Should We Nuke Mars?

Is it possible to make Mars inhabitable by nuking the surface? Kyle breaks down the possibility of atomic terraforming in this week's episode of Because Science!
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Because Science every Thursday.
Learn More:
Terraforming Mars with four war-surplus bombs: citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/...
Terraforming Mars: fanfare or feasible: large.stanford.edu/courses/201...
A synergistic approach to terraforming Mars: s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu...
Terraforming Mars: a review of research: www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~mfo...
Inventory of CO2 available for terraforming Mars: lasp.colorado.edu/home/maven/f...
The thermodynamics of planetary engineering on Mars: stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/vie...

[@DavWK22]

We should terraform slightly easier places like the moon or Florida.

[@giarnovanzeijl399]

Come on man, that isn't easier. Terraforming Florida to be liveable is practically impossible.

[@stg-gy9xr]

Plus you'd have to get rid of the old people smell

[@jimmy37591]

@@giarnovanzeijl399 florida doesn't have anything worth of value, let it sink into the ocean.

[@boredfangerrude]

Seeing as the moon as practically no gravity and no atmosphere, it would be far harder.

[@gundamrx792]

Florida are you mad

[@maxe3110]

“Never thought I’d see the aurora borealis over mars” “Well that’s what happens when you create your own magnetosphere”

[@rivianm3744]

Ah, a man of culture as well

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

Hayden: "You can't just shoot a hole into the surface of mars" Kyle: "Should we nuke Mars?" Doomslayer: Hold my beer

[@justsomeguywithamask298]

Bruh

[@cha0sd3v3l]

Hayden: "you cannot just shoot a hole into the surface of mars." Doomslayer: "Observe."

[@AlexeyLindenwald]

Imagine living on mars and playing doom. Your parents come into the room and see how you fu** up your planet😂

[@GNParty]

@@AlexeyLindenwald I'm sure the game will last long enough for people in 30+ years to still play. 🙂

[@AlexeyLindenwald]

@@GNParty You know, I just love long games. At least. Imagine, Mars, great views, nuclear destructions, battle royal between robots of countries. No casualties, great entertainment and lots of fun

[@richardrobinson7566]

If you've ever seen the movie Titan A. E., could you possibly do an episode on how such a planet-building machine could work?

[@jeffdaigle5487]

I love that movie. Good soundtrack and a awesome story.

[@justin09ap87]

Human:let's nuke the Mars Mars:da f*** did I do

[@triton6490]

Lmfao

[@nakknjr9322]

Cuz you have demons

[@underfire8411]

Humans: You froze on us a few billion years ago!

[@kjstudiotv3185]

Only if there was someone there was someone there ohh wait the rovers lol

[@HobkinBoi]

Samuel Hayden: "You can't just shoot a hole into the surface of Mars!"

[@Down_the_Wind]

Hey, I’m all for terraforming Mars.. as long as cockroaches aren’t involved.

[@Metheos91]

johj?

[@GenJuhru]

◉..◉

[@benrex7775]

@@Metheos91 I thought the same.

[@philipeanthonybattung3860]

Heheh I know that reference

[@sparking023]

I don't know man, a surgery that allows you to inherit insane characteristics from the most impressive living forms sounds cool

[@cheesepuffguy]

10:17 actually a respectable Sagan impression. Thank you.

[@vprebz9254]

Video:"Should we nuke Mars?" Me:dude wtf Also the video:"this video is sponsored by borderlands 3" Me:That makes sense

[@Galacticat42]

I see what you did there... *Elon*-gated period of time.

[@seanwilson531]

uuuuuhm.... O_o OH YEAH, NOW I GET IT!!! >;-)

[@Xikiruen]

Nice pic

[@seanwilson531]

@@Xikiruen who, bruv? -__-

[@chec8timi355]

Im sorry but that joke musk’ve been said by someone else before...

[@seanwilson531]

@@chec8timi355 *high five* hahahaha!!!

[@thelastMaster100]

"10 times the amount of energy that hits the earth in one year" Yup time for that Dyson sphere

[@kewlztertc5386]

Easier to give Venus a moon, resulting in Venus becoming a more hospitable place.

[@The1Image]

So basically the energy that hits the earth in ten years right?

[@ballsofsalsa01]

Time for a back hole bomb

[@anything4660]

The dyson sphere has a lot of flaws and we need the sun to shine on earth for the phtosynthesis of plants unless if we mange to somehow make every plant on earth to run on artificial sunlight we wouldnt have enough to make the dyson sphere still couple of millenuims about all scientist are just hoping other scientists to discover something that can help push there research so pretty lazy if you ask me

[@Dr.Sho_Minamimoto]

williampg gois So pretty much the alternative shown in the Dyson sphere video by “Kurzgesagt- in a nutshell” where they just create a base on a planet near the sun, surround most of the sun with mirrors, direct the solar rays to the base to be converted into the appropriate form of energy and sent earth & other colonies for power usage.

[@krieglord573]

“You can’t just punch a Hole into the surface if Mars”

[@NeAndresthal]

Loved the Sagan impersonation. New subscriber here.

[@kerbonaut2059]

Thumbnail be like :: *Thor nuking Mars to setup New Asgard, 2019, Colorised*

[@great-wall-of-nowhere9377]

The real reason he went with the Guardians

[@Bear-form]

Space Fabio

[@prestonang8216]

My brain and UK English scream to me that there’s a “u” in colourised lmao

[@Bear-form]

@@prestonang8216 Loicence, gov'nor.

[@jgilly3362]

@@Bear-form bugger off dickhead you know nout you i hope you ain't british and if you are quit taking the piss outta yourself serious

[@kudrzyk]

You cant be freezing and burning at the same time Mars : hold my beer

[@petersonl1008]

😶🤣🤣🤣

[@Just_som_Ottur]

Mercury: hold my keg

[@biohazard724]

My microwaved hot pocket found this funny

[@peterhacke6317]

Well it's technically only sun burn, not actual fire. Also, you probably never heard of the terror that is liquid oxygen.

[@kudrzyk]

@@peterhacke6317 king of assumptiobs z roght here

[@man9495]

As the great Samuel Hayden said "you can't just shoot a home into the surface of Mars"

[@lunaprep7357]

Could you do one on terraformers using roaches to terraform Mars and adding animal abilities to humans. Mainly insects?

[@luz10noch0-ravagolem]

Dunno, but i think a good way to warm up mars is to use hydrocarbons, i mean we are getting too much carbon dioxide to our atmosphere that wasn't there for a long time, and we don't need it anymore for life, so we could just release it into Mars, ranging from randomly riding cars to using them for getting electricity

[@johnstorm9314]

A first strike against the Martians is the only way to ensure our safety...

[@albino5995]

John Storm the chances of anything coming from mars, are a million to one.......

[@abrahamarciga3334]

Yea those martians have weapons of mass destruction

[@urano4810]

Have y'all not watched "Mars Atacks!"? Boi ya'll dumb

[@NaudVanDalen]

@@abrahamarciga3334 We have weapons of Mars destruction.

[@amw6394]

Anyone seen the Expanse?

[@keenanwest6969]

Earth : Why can't you just be (normal) habitable Mars : *Screaming*

[@sharonhobbs4144]

yeah those ablist NT's

[@bettylamberd4391]

Earth Ppl : Darn aliens

[@clearflow7925]

we are the ones who are considering nuking it

[@badassactionanime]

I really like the ideas behind how to create an atmosphere on Mars, and despite the difficulties doing so. The 2 of bigger problem still remain, the fact core of the planet has solidified meaning no magnetic field to protect the atmosphere we made from solar flares. Which would be briskly blown away into space, and quickly at that. Two the planet's unstable wobble means it will tilt on its axis to the point it basically falls over onto its side, and without a satellite like our moon to control the "precession" of it's rotation. It will happen again and again like it has in the past. Till we figure out those problems we should really practice on the moon, and develop better technology from space. Just my opinion.

[@olimar7647]

Out of curiosity, what sorts of problems does its wobble pose? Why would that make terraformation and colonization on Mars hard?

[@delfinenteddyson9865]

@@olimar7647 what I gathered from other videos on the subject, the fact that the earth inclination doesn't wobble allows it to have predictable seasons. With a wobble you could get the GoT like year long winters and summers with more extreme temperatures, which can be quite deadly.

[@olimar7647]

@@delfinenteddyson9865 Ah, cool. Thanks for the info :) I do wonder, might it be possible to combat this to some degree? If th wobble is predictable to some degree, you could probably locate some areas that'll consistently lean towards tropical weather, some that'll tend towards tundra, and some that'll vary, right? If so, you just have to focus on making life work in those kinds of climates. The problem would chiefly be rain, I suppose..... Also, I guess if the wobble is too large, there might not be any areas that consistently trend towards one weather or another.... That would make things even harder.... I get the sense Mars would be Australia if we ever colonize it.

[@CleoCat75]

lol, your Carl Sagan impression is great!!

[@OrionoftheStar]

"Should we nuke Mars?" "Can we nuke Mars?" One of these questions matters more than the other.

[@naheedakhtar3993]

I dont know better question is should we leave mars alone

[@beastorjett6084]

It's obviously can we nuke it

[@kruleworld]

We'd be better off capturing comets to drop on Mars. that gets a big explosion AND delivers atmospheric chemicals.

[@danielwest2697]

ICBMs already acheive low orbit before coming down on targets- it's absolutely possible with some adjustment.

[@youknowwhatun-bizzaresyour5368]

I don’t know, just make a dome filled with oxygen? Just deliver nutrients and other essentials into these domes, it’s easier than just nuking the thing like exploding your hot pockets in the microwave

[@Dragnfly_mynamewastaken]

"Mars is so cold you'd freeze." "The UV is so strong it'd cook you." And stuff like putting these two together is exactly why I started liking science as a kid.

[@Azmarov]

Joel that’s some gnarly freezer burn.

[@honkytonkinson9787]

Sounds like inspiration for a great space saving device. A freezer that also microwaves your food

[@blakeschool2249]

Innit I love science it's just fascinating

[@joshuabarlow1031]

@@blakeschool2249 yes now charva

[@Noodlecow2]

One part of the Fermi paradox I cant get over is the fact the moons tides and so many, so, so many planetary variables enabled life- its so incalculably hard to create life- even with the resources for it.

[@corvusdove874]

I wonder how the math would be changed with the impact of, literally Halley's Comet. It's only 11km in mean diameter, and is more icy dirt than dirty ice, but it has a couple of factors going for it. Its orbit is contra to the orbit of the planets, meaning transversal velocity is positive and significantly more energy would be expelled. It also has enough ice of various kinds that when it passes the sun, the ice sublimates and forms an atmosphere around the comet. It probably wouldn't be the only impact required, of course, but it seems like the problem of terraforming Mars is a combination of its lack of oceans and its lack of atmosphere, and such events might scale the two together a little better than focusing on one and hoping it provides the other.

[@AngryDuck79]

Rebuilding Mars' atmosphere is an exercise in futility, though. Without a magnetic field, wouldn't the solar wind just strip all that liberated gas away?

[@holderheck]

There has been a recent Improvement Upon Our magnetic field generation technology. Some guys in the lab in Britain figured out that if you induce a magnetic field in rotating molten sodium you can amplify that field by an insane degree we could build 10 or 15 of these things on a building scale rather than a testing scale and protect the atmosphere

[@shadenone]

This was my exact thought too, AngryDuck!. I was surprised that Kyle didn't point it out because I thought he talked about it before.

[@dukeoog5466]

Hah! Thought this myself, as I play surviving mars terraforming dlc, and magnetic field generators would cause tiny marsquakes.

[@pritesh9336]

Earth was born in Pre Cambrian period (4 billion years ago) and was a massive molten planet. During the Cretaceous Period (65 million years ago) life was flourishing. Around that period, Earth collided with large-sized celestial objects with one another which gave a lot of energy. Therefore the core is still molten and thus we still have a magnetic field. Mars is not so lucky. Since its formation (4.5 billion years ago) the planet didn’t collide with any massive objects. Therefore its core actually cooled down all the way. The center is mostly solid and thus it lost its magnetic field. The Sun constantly emits solar radiation and the exposure to solar flare affects the atmosphere. Now, this is a problem because the planet doesn’t have the magnetic sphere to protect itself. It’s just getting hit consistently by these ionized particles. That is the reason why Mars is losing its atmosphere.

[@stephenbachman132]

What if we rammed mars with one off it's moons would it get a magnetic sphere then. The kenetic impact might restart the iron core?

[@McHaven07]

To say nothing of the lack of magnetosphere. Surprised he didn't mention it at all.

[@AgnotologyTV]

yeah, not much a purpose in creating an atmosphere if you can't keep it

[@battlespectermedia]

Agreed. I thought of that. Mentioned it above...

[@oswaldovzki]

Indeed

[@OliverFoulkesMRO2013]

I found a VERY interesting article discussing that here... medium.com/our-space/an-artificial-martian-magnetosphere-fd3803ea600c

[@richardthecowardlylion5289]

We need the crew of the The Core to go jumpstart the martian core! (we a few nukes of course)

[@1DwtEaUn]

My thoughts are either a convoy of craft with massive high pressure tanks to suck up Venus atmosphere and relocate to Mars, or some sort of wormhole opened in Venus atmosphere linked to Mars. Either of the above would require re-establishing a magnetic field to keep it, that might be a better use for the nukes, freeing / melting the Mars core, or some sort of nuclear powered superconductor magnets at the poles.

[@hostingwithhenry6716]

Dear Kyle, Please explore the possibility of using Phobos to terraform Mars. It is only 5000 miles up and already near the Roche Limit. There is even a convenient crater to use as a nuclear engine nozzle. Maybe deimos could be redirected to ram phobos head on. A low angle impact would spread the effect. There would be cubic miles of matter. Maybe you could ram phobos with your space car and bring it down.

[@humblehunk9022]

Lasso an asteroid. Redirect it to Mars. Slam it into the poles. Profit.

[@garrikcook5940]

Yep

[@zacharyt.4348]

S T O N K S

[@AgnotologyTV]

Would also have to direct it to hit the planet in such a way as to get it spinning faster..... a lot faster. If we can re-start the core of Mars, we can possibly get it to have a magnetosphere again, and ensure whatever progress we make sticks.

[@feudaltrinity7831]

AgnotologyTV that’s not how orbits work. Orbits work off of the gravity generated by the centrivical force of other large bodies. Our solar system could be immediately annihilated within a matter of a few years if mars does speed up. Because then mars is creating a greater force of gravity than it previously was and can pull other planets closer, and then those planets will pull closer, then the combined effort of two will draw more etc until all planets if not most collide and we destroy everything in our solar system

[@M_Northstar]

@@feudaltrinity7831 Err... gravity does not increase due to spin. The sensation of weight on the surface of that planet might become less, but the gravity is a function of mass, and nothing else.

[@killerbun]

"Not a death Ray" sounds like something sometime who wants a death ray for villainy would say

[@zaczane]

You mean china?

[@connor9610]

I like your name it sounds.... familiar

[@lukasjuszczak1664]

May I suggest John Ringo's Troy Rising? It features orbital mirrors used in space mining. And as a 'Not Death Ray' Fusion pumped laser.

[@rabbitracer79]

Holy crap spot on Sagan impression!

[@Megan-cu4pb]

Bro where did you go I hella miss you and your science:(

[@BioToxin]

It's time to sacrifice Pluto and dive it straight into Mars, maybe some heavy iron asteroids while we're at it get a magneto sphere going

[@tigerspirit1917]

First it's demoted, and now you want to destroy it? What did the coolest (literally and figuratively) planet do to you?

[@Ivan.A.Trulyuski]

Good luck moving any of them.

[@halamadruuid2380]

It’s so unfair that we fired pluto

[@amon_san]

there are two moons in mars orbit. use them. it requires less energy

[@spec_wasted]

😱😱😱 Meteriod ? asteroid belt ? Elon Musk ? Me ? humans ? Yesssssssssss We'll do it

[@jordandavis8875]

Guys we can easily terraform mars if we just cover it in moss and cockroaches. I'm sure nothing could go wrong...

[@cakebanans2039]

that anime gave me the heebie jeebies

[@christianheichel]

@@cakebanans2039 what was the anime called?

[@DoommanQ]

@Chris Heichel Terraformars

[@fh5348]

Johj jo johj jhoj

[@isamuddin1]

Why not also put mice they literally can handle radiation, there's a record where they survive nuke bomb.

[@tricky1992000]

silica aerogel sheets on the poles of mars to trap heat, depending on the thickness the areas underneath should rise to 100C's of degrees.

[@owlredshift]

OH MY GOD THAT SAGAN VOICE DUDE BRO BROOO THAT was masterful my DUDE

[@ZiechieZeechless]

This is some of the reason why building a Death Star is useful.

[@sanchezevan898]

Assuming we have the resources and man power at our disposal to accomplish such a feat. Not to mention fuel, food, ammunition, gravity generators. It would be a hassle to build it

[@baldbatty6495]

@@sanchezevan898 nah it’s super easy. I built one when I was 9. Honestly took about 6 hours to build the thing. And the thing is pretty expensive for LEGO

[@someasiandude4797]

you don't need to make the entire base you just have to make the super laser

[@SupremeBooyah]

@@sanchezevan898 I'm so scared please help please make it stop

[@joeandjoe2]

Just the Lazer hummmmmmmmm.

[@griffincappin8567]

Elon Musk: We should nuke mars Martians minding their own business: Ight Imma head out

[@Corvus__]

@Insanity Oh Mars gosh. 😆

[@pencilclamp4824]

I think “Ight imma die out” is better

[@prioritalpanic629]

As if killing off sentient beings or people has ever stopped human colonization.

[@marcusrat4466]

@@prioritalpanic629 well that might be one of the reasons you exist to type this in the comment section. All that killing of sentient beings and other people. Could have been some other guy in your place today if we hadn't killed his ancestors.

[@incogneat0901]

dang yall should have done whatever it takes to keep this guy he's good

[@coolminer6242]

I like that Musk-watch reference at the beginning:P

[@lildevil362003]

10:52 "Not a death ray!" Sure it's not, supervillain.

[@foobar1735]

Thinking you might be the next subject of one of Kyle's mid-video calls... o.o

[@kindlin]

He's just trying to get you guys now... He has your number pegged.

[@aceofaces7681]

*USA texts Russia* Hey you wanna nuke mars? *russia* Hell yeah comrade

[@stabinojablonski]

comedy gold wow

[@TheseUseless]

AceOfAces7 in soviet Russia, mars nukes us. Edit: sorry

[@donaldchandler2520]

@@TheseUseless that's why it's the red planet

[@MkeKen67]

@@TheseUseless - Nice Yakoff Smirnoff riff!

[@bigfella2111]

Я тим сука ыуте мотора

[@jeffmccrea9347]

Something that I haven't heard ANYONE talk about is why and how did Mars lose it's water and atmosphere in the first place? It's lack of magnetic field and weak gravity allowed the solar wind to blow it all away eons ago. Even Venus with it's more Earth like size and gravity is losing it's atmosphere to the solar wind for lack of a magnetic field.

[@antoniomigueljimenezmartin4018]

Ummm with living modules (or just sleep modules) in some sort of circular rail system to be rotating... you can sleep and rest in something closer to 1 g and only when you are out of home-sleeping to be in the 0.38 g.... I guess that would do to avoid extreme evolutive differentiation from Earth people in the long run... the problem is is better to be underground in Mars so to do some rotation stuff underground.. is hard.

[@matheuswohl]

I like how the "astronomically large numbers" is used literally in this channel

[@Redcruiser813]

Terraforming Mars? I love that game!!

[@Rookified]

It's cool being a barely Type-I civilization but having understanding of Type II feats. Hope we level up

[@baowolf0011]

When Oppenheimer saw the atomic bomb detonate he realized the immense destructive power it held. "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds". So I wonder what he would say, or think about the potential of terraforming with a atomic bomb. To know that although his greatest fears involving the atomic weapon did come to pass, they also lead to such a magnificent potential outcome. "So I am become life, the creator of worlds".

[@kaidorak1798]

Kyle, my two year old saw you on the TV, pointed at you and excitedly said, "It's Thor!" He loves your show. Keep up the good work.

[@becausescience]

Thank you for sharing this with me! Tell him I said hello -- kH

[@iainwmacintosh]

Because Science do you mean... Valhall-o I’ll just leave now

[@Babs11549]

And what about the lack of a magnetosphere? One solar flare and all that progress is eliminated.

[@isaiahwolftail867]

Then we'll just start over agian

[@TheodoreMinick]

Just the solar wind would strip it away eventually. We'd need to find a way to establish a magnetosphere if we wanted an atmosphere for any significant time.

[@gabor6259]

Just put a strong magnet in orbit around Mars.

[@isaiahwolftail867]

Blame GOOSE the flergan

[@DaremoTen]

@@TheodoreMinick Eventually being how long again? Several million years? I'll take that deal.

[@luisvelez1952]

Hey Kyle how about this ¿should we take Mercury (mostly core planet)and fuse Mars with it? ¿Will Mars core be big enough to have a magnetic field with the Mercury fusion?

[@Derpyaidan500]

I just noticed this. When he is writing down exponents he writes then 10^x. If you are using standers form it should be written as 1.0^x+1

[@darkmagician2904]

I miss muskwatch. I wish that would come back on nerdist.

[@STSWB5SG1FAN]

Why did that show end again?😜

[@luongmaihunggia]

And now he's nuking planets, he's slowly turning from "because science" into "because evil".

[@sporemariomaster]

But nuking mars could help humanity survive so "Because sustainability" makes more sense

[@luongmaihunggia]

@@sporemariomaster r/whoooosh

[@dmkatelyn]

I mean, he's saying we shouldn't nuke Mars. He needs those nukes here. Or, more accurately, on the orbital weapons platform with hit-or-miss customer service.

[@diegobarna]

@@sporemariomaster Just don't forget, it's going to be a handful of the most rich people that can move to another planet, so we are doomed.

[@luongmaihunggia]

@@diegobarna both of you are wrong. As already addressed in the video: nuking mars will do nothing as there're not enough CO2 in the ice to terraform mars in the first place. Even if there were enough, the low gravity and the lack of magnetic field would make it very easy for the solar wind to blow away all the atmosphere again. Why do you think Mars have so little atmosphere in the first place?

[@VoodooGMusic]

The thing is. You don't need to make mars instantly earth like. But if you increase the pressure and temperature on mars, that will make a shielded habitat much easier to construct because you don't have to worry about the immense pressure difference that could rip apart the habitat and kill everyone inside if there was a leak.

[@sovo1212]

I'm surprised you didn't mention at all the proposal of NASA's Jim Green, consisting in putting a magnetic shield at L1 lagrangian point between Sun and Mars (the proposal is from 2017 and therefore it predates this video). According to this study, Mars would build up an atmosphere in a just few decades, and the device only requieres 1 tesla of energy to work (that's equivalent to a single MRI machine). With Starship around the corner, I don't think sending an MRI there would be prohibitively expensive at all. You should make a video about this.

[@xioron3170]

Even if it was possible to artificially create this kind of atmosphere, without a magnetic field, wouldn't the solar winds from the sun just strip it away again?

[@kindlin]

I think it gets stripped away on more geologic timescales. It could take just a couple hundred years to create, but might last for thousands of years in a usable state, in which case you can make a lot of progress and maybe solve the problem entirely.

[@szarekhthesilent2047]

Easy as pie, just attach enough heat&pressureresistent hamster wheels to the core and start spinning it.

[@rihardsgeidans3752]

Yes, but that would take many thousands of years. If we can terraform mars in a couple hundred years, id say its worth.

[@MyklCarlton]

Indeed. Most of the folks saying it doesn't matter aren't considering energetic particle bombardment as a threat to surface life.

[@fanOmry]

And the gravity is too low..

[@Dj0rel]

When I was a kid, my idea for terraforming Mars was basically "Drop Europa on it".

[@anshulsingh7663]

That didn't turn out too well, did it?😂

[@biohazard724]

Are you the supervillain service Kyle keeps calling?

[@peterhacke6317]

Assuming you mean the moon that isn't that far fetched. Water is important to sustain life. Water vapor is a green house gas, too, so it helps with the temperature. Still lacking some more atmosphere. Also mars would probably shatter from the impact.

[@A1000TONFBI]

I want a movie with this plot, right now!

[@anshulsingh7663]

@@A1000TONFBI wouldn't be much of a box office hit if everyone dies on impact...

[@RobertRvv]

the easier way would be to use planets that have been radiated over time to get the plants to be able to to live in the radiated planet which would then raise the planets heat and add o2 to planet in atmosphere then you could live there after boosting its stain ability of life also you could boost production using solar power to make smaller safe zone to make it faster but you would have to life underground as from what i know there is less radiation underground on mars but im not sure you could ever lower it to safe human levels by going underground

[@NeroWolf42]

Would there be a way to trigger Olympus Mas and have that help with warming? Or adding the carbon to the ice sheets?

[@RJ_Ehlert]

Doesn't Mars have a dead molten core? One that doesn't spin and produce a magnetic field which is needed to maintain a consistent atmosphere over the planet?

[@logicplague2077]

It has fragments of a magnetic field, but yeah you're basically right.

[@MahmoudElgassier]

YES!

[@ryan1840]

@@rogerphillips4211 they wouldn't have to import oxygen. It would be far more beneficial to try and import ghg producing bacteria once we can get the temperature up

[@rogerphillips4211]

@@ryan1840 the bottom line is to get all the other damn countries on this planet to agree to cooperate, bad in all likelihood will never happen oh, so, all the rest of it is purely academic.

[@halmyrach]

Thanks, that was my issue too. Even assuming everything presented in the video was possible, the lack of magnetic field of Mars makes the terraforming rather hard to envision. At least for a lifestyle similar than we have on Earth: breathable atmosphere, biodiversity, etc...

[@andrewpersaud3523]

Mars doesn't have a liquid core like earth to produce a strong enough magnetic field. Therefore thru solar wind and flares alot of the atmosphere would escape

[@talyn3932]

light material like Hydrogen would disappear after around 10k years. Oxygen around 100k That is long enough for many civilizations to figure a solution to it.

[@ysw2000]

@@talyn3932 Yeah, like all the other intergalactic civilizations we know of have figured it out.

[@spicyarbiter7689]

Aren’t they thinking about creating an artificial magnetic field with satellites?

[@baddabeer4862]

Mayhaps an equatorial equivalents to a hadron collider? Not that you’d actually collide, but keep in motion with magnetic fields... at first, even solar power would suffice, but as atmosphere developed..... you’d need nuclear energy to power the system...

[@atlas4050]

@Brandon Durbrow This is false btw

[@joeh212]

A more interesting question would be, how many nuclear weapons would it take to liquify the core and restart the molten geodynamo to produce a sustained geomagnetic field? Is there enough uranium on Earth + Mars combined? Or even in the solar system? If we can't accomplish this, Mars will only ever amount to a junkyard and a largely automated mining and manufacturing site for large-scale space infrastructure.

[@dergoth2860]

I know I am late but u have a question I hope you can help. 1. What if we crash the moon in to the ice 2. I believe are path to living on Mars would be to change us ex to counter the lower gravity add air to are bones to lighten thom

[@F3A5T]

Without an Earthlike molten outer core and inner solid iron core to create a magnetosphere. The sun will strip away the recreated atmosphere after time. You would have to liquefy the core to terraform mars.

[@VPCh.]

Yes, but the process is slow. We can replenish the atmosphere faster than it can be removed.

[@Dann0343]

if we had the technology, a satellite placed at the L3 Lagrange point could hypothetically envelope Mars in a magnetic field

[@stoshpehowic3590]

Wow you beat me to it

[@NEVERMAKESVIDEOS3V3R]

Nuke the core

[@lildevil362003]

@@NEVERMAKESVIDEOS3V3R Only nuke The Core (2003). It shouldn't have been made.

[@natankende4973]

Aaaaand now he wants to Nuke Mars.... You sir , are a Supper Villain confirmed.

[@Supernova094]

Watch out for that orbital strike.

[@kreamy_karym]

At least it's not earth. Let our guy have his dream guys...

[@karmichel]

Nátán Kende I don’t know why he didn’t try to steal the moon...

[@gabor6259]

A Supper Villain? Why not a Breakfast Villain?

[@natankende4973]

karmichel Nah, thats already been done. Hes a revolutionary, hes not gona repeat history. If anything , he would steal Mars

[@beefstw553]

What about building sustainable facilities on mars that are powered though resources readily available? I’d love to see one on that

[@joshrak5953]

You should do a video on Dyson spheres

[@matheusalmeida9336]

Kyle doesn't want us to colonize Mars because his villain base is there!

[@terranovatitan4673]

Shhhh he has an orbital strike cannon or Lazer

[@GuitarsRockForever]

I'm certain he already got a base on the moon which is the true reason why we can no longer return to the moon on maned mission.

[@daviscarl3766]

You’re worried about Kyle? Dr. Manhattan fancies your atoms

[@thelocust619]

He doesnt want us leaving the solar system either...at least on an epic rocket planet. This requires investigation. Open case, what do we got, team? *doesnt want us on mars *doesn't want us on the moon *doesn't want Earth outside the solar system What if...Evil Kyle doesnt want us out there not because of his base, but because he's avoiding something. Evil Kyle might be evil. Justice thinks evil isn't good. What if he's avoiding Justice? Police enforce justice. But police cant enforce justice in space...but a force can. A Space Force. But space is huge. Space Force can't forcefully enforce the force of justice everyforcewhere. If there's a Space Force other than ours it has to be someone else. Conclusion: Aliens. What were we talking about? Oh right. Yea Kyle's on Earth. It's the last place anyone would expect. And its the only place where both Monster and drywall can be found at the same time. Which makes it the first place anyone would OH MY GOD ITS A BRAIN OW. ALSO A PARADOX EVIL KYLE YOU DIABOLICAL MASTERMIND I can't go on. Noone's to blame. I don't think anyone could have seen that last trap coming. I...I guess I wont be joining you on that trip to Mars on a rocket planet controlled by the moon powered by a black hole sun on Jupiter. You'll have to finish this case on your own now. You have to... don't let him get away with this. Don't let him. Don't...let... ungh.. b-but... BUT IF IT'S THE FIRST PLACE YOU'D EXPECT THEN YOU'D EXPECT THAT SO YOU WOULDNT EXPECT I8^:,*: N;-,, ",;$@% ";* ,

[@DeadpoolAli]

thelocust619 best post. You kind fellow have earned yourself some argon oil... What if Kyle’s evil schemes is really to just harbor the entire earths supply of argon oil!???

[@ethanblackmore9913]

Theoretically couldn't you make a sort of glass Dyson Sphere to turn the martian planet into a super massive literal greenhouse? That would be neat

[@Dino-qq2wx]

So mining asteroids and building mirrors in orbit? sounds neat

[@SanguineRoku]

You'd probably need all of the glass that's ever existed to do so, but yeah, probably

[@ethanblackmore9913]

@@SanguineRoku my thought was that maybe it would be easier because its a more abundant material but yeah you would still need an ungodly amount of glass

[@predur4136]

There was a planet like that in the movie "Spaceballs"

[@ethanblackmore9913]

@@predur4136 I bet that's where I subconsciously thought of it actually

[@capnduff]

What about a giant mirror that orbits over the pole and continually sends sunlight onto the poles? Would that heat it up long enough? I know space debris is a mirrors greatest enemy but if we can build it we hopefully could protect it by then. Watch it probably came up at the end but it won't play the whole video for some reason lol.

[@user-yp6ci8vi5d]

2:03 Top right-hand corner pink dash says now why NOTHING mentioned above is feasible, Because of Mars' much lighter mass than the Earth's, it will not be possible to keep the required atmosphere density below the particles escaping velocity, as well as the absence of magnetic fields would blow the atmosphere even if the required density has reached.

[@thunderflare59]

"You'd need an absurd number of nuclear weapons to make this happen." *Russia wants to know your location*

[@danielstokker]

Russia doesnt know were to find their own nukes look it up its true the simply LOST NUKES back in the 60's and 70's

[@thunderflare59]

@@danielstokker That's some serious shade.

[@danielstokker]

@@thunderflare59 one day we will get a big surprize they made about 100 suitcase bombs of about 5 kilotons to make it clear smaller then the hiroshima bomb but still enough to take NY skyline away in one big KABOOM hillarious and both scary facts are they lost about 50 of them and nobody actually knowns were they are.... you might walk around a billionaire home one day seeing it in his collection or groups like hamas ir isis or wtf ever gets one you see the huge fucking problem here🤣🤣✌ got this info from a documentry years ago

[@danielstokker]

@@thunderflare59 ow dont forget when the berlin wall crumbled a lot of old soviet generals sold all kinds of weaponry to all kinds of shady people , thats how a AK47 ended up on the flag of a country in africa not to mention its the perfect weapon even fires straight out of hole you burried it in 20 years before mud rains snow ice this thing keep going truly remarkeble weapon also most sold gun world wide i think i heard once it was a couple of hundred million ... they sold and worked like stapeling machines

[@tigerspirit1917]

America has more... As well as being the only nation to ever use them... Just saying...

[@kostasastro]

Even we managed to get the gases on Mars, wouldn't the lack of a magnetic field around the planet make make it possible for the atmosphere to be ''swept'' away by the solar winds?

[@TheMrGamma195]

I remember seeing this Mars didn't have a strong magnetic field which I think was one of the original reason why it didn't develope into a habitable planet

[@icefirepython]

There are also other issues to take into account that would result in gasses escaping from Mars. Earth as it is already bleeds helium and hydrogen into space and Mars is even worse off on the front of bleeding off gasses with it falling into the range that would allow oxygen to escape the atmosphere as well, so additional efforts would likely need to be taken in order to ensure that the atmosphere sticks to Mars.

[@StardustCorvid]

The space car thing he did reminded me of something in hitchhiker's guide

[@steveweidig5373]

My suggestion: 1. Let Phobos and Deimos crash controllable onto Mars. Those impacts should heat up the planet nicely for a while and increase it's mass - and therefore the gravity, if just a bit. They are both in a decaying orbit, so something needs to be done with them anyway, so let's put them to good use. 2. While preparing for the crashs of it's moons, catch several comets (both water and ammonia based) and tow them to an orbit around Mars, and let them crash into Mars, too. This again will create heat, but also add and liberate greenhouse gasses. You will probably need a couple hundred of those, however, so that might take a while. 3. Once this is done and we'd have liquid water and gaseous CO2, we'll need to plant some plants to transform some of the CO2 into Oxygen. Electrolytic dissolve of Water into Oxygen and Hydrogen may help for that, too. After this, we need to wait, tend to the plants and make sure they can grow and produce lots of oxygen, not just for humans to breathe, but also to create an ozone layer. Will take a long while (aka several millennia probably), but I think this could get it done in the end with some overprovisioning in Oxides to create oxygen.

[@ausbandit84]

Do I smell on Mars? No, you just have a nice Musk

[@Kronosfobi]

Nice one.

[@Alassandros]

10:15 That Carl Sagan impression was more than adequate.

[@Starolfr]

Indeed. I was duly impressed. Well done, Kyle! : )

[@raebonnie5275]

I knew someone else must have loved it! So impressive!

[@bobvaca7]

God we’re all nerds

[@milky_wayan]

i want him BACK

[@owlredshift]

​@@milky_wayan that's selfish!! What if he was done, ready to go? What if now he has rejoined the waveform off the universe and remains a consciousness manifesting as a twinkle in a child's eye as he visits a planetarium for the first time? The future first person on Mars' regolith?! And you would just ROB the child and all of humanity from that formative inspiration and split the timelines of the multiverse inexplicably setting us all down a doomed, dystopian, futile splintered cosmos of hunger, global temperature rise, and scales tipped ever against our favor as a species?! Reducing the real life drake equation of humanity to an incomplete, yet eerily accurate and predictive formula- akin to our dead ended feeling proto understanding of quantum theory?!? What THEN, you monster. Nah just playin I would take that boy back too. Life's too short to never be a little selfish right

[@Xman1020]

If we were to setup a massive vertical farm on Mars while p CO2 preparations were made and we slowly let out oxygen into the newly densified atmosphere while slowly letting in CO2 into the farm for the plants to photosynthesize it's possible to do a slow but more plausible terraforming of Mars

[@theotherguy6951]

Forget about UV radiation, forget about low atmospheric pressure and temperature, one problem we cannot alter with terraforming is the loss of bone mass due to prolonged exposure to Mars' low gravity.

[@alexdd69]

I am literally just waiting for footnotes to see how many say Kyle is evil for nuking the crap out of mars. Love the show. Keep up the good work of enlightening our minds.

[@Mastermind8908]

Looking at the comments, something tells me Kyle's going to have a busy fan Q&A vid after this about that magnetosphere issue.

[@Atomsk743]

One answer: Venus And the thing that trouble me the most is: too much radiation on Mars... Let's nuke it!

[@TheRealMcTrolls]

Came here to ask this. All this stuff is pointless if the solar winds are going to blow the atmosphere away again.

[@thrakerzad5874]

wouldn't the atmosphere get stripped away pretty fast by solar storms/flares? shouldn't we worry about restarting the core of mars first so it at least has some magnetic shield protection?

[@phoenixx5092]

Here is an interesting thought experiment. The atmosphere of mars is 1/1000 that of earth. At the equator of Mars in summer, you can get up to 20 degrees celcius in summer, even at 1/1000 pressure. Now considering the thermal efficiency/insulation properties of low air pressure, what temperature would that be at 1/2 or 1:1 the air pressure of Earth? Probably pretty darn hot.

[@harrypeng9028]

What if the nuclear bombs had blasted debris and other stuffs into the sky, blocking the sun, causing a nuclear winter?

[@dallaswalters2365]

With the amount of ash a nuclear winter provides, most of that would be blasted straight into the atmosphere with how unstable it is.

[@dallaswalters2365]

It would just spread out from the energy behind it, the gravitational pull isn't strong enough to retain that much debri with that much force behind it.

[@trisial6997]

So.... you watched the end of the episode too? Lol

[@blackhat958]

Well patroling the mojave wasteland almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter

[@iainwmacintosh]

I love all those references to that billionaire, you know, the one that co-founded Paypal

[@LiamAnjewierden]

the one who is boring?

[@fatalshore5068]

You musk be talking about bezos right?

[@iainwmacintosh]

Idk, I think he also has a space program

[@DeleriumWinds]

i heard he's a musketeer

[@fatalshore5068]

@@DeleriumWinds musk you persist

[@SuprememessageNG]

I was thinking that a possibly feasible idea in the future would be to harvest gases from other planets and bring them to Mars. Perhaps even finding someway to harness the occasional cloud of gases that freely drift through our universe. The only problem would be the logistics of transporting it and finding a source of the correct elements.

[@ReezeGoingSenseless]

Sounds like a Tortoise and the Hare kind of issue.The giant Mirrors from the Red Mars Trilogy seems a lot better by comparison.Also a whole lot less radioactive.

[@betterert]

1:48 bold of you to assume i'm on the earth right now

[@joshuacrandall1757]

The ISS gets KZbin?

[@halamadruuid2380]

Joshua Crandall No, where are you from bruh, smh, not everyone lives on earth, or on the milky way galaxy smh, We are on andromeda

[@silverraxtus9622]

@@halamadruuid2380 Or are you IN the Earth!!!

[@natethegreat3726]

🤯

[@lovepuma6625]

i guess you're in Missisippi right now. and you name is Quill.

[@SARAIN4ever]

*getting "Terraformars" flashbacks* ヽ(｀⌒´)ノ "...Those damn cockroaches..."

[@41tinman41]

Still waiting on that latest anime season. T_T

[@onenationarmy3964]

Nope I'm staying on earth I like my head and I don't really like the idea of it being punched off of my body 😂

[@Targe0]

Watch out for the Smart ones.

[@CGoliday1]

That going to be hard pass from me bro

[@maxcar7298]

Oof, at least we could morph into insects if that's the case

[@TechNextLetsGo]

I like the idea of redirecting comets, they are full of water. A big enough one would heat the planet up and make an atmosphere. The only problem after that is making a magnetosphere to keep it.

[@PCLoadLetter]

If you have the technology to redirect comets or asteroids, you can keep doing the same every 10,000 years when it'll need another one.

[@delfinenteddyson9865]

@@PCLoadLetter or just bombard it enough to make it spin and gain enough mass

[@KeithElliott-zd8cx]

@@delfinenteddyson9865 i don't think we'd be able to bombard it enough to really change mars's rotation much. Unless you've got a million vibranium meteors the size of a medium country or some shit, asteroids are just too small and fragile, or 'too large to push'.

[@Batman8356]

What about the thin atmosphere and the low gravity on mars? Is it possible to send debris into space that would cause problems for the earth and future spaceflight?

[@someotherpleb3720]

Hi Kyle, Long time - first time. Although there are a number of issues still to solve, here’s a partial solution to the initial problem. By redirecting several lesser bodies (perhaps preferencing those bodies which are CH4, NH3 and/or C-O compound rich, to further support the warming) to impact Mars’ “moons” (/captured asteroids), Phobos and Deimos, we could upset their orbits sufficiently to have them decay irreparable. In doing so we could liberate a lot of the potential energy of the orbit, into kinetic, and then heat upon impact. Also the material of both ‘moons’ may be used to further terraform, given their make up (C,H,O compound goodies). Phobos Mass = 1.0659*10^16 kg, Phobos Periapsis = 9,234,420 m Deimos Mass = 1.4762*10^15 kg, Deimos Periapsis = 23,455,500 m Mars Mass = 6.4171*10^23 kg, Mars Radius = 3,389,500 m U=GMm*(1/r1 - 1/r2) Up = 6.674*10^-11 * 6.4171*10^23 * 1.0659*10^16 * (1/9,234,420 - 1/3,389,500) = 8.5246*10^22 J Ud = 6.674*10^-11 * 6.4171*10^23 * 1.4762*10^15 * (1/23,455,500 - 1/3,389,500) = 4.1510*10^21 J Note that these are both (as well as their sum) is within the lower to mid-range theorised to be required (10^19 - 10^25 J). Added benefits from the amalgamation of the 3 bodies include: - more mass, - more carbon, and - we can say that we made slaves of ‘fear’ and ‘terror’. Possible problems include: - inefficient of capture of energy and material (and/or glancing impact(s)), - dust clouds which actually reflect rather than maintain heat, and - time scale of redirection(s) and orbital decay time(s). Clearly this doesn’t address many other issues, however it does seem to be a more efficient process than building several nuclear options and progressively detonating them, spreading long lived radioactive isotopes everywhere, given the end goal is habitation. Regards, Pleb

[@Kronosfobi]

I'll just pretend i understand what those numbers mean.

[@linamao2365]

@@Kronosfobi Just smile and nod

[@dallaswalters2365]

But wouldn't the atmosphere be unable to retain most of the necessary gases, with the impact off setting the catalyst? The mass of them all may be able to become enough to increase gravity, but only by a slight margin, and the impact of heat from the in motion kinetic energy upset the stabilization of what little magnetic field it has? I may have to research more into this, but the real problem I see is the atmosphere. If we make it stable enough, and adapt and breed certain plants, oxygen won't be much of an issue.therefore, air is fine, and so are greenhouse gases. It's the STABILITY of the atmosphere that is most concerning in my opinion. If it is upset to much, it will just reverse the process of terraforming. If they plan on nuking it, it would irradiate multiple areas, catalyzing multiple differing elements in highly chemical reaction susceptible environments. The repercussions could be bad, but, the first problem is not what we fill the "bucket" with, but if the "bucket" will hold. Also, thank you, it has been quite a while since I have had the urge to actually THINK about something.

[@Kronosfobi]

@@dallaswalters2365 Could we heat up the core of the planet somehow? And if we did, would it actually reform the atmosphere?

[@dallaswalters2365]

@@Kronosfobi my theory is if we put strain on the magnetosphere, it will "jumpstart" the planets natural gravity, I have no idea how we could possible go about such a thing though.

[@TheAshran]

"Elon-gated period of time" Yeah, you dont fool anyone, but nice try

[@villager5633]

KZbin had a section called “nerdiest industries” and it was purely your videos and 1 video from an Indian guy

[@craziedzombie]

Using the musk watch theme music here. I cry. Miss it so much

[@Real28]

Same. Heard it, realized I miss that segment a lot

[@AceSpadeThePikachu]

I know this is a bit late, but I just had a thought...everyone is always talking about terraforming Mars, Titan, Europa and even Venus...but why does nobody ever talk about Ganymede? For one, it's the largest moon in the solar system, lust a bit smaller than Mars, it has a surface gravity comparable to our moon, like Europa it has vast reserves of water ice on the surface and likely liquid water oceans deep below, it's very thin atmosphere is already comprised of mostly oxygen, we know from Titan that objects that size and composition can easily hold on to thick atmospheres under the right conditions, and most importantly of all, it has something none of the other popular terraforming candidates have; its own magnetosphere, which protects the surface from the solar wind, cosmic rays AND Jupiter's radiation belts (which by extent add and extra layer of protection from the two former.) It's theorized Titan got its atmosphere by being slammed with dozens or hundreds of nitrogen-rich comets during the period of late-heavy-bombardment, and nitrogen gas has the unique property of being very resilient against the UV rays of the sun, meaning it can be stable in most atmospheres in or system like it is on Earth and Titan. For the warming, the ammonia you mentioned could work, plus carbon compounds found in most carbonaceous asteroids and comets. Best of all, we wouldn't need to move any asteroids or comets very far to collide them with Ganymede. Jupiter is surrounded by thousands of asteroid-like objects that could be easily nudged in just the right way to be set on a collision course with Ganymede, and Jupiter is well known for commonly capturing comets from the outer solar system. We could set up probes designed to nudge or redirect these comments, wait for some to come by and then put them to work making them collide with Ganymede instead of Jupiter.

[@scoutsgmods]

Thank u

[@bobvaca7]

I don’t get it

[@AceSpadeThePikachu]

@@bobvaca7 Read the top comment.

[@ZettyLad]

I think the problem here is the distance from Ganymede to Earth, and having to manage all sorts of machinery and such from Earth.

[@AceSpadeThePikachu]

And yet scientists constantly talk about teraforming Europa, Titan and even Pluto?

[@idrisahmed8308]

I miss these videos

[@SharkyShocker]

I would suggest creating reliable long range wireless energy transference followed by factories on the surface of mars. Furthermore, if we're going to be making space lasers for this, they should be covering the area shone on by the sun so that we're not cooked. Not that I condone the use of space lasers or anything.

[@jackielinde7568]

Kyle, you missed a few things: 1. By nuking Mars, what happens to all of that radioactive fallout? Mars already has a problem because it lacks an atmosphere and a magnetosphere to block out much of the ionizing radiation the sun emits. Do we want to be adding to this problem in the form of all of that radioactive material that won't be consumed in the detonation of the bomb? 2. Okay, You give Mars an atmosphere. How long is it going to last. Mars has neither the gravity well/mass or the magnetosphere that Earth has. Because of it, it's like trying to hold handfuls of sand. Between normal loss from energetic particles and the solar winds blowing on it like a toddler blowing out birthday candles, You would watch Mars lose its atmosphere much like those grains of sand slipping between your fingers. Now, if you were willing to throw unlimited amounts of money to the problem, you MAY be able to solve part of the problem by bulking up Mars with some sick gains that Carrot Top would be jealous of. There is material between Mars and Jupiter that could be used to make Mars a bit beefier. If you add mass to Mars, you could increase the gravity of Mars, and that would slow down the atmosphere leakage. I don't know if it is possible to add enough mass that gravity and pressure would heat the core of the planet enough to melt the center and get that dynamo to kick off. (It's a possibility, but that involves math, and I have enough stuff to do. Maybe someone else could do the math?) But, adding mass would help with some of the problem. And, while we're adding mass, we could also be adding water as some of that mass. Again, there might not be enough or the right kind of space rocks to hurl at Mars.

[@boethius61]

Adding mass is a no go. I've done the math. Even if you crashed every single asteroid in the asteroid belt you've only added something like 0.5%. It would have no appreciable effect on the gravity. It's insignificant.

[@jackielinde7568]

@@boethius61Thanks. I mention it as a possibility, but I didn't know if there was enough material to work with.