Hard to transform Mars for living

There is not enough carbon dioxide to heat it

MADRID (EFE) .- Terraforming is a hypothetical process that would change the conditions of a planet to make it habitable for people. species of the Earth. Mars would be the most suitable candidate for this transformation, if it was not because it lacks carbon dioxide.

An article that published "Nature Astronomy" indicates that this terraforming process is not "a viable possibility (for Mars) with Bruce Jakosky and Christopher Edwards, experts from Colorado Burden's American universities and the Arizona, respectively, have reviewed the idea of ​​terraforming in light of current knowledge about the red planet.

Probable options for "terraforming" Mars have talked about releasing in the atmosphere the greenhouse gases stored in its rocks and polar ice caps with the intention that the atmosphere is more dense, the planet heats up and, in this way, the liquid water stays on the surface

Researchers focused on carbon dioxide from the red planet, which is the only greenhouse gas present in sufficient quantity to produce significant warming.

They used the data provided p ar the rovers and space probes of the last twenty years relating to CO2 accessible both on Mars and In underground reservoirs, as well as the continuous emissions of this gas in space.

In the best scenario, according to the authors, easily accessible carbon dioxide "could only triple the atmospheric pressure of Mars", a fifth of the changes needed to make it habitable, and it would raise the temperature by less than ten degrees .

At a glance

Difficulty

Most of the carbon dioxide present in Mars reservoirs can not be easily mobilized into the atmosphere.

Not feasible

Scientists consider that "terraforming Mars using known carbon dioxide on the planet would need technologies that are far ahead of those currently available."