The case for Mars terraforming research
Terraforming Mars has long captured the imagination but has received surprisingly little rigorous study. Progress in Mars science, climate science, launch capabilities and bioscience motivates a fresh look at Mars terraforming research. Since Sagan’s time, it has been understood that terraforming Mars would involve warming to enable oxygenic photosynthesis by engineered microbes, followed by slow oxygen build-up enabling more complex life. Before we can assess whether warming Mars is worthwhile, relative to the alternative of leaving Mars as a pristine wilderness, we must confront the practical requirements, cost and possible risks. Here we discuss what we know about Mars’s volatile inventories and soil composition, and possible approaches to warm Mars and increase atmospheric O2. New techniques have emerged that could raise Mars’s average global temperature by tens of degrees within a few decades. Research priorities include focusing on understanding fundamental physical, chemical and biological constraints that will shape any future decisions about Mars. Such research would drive advances in Mars exploration, bioscience and climate modelling.
Another link on this here.
In a perspective paper published in Nature Astronomy, the authors examine the practical steps required to make the Martian surface more Earth-like. This includes warming the planet’s atmosphere, increasing atmospheric pressure, and introducing oxygen to support life. Such a transformation, the researchers note, would involve engineered microbes capable of photosynthesis to gradually generate breathable oxygen, a critical first step in making the Red Planet livable.
“Believe it or not, no one has really addressed whether it’s feasible to terraform Mars since 1991,” said Nina Lanza, a planetary scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a co-author of the paper. “Yet since then, we’ve made great strides in Mars science, geoengineering, launch capabilities and bioscience, which give us a chance to take a fresh look at terraforming research and ask ourselves what’s actually possible.”
The paper discusses the current understanding of Mars’ water reserves, carbon dioxide levels, and soil composition, highlighting emerging technologies that could potentially raise the planet’s average temperature by several degrees within a few decades. This temperature increase would be essential to releasing trapped carbon dioxide, thickening the atmosphere, and creating the conditions necessary for liquid water and complex ecosystems.
I didn’t have access to the full paper in Nature Astronomy, but I’d like to know more about “New techniques have emerged that could raise Mars’s average global temperature by tens of degrees within a few decades”. Also, I don’t know if this was addressed in the paper, but a couple of big issues I’m aware of are Mars’ low levels of nitrogen gas, and the lack of a magnetic field. There are nitrates in the soil that could potentially be extracted but I don’t know if there is enough or if nitrogen would need to be imported (from Titan maybe?). An interesting solution to the magentic field problem has been proposed: Creating an artificial magnetosphere around Mars by ionizing particles from its moon Phobos and accelerating them to form a plasma torus around the planet. A natural example of this exists: Io has created a plasma torus of ionized particles around Jupiter along its orbital path.