MARS REPORT CONTINUED:
The first base on Mars will be called Alpha. Next station Beta will be built. These bases will most likely include geodesic domes for protection from Martian wind. Soon after the construction of Beta, it is likely that terraforming will begin. One man�s dream is as follows:
�Around two years after Alpha, the first settlement on Mars, is founded, it is estimated work will begin on the first city. In the beginning, the first city on Mars, which we shall call Beta, will serve as nothing but a science-center/small habitat. This is very important since only scientists will be sent to the Red Planet for the first few years. They will serve as the first "colonists" for the Martian outpost, and will naturally need more room to expand their research.� (Moore, 2)
Terraforming is the process of converting the climate and atmosphere of a planet into something that is livable. Several ideas have been planned, but all three include 3 main steps. They are 1-warm the atmosphere, 2-let water melt, and 3-start planting plants and producing oxygen. One way to warm the atmosphere is to build up a dense layer of super greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and o-zone. The Martian atmosphere is just 6 millabars, compared Earth�s 100 millibars. These gases could be produced by stations that convert the soil into gases. Or, if a large asteroid of frozen ammonia could be found, it could be launched into the atmosphere where it would melt and become a greenhouse gas. In one plan, large mirrors in space melt the polar ice caps and plants start growing. Yet one more plan says we should bombard Mars with missiles containing aerobic bacteria. These special bacteria would float around and change the carbon dioxide to oxygen or ozone. It�s estimated that it would take about 300 years for just plants to oxidize the air, so mechanical plants, or biologically altered plants may have to be used. Mechanical plants emulate the plant�s process of photosynthesis to turn carbon dioxide into oxygen.
By the year 3000 it is inevitable that Mars will have it�s own cities, tourism, people and architecture. But lets not focus too far ahead. In the next century, man�s destiny in space will have started. But with so many possibilities and so many new ideas for propulsion and terraforming, no one can be sure quite what will happen.
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