Re: Planetary science - biology

Not to mention the lack of a magnetic field for protection from cosmic
rays and the lower mass - terraforming to the quality of Earth
probably won't be possible until we have a lot of extra energy and
material resources to spend lobbing asteroids at Mars to shore up it's
size. Once the size is large enough to hold 1 Atm of air pressure at
ground level you could feasibly start unlocking oxides in the soil to
make it livable - but would still probably have issues with the lack
of a magnetic field - it will probably take a similarly gigantic feat
of engineering to give it one.

On Jan 31, 4:53 am, Ravasz <ravaszmeis...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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