Can humans "transform" Mars and Venus?

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Author: Sina Technology

Artists' Imagination of Globalized Mars

Planetary scientists say it is possible for humans to transform Mars or even Venus. In fact, NASA is studying a plan to use a huge magnetic shield to help these planets transform themselves.

The background of planetary transformation

For decades, planetary scientists and science fiction writers have always had the idea of transforming planets outside the earth to make them suitable for human habitation. This process is usually called "land-making", which refers to the planetary engineering that artificially changes the surface environment of celestial bodies to make their climate, temperature and ecology similar to those of the earth. Mars, which is similar in diameter to the earth and is also made of rocks, is considered as the most feasible candidate for globalization. Venus is closer to the earth in size, mass, volume and distance from the sun, but its temperature is also higher. Therefore, in order to globalize Venus, we must overcome the problems of its thick atmosphere and high greenhouse effect.

Analysis: The huge magnetic shield contributes to the globalization of Venus and Mars.

Our solar system has a history of 4.5 billion years. Nowadays, life is everywhere on earth, but if we go back to 1 100 million years ago, we will find that Venus is a blue planet. It has a huge ocean, it may really have life, and there is a lot of life. If we go forward another billion years, we will find that Mars is also a blue planet. We now know that Mars lost its magnetic field and water began to evaporate. By about 3.5 billion years ago, Mars had basically stagnated.

Recently, some researchers put forward another plan that future settlers can be protected from harmful solar radiation by helping Mars restore its magnetic field. The plan may use Mars satellites to achieve this goal. NASA's plan is different. It placed a huge magnetic shield in the orbit of Mars to prevent the solar radiation from peeling off the atmosphere of Mars, and at the same time, it raised the surface temperature of the red planet, finally making it more livable.

Artists' Imagination of the Earth and the Moon

Stop the stripping of the atmosphere, the air pressure will increase, and Mars will begin to transform itself and let the planets participate in any way possible. As the air pressure rises, the temperature will also rise. As long as there is enough time, the atmospheric pressure may cross a magical threshold, enabling humans to survive on the surface of Mars without the protection of spacesuits.

The first level of globalization is 60 millibars, which is 10 times of the current level. This is the so-called Armstrong limit. Under this limit, when you walk on the surface of the planet, your blood will not boil. When you don't need a spacesuit, you will have more flexibility and maneuverability. Higher temperatures and pressures also allow you to grow plants in the soil.

Armstrong limit is an aerospace term, which means that at a certain height, due to the low atmospheric pressure (0.06 18 atmospheric pressure), the boiling point of water also drops to a level close to human body temperature (37 degrees Celsius). If humans exceed this height without any pressure measures, tears, saliva, water in the eyeball and body fluids that keep the alveoli moist will boil and evaporate in a very short time, resulting in suffocation of the lungs due to gas exchange. This limit is named after Harry george armstrong, a pilot and doctor of the United States Air Force. Depending on the geographical location and atmospheric environment, it is usually between 18900 meters and 19350 meters. In an environment that exceeds Armstrong's limit, the air is thin and even close to vacuum, human beings need to rely on pressurized equipment such as spacesuits to survive.

Outlook: Europa and Venus to the Earth.

The upcoming "Europa Clipper" mission will observe Europa and look for signs of life. The feathers on Europa are the reason why Europa performs its mission.

Artist's Imagination of the Globalized Venus

Europa is also a potential candidate for globalization. One of its advantages is that it has liquid water. As we all know, liquid water is essential for the survival of complex life. Of course, the globalization of Europa is also facing great challenges. This satellite is in Jupiter's radiation belt, and unprotected humans will die on its surface in only 10 minutes. Therefore, the globalization of Europa needs to build a large-scale anti-radiation device; In addition, Europa is covered with thick ice, so it needs enough oxygen to heat it.

Man's exploration of signs of life on Mars can be traced back to the pirate landing mission in 1970s, and it is still in progress. Scientists are still looking for life in the clouds of Venus, which is also a major goal of earth transformation.

Planetary scientists believe that we can also transform Venus with a physical shield that reflects light, and we can make a shield to reduce the overall temperature of Venus. At present, only the environment at the top of the cloud is close to the earth, and its geochemical process needs several important changes, including removing most of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and reducing the high temperature of Venus by about 500 degrees Celsius. These changes are closely related, because the superhigh temperature of Venus comes from the greenhouse effect caused by carbon dioxide. In addition, only by solving the atmospheric pressure problem of Venus can human beings immigrate to Venus.

Other stars that may form the Earth include the Moon, Mercury, Io, Ganymede, Callisto, Enceladus and Titan, as well as some larger asteroids such as Ceres. Although the moon is closest to the earth and the transportation cost is relatively low, it is also the most famous outer space planet. However, because the moon environment is too far away from the earth and there is no atmosphere, it is difficult to establish a stable artificial atmosphere with low gravity, so its globalization process will be extremely difficult.