So why not just fix it here where it’s millions of times easier than doing it on Mars
¿Por qué no los dos?
Also, I’m not entirely convinced that the problems are analogous. Mars needs to be warmed up, Earth needs to be cooled down. I think a more appropriate challenge would be terragorming Venus.
If we can teraform Venus we can teraform the galaxy. The planet is inhospitable in every single way. We can’t even land spacecraft that last very long. If materials don’t melt from the heat and disintegrate from the atmosphere, then the volcanos ought to do the trick.
Kurzgesagt did a video on the topic. We just build a planet-sized sunshade to freeze the atmosphere, launch the excess CO2 into space, and import water from the ice moons of the gas giants. Simple, really.
Every argument I ever hear against thinking about things in the cool space future boils down to “we couldn’t do it this financial quarter so it’ll never be possible at all”.
I like to think about the spacefaring AI (or cyborgs, if we’re lucky) that will inevitably do this stuff in our stead, assuming we don’t strangle them in the cradle.
¿Por qué no los dos?
Also, I’m not entirely convinced that the problems are analogous. Mars needs to be warmed up, Earth needs to be cooled down. I think a more appropriate challenge would be terragorming Venus.
If we can teraform Venus we can teraform the galaxy. The planet is inhospitable in every single way. We can’t even land spacecraft that last very long. If materials don’t melt from the heat and disintegrate from the atmosphere, then the volcanos ought to do the trick.
It’s also harder to get to Venus than it is Mars.
Kurzgesagt did a video on the topic. We just build a planet-sized sunshade to freeze the atmosphere, launch the excess CO2 into space, and import water from the ice moons of the gas giants. Simple, really.
Cost, 100 to 1000 trillion. We can barely fund NASA
Every argument I ever hear against thinking about things in the cool space future boils down to “we couldn’t do it this financial quarter so it’ll never be possible at all”.
I like to think about the spacefaring AI (or cyborgs, if we’re lucky) that will inevitably do this stuff in our stead, assuming we don’t strangle them in the cradle.
I have a feeling we’ll learn plenty of applicable lessons from one with the other.