Why We Can't Terraform Mars

[@TheBeardyPenguin]

*sad Bobbie Draper noises*

[@wasserruebenvergilbungsvirus]

At least there is Laconia :P

[@nathancherd9109]

womp womp

[@guiart1553]

Guess someone got confused and didn’t realize that we are supposed to be terraforming Venus and not Venusiforming Earth....oh well...accidents happen!

[@RyanRidden]

Everyone makes a mistake every now and then.

[@guiart1553]

@@RyanRidden ...as I told my daughter when sh was just beginning her teens...everyone makes mistakes...key is not to make a big one! Oooops

[@DemoNinja79]

Short Answer : Mars has a very very weak magnetic field, a thin atmosphere and is constantly bombarded with cosmic radiation. There i saved you time.

[@Mwichael]

as much as i love the idea of terraforming mars, spreading out through the planets in our system, etc, somedays when i sit by the river near my house, on a bright day, wind roaring, currents running, forest everywhere... i think, man, how did we get so lucky to call this planet our home? earths beauty is beyond words, and i hope we dont start to take it for granted

[@RyanRidden]

We certainly did get extremely lucky with Earth, and it sounds like you have a great spot to call home!

[@Hunpecked]

“This is rather as if you imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, 'This is an interesting world I find myself in - an interesting hole I find myself in - fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!'" -- Douglas Adams

[@thanhlongnguyen212]

MANKIND WAS BORN ON EARTH. IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO DIE HERE

[@SnootchieBootchies27]

Even though we are "lucky to be here", I think the more accurate way to look at it might be, "we are here because there is nowhere else that would have made us."

[@ossiedunstan4419]

If we don`t do it in 50 years , mankind's ignorance will have deleted us from the planet , the way we are going that cant happen soon enough. We are the only species in life existence on this planet that is going to go extinct and take the rest of the planet with us. humans are not evolved.

[@RyanRidden]

Who needs animation software when you have powerpioint!

[@krzysztofczoczynski419]

who needs powerpoint when you have ms paint and a screen recorder :p

[@RyanRidden]

@@krzysztofczoczynski419 you are the true master here!

[@krzysztofczoczynski419]

@@RyanRidden i honestly wish i were

[@sausagejockey4298]

My sentiments exactly 😂

[@michaelmayhem350]

Great video. I love that you mentioned how even the expanse (which is fiction) acknowledged how hard Tera forming Mars would be yet Elon Musk keeps going on about how quickly we'll do it and soon we'll live on Mars. Whereas I'm fairly certain we'll turn earth into Mars before we ever come close to doing the opposite.

[@JamesRoyceDawson]

I've maintained for a while that Venus would be a better candidate for terraforming than Mars. We wouldn't be able to walk on the surface for a few centuries, but it has a thick atmosphere we could strip away and the gravity is pretty much Earth-like. Much easier than trying to generate an atmosphere on Mars and deal with generations of adaptations to 0.3 G. Plus, sky cities in the meantime would be rad

[@RyanRidden]

The low gravity of Mars is a key point that many neglect. Glad to see another Venus terraformer!

[@cauchyhorizon5983]

Actually, terraforming Venus means shipping about as much materials to Venus as it would take to give Mars an atmosphere. Venus lacks any substantial amount of hydrogen, which is obviously necessary for making water. That would have to come from elsewhere in the solar system. Not saying Mars is better for terraforming, it isn't, but Venus certainly isn't easier to terraform. Just more stable in the long run.

[@MultiKeto]

@@RyanRidden do you know this channel? kzbin.info/door/ZFipeZtQM5CKUjx6grh54g kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6W3fZ1mep6CesU

[@CoffeeFiend1]

Sure would be interesting to know if there any relics or structures down there from any life that may have existed there prior to it going the way of it's present state. Given the length of time and just how dire the conditions are, they'd have to be below ground pretty much.

[@auroraglacialis]

I also think Venus is a better option in the long run, but Mars seems to be the easier target right now as you basically have technology to live there already, but terraforming not so much. Venus is very hostile right now and it will be hard to establish a presence there, so it would have to be remotely terraformed. However since there is a temperate zone in the atmosphere, one could build floating cities there to start off - just never drop off the platform or you are dead and dont tear your suit because then the acid makes you dead. The most challenging thing about Venus probably is that it has too little water even if the suluric acid is somehow used to make water and that it basically spins too slowly, making it almost rotationally locked. Those feats are hard to change - water may be imported by comets but the rotation... Oh and Venus also has no magnetosphere - so that is a problem for life on Venus and eventually also for the atmosphere (although at least the gravity helps there)

[@ronmani9476]

Dr Ridden As a layperson that has a keen interest in all subjects space related but with no formal training I find your speaking style and videos to be,thought provoking and informative..

[@RyanRidden]

I'm glad they help you learn!

[@sausagejockey4298]

Thanks Doctor. What a great production! I appreciate the hard work and editing you put in to create these works of art. Each video you make is as good, if not better and as entertaining as the last. You have the gift of communicating your obvious knowledge and intellect of the cosmos and I speak for your entire community when I say it doesn't go unnoticed and is appreciated more than you'll ever know. Stay blessed and be lucky bro. 😎

[@RyanRidden]

Thanks, I really appreciate it! As long as someone learns something I'm happy!

[@dgd947a15fl]

An artificial magnetic field produced by a spacecraft stationed at Mars' lagrange point L1 (perpetually facing the sun) would probably be pretty doable by the time we're building domes there. Heck, that might be a good idea for Earth, reducing how much radiation and solar wind we're getting hit with would probably be good.

[@danmiguel1260]

No artificial Magnetic field will help Mars. A large moon as a satellite would allow Mars to internally generate a strong magnetic field. Jupiter's moon Io would make for the perfect Maritan satellite.

[@constantinethecataphract5949]

​@@danmiguel1260nah i think moving sellestial bodies around isn't a good idea. I imagine it would cause all sorts of problems to the orbits of the other planets.

[@palehorseman8386]

Never confuse difficult with impossible. By the time we could seriously consider transforming Mars we'll be able to do the same with Venus. One problem will help solve the other.

[@pikpikgamer1012]

“If you can’t solve a problem with brute force, you aren’t using enough of it.” Issac Arther

[@danmiguel1260]

To terraform Mars is to identify what caused it to lose its magnetic field. The planet lacks a large moon for a satellite, that would help Mars regenerate its magnetic field. Jupiter's Moon Io would be able to help Mars generate and maintain a strong magnetic field that would allow the planet to terraform itself.

[@legendaryhuntertutorialsti6713]

I'd like to say that I've been working on a document about a terraforming survey of planets and moons in our solar system that we can terraform in the far future. One of them being Mars but I havent even gotten past the process for Venus yet. This video has definitely helped me with what to do and what not to do

[@durshurrikun150]

Your work is useless: no planet or moon can be terraformed either today or in the future.

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

Since it takes quite a long time for the atmosphere to be blown away without the protection of a magnetic field, a civilization capable of creating an atmosphere can simply keep replenishing it at the same rate, which will be easier than creating it in the first place. So not a deal-breaker.

[@childfreechurch4854]

Without a magnet field the soil on Mars is radioactive. The gravity is less than a 1/3 of the gravity on earth so an atmosphere could NOT be sustained or created. Then you have the fact that the earlier estimates of water on mars are highly overinflated. Mars has 1/10th the water required to create an atmosphere. Lets review... 1. Radioactive soil 2. Dangerously high salt levels in soil 3. -70°F average temperature 4. Dangerously low gravity 5. 1/10th the water required to sustain life MARS IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE A DEAD PLANET. Elon musk is a con artist profiting off the gullibility of science fiction fans. The desire to colonize space is no different than a moth flying into a flame.

[@durshurrikun150]

Nonsense. You can keep replenishing it at the same rate, because gases for an atmosphere do not appear magically from nothing.

[@WoodlandT]

Replenish it with what?

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

@@WoodlandT Google "Atmospheric erosion and replenishment induced by impacts upon the Earth and Mars during a heavy bombardment"

[@Krusesensei]

How about lokal Terraforming - for the Start? Dome big Craters or even flat Land in ~50-150m above the ground with a multilayered, transparent "roof"?

[@RyanRidden]

That would be the way to go! Mars has some pretty wide and deep craters that would be ideal for making small habitable zones.

[@williamgorham7339]

This has been attempted on Earth even and has so far called again and again.

[@silviomanuel473]

But since Mars has little to no atmosphere those would be hit by stones from space quite often

[@theRPGmaster]

@@silviomanuel473 Maybe that could be mitigated by layers of something like carbon fiber or steel mesh, airgapped of course.

[@unrealzocker]

@@silviomanuel473 Maybe, but then again you "just" need to fix the hole. I don't think any Mars rovers have been hit by a meteorite, although they are much smaller.

[@bhuvaneshs.k638]

Zod :- Release the WORLD ENGINE

[@peter.g6]

I'm starting to think rather than terraforming anything it would be easier to change humans to cyborgs (with gene editing and computer-brain interfaces) so they can survive at extremely hostile places like Venus, Mars or even Detroit.

[@greggaravet4932]

I’m not sure that would help survival, Mars yes Venus maybe but Detroit?

[@ogthebarbaricallymoderate8804]

Yea Detroit….keep dreaming bud

[@Amexel]

launch ceres into mars, even if it doesn't help it'll be funny

[@dsdy1205]

9:47 Sure, but if you had the same amount of atmosphere as Earth had, that takes literally geologic timescales to remove via Jeans escape. At least in the interim there will be lots of atmo to go around, and I don't think it takes an eon to come up with a sustainable way to stop atmospheric escape.

[@jimstiles26287]

Make a superconducting ring around the equator of Mars to give Mars a magnetosphere.

[@JazzGuitarScrapbook]

If you can do that kind of mega engineering, why not simply build large space habitats and set them up how you like?

[@RyanRidden]

In principle it could work, but we are still some ways away from reliable high temperature super conductors, plus the current you would need would be enormous!

[@darkstorminc]

@@JazzGuitarScrapbook would you rather live on a habitat or planet?

[@milobem4458]

@@RyanRidden We don't need high temperature superconductor because Mars is fricking cold :D More seriously, when we are at the point of seriously considering it, we should be able to build 5km tall towers to hold the ring above the "warm" part of atmosphere

[@KateeAngel]

The channel Common sense Skeptic also made some videos about it recently. They also criticize Musk a lot for his overly exaggerated promises

[@Reazintful]

"overly exaggerated promises" this is the common Elon Musk hate speech, a majority of his ideas and thoughts are not "promises", and he has always admitted that he can be wrong about his ideas, and that his timelines can be inaccurate. the man almost says "maybe" and "possibly" about a majority of his ideas and thoughts....how does that randomly get interpreted as "promises"

[@akshaydalvi1534]

@@Reazintful """hate speech"""

[@durshurrikun150]

@@Reazintful Nonsense, Muskrat.

[@somesz83]

This is exactly how teachers should teach kids... and grownup kids like me. :) I really appreciate your channel!

[@Marinealver]

And this, is how you make a studio famous for a Board Game become bankrupt.

[@Fr0st1989]

It might happen, but honestly it'd be in a time when our bones have long since become dust

[@scanstehshuricness]

Basically, terraforming a planet would likely take a long time, and we all would be dead by the time a planet finishes terraforming. Rather than fantasize about terraforming, we should focus on what we have right now. Focus on the present, leave the future to its uncertainty.

[@samr.england613]

Do you really believe that terraforming a dead alien world would "likely" take a long time? Okay, well, I agree! :) Let us focus on this incredible, really weird, fantastic planet we call 'Earth'!

[@scanstehshuricness]

@samr.england613 I’m glad you agree. (And honestly I’m surprised that someone would agree with what I said.)

[@DinoCism]

There is something really perverse about going to space and then expecting everything out there to conform to the environment we just left for our own selfish, human comfort. Like, why shouldn't people be the ones the change, compromise and adapt if they want to live up there? Instead of wasting a solar system's worth of resources trying to catch lightning in a bottle why don't we just accept that it's gonna be different and work with that assumption?

[@AndrewBoundy]

Great video - thanks. Makes sense when you consider that the planet lost its atmosphere once already I guess.

[@poruatokin]

We are currently terraforming Earth into a shit-hole. Also, Kim Stanley Robinson wrote about this in much better detail.

[@durshurrikun150]

Wrong. Earth would still be habitable.

[@jrs3739]

The technical explanation was great, but those last comments really sealed the deal. Great work!

[@Goshin65]

My understanding is, if we made an atmosphere, it would take millions of years for the sun to strip it away even if we didn't do anything about it (magnetic field etc). That's quite a long time to come up with the technology needed to generate that magnetic field or etc.

[@pi.actual]

The Martian terraforming project is finally near completion, unfortunately the beings who started it have not been seen for 250 million years.

[@bigjohn697791]

To be honest I have always thought that it was science fiction

[@williampierce3542]

Kind crushes my hopes for a future MCR, but we can live under domes just fine!!

[@errolyonne1788]

Mass Effect you've come back to me

[@Kentavritsa]

How thick and atmosphere could Marse realisticaly support, if you choose a composition easier to hold on to?

[@ThatPolishMapper.]

this is like how: we cant terraform venus in a way

[@paulvale8531]

The main reason the earth works is because it has still got a core that generates a usable force field that has protected the atmosphere from the sun.

[@afromaximus]

Speaking on living on Venus Reminds me of the Book 'The Space Merchants' - the whole idea is spelt out as a genuine hell for the people of the first generations. It is bizarrely half truth, half satire. Worth a read if you get a chance.

[@PunkSolar22x]

Because the solar winds would blow away any of our efforts. Maybe something can be done under the surface or above ground Dome structures also with the development of Moxie it seems a little bit more plausible.

[@RyanRidden]

Domes in craters is definitely the way to go!

[@guillaumefigarella1704]

Hey who knows, maybe in 15 000 years, but certainly not by 2100 like some says!

[@Broderkaka]

Questions: How would a human fare long term on a planet with so much less gravity? Isn't our whole body "fine tuned" to earths gravity? Astronauts need to be helped out of the pods when they return to earth after much much less time than it takes to travel to mars. What about pregnancy? ...and would it even be ethical to birth a human child on another planet if it's like mars? As someone said: Mars is space but with ground.

[@Goshin65]

A lot of current international law simply isn't designed to deal with a multiplanetary, major-spacefaring civilization, and would need to be changed (or ignored) to make that happen

[@therealneal9980]

The Mass Effect music at the end felt especially poignant. Loved this video, thank you so much

[@cauchyhorizon5983]

Great video! I agree with what you have to say, though I don't think that magnetic satellites are too big of a hurdle for us. Maybe we use solar energy to power them, who knows. The bigger issue for terraforming Mars is transporting all the gases and water needed to build an atmosphere and oceans. Imagine how many tanker spaceships we'd need for that! Or all the comets we'd have redirect to hit Mars with. Making a fleet of motionless satellites seems easy in comparison. This same problem applies to Venus too actually. It has barely any hydrogen, so even if we stripped it's atmosphere, it would have no water. No easy solutions, I guess.

[@ASYLUM_fz]

We’re going to Terraformars It will take a long time a lot of people, but there’s millions of people ready to put their lives on the line for the task including me

[@EnoEshk]

Building a physical shield may not be realistic for us, but the more we advance into orbital infrastructure, the easier it'll be to maintain something like that, and asteroids might even make the resources for doing so fairly trivial. Granted this would be a fairly advanced civilization that would need to do this and isn't exactly near future terraforming, but your video shows that this is what it would take to do so. The same could be said for artificial magnets blocking the solar wind. alternatively, that kind of civilization might find it easier to simply fill the atmosphere with something heavier that wont blow away anytime soon, and genetically engineer their people to live in those conditions.

[@kylezakk]

There is a solution you're not thinking of; big domes.

[@samr.england613]

And what will these (presumably transparent) domes be made of? To date, we have NO transparent substance or material that can block out deadly galactic cosmic rays or solar radiation. You get that? For now, it's science fiction!

[@cat_city2009]

"we can't terraform Mars" Not with that attitude we can't.

[@durshurrikun150]

Reality begs to differ, scientifically illiterate nerd: wherever you want or not, Mars can't be terraforme because of the laws of physics.

[@nomore-constipation]

Especially when kurzgesagt channel just said we can. Lol

[@DinoCism]

Vibes based science. Good luck with that.

[@cat_city2009]

@@DinoCism I am disturbed by your lack of ambition. And you're a socialist? Pathetic. You're an embarrassment to the ideology.

[@lemont64]

Living in caves an underground habitats

[@davidmakin6984]

It may be stretching "terraform" a little but yes we can - given that Mars' crust is both stable and between 6 and 30 *miles* deep we simple build massive caves below the surface, it would be relatively simple then to create whatever atmosphere we like in such a closed space.

[@durshurrikun150]

And how would you escavate the frozen ground on Mars?

[@1984Phalanx]

Basically, we're at the limit of the productivity of human labor, we need automation to reach a level where machines could build everything a human can. But if we do that, the machines will replace us.

[@timesthree5757]

We have to stop saying we can't.

[@TeaRiker]

That's not a problem at all. You can generate an artificial magnetic field with a large coil wrapped around the planet. Very simple

[@73isabela]

So, how did Mars ever even have an atmosphere at one point?

[@christophwagenknecht178]

Mars had once, when the planet formed, a strong magnetic field and a dense atmosphere. But after time, the core cooled and the magnetic fields became weak. Then the solar wind started to blow away the atmosphere to the density of today

[@RyanRidden]

That does seem to be the leading idea from what I've seen. We see evidence of a past planet wide magnetic field frozen into old rock formations.

[@73isabela]

@@christophwagenknecht178 Thanks! Makes sense! Could this have happened partly because Mars a much smaller planet compared to Earth and Venus? Do we know why a core would cool?

[@Your_Paramour]

@@73isabela It cools because there is no natural processes other than radioactive decay to continue heating a planet of this size, and because of it's much smaller mass it has cooled much more than Earth and Venus.

[@73isabela]

@@Your_Paramour Thanks! I figured its size had something to do with it.

[@solidkreate5007]

I wish I could remember the book I read in the 6th grade about people living on Venus after Terraforming.

[@catman4859]

What i find absurd about any form of terraforming goal is that no matter what kind of changes you can bring to a planet, you cant change its surface gravity. And if you cant do that, then living there is never going to be a viable plan long term.

[@glenn_r_frank_author]

can you do a video about terraforming Venus?

[@liamholmes8487]

The task of building a society on Mars which respects both individual liberties, and the needs of the many ought to be a more pressing goal than terraforming the planet. If anything, building a society and civilization Martians can be proud if is a far greater achievement than turning the planet into a second Earth. Great video.

[@Ayo22210]

Put the sun shield in Mars L1 spot

[@JonathanLopez-tw8ef]

All you have to do is run one or more of Jupiter moon's into it

[@RyanRidden]

There is certainly a lot of water in those moons!

[@bukkaratsuppa6414]

@@RyanRidden Why do we need Mars anyway? Why not colonize Titan instead. Sun on Mars is scarce anyway, so we have to find a way to go without it altogether. Titan is double the size (=gravity) of Mars, if we find energy source for all the martian dreams (ie nuclear synthesis), it'll certainly help heat up Titan. And on top of that, Titan has already got proper sea level pressure, just need to add some oxygene. What have i missed?

[@tyroneb97]

@@bukkaratsuppa6414 Titan is definitely an intriguing option. But it’s so much further away and harder to get to and from in a timely manner.

[@milobem4458]

All extraterrestrial rocky bodies between Sun and Jupiter added together have total mass comparable to Earth. You would have to throw everything into Mars to possibly make it able to keep the atmosphere. That includes Venus, without Venus we would have to start collecting Kuiper belt.

[@durshurrikun150]

@@bukkaratsuppa6414 Wrong. Titan receives even less Sun than Mars' and it is not double the size of Mars: it is smaller than Mars both in diameter, volume and mass. Just add some oxygen, because oxygen appears from thin air, right?

[@rommdan2716]

In conclution; O'neill Cylinders are better

[@jimstiles26287]

War of the Worlds was intended to be an analog to the European colonization of Africa in the 19th century.

[@wk8219]

Thank you for a well thought out video. And as far as modern technology, including technology that we will probably acquire in the next 20 to 30 years, terraforming mars is not a realistic possibility. But creating the society we have today would’ve been absolutely impossible to envision with somebody thinking only about Victorian technology. Assuming we continue to exponentially increase our technical capacities then I suspect that terraforming mars may actually be a realistic , economically viable possibility in the next couple hundreds of years.

[@sebsunda]

The title should be corrected as: "Why we can't CURRENTLY terraform Mars".

[@DinoCism]

Science is not about manifesting things into reality through wishful thinking. It's stupid to go into space and expect it to be like Earth for our selfish human comfort. If people want to live out there they need to buck up and accept that it will never be anything like it is here. It's easier to change a human than it is to change an entire planet.

[@natosc44]

To terraform mars, ask the creator of terragenesis.

[@alanjohnson2613]

Can we direct more ice bearing asteroids to collide with mars?

[@mididoctors]

You build a magnetosphere or seller Lagrange point shield. In the expanse they build a magnetosphere

[@user-EvilAlatreon963]

So what you're saying is we can't terraform Mars due to technological limitations. If we did have the technology to give it a magnetic field we could make it habitable. It would also take a really long time to make the oceans and get the biosphere going with algae, and that means it'd be awhile before plants/animals could be introduced. Even after that Mars would have different conditions than Earth even if similar so stuff would have to adapt to stuff like the lesser gravity. I'd imagine Mars being further away means dimmer lights, day is slightly longer, and the year is actually around 680 days. Although if Mars had a stable atmosphere and since it's got a smaller surface area and has less gravity along the day being a bit longer would probably result in Mars having a weaker coriolis effect. The 2 moons could also effect the weather, and the longer year and Mars elliptical orbit could also potentially have other effects on weather too.

[@PaulThatcher-iu5in]

Excellent argument. Another long-term problem - one among many - is the inadequacy of Deios and Phobos in stabilising the rotation of Mars about its axis, so that even if people could somehow successfully terraform Mars, its axis would remain much less stable than earth, giving the potential for catastrophic climate chaos. What is really shocking is that Elon Musk and the Tech Bro fraternity show not only their lack of scientific understanding, but their childishness, when they brag about how they'd nuke the ice caps or whatever. They would be laughable if it weren't for the fact that they have power, wealth, and influence.

[@amac9245]

I love your monitor stand, I used to have a nearly identical one

[@IntheeyesofMorbo]

Not enough nitrogen is another problem if I remember right You could build large domes though or maybe eventually advanced anuetronic fusion powered atmosphere processors like in the movie aliens.

[@durshurrikun150]

So you would have to use sci-fi tecnology. You appear to have forgotten the fiction part of sci fi.

[@hellboystein2926]

Why should you 'spin up the core' when you 'just' have to produce (superconducting) cables, and burry some tousand km of them in the survice of the planet, forming severel rings(making a coil magnet). Sure some tousend km of these capbles are not cheap, and to power them up you may even need a hole nuclear powerplant. But Hey, terraforming itself requires huge amount of greenhouse gases and so energy and industrial production, so this plan still seems far more realistic than 'spinning up the core'.

[@Bizzon666]

I have read about the concept of artificial magnetosphere. The cables weren't under ground but on a satellite in Lagrange point between Mars and Sun.

[@TheHalcyonTwilight]

Your numbers underestimate things by a few orders of magnitude. You'd need enough superconducting material that there probably isn't enough in the solar system to make it possible, and the energy demands would be obscene as well. Think of the amount of energy and wiring present on Earth to generate signficant EMF, but it not being nearly enough to generate a meaningful magnetic field on a planetary scale.

[@Dewydidit]

One important point to note when comparing Venus colonization to Mars is that Mars would be a net NEGATIVE, we would always be sending things TO Mars, never getting anything in return. We could "mine" useful materials from the clouds of Venus that could be shipped back to Earth or used in orbit. A "reason" to colonize is crucial, we can't do it just because it would be awesome. There has to be a "gain" or a profit.

[@RyanRidden]

A great point! They talk about this point more in the recent Kurzgesagt video on terraforming Venus, which is definitely worth watching!

[@MultiKeto]

why mine a planet then you have asteroid? far easier and needs less energy. most of the good stuff on earth, Venus or mars is in the core.

[@ej28]

@@MultiKeto The asteroid belt has a mass 1/1600th the size of Earth's. Venus is 90% of Earth.

[@MultiKeto]

@@ej28 yes and where do you have to invest more resources to mine? where do you gave to use more energy for trade? and what about the massive problems with venus? you don't have those in space

[@MultiKeto]

@@ej28 you have asteroids that are almost made of the best metals or rare minerals we need. in Venus like earth most of the good stuff went into the core. also small moons like the once saturn has or jubiter are far easier to mine than venus.

[@jamesms4]

Paraterraforming and creating Worldhouses would be the way to go.

[@Wustenfuchs109]

Except that when ever we tried that on Earth, we failed. Because an ecosystem is a very complex thing. When ever we thought we got it right, it failed spectacularly. We try to recreate an ecosystem with plants, animals, insects and what not (and "what not" is the problem) but we simply can't get the ingredients right. So no to paraterraforming. Create a livable dome where you pump air that you create though some chemical process, make food by using hydroponics or aeroponics? Sure. But local terraforming is simply beyond the scopes of our understanding, let alone capabilities. Don't get me wrong, I'd like any of that. But the reality is, you'd see some version of existing space habitats or submarine-like accommodation with life support - rather than your standard sci-fi biodome. We don't know how to build an ecosystem that will sustain itself. Not yet at least.

[@jamesms4]

​@@Wustenfuchs109 You misunderstood me. Paraterraforming is creating a dome and pumping Air in only on a larger and exponentially growing scale. Go look it up over at Orion's Arm. Worldhouses and the like. cheers.

[@jjRayjj5000]

I guess I will have to study what we even know about the core of our earth like how fast does the molten nickel core spin. Probably be easier to go to a planet that is already in good shape provided it is not inhabited already. Could we even live under the surface of mars and use it for a mining colony perhaps.

[@RyanRidden]

Subsurface Mars colonies are definitely a good option! There may even still be some residual heat left in the core to help warm things up!

[@durshurrikun150]

@@RyanRidden The soil in Mars is cold. You won't be able to access Mars' inner heat.

[@unexpected2475]

@ 4:29 Off-topic, but are you familiar with Children of a Dead Earth? This point reminded me of that game.

[@RyanRidden]

Haven't heard of it before, but it looks pretty interesting. I might check it out!

[@unexpected2475]

Yeah, I feel like it might make an interesting video topic, if you choose to cover it. It's also just a neat game in general.

[@nolan4339]

I do wonder if heavier greenhouse gas molecules, like various fluorocarbons, would be heavy enough to be better retained by the Martian gravity without being stripped away. Yes, that would likely make it so that we could never create a breathable atmosphere, but it may help with radiation protection and temperature control. Then again, I wonder how much fluorine-based minerals are readily available on the planet and if that could translate into the quantities needed to create an atmosphere. Also, in terms of a magnetic field I remember reading something about the possibility of funneling all used power through a magnetic ring that circles the planet, thus all power and industrial development on the planet then contributes to creating a planetary magnetic field. (at least it would likely be more feasible than melting the core of the planet)

[@durshurrikun150]

Heating Mars' atmosphere will only accelerate Mars' atmospheric escape because of Mars' low gravity. Besides, there's no proof that fluorocarbons would remain gaseous in Mars' frigid enviroment. In addition to that, cosmic rays and the Sun would simply photolyse the carbon-fluorine bond which will eliminate those compounds.

[@2adamast]

So the sun will destroy the Mars atmosphere within 1000 million years, and therefore it's a bad long-term investment.

[@pauldh62]

I am in complete agreement with the points and sentiments raised in this video. In particular I share his concern of how people may be forced to go the Red Planet, where their diminishing rights would, like the planet's atmosphere, be completely eroded.

[@JanoschNr1]

Sun schield, duh. Powered by solarpannels wich give the poer to the thrusters to keep the circle in place.

[@SicilianStealth]

If Dr. Ryan Underoos were a reality my life would be complete.

[@josephnash2081]

Why not just design habitats for the Canadian Archipelago or Antarctica?

[@vampirehunter533]

If it were possible to terraform Mars, given enough time and the right kinds of technologies and methods, making much of Mars surface maybe like alpine/steppe/taiga/warmer tundra type environments with areas such a as the top of Olympus Mons remaining barren and almost airless, how long would it be possible to maintain said habitable environment before the planet would ultimately revert back to being a cold dry barren rock, given that Mars is way smaller than earth with no plate tectonics and no large stabilizing moon like the earth.

[@john-doe]

Saying that terraforming Mars is impossible is in itself an example of stupidity. Just one hundred years ago no one couldn't even imagine our technology today. Same goes with terraforming. What we can't do today, we will be able to do in one hundred years ( or even faster).

[@lemont64]

The best reply vid for this guy is how colonising venus is a wet dream....first ask yoself what the hottest planet in the solar system....mars is the only option now....nothing else

[@thanhlongnguyen212]

Just like when people think flying is impossible and then we build plane

[@ozo1010]

cuz we cant even go there yet

[@skougi]

Marsforming Terra - excellent! love the content! Thank you.

[@In-Marty-We-Trust]

It doesn’t need to have atmospheric oxygen and hydrogen. It’s temperature and pressure that are the biggest inhibitors. If enough CO2 and hydrocarbons form it’s atmosphere to say 0C and 50% of earths pressure, humans can walk around in warm clothing and an oxygen mask rather than heated, pressure suits. Habitats can be oxygenated but leave the Mars as a whole with a carbon heavy and insulating atmosphere.

[@CyrusGuderyon]

A solar shield (a combination of a sun shade and magnetic deflectors) at the mars-sun L1 lagrange point seems like a reasonable start

[@CyrusGuderyon]

Throw some RTGs, standard reactors and solar panels on it. Maybe some maneuverable solar sails for minor corrections, with more standard monoprop thrusters for larger corrections. Sensors and point defense can help with asteroids.

[@SAShaffer]

What would it take to push a planet? Weve seen that to disrupt a meteor is possible, but what about a planet? Theoretically if we pushed mars into Venus slowly and controlled so that the end result is a larger planet would venuses atmosphere envelope mars and therefore thin enough for it to be habitable? What are aome of the consequences of moving around a planet within our galaxy on other planets and orbits? I think this would be a really awesome thought experiment!

[@samr.england613]

I say we redirect hundreds or thousands of watery comets at Venus, and see what happens! Throw a bunch of water at it! Have the icy comets on a trajectory that impacts Venus at the right angle to speed up its rotation.

[@samr.england613]

Sounds better than effing around with Mars, to me.

[@Unknown15916]

Man, your hair looks fantastic !!! What is the science behind it ?

[@Unknown15916]

And shaving ? Do you ever shave ? How about trying to grow a beard ?

[@Rink03]

How is it that moons such as Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto (Jupiter), Rhea, Dione, and Enceladus (Saturn), and Titania (Uranus) all have extremely thin atmospheres, how is it they can have atmospheres but Mars which is bigger than some of these moons cant?

[@RyanRidden]

Very good question! These moons are usually protected by the big magnetic fields of their parent planets, so that stops the solar wind from interacting with them. They are also MUCH further away from the Sun that Mars and because the strength of the Sun decreases with distance, it makes it easier to hold on to their small atmospheres. If Mars were a moon of Jupiter then I think that would make for a very interesting place!

[@durshurrikun150]

Europa, Callisto, Ganymede, Rhea, Dione, Enceladus, Titania in practice have no atmosphere, the pressures on their surface are in the range of 10e-14 pascals, they are surrounded by the vacuum of space. Mars has an atmosphere, unlike them. Sure it is thin,but its thicker than that of Triton's or Pluto's. The only moon with a thicker atmosphere than Mars is Titan and the reason it has a thicker atmosphere is that Titan is far colder than Mars, thus gas's molecules have less kinetic energy and are unable to reach the escape velocity and also spends the vast majority of its orbit inside Saturn's magnetosphere.

[@thomaskalbfus2005]

One could compress the Martian atmosphere under a roof, and the strip out the carbon from the carbon dioxide leaving oxygen. Mars has frozen water at its poles and underground, nitrogen compounds can probably be found at the poles as well. So therefore we can have a breathable atmosphere with enough water for plants and humans under a glass or plastic roof.

[@Dozornui]

plastic roof doesn't protect against solar radiation as good as planetary magnetic field would.

[@durshurrikun150]

Nonsense. First of all, you can't strip out the carbon from CO2, leaving oxygen, molecules are not lego blocks. And still you would have an atmosphere which is far thinner than Earth's Mars has little water, mostly present at the poles in the polar ice caps and some underground. No nitrogen compounds have been found on Mars, anywhere, so your speculation is bullshit. Infact Mars has little nitrogen, it has lost the vast majority of it to space. Nitrogen is one of the key elements needed for life. The water on Mars is heavily contaminated by toxic salts and dust, it is not fresh water. So no, you can't have a breathable atmosphere on Mars, with enough waters for plants and humans. You're so scientifically illiterate that you don't know that breathable air has 78% nitrogen and only 21% oxygen. Mars is a dry cold desert, it has little water. Oh and a glass or plastic roof would be torn apart by Mars' tidal forces and impact the planet and it would be destroyed by micrometeorite impacts.

[@durshurrikun150]

@@Dozornui Infact it would probably be decomposed by cosmic rays and the sun's radiation.

[@Dozornui]

@@durshurrikun150 indeed. So without launching Ceres-like celestial onto Mars orbit and prolonged bombardment with ice asteroids from Kuiper belt any terraforming or even colonization attempt would be impossible. Mars is too much irradiated, dusty and thin-aired to sustain any organic life.

[@durshurrikun150]

@@Dozornui The only Ceres like celestial body in orbit around the Sun is Ceres, objects like that do not grow in the solar system from nothing. Besides, Ceres is mostly made of rock, not ice. And you make it seem like you can change the orbits of objects on a whim, you can't and humans won't have the means to do that. Objects in the Kuiper belt are not asteroids, they are Trans neptunian objects and no, you can't bombard Mars with them. Since you can't do any of what you're proposing, Mars can't be terraformed let alone colonized. Not that what you're proposing will have the effects you think it will do.

[@mfanto1]

Just crash Mars into Venus.

[@MurphyRiddle-bl4cp]

I have never heard a scientist talk about this but I believe there is a way to create a one half of the Earth's atmospheric pressure on Mars in a somewhat short order. Mars has lost it's magnetosphere, or, dynamo that reflected the solar winds so why in the world have they not drawn out a way to create a synthetic sort of magnetosphere? A huge concentration of satellites that lead the planet in it's orbit with magnetic ability to sweep the solar winds around the planet in it's orbit. You know, have a leading satellite that deflects solar wind outward to the next series of satellites which those do the same deflecting to the following in a way that would greatly help slow or stop the erosion of the atmosphere there. Sadly, while the solar winds would be deflected, the planet really wouldn't warm up that much though the pressure would slowly rise. It would just turn into a snowball, no geological activity from volcanism, no heat close to the surface in comparison to the Earth and the distance from the sun just wouldn't make Mars heat up that much. Might be able to walk on Mars without a pressurized suit, but still be cold. Another idea one has is Speed up the moon which is falling to Mars and slow down the one leaving it gently joining the pair together in a way that would pull tidally on the planet which would heat it's interior and maybe even starting a strain of volcanism. This might even stabilize Mars from wobbling like it does. Not a scientist, just a dumb car mechanic from the midwest, please proceed and have a nice day!

[@samr.england613]

Piece of cake! "Dammit Jim. I'm a doctor, not a planetary engineer!"

[@Monkey2tv]

the fact this dude put out this video on my birthday and mentioned red faction guerilla im all in already! still dont believe him but...

[@eversor431]

The most unbelievable part of this is current "international law" lol

[@nomore-constipation]

Can you respond then to the Kurzgesagt video that just recently got released. They tend to believe using nuclear power for the magnetic field would work.

[@francoisviljoen4002]

I've wondered if we could mine enough uranium in the asteroids and enrich it enough so that the uranium will burn it's way down to the core of mars and restart the core.

[@azariahazariah4493]

That’s not how it works

[@durshurrikun150]

Utter nonsense.

[@rob5894]

Build a huge dome over Valles Marineris. The dome would hold in the artificially created atmosphere.

[@jakeg3733]

Some Japanese scientists did the calculations and determined that a superconducting ring at the equator would created a sufficient magnetic field to counteract the solar winds. Enough to dramatically slow down atmospheric loss at least. I think that's much more elegant than sticking some giant, fragile structure at a lagrange point. We could make it, but don't currently have the resources. That said if we spread out into space and start mining asteroids it likely will become possible in the future. By then, our technology and material sciences will be even more advanced. So I wouldn't say we can't, we just can't _currently_ do it. If you'd told people 500 years ago about helicopters, stealth jets, and spacecraft they'd lock you up or kill you for being insane. People will look back at us 500 years from now and laugh at our beliefs of what can and can't be done. As much as we'd love to see it done, we need to accept it won't happen in our lives. But I think it's our duty to create the foundation for later generations to do it. It will require dedication beyond anything humans have ever attempted before The bigger long term problem is water. There's less of it than was thought when Zubrin wrote his excellent book, The Case for Mars. There's plenty in the outer solar system but _getting_ it to mars and safely delivering it is... problematic. We need to get boots on the ground to even fully understand the problems we'd face with terraforming. There are a lot of unknowns that a few automated probes will never be able to quantify. We need more data

[@mikeg9b]

I would be happy to live underground on Mars. I don't see the point in even trying to terraform it. After we get good at building fusion reactors, we'll have all the energy we need to make a nice, underground habitat.

[@durshurrikun150]

There won't be any underground habitat on Mars.