

Image courtesy NASA





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RE: Terraform
By Blood Simple on 12/7/2006 5:19:36 AM , Rating: 2
Mars, unlike earth, does not have a magnetic field. This would make any attempt to pressurise the atmosphere useless as it would be stripped away from the planet by the solar wind. Mars is simply too old and too small!

Ding ding ding, we have a winner. No magnetic field = any attempt at terra forming would be moot. The Atmosphere would just get stripped off into space again. Not to mention Solar radiation is quite lethal when no magnetic field is present to block it. The same fate would befall earth should it lose its field.

Mars had a magnetic field at one point, along with liquid water and an atmosphere. But once its Core cooled and turned solid, field go bye bye. Earth is massive enough that it will be eons before we lose our core and we will have long since destroyed the planet by other means.

RE: Terraform
By masher2 (blog) on 12/7/2006 10:11:50 AM , Rating: 2

Err, thats a very slow process. The solar wind is estimated to complete the stripping of the Martian atmosphere in the next one hundred million years. A denser atmosphere would loss mass faster...but its still not a problem for human lifetimes.

The solar wind isn't a terrible problem for human colonization of Mars (or Luna, for that matter, where the flux is much higher).

RE: Terraform
By fk49 on 12/7/2006 4:24:12 PM , Rating: 2
Well actually, solar wind could be a very terrible problem on Mars. It has stripped much of the atmosphere and delivers lethal doses of radiation and plasma since the protective magnetosphere is no longer generated by Mars' core.

However, Mars seems to have 'plates' that are permanently magnetized, and provide a protective field over that area. These spots are relatively safe compared to the rest of unshielded Mars and show potential for further research and perhaps colonization.

RE: Terraform
By masher2 (blog) on 12/7/2006 5:21:54 PM , Rating: 2
The solar wind isn't the real problem, its solar flares that are dangerous. However, the radiation from them is easily blocked by lightweight materials. All colonists would need to do is stay inside during solar "bad weather", and they've negated nearly all the risk.

And, as you point out, there are areas of the Martian surface magnetized enough to provide some shielding effect.

