Process Description Devansh Modi

Technical Description Project #3

Terraformation of Mars

Introduction

Terraformation is the process where a hostile environment is made to change in a way to support
human life. The branches of this process can include changing the atmosphere, ecology,
temperature, and surface, The desired outcome is to make a planet or moon be more like our
planet Earth.

Figure 1: A depiction of the transition of Mars from being an inhabitable planet to “Earth-like”.

Process Overview

Selecting Potential Sites Breathing on Mars

Atmosphere Formation Ecopoiesis
1 Selecting Potential Sites

Terraformation is an ambitious engineering endeavor that humans could one day take. Earth will
reach a point where it cannot support any higher population. Terraforming another planet will
allow us to develop a world that’s designed for advancing the human race from the beginning.
Selecting the potential sites on Mars for terraforming refers to the sites on Mars that will offer
access to sub-surface water deposits, polar ice caps, mineral deposits and chemicals. “Life” can
be seen as a mechanism where a living organism metabolizes biological chemicals for continued
life cycle. We already know that oxygen and nitrogen are two chemicals that support life on
Earth. So, we want to select potential sites that could ideally support development of similar
conditions. However, technically speaking, life could be imagined in various combinations of
metabolisms that we may only expect in science fiction movies like Star Wars. The potential
sites we select will allow us to begin terraforming by inducing breathing conditions on Mars.

Figure 1: Artist’s conception of a terraformed Mars. Credit: Ittiz/Wikimedia Commons

2 Breathing on Mars

2.1 Suitable Pressure

Breathing for humans on any planet will require the right pressure and mixture of
gases. Today, Mars has an atmosphere 0.15 psi (pounds per square inch), which is
below the Armstrong limit. Any pressure below Armstrong limit will cause our
bodily fluids to boil away. That is also why astronauts wear a bodysuit when they
enter hostile conditions. In order to breathe on Mars, we will need to bring the
pressure above 2.8 psi to remove the need for pressure suits. At this pressure, we will
only need a mask that supplies pure oxygen. Ideal conditions for our body would be
reached only above 10 psi. Anything between 2.8 to 15 psi would resemble
conditions that mountaineers face when entering high altitudes.

2.2 Suitable Gases

Once, we have established the right pressure, the potential sites we selected can be
exploited to allow the right mixture of gases to form in the atmosphere. This can be
done through sending meteors of ammonia to polar ice caps. Meteors coupled with
surface heating techniques would allow nitrogen to evaporate in form of gas. Surface
heating will be another process to help develop the right breathing conditions. It
could be done through greenhouse effect. Melting the frozen carbon dioxide in the
polar ice caps would allow such greenhouse effect.

Ultimately, the increased surface temperature would allow the frozen water on Mars to form
oceans. We could use this water for electrolysis and then produce the essential oxygen. After
forming the right breathing conditions, it would be time to form an atmosphere that would allow
the planet to sustain the cycle of all the essential elements for life.

3 Atmosphere Formation

3.1 Importing of Ammonia

A sub-process for atmosphere formation as suggested by NASA is to import
ammonia into the Martian environment. It is possible that ammonia exists on small
planets and moons in the outer solar system that could be sent to Mars. Ammonia
has many life supporting uses as mentioned earlier.
 3.2 Importing of Hydrocarbons
Another approach to make a Martian environment would be to import methane or
different hydrocarbons, which are found in Titan's air and on its surface; the methane
could be vented into the air where it would act as a greenhouse gas (Titan is one of
Jupiter’s moon.) This would allow the precipitation cycle to begin like on Earth. The
greenhouse traps the heat on surface making the water evaporate and then cool down
in the upper layers of the atmosphere.

3.3 Maintenance
Once we have delivered the required compounds to the Martian surface, we have to
ensure the atmosphere is continuously monitored and maintained. This will require us
to account for the loss of the atmospheric gases to the space. The simplest technique
would be to grow Earth-like trees and plants that would help regulate the supply of
gases. Furthermore, we will need to setup monitoring stations around Mars to ensure
we do not have any hidden leaks developing in the atmosphere undoing the
terraforming.

Figure 2: NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has detected fluctuations in methane concentration in
the atmosphere, implying that it is added and removed all the time. (Image Credit: NASA/JPL-
Caltech/SAM-GSFC/Univ. of Michigan)
4 Ecopoiesis
A major step in terraformation is Ecopoiesis. Since the last few years, NASA is developing
sealed biodomes to contain oxygen generating cyanobacteria and algae for the production of
molecular oxygen on Martian surface. Being able to create oxygen on Mars would offer
substantial cost savings compared to resupplying compounds from other planets and moons. This
biological process, called ecopoiesis, will be a major leap in planetary engineering and
successful terraforming of Mars.

Figure 2: The Mars Ecopoiesis Test Bed showing its transparent dome to allow for solar
heat and photosynthesis