New Mars Forums

Nitrogen I almost forgot! I actually have a colleague working on a nitrogenase that works in oxygen environments (normally they don't, that why plants have to have nitrogen fixing bacteria underground in little nodules), and since he is working on putting it into cyanobacteria/algae already, it would most likely operate in a lichen

Perhaps having lichen AND extremophilic bacteria on the surface would be a good route. Natural selection at its finest. Perhaps the lichen could even uptake the extremophiles living in biofilm on the surface

Also I think that energy is not a restricting factor, since DNA repair is cheap (just if it gets too good no mutation happens, aka no evolution). Mutation HAS to happen or else we would most likely still be lil strands of RNA.

On the types of photosynthesis, cyanobacteria use the more advanced. Why? Because they can adapt quicker then plants. Lets say a cyanobacteria multiplies every hour. A plant mutliplies every 100 days. That means that the cyanobacteria have 2400 more chances on mutations developing the new system (because they multiply 2400x faster), and in addition to that the cyanobacteria can afford to have less DNA repair because they don't need to multiply billions of identical cells, so mutation happens quicker.

Metabolism is one of the biggest places though. The bacteria would have to uptake so many different types of stuff that this could be problematic. Of course there is always iron metabolism, which can create energy and compensate for sunlight.

The one thing that I was thinking about is that this would be a one time thing... if we screw it up then the bacteria are going to pump the air with oxygen and crap up all the iron in the soil. Which unfortunately means the process we want to accelerate will decelerate with the presence of oxygen

-Koeng

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermogenesis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermogenin

Could be useful. And man would probably be needed to seed the population, but people will most likely land on mars before terraforming is implemented

Hey everyone! Its been a while since I've been here, i have been working on my current career with synthetic biology

With me, I fully support sending extremophiles to mars for the purpose of terraforming. (If I get done with my current projects, which should take a couple years, I plan on beginning creation of a extremophile to assist in terraforming mars)

I think that a major problem is cost. Bacteria multiply themselves, which is convenient if the public suddenly decides to stop funding a terraforming project. This makes cost very minimal. One of my current ideas for a bacterium goes as the follows;

Metabolism:
The bacteria would be photosynthetic and have the ability to metabolism iron (as is in the ground). For max effect, the bacteria would express both bacteriorhodopsin and average photosynthetic proteins, therefore absorbing as much sunlight as possible. The bacteria would be based off of a psychrophile, a cold loving bacteria, and would use an extreme amount of DNA repair proteins to be resistant to the UV radiation. For the iron metabolism to be most effective, there needs to be a biofilm. This biofilm surrounding the cells could also provide protection from UV and a place to condense water molecules for the organisms

Adaptation
There is 2 replication systems I would include in this bacterium. One would be for maintaining minimal function of the cell in its environment and for genes required for terraformation, the separate one for increased mutation, making it able to adapt to its environment extremely quickly. Whatever works, they use.

Terraformation
Well, I haven't done that much research on chemicals for terraformation, so is there any ones that anyone has thought of for terraformation? (Methane would work but it requires quite a bit of Hydrogen, one of the things that Mars lacks)

I wish they would tell us the species they used.

-Koeng

Just wanting to say: the essential elements for life is Carbon Hydrogen Nitrogen Oxygen Phosphorus Sulfur.
Venus lacks phosphorus, and doesn't have much hydrogen. Later I will post my revised "plan" for terraforming Venus with micro organisms.

-Koeng

Just a minute ago I checked out marsdrive and DysonB made this idea... note the below is totally him-

In Mayan times a Chinampas was created by building layers of soil and vegetation upon a shallow marsh. Trees are then planted at the corners to root the plot into the marsh.

The way the Chinampas could be created on Mars would be rather simple. First an area 300 feet long by 50 feet wide would be marked off in one of the polar regions or regions that have ice or snow. There would be a thirty foot walking path around the Chinampas between the dome and the ditch. The ditch would be five feet deep. In the bottom of the pit heat piping would be placed so that frozen ice would first be melted and then piped through the heating piping much the same way that a radiator creates heat in a home. Next a two foot thick blocks of ice would be placed on the heating pipes. Hot water is ran through the heating piping that then melts the ice blocks making a small pond. Martian soil is then placed into the pit causing it to become muddy. Because of the heating piping the mud will remain a little solid. As the heat backs the Martian soil the nutrients on the soil along with bacteria will be released where they will begin their jobs of doing what they do.

More and more layers of Martian soil is then added until the weight creates a compact chinampas. Once the chinampas is compact enough vegetables and other leafy greens would be planted that could then be eaten by Martian colonists.

The Dome or fence would be sixteen feet tall, would be made of Gorilla Glass, because Gorilla Glass is the be all for space colonization and terraforming needs where the glass would contain special cells that would enhance any sun light that passes through the panes so that the correct UV light is let in and that which is not needed is blocked out.

As the plants grow they will release oxygen which can then be collected for other uses. The carbon dioxide along with nitrogen would be piped in from the outside through special vents to feed the plants the nutrients that they need to produce oxygen.

Further uses of the Chinampas would be created to grow Cynobacteria that would then be able to create oxygen and nitrogen for the colonies use.

http://www.mpg.de/621120/pressRelease201003241

http://www.ozgate.com/in...tes/mars_atmosphere.htm

http://scienceforkids.ki...stry/atoms/nitrogen.htm

http://www.mpg.de/621120/pressRelease201003241

I know that what I am looking for is here in these articles somewhere.

Basically the process that I am looking for is to also pipe nitrogen and carbon dioxide into the Chinampas where bacteria would convert it into oxygen for human use, plant use and other bacteria use where the other bacteria would create by products would further be needed to create a nourishment base for the Chinampas.

I don't get it

-Koeng

I second. Space organizations will get no where unless they bind together.
Personally, I go to MarsDrive to learn about funding mars, technical details, and everything else about REALLY getting there. Newmars is much better for the latest new on lets say, curiosity. (Thanks Vincent)

-Koeng

Would it really be that hard to back this site up on external hard drives? I mean, 70 dollars to protect 1 TB of writing seems like the price would be worth it.

Also I think the Apollo 20 mystery is in the Not-So-Free chat section... for a reason...

-Koeng

Wow robert, I never knew that that could be possible. Perhaps Mars One could use that paper if they start succeeding

-Koeng

I think if the politics didn't get in the way, and space was build together instead of each faction hoping to get their own in space, we could do anything.

On that thought, ya I think that they could... Thats why I think a private company should send a satellite there just for communication like Mars One is planning. The more data they get across to the world, the more business. I think sometimes the US public thinks that they are the only world power in space right now.

I wonder if a small probe had enough energy it could... like a micro rover...

-Koeng

I agree with you louis. The public votes on the people who decide their funding.

The only problem I can see is the data transfer rate. But then again, I don't know.

-Koeng