For almost a century, both science fiction writers and scientists have extensively explored the concept of terraforming. Like setting foot on another planet or traveling to the nearest star, the idea of altering an uninhabitable planet to be suitable for humans is a dream that many hope to see fulfilled some day. Currently, much of that hope and speculation is directed to our neighbor planet, Mars. Elon Musk wants to do it. NASA wants to do it ...
But is it really possible to terraform Mars using our current technology? According to a new study sponsored by NASA, the answer is no.
In short, they argue that there is not enough carbon dioxide (CO2) to heat Mars and this is a crucial step in any terraforming process.
The study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, was conducted by Bruce Jakosky, professor of geological sciences and associate director of the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Christopher S. Edwards, assistant professor of science Planetariums at the University of Northern Arizona (USA) and leader of the Edwards Research Group.
How can we Terraform Mars?
Many methods have been suggested to turn our neighbor red planet green. Many of these methods require heating the surface to melt the polar ice caps, which would release an abundant amount of CO2 to thicken the atmosphere and trigger a greenhouse effect. This in turn would cause the release of additional CO2 from the soil and minerals, further reinforcing the cycle.
According to many proposals, this would be followed by the introduction of photosynthetic organisms such as cyanobacteria, which would slowly convert atmospheric CO2 to gaseous oxygen and elemental carbon. This same method was suggested in a 1976 study by NASA. Since then, multiple studies and even teams of students have proposed the use of cyanobacteria to terraform Mars.
However, after conducting their analysis, the researchers concluded that triggering a greenhouse effect on Mars would not be as simple as it seems. They examined more than 20 years of accumulated data from multiple observations of spacecraft from Mars.
"These data have provided substantial new information about the history of readily volatile materials such as CO2 and H2O on the planet, the abundance of volatile entrapped and below ground, and the loss of gas from the atmosphere to space," explains Edwards.