NASA is again on the verge
of colonizing Mars as scientists have suggested a bold plan that could give
Mars its atmosphere back and make the Red Planet livable for future generations
of human colonists. It could only be possible by making Mars safe, from solar
winds and in order to do that they will launch a giant magnetic shield into the
space. The space agency says we could restore the Red Planet's atmosphere, and
terraform the Martian environment so that liquid water flows on the surface
once again.
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Artist’s impression. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight
Centre
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Red Planet is thought to have
once a thick atmosphere that must have maintained deep oceans filled with
liquid water, and a warmer, potentially habitable climate, but now the weather
not even suitable for any human being.
Scientists think Mars lost
all of this because of the collapse that happened with its protective magnetic
field billions of years ago, the high-energy particles coming from the Sun been
destroying the atmosphere of red planet since then.
The "artificial magnetosphere" is
the basic concept that scientists have proposed in new findings presented at
the Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop last week, NASA's Planetary Science
Division director, Jim Green, said launching an "artificial
magnetosphere" into space between Mars and the Sun could theoretically
shield the Red Planet in the extended magneto tail that trails behind the
protective field.
The researchers explained this
in a research paper: "This situation then eliminates many of the solar
wind erosion processes that occur with the planet's ionosphere and upper
atmosphere allowing the Martian atmosphere to grow in pressure and temperature
over time,"
While the team acknowledges
that the concept might sound "fanciful", they point to existing
miniature magnetosphere research being conducted to protect astronauts and
spacecraft from cosmic radiation, and think that the same technology on a
larger scale could be used to shield Mars.
If this proposal could be
able to transfer itself into reality and if the solar wind were neutralized by
the magnetic shield, Mars's atmospheric losses would stop, and the atmosphere
would regain as much as half the atmospheric pressure of Earth in a matter of
years.
Green said: "It may be
feasible that we can get up to these higher field strengths that are necessary
to provide that shielding. We need to be able then to also modify that
direction of the magnetic field so that it always pushes the solar wind
away."
About 4 degree Celsius
temperature is needed to melt carbon dioxide ice. The team estimates Mars's
climate would become around 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer,
which would be enough to melt carbon dioxide ice over the Red Planet's northern
polar cap.
Green said: "This is
not terraforming as you may think of it where we actually artificially change
the climate, but we let nature do it, and we do that based on the physics we
know today”.
It is being admitted by the
team that their plan mostly look very dramatic, but if this happened, it would
be pretty amazing vision for what might be possible in the years ahead. The
researchers intend to keep studying the possibilities to get a more accurate
estimate of how long the climate-altering effects would take.
The researchers said: “Much
like Earth, an enhanced atmosphere would: allow larger landed mass of equipment
to the surface, shield against most cosmic and solar particle radiation, extend
the ability for oxygen extraction, and provide 'open air' green-houses to exist
for plant production, just to name a few, if this can be achieved in a
lifetime, the colonization of Mars would not be far away."
The findings were presented
at the Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop.
