In article ,
says...

On Wednesday, August 8, 2018 at 7:34:07 AM UTC-4, Jeff Findley wrote:
In article ,
says...

I forget how many octillion tons of oxygen it would take, but the
problem is getting it there in the needed quantities and then keeping
it there. Apparently nearly all of its atmosphere (even assuming it was
Earthlike at one time) has long since departed due to the effects of
gravity and solar radiation.

Keeping it there isn't much of a problem. In the short term (hundreds
of thousands of years) it won't lose enough to matter. A few more
Kuiper belt objects would make up for the loss.

So the idea is that they spend a decade or so "pumping it up" to Earthlike
atmosphere, and then that will last for millions of years before it leaks
away?

More like hundreds or thousands of years, but yes. In the short term,
losing atmosphere is a manageable problem. In the long term, you'd
likely want a technological solution (like a strategically placed giant
magnet) that would reduce the rate of atmosphere loss.

In the long term, you put a giant electromagnet between Mars and the sun
in order to produce an artificial magnetic field to mimic the protection
earth's magnetic field gives it. Note from above this gives you
hundreds of thousands of years to perfect that tech and scale it up to
sufficient size.

The arguments against terraforming Mars sound a lot like the myriad of
arguments against heavier than air travel before the Wright Brothers
successfully demonstrated that it was possible. Yet a few weeks ago, I
flew to Shanghai and back for a week long business trip which is a 12
hour time zone difference from where I live, so roughly half way around
the planet. And that was only a bit over one hundred years later.
Terraforming is on a much bigger timescale, so we have a much longer
time frame to perfect the tech necessary to complete the task.

Really. Heavier than air travel was a matter of engineering developments
that provided a powerful enough engine and an airframe that could handle
the 100+ mph speeds that would keep it airborne. A 600-pound machine.
The theory was known for hundreds of years if not thousands.

This really isn't any different. The theory is rock solid. You're
essentially recreating the magnetic shielding that the earth has thanks
to its magnetic shield. This is not at all different than heavier than
air flight before it was proven possible by the Wright Brothers.

The details needed to create such a huge magnetic field are "just
engineering problems to solve". Granted it may take hundreds or even
thousands of years to actually implement the solution. But, that's
still a very short amount of time when you consider the actual rate of
atmosphere loss you'd have on a terraformed Mars without any magnetic
shielding.

People that say terraforming Mars would be impossible are just like
those people that used to say "If God had meant man to fly, he'd have
given man wings".

Jeff
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