Space Get Your Assets to Mars! Discussion on Mars, Terraforming and it's Many Depictions in Science Fiction

[Husky_Khan]

So I thought this might be a fun discussion, mainly because I stumbled upon this while skimming over Reddit.



Supposedly it's the surface of Mars, if like Earth, over 70% of its surface area was covered by water. Looks pretty cool.

Best of all there is no place for the Soviet Union.

 

[UltimatePaladin]

Best of all there is no place for the Soviet Union.

You fool! Don't you know the one place in this universe uncorrupted by Capitalism?



In all honesty, though, I'd be more interested in trying to colonize Venus instead - if we have the technology for terraforming, I prefer a planet that is much closer to Earth gravity.

Spoiler: Artist's Depiction of Terraformed Venus

Seriously, look at that beauty.

 

[Doomsought]

Supposedly it's the surface of Mars, if like Earth, over 70% of its surface area was covered by water. Looks pretty cool.

I'm just wondering how much water would be needed to do that.

Also you terraform Venus and Mars at the same time, by collecting Carbon-dioxide from Venus and transferring it to mars. You will also want to head off to the gas gaints for nitrogen and water. You will need to move around the mass of a small planet of each even before you factor in leakage.

Honestly Venus would be easier to fix up because it has the mass to maintain an atmosphere.

 

[Laskar]

So I thought this might be a fun discussion, mainly because I stumbled upon this while skimming over Reddit.



Supposedly it's the surface of Mars, if like Earth, over 70% of its surface area was covered by water. Looks pretty cool.

Best of all there is no place for the Soviet Union.

Eh. Mars has the problem that whatever atmosphere you put there will slowly drift away. In the long run, that makes whatever civilization you build on the surface temporary, unless you find enough water and oxygen somewhere to last until the Sun enters its red giant phase.

 

[Flintsteel]

Eh. Mars has the problem that whatever atmosphere you put there will slowly drift away. In the long run, that makes whatever civilization you build on the surface temporary, unless you find enough water and oxygen somewhere to last until the Sun enters its red giant phase.

Forget the atmosphere, 1/3 G is a huge long-term health problem for humans. Everything about our bodies is designed for earth-normal gravity.

 

[Urabrask Revealed]

It's a darn shame how much science revealed colonizing Mars to be a bad idea.
Would be nice if we could, for example, somehow add mass to the planet's core to increase gravity. But that would be just the start of terraforming the planet. How would the tectonic plates of Mars be influenced by the increase in gravity? How long would we need to wait to see effect? Isn't it more cost-efficient to gradually build a spacestation and use that for inhabitation?