Bipolar Mars Terraform Plan

Void · 2025-08-05 12:26:57

Conversations where I intruded on another members topic, prompt me to start this topic:
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 84#p233184
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 12#p233212
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 30#p233230
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 32#p233232
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 34#p233234
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 49#p233249
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.ph … 85#p233285

OK, now I can leave PhotonBytes alone in his topic. I am not against his concepts, but my efforts to supplement them has apparently been viewed more as harassment rather than to be assistive.

So, as it is Mars has two basic Hemispheres. And in general the South is highlands, and the North is lowlands. Exceptions are the Hellas Depression and perhaps the large shield Volcanos.

Any method of heating will tend to more heat the Northern Lowlands (and also the Hellas Depression) and less so in the Southern Highlands, and the other alpine areas.

So, perhaps we could run with this and develop the two hemispheres in different ways.

Pause............

I would think to melt and evaporate the Northern Polar Ice Cap, and allow the Southern Polar Ice Cap to actually grow.

The Northern Pole could be converted to "Farmland". The Southern Pole to a massive city in Ice.

Other targets are to evaporate any solid CO2 that can be evaporated into the atmosphere, by various terraform methods.

When I say "Farmlands", I suppose it would be wonderful to have open air agriculture. But it might not be possible to warm the North Pole that much. So, I would add the possibility to use inflatable and other domes, and also lakes, some perhaps ice covered, or dome covered.

So, a farming period might be 1/3 of the Martian year, the sunniest part of the year.

There should be seasonal snowfalls to irrigate this area.

As for the Southern Cap, as it expands, I anticipate hollowing it out with vaults and tunnels where a robot community could work at a temperature of perhaps -10 Degrees C. In the process of hollowing out this ice cap water could be melted and flowed though a system of rivers and canals and tunnels to irrigate the Hellas Depression. During the Southern summer then the Hellas Depression irrigation would donate snowfalls to the Northern Pole. During the Northern summer the farmland would donate water to the Southern Ice cap so that it could expand.

In this process, the footprint of the Southern Ice Cap, would be hollowed out somewhat but the water from the vaults and tunnels would eventually come back as snow and frost to expand the footprint of the Southern Ice Cap.

I see this as being the best way to handle Mars.

External energy from solar power in orbits could be a component of how all of this can work.

Ending Pending

Rivers flowing down hill on Mars would be self-heating, and would also conserve heat with a layer of ice.

When water flows in rivers, the motion of the water in part translates to molecular vibrations, so then heat.

And of course Hydroelectric power could be a useful byproduct of this flow.

Ending Pending

Last edited by Void (2025-08-05 12:57:16)

Void · 2025-08-05 18:55:16

I do not regard this as a contest. Rather just a page in a notebook of possibilities for Mars.

My interest in the habitation of a polar ice cap is in part because of old Sci-Fi, and that some possible Mars futures might favor it. I will include some old drawings related to such notions:

In the above drawing heat can be pulled out of B and inserted to A perhaps by a heat pump.
But if heat buildup is too much then Hot water can be vented to atmosphere, to dispose of the heat.
This process would also provide more void space in the ice mass.

The south polar ice cap might be converted to a vast interconnected set of pressurized spaces where robots and humans could work.

As the coldest spot over time would be the South Pole, you could expect the vented water to come back as more frost and snow, unless it is split into Hydrogen and Oxygen by UV light. In that case then you get more Oxygen retained in the atmosphere.

Ending Pending

Last edited by Void (2025-08-05 19:09:29)

Void · Yesterday 09:35:26

I have some unfinished business in this topic which I intend to address.

A further technique for regulating the climate of Mars and Earth could be Albedo alterations. Putting dust on the ice caps has been suggested by others in the past, and I have suggested mobile solar robots.

Dust application would possibly require repeats and would not generate power. Extremely mobile robots might be more expensive per resources than is necessary. I think the Germans came up with something, the bifacial solar panel.

https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement … ar-panels/
Quote:

Everything You Need To Know About Bifacial Solar Panels
Audited & Verified: Aug 1, 2024, 12:15am

Image Quote:

In the event of a danger of a glaciated planet, which happened previously on Earth and is sort of true for Mars now, these solar panels could be the solution that could modify Albedo, and generate electric power.

There could be a danger of a "Snowball" Mars, if too much water was lifted from the ice masses and allowed to refreeze onto the surface of Mars.

Currently on Mars Seasonal CO2 frost can damage equipment such as horizontal solar panels. Vertical Bifacial panels might survive the event better or be made so that they could survive the event.

Here is a case of damage on Mars from CO2 solid condensates: https://science.nasa.gov/resource/image … collapsed/
Quote:

Image from Mars Orbit Indicates Solar Panels on Phoneix Lander may have Collapsed

Quote:

Phoenix landed at 68 degrees north latitude, an area where the atmosphere and surface get so cold in winter that carbon dioxide forms a frost on the surface as much as several decimeters (one or more feet) thick. This frost, also known as dry ice, blankets the entire northern landscape each Martian winter, including any spacecraft that might be on the surface. The solar arrays on Phoenix were not designed to withstand significant loads of carbon dioxide frost, so scientists believe the western panel has collapsed.

So, for Earth, one thing we might do, if Earth entered an ice age would be to alter the albedo of the existing and forming ice masses at high latitudes and perhaps high altitudes.

Due to the Milenkovich Cycles, it is possible that a place like Sweden could develop summers so cold that ice and snow precipitation would not fully melt in the summer. Then ice and snow could build up. Then that buildup would reflect sunlight into space that would otherwise be absorbed by the surface.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovitch_cycles

Where I have expressed a preference to have an expanding ice cap on the South Pole of Mars and a retreating ice cap on the North Pole of Mars, this tool could be helpful to prevent the emergence of a "Snowball Mars".

Some people think that Mars has been "Snowball" at times: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/08/04/snowball-mars/

The use of partially mobile Bifacial Vertical Solar Panels on Mars, may allow an alteration of the Albedo of the exposed ice of Mars, and serve as a useful tool to terraform Mars.

If they could be made rugged enough to survive Martian winters, then periodically robotic systems might elevate or move downward the panels depending on the accumulation or losses of ice on the surface.

These panels also might double as heat exchangers to get rid of excess heat inside of an ice mass as per the shelters I have suggested previously.

Quote from previous post:

In the above drawing heat can be pulled out of B and inserted to A perhaps by a heat pump.
But if heat buildup is too much then Hot water can be vented to atmosphere, to dispose of the heat.
This process would also provide more void space in the ice mass.

Where first these methods might eliminate the permanent CO2 deposits in the South Ice cap and expand the atmosphere, also winter deposits if any would be evaporated sooner in the spring than normal. Large quantities of ice could be melted, to cool habitats, and to send rivers of water down an aqueduct system to the Hellas Depression and perhaps other depressions such as Argyle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellas_Planitia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyre_Planitia

This process might then generate Hydroelectric power on Mars. Ice covered rivers can run on the existing Mars, and in many cases, it is likely that flowing water would be covered by domes or be inside of tunnels cut in rock.

Ice dams could be a troublesome thing however, so that would require an expense to pay to regulate the prevention of them where not desired. Otherwise, permafrost dams are a useful thing that could be created.

Ending Pending

Last edited by Void (Yesterday 10:14:17)

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#1 2025-08-05 12:26:57

Bipolar Mars Terraform Plan

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Re: Bipolar Mars Terraform Plan

#3 Yesterday 09:35:26

Re: Bipolar Mars Terraform Plan

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