Terraforming Mars: How To Do It

By: Tsegazeab Beteselassie



Mars: This is The Red Planet.*
This picture is from:zonters.com 

     The world has about 6 billion people. And counting. In about 58 years, the world population will double. And eventually, we will run out of room. So how can we solve this problem? Well, I have thought of a solution. We need a new Earth.

    "Where in the world  space can we get a new earth!?" Well, the answer is right next door (and I am not talking about your neighbor!). Venus and Mars. But which planet can even sustain life? No one wants to live in...
 

-A, a planet with so much pressure and heat that it can cook a pancake while squashing the oven.

-or B, a freezing cold desert with sandstorms that can swallow the planet whole.

-and guess what! The first planet (Venus) has poisonous air (nitrogen and carbon monoxide), while the other planet (Mars) has no air at all.

So which one can we live in? Well, the answer is none. Neither can sustain life for more than a few minutes. So we will have to Terraform (meaning: to change a planet into an earth like place) one of the planets. But not Venus, at least not without a giant hair drier to blow the poisonous gases away. So it will have to be Mars .

    Scientists have found that Mars used to have a thick atmosphere to sustain life. Now it doesn't have one anymore. However, if we can make at least an earth like atmosphere, then when Earth is too populated, we can divert the population of Earth, into Mars. And soon, we will be able to live on Mars by making soil that can sustain life on Mars. Still, there is one problem. How are we going to recreate Earth, on Mars? Which means, how can we Terraform Mars?

    Well, first, we need to solve the freezing temperatures on Mars. Even if we give Mars some water, it will freeze solid, resulting in a new polar ice cap. So how can we make Mars warmer? Well, the answer is greenhouse gasses. Yes the killer gasses on Earth that is making it hotter and hotter are just what we need on Mars.

Terraforming Mars: This is The Terraforming of Mars: Before and After.
Picture is from:memeticdrifting.wordpress.com 



    What do we do next? Well, we transport most (not all, because Earth needs some too!) of the greenhouse gasses to Mars via teleportation**. Then after the greenhouse gasses are transported, we do the dramatic action of... waiting. Why wait and not skip to the water transportation? Because the greenhouse gasses will take a while to make the planet warmer. And the waiting is good, too! It will help us buy some time making the next thing we need for Terraforming. Water.

    By the way, in that last sentence, I need to make a correction. You can't make water (or at least enough water) to solve our Mars problem. But we can get some...

    "Okay, so how will we get enough water on Mars to sustain life?" The answer is clear. Do you remember my last post (if you want to see it, click here)? I said that a clue to Terraforming Mars (or at least a big step toward it) is Melting Ice Caps. Well, that's where we will get the water. But not from Earth. "Why?" Well first, just because we have melting ice caps doesn't mean we don't need them. Many animals live on the ice caps that don't want to be extinct. And besides, the ice caps always grow back. "So if we can't get them on Earth, where can we get them?" On Mars, of course.

Ice caps: This is an ice cap on Mars.
Picture is from:www.rutgersprep.org 

    If you check on the Internet, you'll see that there actually are polar ice caps on Mars. Good, right? Yes, but there's a problem. How are we going to melt them? Scientists say with giant mirrors. That is a good idea, but the problem is that the Sun is very far away from Mars. It might take a while for the Sun to produce enough light for the ice caps to melt. So I have a proposed solution.

    Since the giant mirror idea was a good one, we can use those. However, the original part of my idea is that if you create powerful lasers all over the mirrors, and heat them up, then the magnified heat will melt the ice caps quickly, creating an ocean. So instead of taking 1,000 years, it will only take 50.

    "So we created an ocean on Mars. Now what?" Well, the planet needs some plants. Since the soil can not sustain plant life, we have two options...

-A, create new plants in the laboratory that can live on Mars soil.

-or B, make the Martin soil able to sustain plant life.



Plants on Mars: Before Terraforming, this is the plants on Mars.
Picture is from:www.ojocientifico.com 

    I prefer -A because Mars is huge and we can NOT change the surface of it in a year, decade, or even a century. So it will definitely be -A that we do. We have to make sure that the plants can suck in CO2 and turn it into Oxygen for life. Also, they MUST be able to bear some delicious fruit (for eating, of course). So what happens after we create a life form that can make oxygen (and possibly nitrogen), and also bear fruit on Mars? We make more, different kinds of plants (trees, flowers, etc.) Then we have to reproduce them so that it can be all over the Red Planet. How can we do that? We have to take action, make mistakes, and do the dramatic action of...

 



Mars: The blue fringe above Mars is it's future atmosphere.

Picture is from:wonderfanatic.wordpress.com... 

    Waiting. That's right you heard read correctly. We do some waiting. After a couple decades, the Red Planet should be filled with greens and beans to the very top. It will start making a habitable atmosphere. Now we have to take action make mistakes, and whatever else I said earlier. Because Mars needs a magnetic field. "Why?" Because the solar wind coming from space will rip off the Martin atmosphere (just like it happened before) and soon, all our hard work will be fore nothing. So how can we make a magnetic field on Mars?

 

    Actually, this seemingly impossible feat can be solved. On the TED website (the link is here...), there is talk of magnetizing Mars. I have an idea from one of their articles (...but the article is here). Read the article and the comments if you wish, but this quote is the comment that gave me my idea. And here it is...

Drag one of Jupiter's larger moons to it (or planet x if it hasn't already gone by) This will cause the crust to shift in response to the orbit, heating up the now-cold core and restoring the magnetic field.

 

    Of course, I don't think we can construct rockets big enough that they can shift a moon, let alone under Jupiter's gravity. However, if we can construct a ball of rock, iron, whatever it's made of, and tilt the angle that it is shot to Mars (with it's rockets, of course), then, I think we can do the same thing that the comment proposed. So now we can restore The Red Planets magnetic field (I just learned that it had a dormant one!) So if we did this a couple times, Mars will have a magnetic field at last! Now, it's only a matter of time until the Martin atmosphere forms again. And now, finally, thanks to TED, and other research websites, now, we can truly live on Mars.

* That picture is totally awesome! You should really click the link I gave you if you want to see it... full size!

** By the time my plan comes into action, teleportation will be available by now!

 

If you want to read more posts from me, subscribe please!
 

Email me at: tsegazeab12@outlook.com, or tsegazeab12@gmail.com. Thank you.