5 ms·

just need to drop a few hundred thousand comets and asteroids and mars, and mar's moon, then float a few hundred thousand giant mirrors around it to warm it up

just need to drop a few hundred thousand comets and asteroids and mars, and mar's moon, then float a few hundred thousand giant mirrors around it to warm it up a bit, seed it with plants, wait a few thousand years. no big deal!

lprubin 9y ago
Don't forget solving the gravity disparity problem.
- jackmott 9y ago
  dumping the comets and moons onto the surface is to help with that. But I've done some napkin math and it looks like we need ~40 billion commets to bring it halfway to earth mass...welp
  - goatlover 9y ago
    Makes terraforming Venus look easy.
  - ejolto 9y ago
    If you crash the entire asteroid belt into Mars, its mass will increase by half a percent.
    - jackmott 9y ago
      a good start! you can get most of that half of a percent with just the 4 largest asteroids. maybe we need to sacrifice our own moon.
      - ejolto 9y ago
        If we are moving the moon, we might as well just move the earth to a higher orbit further from the sun.
        AstralStorm 9y ago
        If we had access to this kind of energy, we'd be generating and treating copious amounts of antimatter and using it to power electrical CO2 sequestration devices.
- Reason077 9y ago
  Mars gravity, 38% of Earth's, doesn't seem like all that much of problem. Sure, there are some health risks associated with being in a low gravity environment. But considering humans survive surprisingly well in micro-gravity in space, I'm sure we can adapt to the relatively strong gravity on Mars.
  - jsjohnst 9y ago
    > But considering humans survive surprisingly well in micro-gravity in space Source for that claim? The number of studies I’ve read (as well as conversations I’ve had with astronauts) about the health impact on astronauts who’ve been on the ISS for extended periods seems to disagree.
    - CyberDildonics 9y ago
      Is less gravity the only difference in being on earth and being on the ISS?
      - jsjohnst 9y ago
        Google would've easily found a bunch of supporting articles to what I stated, but here: https://www.space.com/23017-weightlessness.html https://www.space.com/23017-weightlessness.html https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast02aug_1 https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/a... http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/20/health/your-body-in-space/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/20/health/your-body-in-space/inde... https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/bodyinspace https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/bodyinspace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_spaceflight_on_the_human_body#Weightlessness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_spaceflight_on_the_h... tl;dr version: > In space, without gravity, bones lose more than 1% of minerals and density per month. > Astronauts also experience blood volume loss, weakened immune systems and cardiovascular deconditioning since floating takes little effort and the heart doesn't have to work as hard to pump blood through your body > "It changes their visual acuity," Charles said. "They're not able to see things up close. It's like advanced aging. That sort of thing happens at a sort of an accelerated rate."

lprubin 9y ago

Don't forget solving the gravity disparity problem.

jackmott 9y ago
dumping the comets and moons onto the surface is to help with that. But I've done some napkin math and it looks like we need ~40 billion commets to bring it halfway to earth mass...welp
- goatlover 9y ago
  Makes terraforming Venus look easy.
- ejolto 9y ago
  If you crash the entire asteroid belt into Mars, its mass will increase by half a percent.
  - jackmott 9y ago
    a good start! you can get most of that half of a percent with just the 4 largest asteroids. maybe we need to sacrifice our own moon.
    - ejolto 9y ago
      If we are moving the moon, we might as well just move the earth to a higher orbit further from the sun.
      - AstralStorm 9y ago
        If we had access to this kind of energy, we'd be generating and treating copious amounts of antimatter and using it to power electrical CO2 sequestration devices.
Reason077 9y ago
Mars gravity, 38% of Earth's, doesn't seem like all that much of problem. Sure, there are some health risks associated with being in a low gravity environment. But considering humans survive surprisingly well in micro-gravity in space, I'm sure we can adapt to the relatively strong gravity on Mars.
- jsjohnst 9y ago
  > But considering humans survive surprisingly well in micro-gravity in space Source for that claim? The number of studies I’ve read (as well as conversations I’ve had with astronauts) about the health impact on astronauts who’ve been on the ISS for extended periods seems to disagree.
  - CyberDildonics 9y ago
    Is less gravity the only difference in being on earth and being on the ISS?
    - jsjohnst 9y ago
      Google would've easily found a bunch of supporting articles to what I stated, but here: https://www.space.com/23017-weightlessness.html https://www.space.com/23017-weightlessness.html https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast02aug_1 https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/a... http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/20/health/your-body-in-space/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/20/health/your-body-in-space/inde... https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/bodyinspace https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/bodyinspace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_spaceflight_on_the_human_body#Weightlessness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_spaceflight_on_the_h... tl;dr version: > In space, without gravity, bones lose more than 1% of minerals and density per month. > Astronauts also experience blood volume loss, weakened immune systems and cardiovascular deconditioning since floating takes little effort and the heart doesn't have to work as hard to pump blood through your body > "It changes their visual acuity," Charles said. "They're not able to see things up close. It's like advanced aging. That sort of thing happens at a sort of an accelerated rate."