars.
> Water could be liquid there (11.55 mbar). When water conitains much
> salt, studies showed, it will be liquid also up to -50 degrees
> Celsius!
>
> If you wold put bacteria there, that create atmosphere, there would be
> more pressure globally thus bacteria could spread all over the
> planet.
> How bacteria could create an atmosphere:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denitrification
>
> It's the opposite of nitrification, and releases Nitrogen and in some
> cases also nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere. Nitrous oxides are also
> very effective greenhouse gasses that fit perfectly to rise global
> avarage temperatures from -50°C to maybe some -30 or -20°C. That means
> that in sumer around the equator, temperatures will get friendly (even
> nowadays at the eqator in summer you get +20 to +25°C!! )
> Nitrogen is very common in rocks and soil on terrestrial planets
> (Earth, Mars, Venus) so it would surely be abundant enough to create a
> thick atmosphere.
>
> What bacterium would fit best?
> It should: denitrificate (exotherm or endotherm?) , maybe also use
> fotosynthesis, survive at low pressures (should be no problem), in
> very salty water, at cold temperatures. It should be also able to
> survive radiation as UV and radioactive rays...
> A high growth rate would also be very good.
>
> I'd like to hear some of your thoughts on that topic...

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