In 1877, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli mistakenly thought that he had detected linear structures on the surface of Mars through a telescope. He named it 'Canali (Channel)'. Speculation about the Red Planet as a wonder of the night sky has grown since the time of the ancient Egyptian astronomers. People mistook 'Canali' in Italian for 'Canal', suggesting that intelligent beings from Mars had built canals.
Since then, as technology has advanced, the planet has been extensively explored, with a series of robotic spacecraft sent to the planet since the 1960s. Some of the world saw the possibility of life, some saw the possible second residence of man.
A recent analysis of data from NASA's Mars rover 'Curiosity' suggests that the arid planet is currently unlikely to harbor any direct life other than microorganisms. So the curiosity in Gee is to make habitable a planet now at an average distance of 140 million miles from Earth.
Atmospheric pressure on Mars is less than a fraction (0.6%) of atmospheric pressure at Earth's sea level, with no oxygen necessary for life, and no liquid water. There is toxic soil, the lost almost atmosphere contains a lot of carbon dioxide (96%), nitrogen (2.6%) and argon (2%). In addition, ionizing solar and cosmic rays scattered on the surface of the Red Planet are more than human tolerance. So the question may arise, how can we 'humans' make Mars habitable?
A simple solution would be to take a spaceship with all the materials to support life from Earth 'permanently', and walk around Mars in a suit. But it is not a permanent solution. Where our planet will be habitable 100 years from now due to climate change is the burning question of the century, we need permanent solutions. Earth is our birthplace, we cannot leave it at will. But the art of science also encourages us to look for alternatives, so one of the inventors of the 21st century — SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink founder, billionaire engineer Elon Musk — wants to 'terraform' Mars.
Most of us are probably already familiar with the term 'terraforming', at least those who are fans of science fiction movies. Terraforming literally means 'earthing'. Terraforming is the process of creating an Earth-like environment by improving the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography and ecology of a planet, satellite, or cosmic object. Terraforming is a purely fictional planetary engineering process. But is Elon Musk thinking something very unusual? Maybe! Again, maybe not! Well, to understand, let's go back a bit, and look at the history of terraforming and hypotheses about the various planets and satellites of our solar system.
The 'terrestrial' (Earth-related or Earth-like) planets in our solar system are thought to be most suitable for terraforming. Because they are located near the sun, they can absorb the necessary energy. In addition, their hard surface—rich in silicates and other minerals—would be essential for food production and settlement of any future colonizing groups. On the other hand, the Jovian planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) are essentially gas planets and far from the Sun, so terraforming is not possible.
So, in 1961, Carl Sagan first tried to give the scientific idea of terraforming Venus. He hypothesizes that Venus has warm greenhouse gases, and that the planet's upper atmosphere could be enhanced if special types of genetically modified algae were released to Venus. As a result, they will break down carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Gradually, oxygen levels will increase, organic matter will form, rain will become less toxic, and within a few hundred years the temperature and pressure of the atmosphere will moderate, thereby paving the way for human colonization of Venus.
But the young Sagan's idea was largely wrong, because the atmospheric pressure of Venus is 92 times that of Earth, and because it is so close to the Sun, the surface temperature is about 462°C, which is unimaginable for any life on Earth. And if it were somehow possible to cool Venus to create a favorable atmosphere, the worst effect for humans would be a much slower rotation on its axis than Earth (1 day on Venus = 243 days on Earth). So it is understood that making Venus earth is not easy at all.
Many may think - what about Mercury, it is also a terrestrial planet! It can not be earthed? Airless Mercury orbits closer to the Sun, so it would be more difficult to Earth it than Venus. Scientists believe that the same terraformation is possible only because some features of Mars are close to Earth.
A day on Mars is equal to 24 hours 39 minutes on Earth (which is roughly equal to 1 day on Earth). Also, Mars is tilted on its axis by 25.19° which is almost equal to that of Earth (23.44°). So Mars has seasons similar to Earth, although 1 year on Mars is 1.88 years long on Earth. Mars also has polar ice caps, indicating that it once had an Earth-like atmosphere that has been lost to time. And it is because of these similarities that humans dream of colonizing Mars despite all the odds against human habitation. And so astronomers are giving theories one after another about 'planetary engineering on Mars'.
First, an acceptable atmosphere must be created, where there is sufficient oxygen, and the atmospheric pressure must be between 30-100 kPa. The lack of a magnetosphere on Mars allows ionizing solar and cosmic rays to easily reach its surface, causing cancer in the human body. We also know that, in the absence of a magnetosphere, the Martian atmosphere is slowly lost to space in solar storms. Therefore, an artificial magnetosphere similar to that of Earth must be created on Mars.
With only 59% of the light reaching Mars, the planet's average temperature is -63°C, compared to Earth's average temperature of 14°C. So, Mars has to heat up a bit. The Martian soil must be de-toxicated. There is disagreement as to whether the low gravity of Mars (38% of Earth's) is harmful to humans. However, microgravity is known to cause health problems such as muscle wasting and bone loss. Therefore artificial gravitational acceleration should be created if possible. After all, clean liquid water is essential for human survival. It may seem like hearing these, with the current technology of humans, is it possible to make Mars the Earth at all?
In 2018, a group of NASA researchers suggested that it is not possible to completely terraform Mars with current technology. Because, even if all the greenhouse gases trapped on Mars were released, it would be only 6.9% of the Earth, which is not capable of creating a human-habitable atmosphere. Still, many astronomers, including SpaceX founder Elon Musk, think it's very possible.
In 1991, planetary scientist Chris McKay and some of his NASA colleagues came up with a plan to release the greenhouse gases trapped in Martian soil and polar ice caps. McKay and his colleagues suggest that if these trapped greenhouse gases could be released into the Martian atmosphere, it would have two effects. Gases (eg, water vapor and carbon dioxide) would increase the atmospheric pressure on the surface of Mars, which would also increase the planet's temperature, and icecaps would eventually lead to liquid water on the Martian surface. While there are many hypotheses behind Mars terraformation, Mackay's plan to morph Mars has become the basis for the solution over the past three decades.
Even based on this concept, Elon Musk expressed his desire to terraform Mars in 2015 by dropping thermonuclear warheads on the Martian ice caps. Now the question may arise, how can a nuclear bomb be 'earthed' again, where its radiation lasts for hundreds of years? Yes, the question is logical. Many scientists believe that this will lead to nuclear cooling, resulting in a more hostile environment. However, Elon Musk said in a tweet in 2019 that his 'Nuke Mars' strategy is to create an artificial sun by conducting a series of light nuclear fusion explosions above the Martian atmosphere, which will not make Mars radioactive.
In 2020, the executive director of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Alexander Bloshenko, expressed concern over Elon's hypothesis, saying his plans would require 10,000 nuclear bombs with current technology. However, Elon has accepted that challenge. Notably, he is also considering plans to vaporize icecaps using reflector satellites instead of creating an artificial sun.
But it will not happen only by releasing greenhouse gases, the 'atmosphere' will again be lost in the solar storm due to the absence of magnetosphere. Therefore, two Japanese scientists Osamu Motojima and Nagato Yanagi have published a research paper on its solution. They claim that it is possible to create an artificial magnetic field with current technology by using several 'refrigerated latitudinal superconducting rings', where enough constant current flows through each ring. In another study, NASA scientist Jim Green proposed placing a magnetic dipole at the Mars L-1 Lagrange point, which would create a partial and distant artificial magnetosphere between Mars and the Sun. As a result, it will be able to protect the entire planet Mars from solar storms and ionizing solar radiation. So, it is understood that terraforming is no longer a science fiction, but there is a possibility to make it a science-based reality.
Elon Musk has ambitious plans to send the first man to Mars by 2024 and build a base of 1 million people on Mars by 2050. Under his direction, SpaceX is already starting work on a rocket called 'Starship', which can carry 100 metric tons of cargo and crew at a time from Earth to Mars in 6 months and be able to land on Mars and take off again, in short, like their Falcon 9 rocket. will be able to re-enter the atmosphere. Once upon a time only the most powerful nations could undertake space exploration or various interplanetary missions. There is now a man's dream, hard work and thoughtfulness that has taken personal space technology to unique heights in the past era. We humans have never learned to give up. Therefore, the courage to solve the risk of destruction of human civilization is also hidden in people. And so, just as we are trying to deal with Earth's climate change through geo-engineering, we are also looking at terraforming Mars as an alternative. Yes, we are human, we dream. And because I dream, I know how to make dreams come true.
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