Terraforming Mars E-Book
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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Serie: Astrobiology Perspectives on Life in the Univers
- Sprache: Englisch
TERRAFORMING MARS This book provides a thorough scientific review of how Mars might eventually be colonized, industrialized, and transformed into a world better suited to human habitation. The idea of terraforming Mars has, in recent times, become a topic of intense scientific interest and great public debate. Stimulated in part by the contemporary imperative to begin geoengineering Earth, as a means to combat global climate change, the terraforming of Mars will work to make its presently hostile environment more suitable to life--especially human life. Geoengineering and terraforming, at their core, have the same goal--that is to enhance (or revive) the ability of a specific environment to support human life, society, and industry. The chapters in this text, written by experts in their respective fields, are accordingly in resonance with the important, and ongoing discussions concerning the human stewardship of global climate systems. In this sense, the text is both timely and relevant and will cover issues relating to topics that will only grow in their relevance in future decades. The notion of terraforming Mars is not a new one, as such, and it has long played as the background narrative in many science fiction novels. This book, however, deals exclusively with what is physically possible, and what might conceivably be put into actual practice within the next several human generations. Audience Researchers in planetary science, astronomy, astrobiology, space engineering, architecture, ethics, as well as members of the space industry.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Preface
Part 1 INTRODUCTION
1 Terraforming and Colonizing Mars
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Earth: A Terraformed Planet
1.3 Planetary Environments
1.4 Terraforming Mars
1.5 The Role of Solar Wind
1.6 Ethical Aspects
1.7 Venus, Moon, Titan…
References
Part 2 ENGINEERING MARS
2 Terraforming Worlds: Humans Playing Games of Gods
Early Mars
Oceans Here and There
The Mars We are Creating Here
Mars: An Arena of Delusions?
References
3 Mars, A Stepping-Stone World, Macro-Engineered
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Mars-Crust as Kinetic Architecture
3.3 A Crust-Infrastructure Mixture
3.4 Infrastructure and Life-Styles
3.5 Atmosphere Enhancements for Mars
3.6 Between Then and Now
Acknowledgments
References
4 Efficient Martian Settlement with the Mars Terraformer Transfer (MATT) and the Omaha Trail
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Construction Efficiencies of MATT’s Small-Scale Terraformation
4.3 Provisioning Efficiencies of the Omaha Trail
4.4 Cosmic Ray Protection: From Omaha Trail to Omaha Shield
4.5 Conclusion
References
5 Mars Colonization: Beyond Getting There
5.1 Mars Colonization – Do We Need it?
5.2 Legal Considerations
5.3 Ethical Considerations
5.4 Consideration of Resources
5.5 Quo Vadis, the Only Civilization We Know?
5.6 Afterword. Where are We Three Years Later?
Acknowledgements
References
Part 3 ETHICAL EXPLORATION
6 The Ethics of Terraforming: A Critical Survey of Six Arguments
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Audience and Method
6.3 Preservationist Arguments
6.4 Interventionist Arguments
6.5 Conclusion
Acknowledgments
References
7
Homo Reductio
Eco-Nihilism and Human Colonization of Other Worlds
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Implicit Assumptions
7.3 Conclusion
Acknowledgements
References
8 Ethical, Political and Legal Challenges Relating to Colonizing and Terraforming Mars
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Ethical Issues in Colonizing and Terraforming Mars
8.3 Ethics of Human Enhancement for Space
8.4 Environmental Ethics in Space
8.5 Political Issues in Colonizing and Terraforming Mars
8.6 Legal Issues in Colonizing and Terraforming Mars
8.7 Sexual and Reproductive Laws in a Mars Colony
8.8 Migration Law in Space
8.9 Why Terraforming Mars May Be Necessary from Ethical, Political and Legal Perspectives
8.10 Conclusions
References
Part 4 INDIGENOUS LIFE ON MARS
9 Life on Mars: Past, Present, and Future
9.1 A Very Brief Historical Introduction
9.2 Indigenous Life: Past and Present
9.3 Seeded Life: The Future
9.4 Per Aspera ad Astra
References
10 Terraforming on Early Mars?
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Outline of Section 10.2
10.3 Novel Interpretation of the Formation Process Based on Mineral Assemblages
10.4 Conclusion
Acknowledgment
References
Part 5 LIVING ON MARS
11 Omaha Field – A Magnetostatic Cosmic Radiation Shield for a Crewed Mars Facility
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Methods
11.3 Design
11.4 Results
11.5 Discussion
References
12 Mars Future Settlements: Active Radiation Shielding and Design Criteria About Habitats and Infrastructures
12.1 Introduction
12.2 The Problem of Cosmic Radiations
12.3 The Protection System with Artificial Magnetic Fields
12.4 Details of Our Proposal
12.5 Further Developments
12.6 Modular Settlement on Mars
Acknowledgments
References
13 Crop Growth and Viability of Seeds on Mars and Moon Soil Simulants
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Materials and Methods
13.3 Results
13.4 Discussion
13.5 Outlook Issues for the Future
Acknowledgements
References
Appendix
14 The First Settlement of Mars
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Colony Location
14.3 Colony Timeline
14.4 Colony Design
14.5 The Basics – Power, Air, Water, Food
14.6 The Material World
14.7 Exports, Economics, Investment and Cash Flow
14.8 Politics – A Socialist’s World
14.9 Conclusion and Further Thoughts
References
Part 6
IN SITU
RESOURCES
15 Vulcanism on Mars
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Martian Geology
15.3 Vulcanism
References
16 Potential Impact-Related Mineral Resources on Mars
Introduction
Conclusions
References
17 Red Gold – Practical Methods for Precious-Metal Survey, Open-Pit Mining, and Open-Air Refining on Mars
17.1 Introduction
17.2 Martian Precious-Metal Ore from Asteroids
17.3 Martian Precious-Metal Survey and Physical Assay
17.4 “Mars Base Alpha” – A Red Gold Mining Camp
17.5 Semi-Autonomous Open-Pit Mining
17.6 Comminution and Separation of Meteoric Ore
17.7 Extracting Metals with Induction/Microwave Smelter
17.8 Refining with Hydrometallurgical Recovery and the Miller Process
17.9 Separating Precious Metals with Saltwater Electrolysis
17.10 Kovar Foundry
17.11 Maximizing ISRU, Minimizing Mass and Complexity
17.12 Scale-Up and Scale-Out
17.13 Conclusion, with Observations and Recommendations
References
Part 7 TERRAFORMING MARS
18 Terraforming Mars: A Cabinet of Curiosities
18.1 Introduction and Overview
18.2 Planet Mars: A Brief Observational History and Overview
18.3 The Beginnings of Change
18.4 The Foundations
18.5 First Blush
18.6 Digging In
18.7 (re)Building the Martian Atmosphere
18.8 Magnetic Shielding
18.9 Heating the Ground
18.10 A Question of Time
18.11 Conclusions
References
19 Terraforming Mars Rapidly Using Today’s Level of Technology
19.1 Introduction
19.2 Solar Wind
19.3 Conclusions
Acknowledgments
References
20 System Engineering Analysis of Terraforming Mars with an Emphasis on Resource Importation Technology
20.1 Summary
20.2 Introduction
20.3 Key Problem
20.4 Key Stakeholders
20.5 Goals
20.6 Macro Level Alternatives
20.7 Macro-Level Trade Study
20.8 Macro-Level Conclusions
20.9 Terraforming Efforts System - Detailed Requirements
20.10 Space Transportation System
20.11 Importing Resources Subsystem
20.12 Risks
20.13 Lean Strategies
20.14 Ethical Considerations
20.15 Overall Conclusions
20.16 Acknowledgements
20.17 Appendix
References
21 The Potential of Pioneer Lichens in Terraforming Mars
21.1 Introduction
21.2 Potential Role of Lichens in Terraformation
21.3 Exploiting Indigenous Lichens
21.4 Exploiting Lichen Symbionts on Mars
21.5 Inoculating Lichen Symbionts from Earth Cultures
21.6 Transplanting Terrestrial Lichens to Mars
21.7 Conclusions
References
Index
End User License Agreement
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Preface
Begin Reading
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Figures
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 Mars Base. Design by Martin Kornmesser and image courtesy of ESA.
Figure 1.2 Relative abundance of CO
2
and O
2
(relative to the present one) as a f...
Figure 1.3 Human-robotic exploration of Mars. Image courtesy of ESA.
Figure 1.4 Martian greenhouse design concept. Image courtesy of NASA.
Figure 1.5 A hypothetical map of a fully terraformed Mars, with a large ocean co...
Figure 1.6 Screening Mars (by an artificial magnetosphere) from radiation from t...
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 Topological map of Mars. The north-south crustal dichotomy is evident...
Figure 2.2 The early Martian ocean Arabia (left) as it appeared 4 billion years ...
Figure 2.3 Development of the global dust storm of 2001. To the left the dust st...
Figure 2.4
Orbis Ptolomæi
, 1541 (private collection - fragment).
Figure 2.5
Ortelius’s Orbis Terrarum
, 1570 (private collection - fragment).
Figure 2.6 De Witt’s
Magna Tartaria
, 1680 (private collection - fragment).
Figure 2.7 View of the Aral Sea in 2018 (source: NASA Gateway to Astronaut Photo...
Figure 2.8 On ancient Mars, water carved channels and transported sediments to f...
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 Artist’s concept for the Mars Ice Home as developed by researchers at...
Figure 3.2 Arctic City. Designed by architect Frei Otto, the City, as envisioned...
Figure 3.3 The Walking City concept developed by Ron Herron in the 1960s. A city...
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 Orbit of asteroid 2005 LF8, en route to Mars close approach, December...
Figure 4.2 Surprise Lake inside Alaska’s Aniakchak Caldera: a terrestrial site w...
Figure 4.3 UCSB DE-STARLITE modular test unit, a fiber-array adaptive laser beam...
Figure 4.4 DE-STARLITE satellite concept. “Stand-on DE-STARLITE single-launcher-...
Figure 4.5 A simplified cartoon layout of some depressions and facilities within...
Figure 4.6 Eden Project greenhouse, rainforest biome, Cornwall, UK. The greenhou...
Figure 4.7 A conceptual Omaha Crater subaqueous hab dome structure, in flotation...
Figure 4.8 Omaha Trail concept: a high-efficiency cargo transport architecture i...
Figure 4.9 Cargo flight on the Omaha Trail. The cargo ship does not land on Mars...
Figure 4.10 Two of Dr. Martin Lades’ calculated non-equatorial Mars Lift space e...
Figure 4.11 Superconducting armature and stator of a helical coil electromagneti...
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 Composite image that shows the relative dimensions of Earth and Mars.
Figure 5.2 Modular Martian settlement (artistic representation). Several alterna...
Figure 5.3 Social isolation on Mars would be a great source of stress to the col...
Chapter 9
Figure 9.1 Mars and its canals as drawn by Percival Lowell. The stark linearity ...
Figure 9.2 Mariner 4 image of Mars. The spacecraft data revealed a bleak, crater...
Figure 9.3 First image of the Martian surface - from
Viking
1 Lander. Image cour...
Figure 9.4 Trenches dug by the
Phoenix
Lander robotic arm revealed permafrost ic...
Figure 9.5 Topographic map of the northern Martian hemisphere. The ancient seabe...
Figure 9.6 Methane abundance map (left) and terrain/mineralogical context map (r...
Figure 9.7 Candidate hot spring regions (arrowed bright patches) in Vernal Crate...
Figure 9.8 Light-colored soil composed of opaline silica in Gusev Crater - as re...
Figure 9.9 Putative microbial etched pathways (micro-tunnels) in the Nakhla-type...
Figure 9.10 Section through a fossilized stromatolite colony from the Strelley P...
Figure 9.11 Putative ancient microbial mat structures (wrinkles and overturns) p...
Figure 9.12 Araneiform features (or
spiders
) in the southern polar cap region of...
Figure 9.13 A skylight lava tube on Pavonis Mons. The opening to the underground...
Figure 9.14 Preliminary design for the Mars Ecopoiesis Test Bed [9.48]. Image co...
Figure 9.15 ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano works on the BioRock experiment aboard ...
Chapter 10
Figure 10.1 Terrestrial biosignatures (a-c). Complex filamentous textures (pearl...
Figure 10.2 Overview of the structural hierarchy map of a planetary body (i.e., ...
Figure 10.3 Biosignatures in unequilibrated ordinary chondrites (a-d) (Mező-Mada...
Figure 10.4 Textural biosignatures in Kaba meteorite. (a) Chondrule in Kaba mete...
Figure 10.5 Textural biosignatures in Kaba meteorite. (a) Representative part of...
Figure 10.6 Summary of the mineral transformations if three threads of actors ar...
Figure 10.7 Proposed condensation-evaporation hysteresis range in the primordial...
Figure 10.8 Representative terrestrial biosignatures and mineralized cycles. (a-...
Figure 10.9 Putative mineralized biosignatures in lunar samples (Thin sections, ...
Figure 10.10 The analysis methods employed, most of which are of high resolution...
Chapter 11
Figure 11.1 A simplified cartoon layout of the proposed Omaha Crater, 9 km diame...
Figure 11.2 Configuration of Omaha Field’s primary (upper) and return (lower) su...
Figure 11.3 Unipolar 6.4 MA HTS power line cable design. (Motojima and Yanagi 20...
Figure 11.4 ENEA-TRATOS HTS solenoid. (Design: Tomassetti
et al
. 2016 [11.11]. P...
Figure 11.5 Omaha Field’s maximum crater-floor B magnitude, 625 m off east/west ...
Figure 11.6 Omaha Field with simulated 500 MeV proton tracks, overhead. Y axis i...
Figure 11.7 Omaha Field with simulated 500 MeV proton tracks, in perspective. Cr...
Figure 11.8 Omaha Field with simulated 1 GeV proton tracks, overhead. Y axis is ...
Figure 11.9 Omaha Field with simulated 1 GeV proton tracks, in perspective. (Thi...
Figure 11.10 The Omaha Field’s simulated shielding effect is overlaid on the GCR...
Figure 11.11 An Omaha Field centerline solenoid cable on crater wall (upper righ...
Figure 11.12 Omaha Field 6.4 MA solenoid, external B magnitude. (This author / F...
Figure 11.13 Bipolar HTS cable. Opposite-pole conductors labeled as (3) and (5)....
Figure 11.14 Bipolar source-shielding. External B magnitude is less than 1E-4 T ...
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1 The terrestrial magnetic field protect the Earth from solar wind.
Figure 12.2 Methodology for determining the magnetic field strength (at radius
r
...
Figure 12.3 Finite element simulations with (a) 16 conductors, nominal soil perm...
Figure 12.4 Example calculations for the electromagnetic field generated at poin...
Figure 12.5 (top) a vertical cross-section and (bottom) perspective sketch of th...
Figure 12.6. Scale model of the settlement assembled in the cylindrical spaceshi...
Figure 12.7 Sketch of the early version of the spaceship (more traditional) with...
Figure 12.8 Perspective view of a sphere-shaped cargo vessel.
Figure 12.9 View of the sphere spacecraft in Mars orbit.
Figure 12.10 Master plan of the settlement developed on the Martian surface. 1) ...
Figure 12.11 Details for one of the Mars base housing modules.
Figure 12.12 Masterplan of the settlement developed on the Martian surface.
Figure 12.13 Model realization of wire torus for protecting the housing modules.
Figure 12.14 The space ship-cargo StarShip (with a second stage – height of abou...
Figure 12.15 Module assembly on Mars.
Figure 12.16 Once the assembly of the modular base is complete, the toroid cable...
Figure 12.17 A Martian skyscraper constructed inside a spherical magnetic shield...
Chapter 13
Figure 13.1 Experiment overview on 16-4-2015, seven days after sowing. See Figur...
Figure 13.2 Total above ground combined dry biomass production for ten different...
Figure 13.3 Seed weight of cress, radish and rye harvested from plants grown on ...
Figure 13.4 Percentage germination for seeds harvested from plants grown on Mars...
Figure 13.5 Illustration of a sustainable agricultural ecosystem for Mars. Image...
Figure 13.A1 Experimental design layout (recall Figure 13.1), with SO: Spinach (...
Chapter 14
Figure 14.1 Water Equivalent Hydrogen Abundance map of Mars. Image courtesy of N...
Figure 14.2 Artist’s concept of the first humans and their habitat on Mars. Imag...
Figure 14.3 Underground Martian housing unit, with central park and transparent ...
Figure 14.4 Prototype of the NASA 1kW nuclear reactor for powering space and pla...
Chapter 15
Figure 15.1 Ultraviolet (UV) spectrograph false color image of the planet Mars, ...
Figure 15.2 Mars’ giant shield volcano - Olympus Mons, taken by NASA’s Viking 1 ...
Figure 15.3 Eruption of basalt lava sourced from the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō vent, Kīlauea Vol...
Figure 15.4 The Shishaldin stratovolcano, Unimak Island, Alaska taken on 22
nd
Fe...
Figure 15.5 Infra-red (IR) image mosaic of Arsia Mons, the southernmost of the T...
Figure 15.6 False color image of the Martian surface, with the Eden Patera basin...
Figure 15.7 Close-up of lava flow surfaces near the summit of the Tharsis shield...
Chapter 16
Figure 16.1 Cross-section schematic for progenetic (A), syngenetic (B), and epig...
Figure 16.2 Evidence for hydrothermal vein deposit “Garden City” near Mount Shar...
Chapter 17
Figure 17.1 “Egg Rock”, an iron meteorite and sample of metal asteroid ore on Ma...
Figure 17.2 SpaceX Starship spacecraft design, displaying three aft cargo contai...
Figure 17.3 AeroVironment / JPL Mars drone, a device that can be scaled for ore ...
Figure 17.4 Red Gold operations flow. (This author.)
Figure 17.5 Concentric crater fill deposit; 3-4 km deposit on floor of 5 km crat...
Chapter 18
Figure 18.1 Science, technology and exploration are highlighted as the motivatin...
Figure 18.2 Hubble Space Telescope image of the Martian disk, showing the polar ...
Figure 18.3 Three drawings of Mars made by Christian Huygens. From left to right...
Figure 18.4 Google Books Ngram Viewer results on the search-string “terraforming...
Figure 18.5 The
Mars Pathfinder
landing site. The color balance in this view is ...
Figure 18.6 A true-color view from the surface of Venus. Parts of the
Venera
13 ...
Figure 18.7 Interior structure of Mars, with approximate boundary depths. Image ...
Figure 18.8 Long-term variation of Martian (a) obliquity (in degrees), (b) orbit...
Figure 18.9 Regional topology (bottom) map of the Hellas basin and depth profile...
Figure 18.10 One of the 1951 nuclear bomb tests conducted at Frenchman Flats, Ne...
Figure 18.11 A schematic timeline for the early evolution of Mars. Image courtes...
Figure 18.12 The positive feedback loop for warming the Martian atmosphere. Afte...
Figure 18.13
Project Nomad
by Antonio Sainz, Joaquim Nunes and Konstantino Rial ...
Figure 18.14
Mars Express
image of Phobos. As an approximate tri-axial ellipsoid...
Figure 18.15 Schematic diagram for the proposed shielding of the Martian atmosph...
Figure 18.16 Solar mirror deployed during the
Znamya
-2 mission (1992) - a potent...
Chapter 19
Figure 19.1 The various sources of carbon dioxide on Mars, and their estimated c...
Figure 19.2 Working principle of the magnetic capture cone. See text for details...
Figure 19.3 An artistic representation of a double-loop, magnetic lens, collecto...
Figure 19.4 The magnetosphere produced by the interaction of the geomagnetic fie...
Chapter 20
Figure 20.1 Macro Level System View (SV1 - Systems and their Interfaces) (Image:...
Figure 20.2 Risk matrix before (Image: Brandon Wong).
Figure 20.3 Project risk A (high costs) (Image: Brandon Wong).
Figure 20.4 Project risk B (Native Martian Doubt) (Image: Brandon Wong).
Figure 20.5 Project risk C (infeasible technology) (Image: Brandon Wong).
Figure 20.6 Project risk D (destruction of mars) (Image: Brandon Wong).
Figure 20.7 Risk matrix after mitigation (Image: Brandon Wong).
Figure 20.8 Importing resources subsystem risk matrix before (Image: Brandon Won...
Figure 20.9 Importing resources subsystem project risk A (high cost) (Image: Bra...
Figure 20.10 Importing resources subsystem project risk B (destruction damage) (...
Figure 20.11 Importing resources subsystem project risk C (low throughput) (Imag...
Figure 20.12 Importing resources subsystem risk matrix after mitigation (Image: ...
Chapter 21
Figure 21.1 A mosaic of terrestrial crustose lichens closely appressed to a slat...
Figure 21.2 Asexual propagules (‘isidia’, whiter than the thallus) covering the ...
Figure 21.3 Growth rate-size curve of the foliose terrestrial species Melanelia ...
Figure 21.4
Peltigera polydactyla
(Neck.) Hoffm. characterized by dark pigmentat...
List of Table
Chapter 1
Table 1.1 Characteristics of Moon, Mars and Venus which are important for terraf...
Chapter 10
Table 10.1 The recognized results of Martian life to the present. The biosignatu...
Table 10.2 General interpretations/conclusions, questions and contradictions (co...
Table 10.3 Mineral assemblage in UOC [10.138] and Kaba [10.137] and typical mine...
Table 10.4 Simplified order of processes and important influencing factors [10.1...
Table 10.5 Summary of hierarchy of the novel results and interpretations [10.138...
Table 10.6 The most important terrestrial bioindicator minerals.
Table 10.7 Mineral assemblage in selected microbially mediated ore systems and t...
Table 10.8 Mn - Sediment accumulation and rock formation hierarchy for Mn, Fe, a...
Table 10.9 Fe - Sediment accumulation and rock formation hierarchy for Mn, Fe, a...
Table 10.10 Clays - Sediment accumulation and rock formation hierarchy for Mn, F...
Table 10.11 Objects of investigation in the variable planetological entities.
Table 10.12 Selected representative formations, locations and the methods, used....
Table 10.13 Methodology in determination of mineral and chemical composition of ...
Table 10.14 Locations with mineral assemblages and element composition – interpr...
Table 10.15A Selected representative Martian mineral assemblages, and chemical c...
Table 10.15B Mineral assemblages and element composition – interpretation of for...
Table 10.15C Mineral assemblage based on Table 10.15AB in Martian meteorites and...
Table 10.16 Deductive interpretation of datasets on Mars - Mars iron.
Table 10.17 Deductive interpretation of datasets on Mars - Mars sulfates.
Table 10.18 Deductive interpretation of datasets on Mars - Mars clay.
Table 10.19 Mineral assemblage of exploration by
Curiosity
in Gale Crater.
Table 10.20 Environmental consideration of minerals based on terrestrial analogu...
Chapter 12
Table 12.1 Magnetic flux density norm at the center of the minor circumference f...
Chapter 13
Table 13.1 Content of organic soil used as Earth control (Lentsepotgrond, Hortic...
Table 13.2 Nutrient content of the solution applied to the growing trays. The EC...
Appendix 13.1 Dry biomass (dw) per species. For pea only total biomass for the t...
Appendix 13.2 Seed weights and germination numbers per treatment for cress, radi...
Chapter 14
Table 14.1 Human nutritional requirements.
Table 14.2 Crop varieties and suggested minimum daily diet for Martians.
Table 14.3 Food growth requirements for 1000 colonists.
Table 14.4 Water usage by Martian colonists.
Table 14.5 Energy usage of the Martian colonists.
Table 14.6 Potential profits from exporting high value metals.
Table 14.7 Soil composition and minimum land value.
Table 14.8 Cash flow projection for Martian Colony with mining as primary export...
Chapter 16
Table 16.1 Criteria constructed for determining the potential for economic miner...
Chapter 17
Table 17.1 Some representative group IVA meteorite elemental concentrations. Bul...
Chapter 18
Table 18.1 The physical characteristics of Mars and Earth compared. Data
Table 18.2 Comparison of the atmospheric composition (percentage) on Mars (colum...
Chapter 19
Table 19.1 Specifications of the first superconducting loop.
Table 19.2 Specifications of the second superconducting loop.
Chapter 20
Table 20.1 Air needed to simulate Earth on Mars.
Table 20.2 Resources needed for Paraterraforming.
Table 20.3 Macro level trade study.
Table 20.4 Macro high-level requirements.
Table 20.5 Significant temperatures.
Table 20.6 Importing resource system requirements.
Table 20.7 Delta-V needed for space travel.
Table 20.8 I
sp
of fuel needed for single-stage rocket by Delta-V.
Table 20.9 Specific impulse by fuel type.
Table 20.10 Specific impulse of different nuclear rockets.
Table 20.11 Breaking length of different materials.
Table 20.12 Mass driver track lengths.
Table 20.13 Importing resources trade study.
Table 20.14 Macro-level risks.
Table 20.15 Importing resources risks.
Chart 20.1 Proposed plan for terraforming.
Table 20.16 Table of requirements Flowdown to System Implementation.
Chapter 21
Table 21.1 A selection of annual radial growth rates (RaGR, mm yr
-1
) of lichen s...
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Scrivener Publishing100 Cummings Center, Suite 541JBeverly, MA 01915-6106
Astrobiology Perspectives on Life of the Universe
Series Editors: Richard Gordon and Joseph Seckbach
In his 1687 book Principia, Isaac Newton showed how a body launched atop a tall mountain parallel to the ground would circle the Earth. Many of us are old enough to have witnessed the realization of this dream in the launch of Sputnik in 1957. Since then our ability to enter, view and understand the Universe has increased dramatically. A great race is on to discover real extraterrestrial life, and to understand our origins, whether on Earth or elsewhere. We take part of the title for this new series of books from the pioneering thoughts of Svante Arrhenius, who reviewed this quest in his 1909 book The Life of the Universe as Conceived by Man from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time. The volumes in Astrobiology Perspectives on Life of the Universe will each delve into an aspect of this adventure, with chapters by those who are involved in it, as well as careful observers and assessors of our progress. Guest editors are invited from time to time, and all chapters are peer-reviewed.
Publishers at ScrivenerMartin Scrivener (martin@scrivenerpublishing.com)Phillip Carmical (pcarmical@scrivenerpublishing.com)
Terraforming Mars
Edited by
Martin Beech
University of Regina and Campion College, Saskatchewan, Canada
Joseph Seckbach
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
and
Richard Gordon
Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, Panacea, FL, USA and Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
This edition first published 2022 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA and Scrivener Publishing LLC, 100 Cummings Center, Suite 541J, Beverly, MA 01915, USA© 2022 Scrivener Publishing LLCFor more information about Scrivener publications please visit www.scrivenerpublishing.com.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
ISBN 978-1-119-76196-9
Cover images: Courtesy of Martin BeechCover design by Russell Richardson
Set in size of 11pt and Minion Pro by Manila Typesetting Company, Makati, Philippines
Printed in the USA
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Preface
“I would like to die on Mars, just not on impact”. Elon Musk
In February 2021 three spacecraft, from three different space agencies arrived at Mars. Two of these, the United Arab Emirates Hope, and China’s Tianwen-1, joined a host of other space platforms already in Mars orbits, while the third, NASA’s Perseverance Rover, proceeded to land safely in Jezero crater upon the Martian surface. This unprecedented international success story has been long in the making, but it marks a distinct acceleration in humanities effort to explore planet Mars. These three spacecraft and associated landers, along with their previously arrived orbital comrades, will deep search the Martian atmosphere, analyse weather cycles and dust clouds, photograph and probe surface topology and composition, as well as look for signs of past, and possible present-day, life. To say that Mars exploration is flourishing seems like an understatement. Indeed, while Mars has been the object of human imaginative exploration for centuries, it is only a little more than a half-century ago that the first fleeting glimpses of its actual surface were revealed by the Mariner 4 spacecraft flyby. Since that time, and the return of those first grainy images, the Martian surface has been mapped and measured in incredible detail - we know the Martian landscape almost as well as we known that of the Earth’s. For all this, Mars is still mysterious and remote - the first human being has yet to plant the first, epoch-changing, foot-print into its red-coloured soil. This remoteness, however, is surely due to change within the next half-century. Humans will walk on Mars, and they will eventually live and die there in large communities housed within vast, above and underground, settlements. Concomitant to, and in parallel with the establishment of the first settlements industry will follow - the early settlers of Mars will have to earn, and justify their upkeep. Exactly how all this industrialization and settlement will proceed is entirely unclear at the present time, which is not to say that much research and hyperbole hasn’t been published. Settlement will happen, but in what manner and when is something that our future-gaze can but dimly see. Like some pointillist picture the greater vista of Mars’s future seems clear but it grows more indistinct the closer the inspection proceeds. For all this, we are on the cusp of change, and Mars patiently awaits its first human visitors. Furthermore, somewhere along the deeper future timeline, when all the hoopla of first landings, settlement construction, and city development is the fodder of stayed news stories, set on the obscure back pages of the Vancouver Sun newspaper, a new epoch of even greater revolution might possibly unfold. At some future time, set perhaps within the next century, it may be deemed desirable to terraform Mars. The question is not so much can Mars be transformed, the technology to achieve this goal largely exists today, but why and for whom. Currently it is these latter issues that require much greater thought and consideration - let us not repeat the many colonialist disasters and environmental failures long-wrought by humanity against the Earth on Mars. The path leading to the successful and meaningful transformation of Mars will be a narrow and difficult one to tread, but the potential benefits of making its surface better-suited to human activity and physiology, even if it is never made fully Earth-like, may well prove irresistible to the future citizens of the planet.
The future always holds great promise - provided, that is, we are wise enough to reach-out and embrace its potential offerings. Humanity’s journey to the red planet is, as yet, in its early stages, but for all this, plans and possibilities abound. Many innovative ideas of how we might directly explore, first settle, manage surface resources, and even begin to terraform Mars’s atmosphere are described within the chapters collected in this volume. Here, under six broad headings, you will find reviews concerning the engineering of vast landscapes, the ethical considerations pertaining to such transformational engineering, the search for indigenous life on Mars, the housing requirements for living on Mars, the mining and processing of in-situ mineral resources, and the processes by which Mars might eventually be terraformed. The issues are complex, manyfold, and multi-disciplinary, and it will require the unprecedented cooperation between nations on Earth to bring about the changes envisioned. Of one thing we can be sure, however, there is no shortage of human imagination, ingenuity, ability, and courage. We are collectively up to the challenge, if called to do so, and Mars beckons.
Martin Beech
Joseph Seckbach
Richard Gordon
September 2021
Part 1INTRODUCTION
1Terraforming and Colonizing Mars
Giancarlo Genta
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy
Abstract
Humankind is on the verge of becoming a multiplanet species, but the main obstacle it has to face in this endeavour is that the environment of all celestial bodies in the solar system is very harsh, completely unsuitable for terrestrial-type (and hence, human) life. To colonize the planets, moons and asteroids of the solar system we must create artificial and enclosed environments, where we can live in shirt sleeves conditions. If on one side we are used to live in artificial environments since the neolithic revolution, in particular in some particularly harsh parts of our own planet, it is true that the colonization of the solar system could be made easier only if we start terraforming the places we aim to live in.
For many reasons, the first candidate of this terraforming effort is Mars, since the closest places (the Moon and Venus) are even worse. Terraforming Mars is a huge enterprise, which will take possibly hundreds years and very high costs. The essential aspects of this endeavour, scientific-technological, economical and ethical, are here discussed. In particular, an ethical problem is related to the possibility of existence of indigenous life: if on Mars there are indigenous living beings, most likely at the bacterial level, any effort aimed to terraform the planet likely would cause their extinction. Before any terraforming endeavour is started, a deep study aimed to exclude their existence must be undertaken.
Keywords: Mars terraforming, Mars colonization, greenhouse gases, multiplanet species, extraterrestrial life, planetary contamination, planetary atmospheres
1.1 Introduction
The human species has always experienced an urge to explore and to settle new territories. On Earth, it evolved in a small area in East Africa and from that beginning it expanded on much of the planet, at least in regions which could be easily reached just by walking on land.
It is likely that most of the individuals who participated in this process were completely unaware of it: a band of humans moving its camp by just 10 m each year (always in the same direction) would find itself 10,000 km from its original place in one million years.
However, things were not as easy as this: in many regions the climate was too harsh for humans to survive, and above all the climate in the various regions of our planet was changing continuously, with terribly cold ice ages and hot interglacial periods, and a continuous alternance of dry and wet periods.
To go through all this humans had to develop specific technologies, and also to adapt themselves with continuous evolutionary changes [1.11]. While the first process was quick enough to allow survival in a continuously changing environment, the latter were too slow and likely played a small role, to the point that in the last few hundred thousands years a single species, Homo Sapiens, emerged.
Homo Sapiens developed technologies which allowed to survive in the most harsh climates, particularly in cold climates, which are most difficult for a species developed in the hot African plains. It was observed that the wooden goggles that Inuit wear since the palaeolithic to prevent snow blindness and the multilayer skin garments they use in the open, and without which life would be impossible in these conditions, are as complex as the visor of a space helmet or the space suit we have to wear to explore space.
Apart from the technologies humans had to develop to survive in environments which were very different from those to which they were naturally adapted, later on in their expansion on the planet they had to develop transportation means which were essential for reaching, exploring and colonizing new lands. The most impressive examples are the boats and the navigation techniques developed in Neolithic times by Polynesians, which allowed them to settle practically all the islands of the Pacific Ocean, and the ships that at the turn between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age allowed the era of the geographic discoveries [1.4], [1.5].
Today humankind is at the beginning of a new era of exploration and colonization, and again it must develop enabling technologies to pursue its goals. From one side, the complexity of this new endeavour is unheard of, since, at least in the solar system, the environments in which the new human settlements will be located are much harsher than any environment of our planet, but from the other modern scientific technology, as opposed to the ancient technology based on trial-and-error attempts, is such a powerful tool that we can be reasonably sure that we have all the required means to succeed [1.11].
The point is thus not whether the human species, which developed on Earth, will be able to explore and colonize the nearby celestial bodies, transforming itself into a spacefaring, or multiplanet, species, but when this process will start (Figure 1.1).
1.2 Earth: A Terraformed Planet
Before starting considering these topics, particularly in the view of speaking of terraforming, i.e. modifying the surface and the atmosphere of a planet to make it suitable to human life, we must however go back in time to make some considerations about our own planet.
Our planet is roughly 4.5 billion years old. In the first half a billion years, the whole solar system was undergoing its process of formation, with continuous collisions of planetesimals and red-hot nuclei of planets which were forming. Then everything slowly settled out and our Earth cooled down, developing a solid surface, covered (completely or partially) by an ocean filled with the water carried here by innumerable comets. If we could land on our planet at that time we would find a planet completely unsuitable for human (and in general animal) life [1.9], [1.18].
Figure 1.1 Mars Base. Design by Martin Kornmesser and image courtesy of ESA.
The atmosphere of our planet would have been unbreathable, being composed by nitrogen and carbon dioxide, with no oxygen at all.
It was at that time, roughly 3.7 billion years ago, that the first life appeared, most likely in the oceans. And life started evolving in those conditions. The archeobacteria, and the other forms of life which followed, started using the huge amounts of carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere, producing oxygen. This slowly changed the composition of the planetary atmosphere making it suitable for supporting forms of life breathing oxygen, including human beings (Figure 1.2).
We can thus say that the first planet to be terraformed was Earth itself, and the actors of this transformation were the primitive forms of life like unicellular algae, which started the process, and then, in half a billion years, the plants which developed in the ocean to migrate later on dry land, which gave the finishing touch.
Figure 1.2 Relative abundance of CO2 and O2 (relative to the present one) as a function of time. Note the logarithmic scale [1.12], [1.13].
During most of this process, the planet had the aspect of a lifeless word – all life was concentrated in the oceans – and the only sign that Earth was a living planet was the presence of oxygen in its atmosphere.
This consideration, developed for Earth, holds for any planet and bear three important consequences.
The only planets having an atmosphere which is breathable for humans and other animals are planets on which life – or better, Earth-like life – developed to become a very widespread phenomenon, so widespread that it changed completely the initial characteristics of the planet. Moreover, to have a breathable atmosphere, a planet must still have life: if for any reason life disappears from the planet, owing to the high reactivity of oxygen, sooner or later the atmosphere would revert to its pristine conditions.
The presence of oxygen in the atmosphere of a planet is a marker for the presence of (Earth-like) life.
During the process of formation of a breathable atmosphere the anaerobic lifeforms of a planet are substituted by aerobic lifeforms, i.e., the living beings which are the actors of this change are very likely to get extinct, or at least to become a marginal part of the biosphere of the planet.
1.3 Planetary Environments
The idea that the planets of the solar system – and also what now we call extrasolar planets, as soon as it was realized that the stars are other suns and likely they have planets – host forms of life is very old, dating back to Greek natural philosophy. Most seventeenth century scientists were of this opinion, even if Galileo Galilei warned that if extraterrestrial bodies are inhabited, the beings living there must be not only different from those we meet on Earth, but even different from what our wildest imagination can predict [1.7], [1.9].
Following this line of thought it was a common opinion that the environments we could find, once we will be able to reach the planets, would be more or less comfortable, but at any rate would allow us to live there.
In the solar system the two closest planets, Mars and Venus, were thought to be habitable. Mars was assumed to be a cold desert, owing to the fact that it is more far from the Sun than Earth, while Venus was thought to be covered by hot and wet jungles, with huge insects, owing to its proximity to the Sun.
In the second half of the 19th century three great astronomers – the Italian Giovanni Schiaparelli, the French Camille Flammarion, and the American Percival Lowell – contributed much to the scientific knowledge of Mars and to its myth. The former drew a number of maps, which remained the best maps of Mars until the first pictures of the planet were taken by space probes. In a number of popular science articles he set his imagination free, proposing that the dark lines, they thought to identify on the surface of the planet, were in fact areas dense with vegetation that flanked artificial waterways, presumably built by an ancient civilization in an attempt to survive the desertification of the planet by bringing water from the melting polar caps to the more temperate and equatorial zones. Consequently, the idea that intelligent beings, or at least complex living beings (similar to Earth’s plants and animals) lived on Mars came to be generally accepted, not only in science fiction but also in serious astronomical studies and in the early plans for human missions to the planet [1.10], [1.17].
Even if in the first half of the 20th century some of the classic misunderstandings on Mars were clarified—there was neither oxygen nor water vapor in Mars’ atmosphere, very little liquid water, if any, could exist on the surface, the canals were an optical illusion (artifacts of the low-resolution telescopes), and so forth — the general picture outlined by Schiapparelli and Lowell persisted. In the general understanding of the time, Mars was a barren world with a very thin atmosphere, but it was nonetheless habitable, at least by primitive forms of life. If intelligent beings were living there, they would have had to seek refuge underground, perhaps aided by those fanciful atmospheric machines that were depicted in the many fictional descriptions of the time.
In 1960, only three years after the launch of Sputnik 1, Russia (then Soviet Union) launched the first two probes to Mars. Both failed, however, as did the three subsequent attempts launched in 1962 and another in 1964. In 1964, the Americans tried their hand at a Martian probe, launching Mariner 3 and Mariner 4, also intended to do flybys of the planet. The first failed, but Mariner 4 reached Mars on January 14, 1965, and sent back 22 photos. Even if they depicted only 1% of the surface of the planet, these images forever changed mankind’s conceptions of the Red Planet. It turned out that the surface of Mars was very similar to that of the moon: it was covered with craters and utterly dry, with no vegetation, no rivers, no lakes. Some of the craters seemed to have some traces of ice, but nothing else. The instruments also revealed that Mars had no magnetic field, meaning there was nothing standing between its surface and the bombardment of cosmic radiation. In addition, the atmosphere, composed of carbon dioxide, had a much lower pressure than previously thought. Not only people could not breathe the Martian air, just going outdoors would require a full spacesuit, only slightly less demanding than that required in interplanetary space. The following probes substantially confirmed these conditions. Even if Mars proved to be much more complex than shown by the first pictures and was not a dead world like the Moon, it was certainly not the planet of Schiapparelli’s and Lowell’s imaginations.
The Mars of the nineteenth century astronomers was substituted by the Mars of the probes.
A similar fate awaited Venus: the probes which reached the planet and then the few which landed on it showed that the situation on its surface was even worse: it was a hot hell, with a very high atmospheric pressure (almost 100 times that on Earth). Venus air was made mostly by carbon dioxide (96%) and the rest nitrogen and trace gases.
While the probes sent to Venus and Mars sent back these discouraging results, the first human missions to another world, the Apollo missions to the Moon, showed that exploration of an airless world with low gravity was possible and humans could walk wearing a space suit and even travel on the surface using a fairly conventional car.
At this point it was clear that the colonization of any world in the solar system involved creating artificial environments completely separated from the planetary environment and using space suits when outdoors.
Thinking about it, this is not a very severe limitation: even on Earth humans do something similar in many instances. All modern commercial airliners have a pressurized fuselage to protect the passengers from the low pressure and temperature of the air outside, which are not much better than those we must endure on the Mars surface. People going around, eating and enjoying themselves in an air conditioned shopping center located in any city in very hot or cold countries, do not live in a less artificial environment than future Mars colonists living in their pressurized dwellings. These buildings can be transported to the Moon or Mars, just by reinforcing their structures to withstand the pressure difference between the inside and the outside and adding airlocks and other devices. But these are just technicalities, the feeling of living in an environment separated from the outside is similar.
Both on the Moon and on Mars another problem adds to that of the lack of an atmosphere (or to the very thin atmosphere): the lack of a magnetosphere which protects the surface from radiation, both Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR) and the radiation from the Sun. This may be even more severe than the lack of atmosphere, since radiation is quite harmful to all forms of terrestrial life, including human life.
One of the most effective measures to protect colonists from radiation of all kind is building the habitat underground, and the two bodies we are speaking about offer an excellent opportunity: they seem to be both rich of lava tubes, long – and particularly large, owing to the low gravity – caves existing in many locations. Since in several points the ceiling of these caves has collapsed, mostly due to meteorite and asteroid impacts, the access to these caves is easy.
Living in lava tubes allows to enjoy an almost radiation-free environment and it is even possible to directly pressurize parts of a lava tube to obtain a pressurized habitat.
However, while on the Moon this is a viable approach to build habitats, on Mars it is questionable. Since there is the possibility that the surface, and above all the underground, of the planet hosts fossil or even existing life, a very reasonable strategy to human exploration is subdividing the surface, and the underground, of the planet in zones of two kinds: normal zones, where we are sure that no Martian life exists, and special zones, where it may be present. In the zones of the former type human exploration is possible with no particular problems of contamination (forward and backward). The zones of the second type are completely forbidden to humans and may be explored only using robotic devices, complying with strict anti-contamination rules.
This strategy can develop in this way: at the beginning, that is now, all the planet is considered as a special zone. Then a sample return mission brings back samples from a certain zone, which are accurately examined in search for life. If no life is found, that zone becomes a normal zone and humans can land in that place.
Humans supervise the robotic exploration of the surrounding special zones (Figure 1.3), which are de-rated to normal zones as soon as it is proven that they contain no life. Operating in this way, the first places where it will be possible to build habitats will be on the planetary surface, while lava tubes will remain special zones for as long as they are demonstrated to be otherwise.
Figure 1.3 Human-robotic exploration of Mars. Image courtesy of ESA.
This difficulty may be circumvented by present additive manufacturing technologies, since it is possible to build a thick walled habitat using the planetary regolith on the surface, without the need of entering into special zones located underground.
Both lava tubes and thick walled surface habitats cause some problems, mainly psychological, linked with living in a closed environment without windows. Another problem is the need of using artificial light for growing plants, but today this is no more a problem owing to the high efficiency artificial lighting: today it is more efficient using the solar light to produce electricity through photovoltaic panels and using the electricity so produced to supply light to the plants through LEDs than to use directly the solar light for the plants.
Using nuclear power to produce electricity, particularly on Mars where the solar light is much weaker than on Earth, allows to grow plants of all kind in places protected from cosmic radiation.
A solution for the psychological problems may be the use of virtual windows: large screens, perhaps thin-film screens, attached to the inside of the walls, showing the image taken by a video camera located on the outer side of the same wall. Such a virtual window may be sufficient for solving the psychological problems of those who live in the habitat, but if it is realized using a normal 2D screen, it may impair the ability of the inhabitants to feel a 3-D vision, which may be dangerous when the colonists go outside performing activities like driving rovers or operating machinery. The use of true 3-D screens, like the one at present under study which do not require to wear glasses or VR devices, could solve completely this problem.
The alternative to thick walled habitats with little or no windows is using an active radiation screening, either electrostatic or electromagnetic [1.2].
1.4 Terraforming Mars
The idea of terraforming was likely used, for the first time, in 1930 by Olaf Stapledon in his novel Last and First Men, where he describes human beings terraforming Venus. It is common opinion that the term terraforming was introduced about 10 years later by Jack Williamson (under the pseudonym Will Stewart) in his science-fiction short story Collision Orbit, published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1942. Note that the first speaks about terraforming Venus and the second one a small asteroid.
Little was said at that time about terraforming Mars, since most astronomers and other people interested in space traveling thought that Mars had no need of being terraformed: if something was needed, the use of one of the many atmospheric machines described in many science fiction novels would have been sufficient.
To pass from fiction to reality, implementing terraforming has three main aspects:
Scientific-technological aspects. Terraforming is a highly interdisciplinary effort, based on physics, chemistry, biology, but also electronics, material science, nanotechnology, etc. General progress in astronautics is considered a pre-requisite: to operate on a planet, we must be able to reach that planet safely, consistently and at a reasonable cost. Generally speaking, all the related technologies still need to be developed and may require a very long R&D effort.
Ethical aspects. All technologies have a deep impact on the environment and the way of life of people as side effects, while for terraforming this impact is the primary goal.
Financial aspects. The cost of operating at planetary level is huge, so these operations must be properly planned also from this viewpoint. As an additional point, terraforming is an operation which may last decades, or better, centuries. The plan must be sustainable and adequate guaranties must be stated that, once started, the operation will be completed. A most dreadful outcome would be a half-terraformed planet resulting from the change of strategy of a public enterprise or the bankrupt of a private ‘terraforming company’.
While terraforming is generally considered a very complex enterprise, which will start only in the far future, recently some claims have been heard stating that terraforming a planet may be easier than had been thought. And so the word terraforming has gained a place in our technical vocabulary, just as have many other words invented by science fiction writers: robot being one of the better known. The following description of a possible terraforming of Mars is derived from [1.8].
Even before starting the actual terraforming process, we could try to seed the surface of the planet with some life forms that can endure the very harsh Martian conditions. After the first human landing (or even before), the first attempts to grow plants in protected environments on Mars can be made.
Terrestrial plants might thrive in a pressurized greenhouse (Figure 8.4). As far as we know, the regolith contains absolutely no organic matter. It must be enriched with fertilizer and with the organic substances that plants require. It is likely there will be oxidizing agents that are harmful to plants, so these will first have to be removed. If water obtained by melting Martian ice is used, that might have to be purified.
Genetic engineering might be used to adapt plants to accept a lower pressure in the greenhouse or a soil which has not been so heavily modified. But, sooner or later, an attempt to farm outside of a greenhouse will have to be made.
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