Terraforming Mars: Inside the Insane (True) Plans to Make Mars Habitable

Unlocking the Mysteries of Mars: Can We Terraform the Red Planet? Exploring the history, challenges, and potential methods to transform Mars into a habitable world. A future for our great-grandkids awaits!

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[mikeygallos]

I'm glad Simon moved Astrographics from Geographics to Mega Projects.

[mangogo]

Imagine aliens right now in a distant galaxy discovering an exoplanet that is promising for life. And it's Mars bbecause they can only see how things were in the past

[davidmeehan]

Thanks for not ignoring the magnetic field issue. So many infotainment programs have spoken of terraforming Mars as just a matter of adding carbon dioxide, when the challenge is so much greater.

[dislikecounter]

I think niel degrasse Tyson made a great point. For all the effort it would take to colonize Mars you could easily fix all the problems on earth first. Why terraform a much worse planet than one that's done half the work for us

[jacobtovar]

That was a beautiful ending to the video Simon. The part about us wishing we were standing next to them on Mars. Hit me right in emotions/imagination, wondering if this species will make it far into the future or fizzle out in the next 1000 years.

[oldblinddarby]

As a plant biologist myself, the issue I never see addressed is that of radiation exposure to our food crops. By and large they'll require the same protections as humans, radiation has the same effect on plants as us, and leads to wild unpredictable mutations that will mostly kill the plants or render them sterile. However, some plants do have mechanisms in place to repair their genome and this could be used as a protective mechanism.

[TheLittlestViking]

Kim Stanley Robinson's Mar Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars) is the best and most accurate example of how terraforming (areoforming) Mars would actually be approached. Anyone who read it was already familiar with most of the techniques in the NASA proposals. It's also an excellent example of hard science fiction with a heavy dose of political everything.

[antonnym]

You can mitigate the radiation problem by placing your colony at the west end of Valles Marineris in Noctus Labyrinthus, where there is, coincidentally a glacier with water ice galore. More than your colony will ever need. Also, being 4 miles below the surface in the canyon, you'll have only a fraction of that radiation and the atmospheric pressure will be 150% more than you get on the surface.

[jordanscherr]

There's really two elephants in the room that scream Star Trek - Search for Spock issues. First, if you don't strengthen the magnetic field, you're operating on a permanent knife's edge with whatever is shielding the planet. And second, anything that terraformes the planet "fast enough" for human acceptability will have radical consequences alongside the intended ones. "It was the only way to solve certain problems. If I hadn't (cheated), it might have been years or never." Those same fictitious methods gave Genesis a tiny lifespan as an unintended consequence. You can't predict everything in this real-life case either!

[yggdrasil]

The Magnetic Field protection shield is the foundation upon which everything else is built.

[mikeoleksa]

It's just a bit strange to me that all this research is being done about making Mars habitable, meanwhile the planet that we are already on, that provides everything we need, is slowly dying. It kind of seems like we should be taking care of our own planet instead of trying to turn another into what we already have.

[Crytica.]

Man, to know that I am probably 1-2 generation(s) born too early to see people work/live on the moon and like 10 generations too early to see people work/live on Mars is really depressing

[theofficialken]

I already think in David Attenborough's voice when I see animals, I think in Morgan Freeman's voice when I think about existential things. I now hear Simon's voice for any random information stuff. If you outlive me, narrate my life, or get zefrank to do it please.

[evandipasquale]

If I had to go with the best possible way to turn Mars into Earth MKII then it would have to be the asteroid belt. Taking all the asteroids from the belt and slamming them into Mars, bulk up the mass and gravity and hopefully the heat would be enough to bring the core back to life. Best case scenario the crust would cool within 100, 000 yrs, which seem like a long time but on a cosmic scale it's nothing. We would basically be building a new planet by just pushing rocks into Mars.

[damonmorris]

I'm convinced it's actually Simon that's locked in the basement and not Danny. It would explain how Simon manages to make content daily for like 10 channels

[Oshidashi]

To record a message for the future citizens of Mars was quite mindblowing!

[MinionofNobody]

For the first time ever, I want YouTube merch. A “Make Mars Great Again” t-shirt would be great.

[azchris]

I think we need to redirect icy bodies to hit it. Adding energy, water, and atmosphere instantly.

[glenjennett]

I find it hilarious how they want to terraform Mars when they can't even figure out how to make places on our own planet sustainable for life. It's not going to happen, in my opinion.

[JoeGoesXtreme]

If I am correct the mars regolith contains potassium perchlorate. This salt is valuable because potassium is a useful nutrient. Also, it thermally decomposes giving out oxygen gas also useful: KClO4 ---> KCl +O2