"Thousands of solar reflector satellites" could warm Mars



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Space retreat

Since 2015, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has made it clear that he really wants to neutralize Mars in order to transform it – and, presumably, make it a livable place for billionaires.

But he could have a plan B in his sleeve that would not risk turning the red planet into a gigantic Chernobyl the size of a planet.

"It might be logical to have thousands of solar reflector satellites to warm Mars compared to artificial suns," Musk tweeted Tuesday. Then he added cautiously: "To be determined".

Martian Mirrors

This idea may not be as crazy as it may seem: in 2006, University of Arizona student Rigel Woida suggested the use of orbital mirrors to turn Mars into an astronaut – a suggestion which earned him a NASA scholarship at the time.

According to the 2007 Woida paper, the idea was to have a "network of two to three hundred 150-meter diameter reflectors in the form of a monolith or a series of small clusters" to warm up the Martian surface. .

Artificial Suns

Musk too elaborate on his plan A – "Nuke Mars" – on Twitter: drop a "continuous stream of nuclear fusion explosions with very low spin-offs over the atmosphere to create artificial suns". After all, the Sun is technically a "huge thermonuclear explosion", he explained last week.

But for this to happen, NASA should change its position. A little over a year ago, NASA 's research revealed that Mars' presence in the environment would not be enough to make it a holiday destination similar to the Earth.

READ MORE: Elon Musk reflects on solar reflectors instead of hammering Mars to warm it up[[[[CNET]

More on Musk's plans: Sorry, Elon: Terraforming Mars would take 3,500 nuclear weapons a day

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