New Mars Forums
You are not logged in.
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
Announcement
#26 2003-10-10 10:07:53
- dickbill
- Member
- Registered: 2002-09-28
- Posts: 749
Re: Mercury Terraformation?
Terraforming mercury interests me precisely because it is nearest to sun.
why ?
Offline
#27 2003-10-11 05:12:27
- alokmohan
- Member
- From: india
- Registered: 2003-09-14
- Posts: 169
Re: Mercury Terraformation?
tHE ONLY ONE OF ITS TYPE.tHERE WILL BE TWO SUNRISES PROBABLY.iT WILL BE NICE TOURING PLACE.
Offline
#28 2003-10-11 08:50:59
- ~Eternal~
- Member
- Registered: 2003-09-25
- Posts: 211
Re: Mercury Terraformation?
Terraforming mercury interests me precisely because it is nearest to sun.
why ?
Do you realize how much O3 would be need for it 8).
The skys would be filled with a purple haze and a magnificent brillant Star taking up most of the sky.
The MiniTruth passed its first act #001, comname: PATRIOT ACT on October 26, 2001.
Offline
#29 2003-10-12 04:48:02
- alokmohan
- Member
- From: india
- Registered: 2003-09-14
- Posts: 169
Re: Mercury Terraformation?
But for tourists wont it be nice?I long to go.
Offline
#30 2003-10-12 07:40:41
- dicktice
- Member
- From: Nova Scotia, Canada
- Registered: 2002-11-01
- Posts: 1,764
Re: Mercury Terraformation?
Regarding Mercury: My single suggestion for making it habitable, on the surface away from the Sun, would be to slow its rotation to match its orbital period. This should be possible since it's nearly that now, with a tendency towards synchronism already in force--it just needs a little help to "lock-in" for our purposes sooner. (The best way to do this is left as a "student exercise.") Domed surface colonies, shielded from the Sun, should then not only be feasible, but practical places to live, work and transport metals and minerals from, returning with tourists via Solar sailing ships galore! employed in continuous Mercury-Earth, Mercury-Venus and Mercury-Mars orbital commerce.
Offline
#31 2003-10-12 07:55:28
- Shaun Barrett
- Member
- From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia
- Registered: 2001-12-28
- Posts: 2,843
Re: Mercury Terraformation?
Makes as much sense as anything else I've read about terraforming Mercury!
:;):
The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down. - Rita Rudner
Offline
#32 2003-10-12 10:24:41
- Byron
- Member
- From: Florida, USA
- Registered: 2002-05-16
- Posts: 844
Re: Mercury Terraformation?
Makes as much sense as anything else I've read about terraforming Mercury!
:;):
I agree! 
B
Offline
#33 2003-10-13 04:49:29
- alokmohan
- Member
- From: india
- Registered: 2003-09-14
- Posts: 169
Re: Mercury Terraformation?
Regarding Mercury: My single suggestion for making it habitable, on the surface away from the Sun, would be to slow its rotation to match its orbital period. This should be possible since it's nearly that now, with a tendency towards synchronism already in force--it just needs a little help to "lock-in" for our purposes sooner. (The best way to do this is left as a "student exercise.") Domed surface colonies, shielded from the Sun, should then not only be feasible, but practical places to live, work and transport metals and minerals from, returning with tourists via Solar sailing ships galore! employed in continuous Mercury-Earth, Mercury-Venus and Mercury-Mars orbital commerce.
We may think of it seriously.
Offline
#34 2024-06-06 09:24:20
- Mars_B4_Moon
- Member
- Registered: 2006-03-23
- Posts: 9,774
Re: Mercury Terraformation?
an old topic on a difficult task of making a part of Mercury into a habitable space village for humans to live
Japanese-European spacecraft bound for Mercury weakened by thruster glitch
https://www.space.com/bepicolombo-space … ter-glitch
Twin Probes Suffer Thruster Glitch on the Way to Mercury
https://gizmodo.com.au/2024/05/twin-pro … o-mercury/
What did general relativity clarify about Mercury?
https://physics.stackexchange.com/quest … ut-mercury
Offline
#35 2024-06-06 14:40:35
- Calliban
- Member
- From: Northern England, UK
- Registered: 2019-08-18
- Posts: 3,627
Re: Mercury Terraformation?
Classic terraforming of Mercury would be really difficult. We don't really know how much water, nitrogen and carbon are under its crust. But probably not enough for a thick atmosphere. But if people can get underground, especially in places far north or south of the equator, then temperatures could be quite tolerable. Mercury is a candidate for cave terraforming. Also, by covering areas of tye surface with highly relective foil, we could reduce temperature underneath.
The main problem is getting there. Really we need nuclear pulse propulsion that combines high-isp and high thrust.
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
Offline
#36 2024-06-06 15:17:06
- tahanson43206
- Moderator
- Registered: 2018-04-27
- Posts: 18,452
Re: Mercury Terraformation?
For Calliban re #35
As a reminder for NewMars readers, Mercury has been proposed as a location to collect solar energy to be beamed around the Solar System.
It might not support a large permanent population, but it might well support an industrial operation on a large scale.
Power is going to be greatly appreciated by humans in the outer Solar System, and a tight beam from Mercury might be an economic trade opportunity.
(th)
Offline
#37 2024-06-07 10:11:25
- Void
- Member
- Registered: 2011-12-29
- Posts: 7,513
Re: Mercury Terraformation?
More and more I think of terraforming our entire solar system. Para Terraforming in most cases.
It seems that Mercury has lots of graphite and may have a water making process involving the solar wind.
Venus of course would have excess Nitrogen if you could get it to Mercury.
Others has suggested ways to partially tame the planet. I agree that a better propulsion would be needed to start the habitation of Mercury.
Two SciFi stories have caused be to think of mischief. Dune and also "A quiet place".
For Dune we will assume that the emperor will not allow the fremen to do what I suggest.
Mercury does not have life that we know of at all.
But for Dune and Mercury it could be important to have hyperloop. Elon Musk has indicated that it may be possible to have Hyperloop on Mars, without tunnels. So, I presume that it could be done that way on Mercury. But it is likely better to do it in tunnels, if possible, eventually.
For Dune you would definitely want tunnels in the rock below the worms. Connecting all the rocky sitches I suppose.
Mercury does not have sand worms but does have the heat of the sun and also radiation is a problem even with a magnetic field I expect. So, this is in line with Caliban's expectations.
For sandworms on Dune, I expect that spice harvesting could be improved with drones, that can drop to the surface with thumpers and draw the worms to a direction desired. Or loud music. The drones take off when the worms get nearby. Then play pig-in-the-middle with the worms. Probably this would lead to lawsuits from environmentalist groups with green and blue hair though.
For "A quiet place" drones again, luring the blind aliens off of cliffs into deep water would be effective at least to some extent. Otherwise driving them insane might be an option. But again, probably lawsuits from environmental groups, with green and blue hair.
But yes, for Mercury a lot of underground space would be valuable and connecting the more habitable areas might help avoid a binary tribal situation to some extent where each pole might have a nation.
Done
Last edited by Void (2024-06-07 10:30:21)
I am starting to ask seriously "Why do I do this?"
Online