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| Above: The dessicated plains of Mars today. |
Well how did Mars die?
Simple*: Its core froze, killing its protective magnetic field and letting the solar wind strip the atmosphere away.
But...
Simulations suggest that, if the field were replaced, Mars would naturally heal: CO2 (a greenhouse gas) would build up, increase temperatures, and evaporate more CO2 from the ice caps – a runaway effect, thickening the atmosphere. Ices would melt, forming oceans and an atmosphere thick enough to support plant life.
NASA’s got an idea how: Station a giant electromagnet near the planet, to act as a prosthetic magnetic field.
It’s a mad idea**… but those sometimes work…
*By which I mean: Actually quite complicated, but I'll sum it up in a simple way because I've only got 101 words to get to the terraforming stuff..
**Not in the sense of ‘let’s harness ten thousand rabbits into an army with hypnosis’ mad idea, but more like a ‘let’s actually run in the charity marathon this year’ kind of mad idea.
...or, if you'd like to help us do things like podcasts, animations, and videos here why not...
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| Above: An artists impression of a terraformed Mars. |
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