51–60 of 81 posts
It's crazy how scientists are researching worms for Mars and yet our scientists in agriculture actively preach practices that compact soil and kill soil biology. Monsanto chemicals and John Deeres tractors are ruining systems that literally self renew. Maybe we should try to work with earth's nature here before trying to emulate it on another planet?
I feel like sending earth worms to Mars is like sending pigs to South America. Perhaps there is nothing living there... I don't know. But do we need to have such an imperialist attitude with planets too?
Imperialism is not a bad thing. Successful species spread and thrive. Failed species are extinct -- and we will be too if we don't get off this rock.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mars has isolated pockets of "mini magnetospheres" that are suitable enough to block charged particles. http://www.space.dtu.dk/english/Research/Universe_and_Solar_...
I think he was assuming the subject was terraforming. Without a magnetosphere, the atmosphere will keep being blasted off into space continuously, and it'll be impossible to terraform.
If we are able to conclusively determine that Mars is no longer host to life, should we try to seed the planet with carbon dioxide & methane producing organisms in order to create an atmosphere?
That wouldn't do much good unless we can re-establish the magnetosphere.
The mass of the Martian atmosphere is about 25 teratonnes [1]. According to the measurements by MAVEN, the rate of mass loss by Martian atmosphere due to solar wind is 100 g/s [2]. At this rate it would take
25e12 * 1000 * 1000 * 0.01 / 100 / 3600 / 24 / 365.25 = 79 million years
Looks like if we can increase density and pressure of Martian atmosphere as GP suggested, we don't really need to worry about the lack of magnetospheric protection.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Mars [2] https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-mission-reveals-spee...
It's crazy how scientists are researching worms for Mars and yet our scientists in agriculture actively preach practices that compact soil and kill soil biology. Monsanto chemicals and John Deeres tractors are ruining systems that literally self renew. Maybe we should try to work with earth's nature here before trying to emulate it on another planet?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A mars mission won't be getting frequent short-hop trips from earth. I would expect the habitats to use reduced-pressure atmospheres with less to no nitrogen.
What would you expect the habitats to have instead of nitrogen? You wouldn't want a high oxygen atmosphere. Not only is it an extreme fire risk (see Apollo 1), but humans aren't built for it - oxygen toxicity exists.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A mars mission won't be getting frequent short-hop trips from earth. I would expect the habitats to use reduced-pressure atmospheres with less to no nitrogen.
Then everything needs to be made of fire-retardant materials. Reducing the nitrogen content of the atmosphere has little deleterious effects for people, but makes fires easier to start, hotter, and harder to put out.
It's crazy how scientists are researching worms for Mars and yet our scientists in agriculture actively preach practices that compact soil and kill soil biology. Monsanto chemicals and John Deeres tractors are ruining systems that literally self renew. Maybe we should try to work with earth's nature here before trying to emulate it on another planet?
My family are based in New Zealand and make a feriliser that is high in carbon and micronutrients (we use seaweed). Even after pot trials and field trials showing massive benefits we found it nearly impossible to sell to farmers. Generally they are sick of snake oil salesmen peddling the next best product. Farmers mindsets are almost immutable - we even had farmers who used some and saw the anecdotal benefits (worms)…
I feel like sending earth worms to Mars is like sending pigs to South America. Perhaps there is nothing living there... I don't know. But do we need to have such an imperialist attitude with planets too?