What is Terraforming? Can Planetary Engineering Make Extraterrestrial Planets Suitable for Human Life?
Terraforming is the process of making the natural conditions of a planet, satellite or asteroid - its atmosphere, temperature, ecology or surface topography - habitable for humans. The concept of terraforming can be examined under three headings. These are Para-terraforming, Partial Terraforming and Full Terraforming.
When we examine terraforming technologies, we come across two main technologies. These are atmospheric technologies and surface technologies. Atmospheric technologies aim to make the atmosphere of the planet to be terraformed similar to that of Earth. These technologies usually involve processes such as changing the composition of gases in the atmosphere or increasing greenhouse gases.
Surface technologies are based on making the surface of the planet to be terraformed habitable. For this purpose, water and vegetation are often preferred. In short, through these processes, the planet or satellite to be terraformed is made suitable for human life. The possible steps to be followed in the terraforming process are generally as follows:
1-Modifying and Regulating the Atmosphere: The first step in the terraforming process is usually to make the planet's atmosphere suitable for human life. This can be achieved by ensuring appropriate oxygen levels, controlling greenhouse gases and reducing the effects of radiation.
2-Regulating Surface Temperature: Climate control may require making the surface temperature suitable for humans. This process will involve steps such as distributing sunlight, controlling temperature fluctuations and using cooling systems.
3-Creation of Water Resources: As water is an essential component of life, the process of Terraforming requires the creation or transportation of water resources. Water reservoirs, ponds or desalination processes from seawater can be used throughout the process.
4-Creating Vegetation and Ecosystems: Vegetation and other ecosystems are key factors in making the planet habitable for living things. Plants clean the atmosphere, produce oxygen and provide a source of food.
5-Surface Regulation: Topographic features on the surface must be organized for settlements and infrastructure construction. Controlling mountains, valleys and seas; planning settlements and managing resources will be an important part of the Territorialization process.
6-Maintaining a Favorable Climate: Once terraforming is complete, some effort will be required to stabilize conditions and maintain a favorable climate for life. Protecting the atmosphere, monitoring environmental factors and making adjustments as necessary are essential for this stabilization.
History of the Concept of Terraforming
The term "terraforming" was first used by American science fiction writer Jack Wiliamson. The term was popularized in the science fiction novel "Collision Orbit" and the short story "Seeds of Life" published in Astounding Science Fiction magazine in 1942. These works allowed the ideas of altering the atmosphere and surface of planets to reach large audiences for the first time.
Ideas for Terraforming Venus and Mars
The scientific foundations of the concept of terraforming were laid in 1961 when astronomer Carl Sagan published an article in Science magazine proposing the planetary engineering of Venus. Considering that the surface temperature of Venus is as high as 737 K (471 °C), Sagan argued that the main condition for living on the planet should be to reduce its surface temperature. So Sagan planned to seed Venus' atmosphere with algae. If the plan had been realized as Sagan envisioned, algae would have converted water, nitrogen and carbon dioxide into organic compounds and reduced the greenhouse effect until surface temperatures reached habitable levels. However, things would not go as Sagan had planned, and subsequent research on the conditions on Venus would make Sagan's approach impossible.
Some of the problems that prevent us from terraforming Venus are that the planet's clouds are made of a concentrated solution of sulfuric acid and its atmosphere is quite thick. Also, even if algae seeded in the atmosphere lived in the upper part of the atmosphere, the carbon that could have been fixed in organic form would have burned up and turned back into carbon dioxide, so we would be back where we started and we would not be able to move forward with the terraforming of Venus.
However, what we knew about the atmosphere of Venus in 1961 when Carl Sagan came up with this idea was limited. Therefore, his theory was still valid; however, in his 1994 book, The Pale Blue Dot, he admitted that the atmosphere of Venus was too dense and thick, based on the current data of the time, and therefore we could not do Earthization on the planet, and his theory became history.
A conceptual view of Venus, planned as a result of its terraforming.
Following these developments, Carl Sagan published an article titled "Planetary Engineering on Mars" in 1973. In his article, Sagan visualized the process of terraforming Mars and suggested that Mars could be terraformed in two ways. His suggestions include the transportation of low albedo (reflectivity) materials and the cultivation of dark-leaved plants that can absorb heat in the polar regions.
Three years after these developments, NASA put planetary engineering on its agenda, but used the term "planetary ecosynthesis" instead of Sagan's term. Thus, "On the Habitability of Mars: An Approach to Planetary Ecosynthesis", the subject of planetary engineering was officially addressed for the first time. As a result of the study, it was accepted that Mars is suitable for life and can be made habitable.
In the same year, the first conference session on the concept of Terraforming, called "planetary modeling", was held. In the following period, the First Terraforming Meeting was organized by space engineer James Oberg. The concept of terraforming became more widespread with the article "Terraforming Mars" written by Dr. Christopher McKay.
In 1984, James Lovelock and Michael Allaby published a book entitled The Greening of Mars. The book was about creating artificial global warming by adding chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to the Martian atmosphere, thereby warming the planet. In 2009, Kenneth Roy, an engineer from the US Department of Energy, introduced the concept of "Shell World" in an article published in the Journal of British Interplanetary Sciences.
A demonstration proposing to build a dome-shaped roof on top of the planet to stabilize the conditions created during terraforming.
Why is Territorialization Necessary?
Given the money and time that will be spent on resources and the difficulties we will experience along the way, one would expect the question of why we need Territorialization to come to mind. The Earth's available resources are finite, and as the population grows, the rate of depletion of these resources increases in proportion to the rate of population growth. Resources such as fossil fuels, water, agricultural land and even clean air are becoming more and more in demand. Terraforming can be a solution for our limited resources at this point.
Today, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere exceed 400 ppm. This is a level not seen since the Pliocene Epoch. NASA estimates that atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions will stabilize at 550 ppm by the end of the century, resulting in a 2.5 °C increase in the average temperature of the Earth. Against this backdrop, Terraforming is particularly important at a time when habitable land is shrinking due to global challenges such as climate change and sea level rise. In addition, as the Earth's population increases, habitable areas are also decreasing. Terraforming will also offer us the potential to create new living spaces.
Moreover, when we examine human history, we can see that humanity has already been effective in changing the current planetary conditions. For example, the widespread use of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) and industrial activities with the industrial revolution have created the greenhouse effect. The knowledge gained by humans as a result of these activities can be used to raise the surface temperature of the planet or satellite to be terraformed. In addition, the technologies we will develop while working in environments like Venus where the greenhouse effect is intense and the opportunity to test these technologies can help us make progress in our fight against global warming.
The benefits of terraforming can be summarized as above, but it should be emphasized that the process is very challenging and we should be open to any unsuccessful outcome in this area. Some potential challenges are technological inadequacies, the need for large amounts of resources, the fact that questions answered may lead to further questions and that the process may take a very long time.
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