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>We can change Mars in large ways. No we can't. The gravity of Mars is always going to be a problem. The lack of magnetic field is always going to be a proble

>We can change Mars in large ways. No we can't. The gravity of Mars is always going to be a problem. The lack of magnetic field is always going to be a problem. Most of its atmosphere was lost to space and there is not enough water on the planet to replenish. >we could redirect an icy asteroid to collide, providing water, atmosphere and heat. I read the Mars trilogy too. >On the order of decades from now. Sure.

mkaic 6y ago
We could make an artificial magnetic field for it. Beyond current technology but seems like a viable option a hundred years from now. I agree low gravity would be a problem, but life finds a way, right? Current generations of humans wouldn’t do well in 1/4 G, but maybe we’ll see significant adaptations 100 generations down the line! Who knows?
- ben_w 6y ago
  In principle, the cities themselves could have angled bases and be spinning, adding mass-gravity to centrifugal-gravity. I’m not sure if this is actually a good idea (and why would you want to build on a planet if you’re going to live in spin gravity?) but in principle it can be done.
- bmitc 6y ago
  > We could make an artificial magnetic field for it. Beyond current technology but seems like a viable option a hundred years from now. How? Because to me, that seems extremely far-fetched. My understanding as to why Earth has a magnetic field and why Mars does not (or has a weak one) is that Earth has a highly dynamic molten core surrounding a solid inner core, whereas Mars only has a molten core with not as much activity. It is my understanding that Earth's geodynamo plus its rotation helps create the magnetic field that protects our atmosphere. So unless humans are able to alter planets in such...planetary ways, then I don't see how we'll suddenly be able to give Mars a sustainable magnetic field.
  - FeepingCreature 6y ago
    Literally google it, come on. "Mars artificial magnetic field." We'll wait.
    - bmitc 6y ago
      No need to be so snappy. And that isn't giving Mars a magnetic field in the implied sense. It's building an external structure to perform a protective field that would have similar effects. You may consider it semantics, but they're different. It is an interesting idea, but this seems to simply be a proposal with a lot of "ifs" and "mights" and "possibles", with even the proposer calling it "fanciful". So indeed, I suppose we will wait. Even with this novel idea, it doesn't seem possible in 100 years. The articles I see came out three years ago from the conference it was presented at, and I didn't see any immediate results returned as to the progress of the idea.
JoeAltmaier 6y ago
Blood pressure, bone growth are managed by genetics. Which we (will) have control over soon. So that's hardly a stumbling block.
- kulig 6y ago
  Christ, our species is so arrogant.
m4rtink 6y ago
>>We can change Mars in large ways. >No we can't. The gravity of Mars is always going to be a >problem. The lack of magnetic field is always going to be a >problem. Most of its atmosphere was lost to space and there >is not enough water on the planet to replenish. Nothing a world house could not fix: https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/51f7d32f54b72 https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/51f7d32f54b72 Bonus point - it can be built incrementally, so you get immediate results instead of waiting for generations of effort to get anything back as with planet wide terraforming!
noselasd 6y ago
It took tens to hundreds of millions years for the atmosphere to disappear. If we can make a new one, we ca. Keep it replenished

mkaic 6y ago

We could make an artificial magnetic field for it. Beyond current technology but seems like a viable option a hundred years from now. I agree low gravity would be a problem, but life finds a way, right? Current generations of humans wouldn’t do well in 1/4 G, but maybe we’ll see significant adaptations 100 generations down the line! Who knows?

ben_w 6y ago
In principle, the cities themselves could have angled bases and be spinning, adding mass-gravity to centrifugal-gravity. I’m not sure if this is actually a good idea (and why would you want to build on a planet if you’re going to live in spin gravity?) but in principle it can be done.
bmitc 6y ago
> We could make an artificial magnetic field for it. Beyond current technology but seems like a viable option a hundred years from now. How? Because to me, that seems extremely far-fetched. My understanding as to why Earth has a magnetic field and why Mars does not (or has a weak one) is that Earth has a highly dynamic molten core surrounding a solid inner core, whereas Mars only has a molten core with not as much activity. It is my understanding that Earth's geodynamo plus its rotation helps create the magnetic field that protects our atmosphere. So unless humans are able to alter planets in such...planetary ways, then I don't see how we'll suddenly be able to give Mars a sustainable magnetic field.
- FeepingCreature 6y ago
  Literally google it, come on. "Mars artificial magnetic field." We'll wait.
  - bmitc 6y ago
    No need to be so snappy. And that isn't giving Mars a magnetic field in the implied sense. It's building an external structure to perform a protective field that would have similar effects. You may consider it semantics, but they're different. It is an interesting idea, but this seems to simply be a proposal with a lot of "ifs" and "mights" and "possibles", with even the proposer calling it "fanciful". So indeed, I suppose we will wait. Even with this novel idea, it doesn't seem possible in 100 years. The articles I see came out three years ago from the conference it was presented at, and I didn't see any immediate results returned as to the progress of the idea.

JoeAltmaier 6y ago

Blood pressure, bone growth are managed by genetics. Which we (will) have control over soon. So that's hardly a stumbling block.

kulig 6y ago
Christ, our species is so arrogant.

m4rtink 6y ago

>>We can change Mars in large ways. >No we can't. The gravity of Mars is always going to be a >problem. The lack of magnetic field is always going to be a >problem. Most of its atmosphere was lost to space and there >is not enough water on the planet to replenish. Nothing a world house could not fix: https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/51f7d32f54b72 https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/51f7d32f54b72 Bonus point - it can be built incrementally, so you get immediate results instead of waiting for generations of effort to get anything back as with planet wide terraforming!

noselasd 6y ago

It took tens to hundreds of millions years for the atmosphere to disappear. If we can make a new one, we ca. Keep it replenished