Looks like the ongoing research into “global warming” is bearing some useful fruit: Humans Could Make Mars Earth-Like by Global Warming
Scientists have calculated that it would only be necessary to inject powerful greenhouse gases into the Martian atmosphere to ?terraform? the planet.
Over time, the Martian ice caps would melt and the atmosphere thicken enough to make the planet habitable…
The key involves triggering a run-away greenhouse effect using gases nearly 10,000 times more effective than carbon dioxide at holding in heat.
The scientists, led by Dr Margarita Marinova at the American space agency?s Ames Research Centre, focused on fluorine-based gases made of elements readily available on the Martian surface.
A compound called octafluoropropane, or C3F8, produced the greatest warming, which was enhanced further by combining it with several other gases.
The computer model showed that adding about 300 parts per million of the gas mixture to the thin Martian atmosphere would spark a runaway greenhouse effect.
Not that I think it’s necessary to terraform Mars for human habitation. Nor is it all that clear to me that it’s desirable to do so, given the opportunity cost involved…introducing or retaining energy in the Martian atmosphere could very well worsen dust storms in the near term, for instance, making it more rather than less difficult to access and operate (and live) on the surface.
What makes this development interesting to me is that it is an example of the unexpected benefits that can result from basic scientific research…even research with dubious foundations. The sky-is-falling catastrophism motivating research into anthropogenic global warming (with the unscientific a priori goal of finding evidence of climate change and pinning the blame for it squarely on human activity) may ultimately prove to be an echo of the alchemical search for a means of transmuting lead into gold…a search which proved fruitless, but which as a by-product launched chemistry as a scientific discipline.
I think that it would be better to have a space elevator from the moon toward the earth to just above low earth orbit. We could then “park” a shuddle there for repairs if need be.