Questions tagged [terraforming]
For questions about the process of turning a barren space (such as a planet, moon, or asteroid) into a habitable one.
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How to increase Jupiter’s reflectivity?
The idea of turning Jupiter into a sun to terraform the Galilean moons is a popular one. This concept goes by the alluring name of “stellification,” but has a few important drawbacks when prodded with ...
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How would a fantasy civilization terraform Mars-like planets using magic?
Backstory
The fantasy civilization in question was stolen from this other question:
Which of these space colonizing civilizations has the advantage in a conflict
It is a civilization with Roman/...
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If Titan was suddenly raised to an earth-like temperature, how long before it melts?
After terraforming Mars, humans are now attempting to terraform Saturn’s moon Titan. Having removed much of its dense atmosphere, (reducing the pressure to just 0.7 bars) the colonists have now built ...
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Would it make more sense to terraform a planet with a single climate or multiple varieties of climate?
A human civilization in my story has terraformed hundreds, possibly thousands of planets across their galaxy to support life. They have done this by changing the atmospheres, adding minerals into the ...
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Could all of human population fit in China, India, and Mongolia?
I have a scenario where Aliens must escape their Star system because a star 5 light years away from them is going nova soon. They find humanity and learn all about them in a few years - our whole ...
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Methods of releasing nitrogen from martian regolith
One important step in the proposed terraforming Mars would be to give the planet a nitrogen atmosphere.
Now, most assume that nitrogen, (along with water and other luxuries of the sort) would have to ...
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Would it be possible to alter the chemical composition of a planet’s atmosphere for humans? [closed]
If my civilization (composed of humans who have extremely advanced technology such as portal engines (which can create traversable wormholes from one end) is terraforming worlds and creating colonies ...
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Would it be possible to alter the gravitational field of a planet to one more suitable for human habitation?
I know low gravity can have negative effects on humans, and I would guess high gravity would also have negative effects. So would it be possible to increase or decrease a plant’s gravity to better ...
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How would a future humanity "terraform" the moon?
Let's say, hypothetically (perhaps in the setting of a book series), Earth is temporarily destroyed. Antimatter weapons have been used in self-defense during a violent conflict. Now, thousands of ...
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How long is a terraformed mars likely to remain habitable without plate tectonics?
Whilst considering the terraforming Mars in my science fiction project, I realised something rather important: Mars has no plate tectonics.
That means that, assuming the humans in my project manage to ...
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Critical animal species for temperate rainforest climate
On my terraformed exoplanet, the largest habitable land masses are primarily covered with temperate rainforests (average temperatures from 8 to 18 C)
Assume for this question that the bottom of the ...
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What changes would be expected of Earth plants on a low-light planet?
I've read about plants on worlds orbiting red dwarfs potentially having black leaves due to the higher infrared radiation, but what kind of changes would be expected of plants on a planet like Mars ...
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Plausible evolutionary changes for fauna on a terraformed planet?
My planet is a tidally locked rocky planet (90% Earth surface gravity) orbiting an M-type star. This M-type star orbits a G-type star at roughly 1.5AU.
This means that it has a kind of day/night cycle ...
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Is there enough nitrogen in nitrates on Mars to create a thick atmosphere? [duplicate]
One idea concerning the terraforming Mars involves breaking down nitrates in the regolith, (which the curiosity rover confirms exist) into nitrogen and oxygen/ozone. These gases are key in creating a ...
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Thermoelectric-powered electromagnets to render Mars habitable
The answers to my latest question on restarting Mars core have finally convinced me; I have abandoned the concept of doing so. However, whilst morosely browsing other questions on giving Mars a ...
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Melting Mars’ core with heliobeams
Humans are trying to terraform Mars. The first step is to restart the magnetosphere. To do this, (and any naysayers who think that a magnetic dipole satellite is better can kindly not say so) a swarm ...
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Increasing venus’ rotation using radiation pressure
I know, I know; I said I was giving up on Venusian terraformation, but this is gonna haunt me for the rest of my days if I don’t come up with some way to render this planet habitable. So, back to the ...
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Speeding up venus with rocks from mercury
I’ve decided that in terraforming venus, the time taken to speed up its rotation by venting the atmosphere is just too much. So, I’ve returned to the idea of bombarding the planet with something ...
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How to keep a giant shell around venus rotating normally
So, let’s face it, terraforming Venus is a bust. There’s simply no good way to do it without speeding up its rotation, which demands huge quantiles of energy. Any civilisation that could produce this ...
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Time taken to spin venus with mass drivers
So, returning (once more) to the prospect of the terraformation of Venus, I have finally come up with a method of spinning this rock to something approaching 24 hours which (cross fingers) might work ...
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Ways to speed up venus’ rotation without an asteroid strike [duplicate]
So, a fairly high-tech civilisation is looking to terraform Venus. This will first involve accelerating its rotation from 243 days to 24 hours, in order to cool it down and strengthen the ...
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Creating a second earth: the problem with stars
(Continues along the premise of this question: Creating a second earth: How to make a continent?)
So, thanks to their helpful team of ask forum buddies, 😉 the terraformers designing New Earth have ...
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I’m trying to imagine an Earth-like planet around Barnard’s star
What I have established about this planet is that it is the size of Earth but it is located 2.2 AU from Barnard’s star, a red dwarf. I’m trying to figure out how much greenhouse gases are needed to ...
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Using solar sails to accelerate a planet’s rotation [closed]
So, just pondering on methods of terraforming venus, it seems that the first step regardless of what comes is to speed up its rotation. This will strengthen its magnetic field, not to mention cool off ...
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Converting mars’ atmosphere to water
So, I have come to the decision that there is no one easy way to bring water to Mars. So, in light of that, i have decided on several methods which will be used simultaneously, and which I hope will ...
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How much of Mars is covered if 10 quadrillion tonnes of water fall on it?
The setting:
In trying to terraform Mars quickly, I am imagining that Phobos, (the bigger of its two moons) holds ten-quadrillion tonnes of water ice beneath its stony regolith. I am further supposing ...
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What would happen if Olympus mons erupted?
The Tharsis range is a quartet of immense volcanoes on Mars, one of which, Olympus Mons, is largest in the solar system. It is so vast that it cannot be seen from the surface; should you stand it’s ...
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How long would it take to recreate the biosphere on a “dead Earth” planet?
So, one of my main settings involves humanity colonizing an Earth-like planet. The planet has all the abiotic features needed to support mankind (oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, magnetic field, 70% ...
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How can I deliver 4 x10^19 kg of hydrogen to a planet in 30 years?
So, in the early years of interstellar colonisation, a planet called Uwa Ohuru starts to be terraformed. Uwa Ohuru is a Venus-like planet with a thick co2 atmosphere, (though not so thick that this ...
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What would the easiest planet to terraform look like?
With terraforming, how to do it and how long it takes depends largely on the planet in question. Worlds such as Venus may be nigh-impossible to terraform, whereas worlds more similar to prebiotic ...
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Effects of Superconducting Rings to create a magnetic field around a planet
Continuing along my oft-contineud series of questions relating to terraforming, I return to an idea of giving Mars a magnetic field which I had hitherto dismissed. The idea is that a huge ...
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Best materials to build a worldhouse roof
In an imagined sci-fi universe where immense space habitats and constructs are common (however, nothing reaching nearly the size of a Niven Ring) one of the many forms are worldhouses: planets ...
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Biology of a dyson-tree
The concept of a dyson tree is a genetically engineered plant that can exist in vacuum conditions, and uses the raw materials found in extraterrestrial regolith (I.e. comets, asteroids etc) to produce ...
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Using "smart" bio-machine fungus to terraform a planet?
Backstory
Ok let's start from the top. A kardashev type 1.2 civilization (a humanity maybe a couple decades to a century ahead of us) builds the beginnings of a dyson swarm, suddenly having unlimited ...
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How eccentric can a planet’s orbit be before it is uninhabitable?
So, I am writing a list of criteria for wannabe terraformers so that they know at what point any of their pet projects can be considered truly habitable. This list covers everything from the necessary ...
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Fastest way to give mars oceans [closed]
So, in light of my previous question: how long would it take to bring water to Mars?, assuming that humans have established a magnetic field and atmosphere thus far, what it the fastest way to then ...
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Why do pantropy (genetically modified humans) and terraforming both exist?
I am trying to increase the diversity of beings in this sci-if futuristic project, and am considering the use of pantropy to do so. Pantropy means genetically altering humans to inhabit unfamiliar ...
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How much time would take for Venus to generate a Magnetic Field?
Supposing that we managed to speed up Venus's rotation to a 24 hour cycle in just under 40 years (how we managed to do that is irrelevant here), how much time would take for Venus to form a magnetic ...
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Introducing animals to a terraforming Mars by air-drop
So, the moment has arrived: Mars is habitable. Plants, fungi, and even insects have been introduced by air-drop, along with fish and crustaceans introduced as eggs. However, what larger animals could ...
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sources of water for martian terraformers
The terraforming of Mars, assuming that the hurdle of establishing a magnetic field has already been jumped, now meets another problem: water. The planet has a pair of ice caps, but between them they ...
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Accelerating venus’ rotating by venting gas
So, given that my earlier question, amount of mass needed to speed up Venus rotation, is a no-no, I am resorting to one last method of changing the planet’s rotation before giving up on Venus entirely....
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amount of mass needed to speed up Venus rotation
So, returning again to the subject of terraforming Venus, what if these terraformers collide an asteroid with the planet? This meteor hits Venus at an angle, and thus speeds up its rotation to 24 ...
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How to tunnel to a planet’s core
One of the main problems with creating a magnetic field around Mars, (which would be necessary for terraforming the planet) is that most proposed systems require some artificial device to sustain it. (...
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Protecting Proxima Centauri from solar wind
So, I’m trying to terraform Proxima Centauri B, an exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf. This star emits a lot of UV, solar flares and solar wind, which all pose a problem for colonists; the UV and solar ...
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Could a virus be used to terraform planets?
I came up with a society of insectoid aliens called Ebline, based on ants. Their class structure and stuff are very interesting, but their coolest tool is a virus called Cuulaziu. When they find a new ...
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Could utility fog be used to build a planet? [closed]
I am considering the plausibility of creating a Project involving “Gods”. These are super intelligent beings composed entirely of utility fog; clouds of nanotechnological components capable of ...
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How many earth-sized worlds can fit in the habitable zone?
I am imagining a scenario where the planets, not just Mars and Venus, but Uranus Saturn and Neptune, have been terraformed, the latter three by stripping away their atmospheres to leave the ...
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Terraforming Mars by making Ceres orbit it
So, Mars is a stubborn planet that refuses to be terraformed. No matter how much air you import in order to create a atmosphere around it, it will be blown away in a short time. And there is one ...
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How can I prevent solar flares?
Quite simply, people are trying to terraform extrasolar planets, starting with Proxima Centauri B. Assuming it is not tidally locked, is it possible to protect the planet from solar flares or to alter ...
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Terraforming a gas giant by freezing the "gas" and "liquid" and removing it by huge impacts
In my setting, humans want to colonize Jupiter, so as to establish an outpost in the outer Solar System, but cannot due to a barrage of reasons.
Jupiter's gravity is really high and would prove to be ...
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