Mars. A practical guide to terraforming for housewives

    Good end of the week, habra people! As was evident from previous articles on Mars and near-Mars topics, the topic of hardcore colonization of Mars stirs the minds of many caring citizens. If you are one of those citizens and see apple trees blossoming under the Martian sky - for you the question of principle, then come.



    So, imagine that one fine morning, mankind woke up and decided to become a multiplanetary civilization. As for me, this is a good, valid idea. I would very much like to live in a world where fabulous money goes not to develop weapons, but to colonize space. But back to our topic: humanity has decided to build his own Earth 2.0. We do not have many candidates. Strictly speaking, two: Mars and Venus. This time we’ll talk about Mars.

    Many will say: “Ah, Mars - it looks so much like Earth! Slightly podshamanit and can be populated! ”Yes, Mars has almost the same inclination of the axis of rotation as that of the Earth. Yes, the duration of the Martian day is almost the same as that of the earth. And on this positive, for us, the advantages of Mars end and begin the GIANT problems. And one of the goals of this article is to convey to people a little dismal state of affairs regarding Mars.

    To understand the difficulties that humanity will have to face, deciding to terraform an entire planet, it suffices to imagine a strange situation. Imagine that a Finnish billionaire flew into the Sahara Desert. After wandering through the sands and not seeing anything interesting for thousands of kilometers around, our hero was depressed. And also heat, and also dryness - northern people were not accustomed to this. And here, the Finn is visited by the idea to build in this unfriendly place a small piece of Finland, covering an area of ​​several thousand square kilometers. Finn wants rocky mountains covered with pine forests where reindeer and bears lived. So that in the cold waters of the lakes you can catch the smelt. And, of course, it would be nice to build several small Finnish towns. But there is a problem: around, for many thousands of kilometers, there is nothing, except sand dunes. That is, absolutely everything: stones for rocks, pines, deer, bears, smelt, water for rivers and lakes - will have to be brought from afar. And also to solve a big problem with the climate, which is not at all like Finnish. If you were able to imagine this here, then you should know: it is infinitely easier and cheaper to Finlandize a piece of the Sahara than to create a copy of earthly conditions on the whole planet Mars.

    According to my observations, people often do not fully understand the meaning of such a thing as "terraforming." Reading the comments of many ordinary people, regarding the terraforming of Mars, creates a steady feeling that for many, transforming an entire planet is a little more difficult than building a toilet in a country house. I want to disappoint you, earthling: venturing to repair the planetary scale, you are faced with the problems of the planetary scale. Some seriously believe that if you raise the Martian atmospheric pressure to such a level that you can walk without spacesuits, then grace will come, and that's when we will live. Nope, not heal. When terraforming, atmospheric pressure is one of several things, albeit a very important one. After all, the whole essence of terraforming is the creation of conditions close to earthly ones, and this is not only the atmosphere with its pressure and gas composition, but also hydrosphere, but also biosphere. When the cook prepares dinner for a hundred people, then, knowing how many products will go to one person, he will be able to calculate how many ingredients he will need for a hundred people. If there are not enough of some ingredients, then you can’t cook dinner and feed everyone. With terraforming everything is the same. Earthly life, in the form in which we know it, exists precisely because the composition and quantity of the ingredients for its existence are just as they are. On Mars, everything is very different. Martian resources available are not enough. Knowing how many tons of water and atmosphere per square kilometer of the earth’s surface, we can calculate how much we need to add on Mars in order to achieve the same indicators. knowing how many products will go to one person, he will be able to calculate how many ingredients he will need per hundred people. If there are not enough of some ingredients, then you can’t cook dinner and feed everyone. With terraforming everything is the same. Earthly life, in the form in which we know it, exists precisely because the composition and quantity of the ingredients for its existence are just as they are. On Mars, everything is very different. Martian resources available are not enough. Knowing how many tons of water and atmosphere per square kilometer of the earth’s surface, we can calculate how much we need to add on Mars in order to achieve the same indicators. knowing how many products will go to one person, he will be able to calculate how many ingredients he will need per hundred people. If there are not enough of some ingredients, then you can’t cook dinner and feed everyone. With terraforming everything is the same. Earthly life, in the form in which we know it, exists precisely because the composition and quantity of the ingredients for its existence are just as they are. On Mars, everything is very different. Martian resources available are not enough. Knowing how many tons of water and atmosphere per square kilometer of the earth’s surface, we can calculate how much we need to add on Mars in order to achieve the same indicators. That dinner is not cooked and not all feed. With terraforming everything is the same. Earthly life, in the form in which we know it, exists precisely because the composition and quantity of the ingredients for its existence are just as they are. On Mars, everything is very different. Martian resources available are not enough. Knowing how many tons of water and atmosphere per square kilometer of the earth’s surface, we can calculate how much we need to add on Mars in order to achieve the same indicators. That dinner is not cooked and not all feed. With terraforming everything is the same. Earthly life, in the form in which we know it, exists precisely because the composition and quantity of the ingredients for its existence are just as they are. On Mars, everything is very different. Martian resources available are not enough. Knowing how many tons of water and atmosphere per square kilometer of the earth’s surface, we can calculate how much we need to add on Mars in order to achieve the same indicators.

    Technology


    But we are not a timid and firmly convinced that living under glass and steel domes is not our way. And before we begin, we would like to specify the level of technology that, according to the logic of things, mankind should own at the time of the transformation of Mars.

    We (most likely) DO NOT KNOW:

    1. Move at speeds close to the speed of light.
    2. Create portals through space to move people and goods.

    We are able to:

    1. Use the energy of nuclear fusion.
    2. To extract raw materials outside the Earth (asteroids, moons, planets) and process them.
    3. Build settlements in outer space, far from Earth.
    4. Create self-contained, self-sustaining ecosystems in space settlements.
    5. Build giant structures in outer space, allowing efficient use of solar energy.
    6. To build factories away from the earth, capable of producing automatic interplanetary stations, robots, engines, and much more.
    7. To create advanced systems of artificial intelligence capable of managing the development of minerals on asteroids, the construction of stations, plants located in deep space.
    8. Build space elevators and / or other cost-effective systems for delivering cargo to orbit.
    9. Navigating the solar system faster than now. Using nuclear jet engines, or other advanced technology.

    Obviously, this level of technology is not a matter of a couple of decades. According to the most optimistic forecasts, we will be able to achieve something similar not earlier than the second half of this century, if not later.

    Magnetosphere


    Yes, I understand that in the comments they will tell me that the magnetosphere is not needed and there will be a fairly dense atmosphere. But agree: the magnetosphere, nevertheless, slows down the process of volatilization of the atmosphere into outer space. In the case of Mars, this is an important moment. And earthly life is adapted to life in a magnetic field. And on Mars, roughly speaking, there is no magnetosphere. The solar wind unhurriedly blows out the remnants of the atmosphere, and high-energy particles happily fly from space to the very surface of the Martian desert. The issue with the magnetosphere can be solved in at least two ways. About the first quite recently wrote, including, and on Habré: the creation of an artificial magnetic shield. This is quite a budget option and if it works, it is important that this system works without interruption. (Although, to be honest, for me it is not entirely clear: how will it be possible to maintain a magnetic umbrella in a stable orbit for a long time if it constantly interacts with a large stream of charged particles from the Sun. This is, in fact, a huge electromagnetic solar sail.)

    image

    The second option is to try to revive the Martian magnetosphere. To do this will be sooooo easy, if possible at all. But I will specifically consider this idea, so that the reader could understand the scale of the work that needs to be carried out over Mars. The idea is to assemble a massive satellite in the Martian orbit, causing tides in the core of the planet and, thus, to launch a planetary dynamo. It is incredibly expensive, but if it works, it will give some bonuses:

    1. No need to worry that the magnetic field will turn off from a meteorite hit the satellite that supports the artificial magnetic shield.
    2. The awakening of Martian volcanism is possible, which will have a favorable effect on the feeding of the atmosphere with volcanic gases.
    3. It is real for a long time and does not require maintenance.
    4. This stabilizes the angle of inclination of the axis of rotation of Mars.
    5. If everything is implemented correctly, then it is quite possible to get lunar cycles similar to those on the Earth.
    6. Martian astrologers will have a new era in the compilation of astro forecasts. Three moons in the sky! Three!!!

    You can calculate the parameters of such a satellite. If we imagine that it is absolutely proportional to the Earth's Moon, then at a density of a substance similar to that of the moon, its mass will be approximately 7.9 × 10¹⁸ tons, and its diameter will be approximately 1650 km. To understand how much this is, you can imagine that this satellite will weigh as 21.643.835.620.000.000 skyscrapers of the Empire State Building, and its diameter is the distance from Berlin to Chisinau.

    Further in the text there will be more figures indicating the weight and diameters. And if you are still not imbued with the scale of things that we are discussing here, then here is another analogy:

    Imagine that we want to build a Martian moon in Mars orbit by lifting building material from the surface of Mars. Imagine that we have a rocket that can drop 100 tons of payload into a proper orbit. Imagine that every hour we send 10 such missiles. We do it constantly, 24 hours a day. To complete the project, we will need only 900 billion years. (I want to warn you in advance that all the analogies I use are fairly conventional and it is quite possible that by the time humanity takes seriously the terraformation of the planets, it will have technologies that allow it to relatively massively move space lumps.)

    Impressive? It will be even more interesting.

    Atmosphere


    We still want to file conditions similar to those on Earth on Mars. We stand in the middle of the Martian desert and dream of gardens, like a Finn standing in the middle of the Sahara and dreaming of Finland and smelt. But, unlike the Finn, we have a very serious problem: there is nothing to breathe. And there are not so many gases on Marsto create a dense, breathable atmosphere. In fact, the Martian atmosphere is not much denser than vacuum. So, it is necessary to inventory what is available and bring the missing. On Mars, per square kilometer of the surface, there are 173 thousand tons of gases, 95% of which is carbon dioxide. If we want “everything to be like on Earth”, then for every square kilometer of the surface we need 10 million tons of gases, 22% of which are oxygen, and 78% are nitrogen. What? Nitrogen is not needed, do CO2 or other gas? Alas, no, we will not manage. Nitrogen makes the atmosphere more neutral and stable. Nitrogen is not so actively fixed by the biosphere as carbon monoxide. In addition, atmospheric nitrogen, being involved in biochemical reactions, is an integral part of the vast majority of the molecules that make up life known to us. The core of any amino acid that forms protein structures is the nitrogen molecule. And how often nitrogen is found in the DNA molecule can be seen in the illustration below (the nitrogen is filled with blue there). So, no nitrogen - no life!

    image

    So we decided what and what we need for the atmosphere. And now let's imagine: how much is it? According to approximate calculations, 1.432x10¹⁵ tons of gases or a nitrogen-oxygen ice ball 140 km in diameter must be added to the atmosphere of Mars. This time, in order to understand how much this is, we will use the SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System and their Big Falcon Rocket, allowing to deliver to Mars 150 tons of payload. (Hello, Ilon!) Imagine that we send 10 rockets per hour to Mars, 24 hours a day, for countless years. We carry nitrogen and oxygen ice - so it takes up less space. To fill the atmosphere of Mars, we need only 109 million years. So, not all will survive before planting apple trees on Mars. Rather, not only everything. Few can do this.

    But that's not all!

    Hydrosphere


    Despite the data on Wikipedia that the melted Martian ice could cover Mars with an ocean depth of 35 meters (if this water is evenly distributed), I hurry to upset many: Mars is an exceptionally dry planet. If all earth water is distributed evenly over the Earth's surface, the depth of the world ocean will be 2.7 kilometers . Notwithstanding the foregoing, terrestrial deserts are quite extensive. In the case of Mars, even if atmospheric pressure is very high, water can be observed only in the form of polar caps, and of snow at the top of Olympus. So, yes, the water will also have to be brought from outside. And the amount of water that will need to be delivered to Mars cannot be compared with the amount of atmospheric gases.

    On average, about 2.6 billion tons of water per square kilometer of the earth’s surface. To bring this ratio to Earth on Mars, it will be necessary to deliver 3.27 × 10¹⁷ tons of water to the planet. This is an ice ball with a diameter of about 900 km. That is, the body is comparable in size to Ceres . And it's sad, because we will have to carry water to Mars much longer than the atmosphere: in mass, the missing hydrosphere is about 230 times heavier than the missing atmosphere. Think, Ilon Musk!

    Biosphere


    The mass of the terrestrial biosphere is about 2.4 trillion tons. In other words, it is, on average, 4,700 tons per square kilometer. In terms of Mars, it will be about 680 billion tons. On the one hand, it is very little and it could be neglected. But, on the other hand, it is not entirely clear: how many chemical elements necessary for life do Martian rocks contain and what (and how much) do you need to add? At the moment, research data on the chemical composition of Martian rocks are incomplete. If we assume that the biomass density is equal to the density of water, then the potential Martian biomass could fit a sphere 11 kilometers in diameter (if we assume that one cubic meter of the biosphere is equal in mass to one cubic meter of water).

    Let us summarize our Martian deficiencies with the following illustration:



    Instead of epilogue


    Perhaps I’ll upset this article by some citizens who are optimistic about the nearest terraforming of Mars. Even our distant descendants will not see the apple trees blooming under the blue martian sky. You can endlessly fantasize about how we will blow up thermonuclear charges on the polar caps of Mars. Or sow equatorial regions with genetically modified bacteria and lichens. Or warm the planet with giant orbital mirrors. But the harsh reality is: it is impossible to build a house without building materials. And on Mars, so far, and close there is not all that is necessary for creating conditions and a biosphere similar to those on Earth. I do not urge to abandon the dream of terraforming Mars, rather, on the contrary. Well, if we seriously intend to become a biological species, beyond their cradle and learning how to make conditions on other planets favorable for our residence, it is extremely important for us to be aware of the complexity of this idea. I consider this a necessary step towards our goal. After all, only then can we create the tools that will enable us to achieve this very goal. And yet, humanity must learn to plan for millennia, and not to live for quick gain. True, this is a topic for a completely different conversation.

    And as a consolation prize, I suggest everyone to admire the wonderful renders of the terraformed Mars. Amen!)

    image

    PS: Yes, I almost forgot: do I need an article about what technologies can be used to terraforming Mars and where can I get building materials for this?

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