• Question: What do you think of bombarding mars with nucear bombs to make it habitable?

    Asked by Bananaman to Anne, Beth, COLFlight, Jon, Tom on 7 Oct 2015.
    • Photo: Jonathan Scott

      Jonathan Scott answered on 7 Oct 2015:

      I think we should think about that A LOT before we try it. I think we should also stop making our own planet uninhabitable before we start interfering with other ones.

    • Photo: Columbus Flight Directors

      Columbus Flight Directors answered on 7 Oct 2015:

      Sergio:
      Hi Bananaman,
      btw, why would you bombard Mars with nuclear bombs?
      As far as I remember, nuclear bombs kill everything on their way and also make the area inhabitable for hundreds of years. How do you think nuclear bombs would make Mars habitable?

    • Photo: Beth Healey

      Beth Healey answered on 8 Oct 2015:

      I think that would be really sad if we did that. We have to protect our environment…

    • Photo: Anne Visscher

      Anne Visscher answered on 8 Oct 2015:

      Hi Bananaman,

      What you mentioned is a new idea about terraforming Mars: evaporating the Martian pole ice with nuclear bombs to create a thicker atmosphere and trap heat. However, I don’t think we know yet if it would really work and how many negative side effects there would be.
      Some other options that have been mentioned to make Mars warmer are: using giant orbital mirrors, covering the poles in dark dust, using GM microbes, directing an asteroid to the planet to burn up in the atmosphere, etcetera.

      Anne

Comments

  • Photo: Bananaman

    Bananaman commented on :

    Sergio, it was on the news not that long ago. Basically a team of scientists headed be Elon Musk think that it would heat up Mars to make it more habitable. But that you’ve counterpointed it, it starts to make no sence. You can read the whole article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3229433/Could-BOMBING-Mars-make-habitable-Nuclear-warheads-heat-red-planet-make-Earth-like-claims-Elon-Musk.html

  • Photo: COLFlight

    COLFlight commented on :

    Hi Bananaman,
    thanks a lot for the link!
    Well, it could be interesting, I really think we should do terraforming of other planets sooner or later if we want live on them.

    But for sure this is something that will have to be studied very much in detail. It would be interesting to see if Musk and his folks have done precise calculations to understand whether the developed greenhouse gases would remain there or would be lost to space, considering the low gravity of Mars.
    For example, what if heating up Mars, also that few atmosphere that is now there gets too much energy and then escapes the Mars gravity? This would make thing worse and not better.

    I don’t think we have a good enough understanding of Mars today to do something like this. First we should study it more in detail and then once we understand it, maybe we could think about what to do to make it more hospitable for us 😉

  • Photo: Bananaman

    Bananaman commented on :

    Thank uou very much for your replies! It was great to know that you share my opinion!