Red Mars vs. Green Mars

[willpittenger]

In Kim Stanley Robinson's book series <i>Red Mars</i>/<i>Green Mars</i>/<i>Blue Mars</i>, he divides the colonists up into two groups. The members of the group "Red Mars" opposed any terraforming whatsoever. The members of "Green Mars" demanded immediate aggressive terraforming. (I think I have heard Zubrin pushing this.) Personally, I am not opposed to terraforming Mars. However, I think we must wait at least one century (after colonists start arriving) to start. Otherwise, we not only destroy the scientific data, but we won't know enough about how Mars ended up like we see it to make changes. I figure we might be wasting our time without better knowledge.<br /><span method="POST" action="/dopoll.php"></span><br /><br /><br /><br />Note to the moderators: I was uncertain where to post this thread. The other possibility that I came up with was M&L. However, I put it here because I was not expecting any actual mission stuff. I figured the thread would mostly be about the nature of Mars and what it could become after terraforming. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[qso1]

I think by the time were able to settle Mars...we may not require terraforming of the whole planet. I personally think it should be left as close to original as possible. Terraform local areas as needed but leave the vast majority of mars as it was found. Especially if there are indigeounous micro-organisms which would be difficult if not impossible to study in a terraformed world.<br /><br />Then again, I won't be around by the time we can terraform mars. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[qzzq]

Mars has a couple of problems that are hard to overcome when dealing with terraforming. It's relatively low gravity seems not enough to maintain a dense atmosphere. Then there is the lack of a strong enough magnetic field and magnetosphere to shield the planet from solar radiation. Even if plantlife in such conditions can be successfully sustained, the level of radiation may make green plantlife go white, to reflect some of the excess radiation. So, the question should perhaps be Red or White Mars. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p>***</p> </div>

 

[docm]

Gravity isn't everything.<br /><br />Mars gravity is higher than Titans (.376g vs .14g) yet the latter's atmosphere is retained at ~150% of Earth pressure (146.7 kPa vs 101 kPa) while Mars is stuck at 0.7–0.9 kPa. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[usn_skwerl]

humanity doesnt need a second home. it needs serious population control. we're due for another one of mother natures "resets" any time now (apophis 2036?)...7 billion people is too much...so we're just gonna move on and destroy another planet. <br /><br />humanity shares the same characteristics as a virus. infiltrate. destroy. rebuild. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[majornature]

I'M ALL GREEN BABY!!!...<img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" /><img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#14ea50"><strong><font size="1">We are born.  We live.  We experiment.  We rot.  We die.  and the whole process starts all over again!  Imagine That!</font><br /><br /><br /><img id="6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264" style="width:176px;height:247px" src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/14/4/6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" width="276" height="440" /><br /></strong></font> </div>

 

[qzzq]

docm: --<i>Mars gravity is higher than Titans (.376g vs .14g) yet the latter's atmosphere is retained at ~150% of Earth pressure (146.7 kPa vs 101 kPa) while Mars is stuck at 0.7–0.9 kPa.</i><br /><br />Has that got something to do with temperature? The kinetic energy of the molecules in Earth's atmosphere, or Mars' for that matter, is much higher than that of the molecules in Titan's atmosphere, where temperatures are extremely low. Molecules move in all different directions (Brownian motion), including opposite to gravity, but that movement would be less in a cold environment like we see on Titan. If Earth were as cold, wouldn't the atmosphere be denser too?<br /><br />Anyway, making the Martian atmosphere denser by making Mars colder hardly seems like viable option when you're trying to terraform the planet. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p>***</p> </div>