GREENING THE RED PLANET
Summary
Man has been in quest of a new home on other planets out of necessities.
The moderate climate on Mars and its Earth-like geophysical and geodynamical
conditions as well as its proximity in space offer the best choice to set up
our homes there . Initially, our homes
will be built near the Martian poles that are believed to contain ice water. These homes will be basically designed as
greenhouse modules that would provide ideal conditions for humans and plants to
thrive. Although a lot of materials have to be initially carried from Earth, in
course of time native resources from the planet can be harnessed and used to manufacture
our day-to-day materials. This would eventually lead to a sustainable human society
in the otherwise barren and desolated planet.
Major Highlights
·
Mars
will be the ready choice in quest of our new homes for its many Earth like
conditions and many favourable facors.
·
Human
settlements on Mars would be located near its Poles because of easy availability
of Water.
·
Human
habitats on Mars will be designed into greenhouses for plants and animals to
thrive in a sustainable environment.
Essay
Introduction
Presently, our Earth has lost its
glory caused by environmental degradations due to man’s interference with
nature. Summer time temperature inching towards 45 degrees Celsius, worsening
air conditions in national capital Delhi due to Smog and air pollutions, havocs
of flood in Kerala and ravages of the tropical cyclone like Fani in Odisha are some
of the expressions of nature’s fury. If the present trend continues, a day will
come when our beautiful planet will no longer be a habitable place to live on.
In that case, we have to migrate to some other planet to settle our colony and propagate
our human race.
From the time life started on Earth,
life has always migrated from its usual home to newer worlds of greater scopes. We have heard about a fish called
Eusthenepteron that was swimming in the murky water of the ancient seas some
385 million years ago which was totally a watery world for it. Fierce
competition for food and shelter forced it someday to leave its watery home and
crawl onto the land with its muscular fins to discover an entire new world, a
world of solids and gases. It took thousands of years for Eusthenepteron to to
evolve into the most intelligent life form, the man and
master the land. That man on April 12, 1961 left his realm of solids and gases
and flew to space and stayed 108 minutes there.
Life again migrated to a new world out of necessities!
Since then, space has become the cradle
of man and his ultimate destination in quest for a new home in the event of a catastrophe
making life uninhabitable on Earth. Our nearest
goal in this adventure should be obviously the red planet Mars.
Why Mars?
Although many planets in the habitable
zones of stars have been discovered, these are too far away from us to actually
go and plan settlements there. The nearest of such planets is Proxima Centauri b that orbits the star Proxima Centauri at nearly 4.3 light years distance away from us. Kepler telescope has
also discovered many planets orbiting in
the habitable zones of distant stars which are even farther away. Moreover, we
don’t know much about the geophysical and geodynamical conditions of these
planets because of the vast distance and our limitations in observation
techniques. It would also be quite difficult for us to initially carry necessary
materials to the planet from Earth to build our homes there. Hence, it is
highly unlikely to make a voyage to these far-away planets in search of new
homes.
Mars is singular in that it possesses most
of the raw materials required to support not only life, but a new class of
human civilization. Mars has elements like Carbon, Nitrogen, Hydrogen and Oxygen,
all in biologically readily accessible forms such as Carbon dioxide gas, Nitrogen
gas, Water ice and Permafrost. According
to an estimate, if Mars were planes and all its ice and permafrost melted into
liquid water, the entire planet would be covered with an ocean up to 100 meters
deep. Moreover, on Mars, hydrologic and volcanic processes have occurred in past
like Earth that are likely to have consolidated various elements into local
concentrations of high grade mineral ore. The geological history of Mars can be
best compared to that of Africa with very optimistic inferences on the
availability of most of its mineral resources in the red planet.
Mars has several key favorable conditions for supporting
life which are outlined below:
• It
has frozen water trapped at the Poles.
•
It
has a thin atmosphere that contains mostly Carbon dioxide gas which can be utilized for photosynthesis by the plants.
• It
has a range of temperatures with moderate climatic conditions where a man can thrive.
Although the Earth is similar
to Venus size and surface gravity, Mars similarities to Earth are more compelling when
considering conditions for thriving of life. Firstly, the Martian day (or Sol) is very close in duration to an Earth day.
A Solar day on
Mars is 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35.244 seconds in contrast to Earth which is
24 hours 56 minutes and 4.1 seconds. Second, Mars has a surface area which is
28.4% of Earth, which is slightly less than the amount of total dry land on
Earth (which is 29.2% of Earth's surface). Third, Mars has an axial tilt of
25.19° similar to Earth's 23.44°. As a result, Mars undergoes seasonal
cycle much like the Earth, though an
average season on Mars is nearly twice longer than that on Earth because the Martian year is about 1.88 times
the Earth year. Fourth, Mars has an atmosphere which, like our Earth, is
a mixture of various gases although the atmosphere is much thinner. Fifth, recent
observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Phoenix Lander
spacecrafts and ESA's Mars Express spacecraft confirm the presence of water ice on Mars.
Dissimilarities from Earth
In spite of these similarities, Mars
has many striking dissimilarities from Earth which should be taken care of while
planning our settlements there. First, the
surface gravity of Mars is only 38% that of Earth.
Although microgravity is known to cause many health
problems like muscle loss and bone demineralization, it
is not known if Martian gravity would have a similar effect on humans. Second,
Mars is much colder than Earth with mean surface temperatures
varying between −87 °C and −5 °C (depending on position). The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth was −89.2 °C in Antarctica.
Third, because Mars is about 52% farther from the Sun, the amount of solar
energy entering its upper atmosphere per unit area (the Solar Constant)
is only around 43.3% of what reaches the Earth's upper atmosphere. However,
due to the much thinner atmosphere, a higher fraction of the solar energy
reaches the Mars surface. The maximum solar irradiance on Mars is about
590 W/m2 as compared to about 1000 W/m2 at the
Earth's surface. Fourth, dust storms are common throughout the year and
cover the entire planet for weeks, blocking sunlight from reaching the surface.
Fifth, due to the lack of a Magnetosphere, Solar particles and cosmic rays can
easily reach the Martian surface. Sixth, the atmospheric pressure on Mars is far
below the Armstrong limit at which people can
survive without pressure suits. Since terraforming (deliberately changing of the
climate by geoengineering to make the planetary conditions suitable for life) cannot
be expected as a near term solution, habitable structures on Mars would need to
be constructed with pressure vessels similar to spacecraft
capable of maintaining a pressure between 30 and 100 kPa. Seventh, the
Martian atmosphere is toxic with 95% Carbon dioxide , 3% Nitrogen, 1.6% Argon and traces of other gases
including Oxygen totaling less than 0.4%. Eighth, the thin atmosphere does not cut
off ultraviolet radiation coming from the Sun, and hence, life
cannot survive in the open. Ninth, due to the thin atmosphere, the temperature
difference between day and night times is much longer than on Earth, typically
around 70 °C.
Generating Power on Mars
We can generate power on Mars by
deploying large solar panels. But if we
wish to manufacture solar panels so as to create a self-sustaining power base,
Mars holds an enormous possibility, as only Mars possesses the large supplies
of carbon and hydrogen needed to produce pure silicon required for manufacturing
photovoltaic panels and other electronic equipments. . As
Mars has no rain and virtually no cloud, it is permanently sunny which means
solar panels can always operate at maximum efficiency on dust-free days like
dust storms.
In addition, Mars has the potential for wind-generated
power. But both solar and wind offer relatively modest power potential. However,
to create a vibrant civilization, we need a richer power base and, in this
respect, Mars has both in the short and medium term opportunities in the form
of its geothermal power resources which offer potential for large numbers of
locally created electricity generating stations in the 10 MW class. In the
long-term, Mars will enjoy a power-rich economy based upon exploitation of its
large domestic resources of deuterium fuel for fusion reactors. Deuterium is
five times more common on Mars than on Earth and tens of thousands of times
more common on Mars than on the Moon.
Greening the Red Planet
The first step
to build a home is to choose the location that offers the best chance of
survival. For Mars, our first choice would be the planet’s poles which contain
ice deposits that have been built up over thousands of years. These deposits
are thought to contain large amounts of water ice which could potentially be
extracted and turned into liquid water. The poles also harbour other natural
resources like Carbon dioxide, Iron, Aluminum, Silicon and Sulfur which could
be used to make things like glass, brick and plastic for daily use.
Our home will be basically designed into a
greenhouse which will be useful for raising crops and providing accommodation
to farmers. The greenhouse would produce
the necessary warming and an artificial environment for the people to live in. It is believed that the first visitors to the
red planet would be the farmers who would cultivate crops and keep the
conditions ready for incoming astronomers. Because Mars has soil very poor in fertility
(especially in organic matter) and extremely low atmospheric pressure (only
one-tenth of the Earth’s atmospheric pressure), plants cannot survive in the
open, and hence, need an artificial environment like greenhouse.
Satellite or balloon-borne large mirrors can be deployed in the Martian
sky to direct solar heat radiations onto the ice-cap to melt ice. Mars
atmosphere has been successfully used for aero-braking of spacecrafts and is believed
capable of producing enough buoyancy to support large balloons. The liquid
water can be delivered through underground pipes into the greenhouse to
irrigate crops as well as for human use.
The green-house on Mars may not be
inflated to full atmospheric pressure, because maintaining full atmospheric
pressure on another planet would be difficult and as plants only need one-tenth
of the atmospheric pressure to function. The liquid water will also be split
into Oxygen and Hydrogen by electrolytic dissociation using electricity
generated from large Photo-voltaic panels deployed outside the greenhouse.
While Oxygen will be utilized to provide life support system inside the
Green-house (Respiration), Hydrogen will be used as fuel in Fuel cells to
provide energy for the operation of the Green-house. Hydrogen can also be used as a
domestic fuel for cooking our foods. Carbon dioxide will be sucked into the greenhouse
directly from the Mars atmosphere by pumps for producing necessary warming as
well as for serving as a raw material for photosynthesis by plants. Since Mars
soil is poor in fertility, plants can be initially grown without soil
hydroponically in the nutrient medium. As plants grow and decay, they will leave
organic matter into the soil gradually enriching the soil with organic matter
which will sustain more plants and the cycle will continue. Once sufficient number
of plants is established inside the greenhouse, they would give out adequate quantity
of Oxygen for humans to breathe in which, in turn, would give enough Carbon
dioxide for the plants to make photosynthesis and the cycle would continue. Our
Martian greenhouse will be able to raise crops like peas, beans and many fresh
vegetables to be used as food for farmers and astronauts.
Greenhouse Design
Our greenhouses will be basically dome-shaped and made up of thin-walled inflatable plastic sheets with UV-resistant film lining capable of quick deployment anywhere. Such domes up to 50 meters in diameter are light enough to be transported from Earth initially, and later on, these can be manufactured on Mars itself out of indigenous materials. Because all the resources to make plastic exist on Mars, networks of such 50 to 100 meter domes could be rapidly manufactured and deployed, thus opening up large areas of the surface for both human habitation and agriculture.
Each dome would consist of three units: a central core, three surrounding capsules and a massive over-arching dome. The central core would stretch 41 feet high and 16 feet in diameter and would house sufficient living space for accommodating the crew. The three capsules surrounding the central core would function as airlocks, passages that connect the core and the Martian surface and minimize changes in air pressure between the two domains. Finally, an enormous polyethylene fiber dome would encapsulate the entire base camp which would serve as a giant radiation shield and help further regulate the air pressure. The antenna for establishing communication with Earth and the rocket launch pad for transportation with Earth should be located outside the green house as frequent dependence on Earth will be necessary during the initial period before our establishment becomes sustainable on the alien planet.
Conservation is the Key to Survival
As Mars has limited resources, conserving the resources in our Martian
homes will be the key to our survival. We should never allow a single drop of
water to go waste as water is very scarce on Mars. The water, after use, can be
sent to special recycling plants set up inside our homes where it can be
purified to make fit for human use again. Even the water that is used in
toilets should not be wasted and, after special treatments, should be used again
either for toilet or for watering plants. The channels that would carry water
should be meticulously covered so as to prevent loss of water due to
evaporation. We should also follow practices of how to save electricity in our
Martian homes. We should use high
efficient LED lamps in our homes and switch off different gadgets when not in
use. The waste vegetable matter should
not be thrown away, rather be allowed to biodegrade to yield useful elements
into the soil for the plants to absorb. Similarly, the decayed plant matter
should be allowed composting by burying them in pits which can be later used to
increase the fertility of the soil. Even human wastes should be either used to
biodegrade for yielding manures or for providing energy by some innovative
methods. All our approaches should be eco-friendly and environmentally
sustainable.
Future Plans
It will eventually be possible for humans
to substantially thicken Mars atmosphere by forcing the regolith to outgas its
contents through a deliberate program of artificially induced global warming.
Once that has been accomplished, the habitation domes could be virtually of any
size, as they would not have to sustain a pressure differential between their
interior and exterior. In that event, it will be possible for humans to freely
roam outside and raise specially bred crops in the open. We may also look
forward to take help of other terraforming techniques by which the planet’s environment
could be deliberately changed to make conditions suitable for life although it
would take a longer period to practically implement it. Once that has been
done, our home on Mars will be much safer and smoother and our stay on the
alien planet will be enjoyable.
Conclusion:
The essay describes some original ideas on how to set up our homes on a
new planet taking care of the fact that the entire project is self-sustainable.
In this context, I have chosen Mars as my destination due to several favourable
factors.
Nikunja Bihari Sahu
Regional
Science Centre
Bhopal
.
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