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Why would you launch this with rockets? There are better ways to get huge amounts of matter into orbit or beyond. They are not worth the investment today, but with larger demand they would be built.
Would be impressive rocket if it can lift a million tons. Space shuttle could launch almost 4 tons to GEO. The shuttle program launch 134 times.rootone said:Getting several billion tonnes of water off of Earth would require several billion tonnes of rocket fuel, and a fleet of rockets numbering several thousands.
infinitebubble said:Terraforming Mars is useless until a magnetic shield to protect it from the Sun and it's effects are in place... much better than slamming a Jupiter satellite onto Mars which is an engineering feat we could never do.
https://www.space.com/31044-mars-terraforming-nasa-maven-mission.html
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddar...otect-astronauts-from-space-radiation-on-mars
Assuming we understand the mechanism for Earth's magnetic field correctly, the method would need to create something similar for Mars..Bizmuth said:Has anyone ever come up with an even semi-plausible method of restarting Mars' magnetic field?
Tryannosaurus said:Most of these ideas seem to require more advanced technology than we have today and some don't have the practicality to actually work, like rail guns, you'd need quite a lot of rail guns shooting 10 KG of ice to warm and make Mars wet again...
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Why couldn't we just build a machine that freezes salt water from our oceans and a rail gun that shoots this frozen salt water? We could actually have a use for our ocean water that mostly gets unused, much more practical than shooting ice from Europa
rootone said:Assuming we understand the mechanism for Earth's magnetic field correctly, the method would need to create something similar for Mars..
That is we would need to liquify the core then spin it up.
It doesn't break any laws of physics but the amount of energy involved would be enormous, and certainly well beyond any present technology.
Bizmuth said:Looking at the earlier suggestion to put a superconducting ring around Mars -- would that not gradually heat the core through hysteresis, for instance? Granted, the time scale would be ridiculous. But maybe multiple lines of attack? Superconductiong ring providing inductive heating, plus H-bombs dropped down a deep shaft, plus microwave energy being beamed to the poles and used in some kind of either heating or further induction...
I'm just spitballing, and I freely admit I haven't a clue.
Sharky1 said:...
Could it even be possible in the future to siphon the ocean water up through the middle of a space tether and send it on to Mars from there? Once in space and frozen you could then shoot it to Mars however you like.
Probably need multiple space tethers to keep the weight down too.
Finally someone who understands me, by the time we got through political trouble and annoyances on Earth, we'd most likely have the technology to have a space elevator sort of contraption or a way to siphon water up to a planetary space station or at least a Moon base, firing frozen water from the Moon is MUCH easier than from Earth due to the Moon having negligible, but building a space tether to Mars may be out of reach for quite a while, that's not counting it being worth it or not, by the time the construction was completed we'd probably have been able to cover Mars with waterSharky1 said:I like the idea of sending some of Earth's ocean water to Mars. I'm not sure about railguns and the like though.
I assume by the time we are ready for anything even remotely close to this we should have an operating space tether/elevator.
Could it even be possible in the future to siphon the ocean water up through the middle of a space tether and send it on to Mars from there? Once in space and frozen you could then shoot it to Mars however you like.
Probably need multiple space tethers to keep the weight down too.
Getting some oxygen into the atmosphere is easier than large amounts of water.Tryannosaurus said:Also the fact that Mar's atmosphere is basically carbon dioxide might make it a little hard to breath in don't you think?
Tryannosaurus said:...by the time we got through political trouble and annoyances on Earth, we'd most likely have the technology to have a space elevator sort of contraption or a way to siphon water up to a planetary space station
Tryannosaurus said:...firing frozen water from the Moon is MUCH easier than from Earth due to the Moon having negligible, but ...
Tryannosaurus said:a space tether to Mars may be out of reach for quite a while, that's not counting it being worth it or not, by the time the construction was completed we'd probably have been able to cover Mars with water
Tryannosaurus said:...
But why terraform Mars when even if it had water would still be relatively uninhabitable? I mean if Mars lost its magnetic field once, who's to say it will lose it again once we resort it? Unless we made the magnetic field nearly as strong as Earth's, the magnetic field would most likely be lost. Also the fact that Mar's atmosphere is basically carbon dioxide might make it a little hard to breath in don't you think?
mfb said:Phobos has a mass of 1016 kg. You are fine with moving that to a significantly higher orbit (and probably moving Deimos as well, another 1.5*1015 kg), but you are worried about 1012 kg for a cubic kilometer of water?
1016 kg of water, corresponding to the mass of Phobos, could give Mars a uniform 7 cm layer of water. Or many reasonably sized lakes in many interesting places.
Magnetic fields redirect solar wind. A magnet on Phobos would direct particles into Mars during part of its orbit.Beaugeard F said:Is it possible (theory and faisable?) to set a metallic magnet on one of the moon of Mars and by the simultaneous rotations to create a dynamo effect, then a magnetic field (to protect the atmosphere)?
I would not trust anyone tampering with Earth's climate. Tampering with Mars' or Venus' climate is safely "not in anyone's backyard". Most of the reasons to oppose breeder reactors and nuclear reprocessing dissappear if we are talking about a complex near Copernicus crater. It should be fine to try Jurassic Park in an O'Neil cylinder.sophiecentaur said:They could make a serious effort at Terraforming Earth before they start on anywhere else. Humans just shouldn't be trusted with the sort of powerful tools they have these days.
Beaugeard F said:Is it possible (theory and faisable?) to set a metallic magnet on one of the moon of Mars and by the simultaneous rotations to create a dynamo effect, then a magnetic field (to protect the atmosphere)?