Of the eight planets in the solar system, we live on Earth for good reason. It has ideal conditions for life.
Today, however, we are carving out the earth’s surface by clearing forests, and changing its atmosphere by adding carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases. These changes have warmed the Earth, which may make us worry that Earth may not be a good place for us to live in the future.
Perhaps this ability to alter the planet could make other places in the solar system more suitable for us to live in. This planetary engineering is called “reclamation”.
In our solar system, the planets most similar to Earth are Mars, which is slightly further from the Sun, and Venus, which is slightly closer to the Sun. However, they were still very different from Earth.
There are many ways in which these planets differ from Earth. One of them is the gas in the atmosphere. Both the atmospheres of Mars and Venus consist mainly of carbon dioxide. Neither planet’s atmosphere contains any amount of oxygen, which means that for now, we won’t be able to breathe on either planet.
Mars is generally considered the most promising planet for qualification. However, apart from being made mostly of carbon dioxide, the atmosphere on Mars is very thin. It doesn’t press down on a planet with the same weight that Earth’s atmosphere presses.
It is the pressure from the atmosphere that keeps water on Earth liquid – so we can drink it, and plants can use it for growth. Almost all water on Mars is icy cold, except for a small amount of water vapor in the atmosphere.
To create an atmosphere that we can breathe, and create enough pressure to keep water liquid, we need to pump so much air into the Martian atmosphere — a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen — that the atmosphere becomes heavy. like earth.
It is possible to find this nitrogen and oxygen on the surface of Mars, where soil is found to contain large amounts of nitrate – a molecule of nitrogen and three oxygen atoms.
But there can be problems doing so, including removing nutrients from the soil that may be needed to grow plants.
Mars is also a very cold place, with an average temperature of around -60 °C.
To change that, we need to help the atmosphere trap heat. This is called the greenhouse effect. We can do this by pumping more carbon dioxide and methane into it (methane has been discovered on Mars). This would warm Mars and melt much of its ice, creating a water cycle similar to Earth’s climate. Mars will have oceans, rivers, and rainfall just like Earth.
Mars or Venus?
Or, we could consider reshaping Venus. Venus’s gravity is very similar to Earth’s, but for reasons not fully understood, its atmosphere is about a hundred times heavier than Earth’s. The weight of the atmosphere that puts pressure on us will destroy us.
To reduce the weight of the atmosphere on Venus to be closer to Earth, we need to remove carbon dioxide and some nitrogen.
Unfortunately, if we knew how to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere on a large scale, we’d be better off doing it on Earth to slow global warming.
Mars and Venus have reached a natural state different from that of Earth. If we turn it into an Earth-like planet, that would mean throwing it out of balance. If left unchecked, they will change again. Crystallization of Mars or Venus will require constant effort to maintain.
It would be much easier and simpler to build an artificial space colony, large enough to accommodate an entire ecosystem consisting of plants, animals and other life forms. We could even travel to other star systems, where we might find planets that are more like Earth. But we don’t have the capacity for that yet.
Until then, the best type of reclamation is to reduce the human footprint on Earth.
(This article is published by PTI from The Conversation)
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