> "In the future it is quite possible that an inflatable structure(s) can generate a magnetic dipole field at a level of perhaps 1 or 2 Tesla (or 10,000 to 20,000 Gauss) as an active shield against the solar wind."
The article is unclear whether this is 1 or 2 Tesla at a point, or if what's needed is a field that's 1 or 2 Tesla over a large area, which would be a lot more than "an MRI machine's worth". Interesting idea anyways.
>As a result, Mars atmosphere would naturally thicken over time, which lead to many new possibilities for human exploration and colonization. According to Green and his colleagues, these would include an average increase of about 4 °C (~7 °F), which would be enough to melt the carbon dioxide ice in the northern polar ice cap. This would trigger a greenhouse effect, warming the atmosphere further and causing the water ice in the polar caps to melt.
Also suspiciously absent is any mention of how long this kind of change would be expected to take... I would be legitimately surprised if it'd take less than 20 years though, which is somewhat implied by the paragraphs that follow:
>"A greatly enhanced Martian atmosphere, in both pressure and temperature, that would be enough to allow significant surface liquid water would also have a number of benefits for science and human exploration in the 2040s and beyond," ...
A lot of it does seem to be very carefully avoiding making any clear statements or connections between critical bits of info though. There's room for "that wasn't claimed" arguments, but it's certainly standing very close to some lines...
We are clearly talking about a planetary-sized magnetic field. But I don't think it's in the realm of impossibility. With a sun-shade like that of JWST, temperatures naturally drop to superconducting ranges and at that point a closed electric loop has effectively zero resistance. So, at least in theory, you could induce an infinite current into it, slowly gathering solar energy until you build up the required magnetic field. The limiting factor would be the physical strength of the winding.
I don't have the technical expertise to estimate if such a project would require mere billions, or planetary sized piles of money.
I don't think the carrying capacity of superconductors is infinite. If you exceed the capacity, the superconductor "quenches" and ceases to be superconducting.
I'll point out you couldn't just park it at L1. If it's deflecting the solar wind, then it's acting as a solar sail. You would need active propulsion to keep it on station.
I was thinking the same thing but you likely have an area to work with however L1 points are unstable as it is and require satellites to alter the courses every once in a while potentially if you use the magnetic field as a light sail slightly in front of the point you'd be balanced between the sun and mars with less active thrust
> I'll point out you couldn't just park it at L1. If it's deflecting the solar wind, then it's acting as a solar sail.
Assuming the solar wind is constant, you could presumably park it somewhere other than L1. That's certainly not a valid assumption, though, so propulsion is going to be necessary.
Sounds like an incredible single point of failure. You would have to keep it constantly maintained and fuelled, and maybe build ten of them for redundancy, and even then whoever controls them would be able to hold the entire planet to ransom.
Just because it works with martian atmospheric conditions doesn't mean you have to do it in open atmo. Instead you can fill a chamber at atmospheric pressure, run the device, then pump the oxygenated air into a filtration system to process from there. This is pretty similar to what the researchers did to prove the concept on earth anyways (build it in a sealed tube with mars-like atmo).
The main issue after simply having oxygen is that the martian atmosphere has so much CO2 and so little everything else. Considering that subsurface temperatures can get low enough to sublimate CO2 into dry ice, you could potentially (and I say potentially because this isn't my specialty by any means) build an air production loop that uses relatively little power other than to drive the plasma reactor itself and a thermal pump to bring cold fluid to the surface to chill the oxygenated air so that the CO2 sublimates out. Of course here you could also just use energy to chill the gas via a compression chiller or make some tradeoff between the two. This process would move you along the following steps:
Standard Atmosphere with 95% CO2, 2.5% N2, and 2.5% trace elements (mostly argon, also a very small amount of O2, and a tiny amount of CO).
After Plasma Reactor: 65% CO2, 30% O2, 2.5% N2, and 2.5% trace elements.
After Sublimation: Lower volume of gas with 85% O2, ~7% N2, 5.5% argon (from trace elements), and the rest of the trace elements. And the CO2 is now dry ice.
Then it's just a matter of diluting the "purified air" with nitrogen or other inert gasses, adjusting the pressure, and preventing buildup of any nasties in the trace elements (such as the carbon monoxide). Now you should have breathable, earth-like atmosphere for suits and cabins.
This is mainly based on my knowledge of processes we use on earth already for extracting stuff from the air so caveat that I could be missing important details.
One book I read suggested it would take about 100,000 years for the atmosphere to ablate into space. We should be on Europa and other outer moons by then.
Of course “Corey” (The Expanse) are probably right that each colony will develop her own personality, and it will be difficult to abandon any of them. The cultural trauma of such an event could be profound.
It absolutely would not be vented. It would be liquified and stored to use in rockets. They can't go home until they get enough of that and of methane. It will soon occupy all their thought, and squat their dreams. being stuck until the launch window opens up again.
To workaround this we could build a modular planet wide “city” and have everything shielded by walls. Expand it as you go along and keep everything needed inside. No need for expensive and time consuming terraforming.
