
Terraforming of Mars - olalonde
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming_of_Mars
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ta12121
I propose that links to random wikipedia articles should be considered below
the threshold of "interesting" for the front page of HN. Who's with me?

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Cushman
I'm normally very liberal about submissions-- I figure whatever we upvote
belongs here. But this... I don't understand why this even got submitted.

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aneth4
I presume this is a follow on to the recent top story regarding colonization
of Mars come reality show next decade.

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MikeCapone
Sometimes I wish that some of the current Wikipedia article could be sent back
in time to the early days of Wikipedia. Contributors and readers from that
time would be blown away.

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vorg
The easiest initial way to live on Mars is not to terraform, but to build huge
insulated cities, perhaps by remote-controlled robot years before we first get
there. Terraforming could come much later by those who already live there.
Earth might need insulated cities in the future, if the air is polluted
enough, so perhaps that'd be a premiminary learning exercise in how to build
them. Of course, Mars is anywhere from 4 to 20 light-minutes away, so the
robots would at least need to be semi-intelligent, so prior experience
building colonies on the Moon, only a few light seconds away, would help. And
the Moon would be just as hospitable as Mars anyway, if we're building
insulated cities. Rebuilding by robot in a radiated nuclear wasteland on Earth
might even be a learning exercise for building on the Moon.

As for the low gravity in each place, wouldn't children born there adapt as
they grow up, with a bit of medical help of course. Although their parents
could move from a higher gravity environment to a lower easily enough, I
wouldn't imagine anyone could move from the environment they grew up in to a
higher-gravity one, so anyone born on the Moon or Mars would be doomed to live
there forever I'd imagine.

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ranman
Mars does not have a magnetosphere. You can't live there without shielding,
end of story.

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adventureful
They mention a lot of options like transporting hydrocarbons from Titan or
Ammonia from the outer solar system (as methods for atmosphere formation).

Clearly the best source of CO2 is to export it from Earth. A space railway
from Earth to Mars for shipping CO2 would be at least as practical as any of
the other options.

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DavidSJ
The delta V requirements to go from the outer solar system to Mars are far
less than those required to go from Earth to Mars. Plus, an ammonia iceteroid
can be moved around virtually for free (with significant mass lost upon
arrival) since ammonia can serve as rocket fuel, and thus the iceteroid can
act as a giant fuel tank.

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ranman
Excellent idea. However since mars is right next to the asteroid belt one
might easily just use those rather than the "outer" solar system.

