https://nautil.us/issue/100/outsiders/should-we-terraform-mars-lets-recap * * [p] Nautilus [nautilus-l] * Issues * Topics * Coronavirus * Blog * Thanks for Joining the Newsletter * * * Login * Subscribe SELECT NEWSLETTERS AND SUBMIT CONTACT DETAILS... * [*]New chapters Thursdays Nautilus publishes a new chapter of feature stories on its monthly theme, every Thursday. Sign up to this list to stay up to date on [ ] the latest and greatest. [ ] [Submit] * [*]Editor's picks Sundays Read about the Nautilus stories and blogs we've been thinking about over the past week. [ ] * * * Outsiders_THUMB Special Issue Outsiders Universal_THUMB Issue 099 Universality Mind_THUMB Issue 098 Mind Wonder_THUMB Issue 097 Wonder Rewired_THUMB Issue 096 Rewired Escape_THUMB Issue 095 Escape Evolving_THUMB Issue 094 Evolving Forerunners_THUMB Issue 093 Forerunners Frontiers_THUMB Issue 092 Frontiers AmazeBrain_THUMB Issue 091 The Amazing Brain SomethingGreen_THUMB Issue 090 Something Green DarkSide_THUMB Issue 089 The Dark Side * Love-Sex_THUMB Issue 088 Love & Sex Risk_THUMB Issue 087 Risk Energy_THUMB Issue 086 Energy Reopen_THUMB Issue 085 Reopening Outbreak_THUMB Issue 084 Outbreak Intelligence_THUMB Issue 083 Intelligence Panpyschism_THUMB Issue 082 Panpsychism Maps_THUMB Issue 081 Maps Scharf_TH Issue 080 Aliens Catalysts_THUMB Issue 079 Catalysts Atmospheres_THUMB Issue 078 Atmospheres Underworlds_THUMB Issue 077 Underworlds * Language_THUMB Issue 076 Language Story_THUMB Issue 075 Story Networks_THUMB Issue 074 Networks Play_THUMB Issue 073 Play Quandary_THUMB Issue 072 Quandary Flow_Curtain-THUMB Issue 071 Flow Variables_THUMB Issue 070 Variables Patterns_THUMB Issue 069 Patterns Context_THUMB Issue 068 Context Reboot_THUMB Issue 067 Reboot Clockwork_THUMB Issue 066 Clockwork Curtain_THUMB Issue 065 In Plain Sight * Unseen_THUMB-F Issue 064 The Unseen Horizons_THUMB Issue 063 Horizons Systems_THUMB Issue 062 Systems Coordinates_THUMB-2 Issue 061 Coordinates Searches_CURTAIN_THUMB Issue 060 Searches Connections_THUMB Issue 059 Connections Self_Curtain_HERO Issue 058 Self Community-THUMB Issue 057 Communities Curtain_THUMB Issue 056 Perspective Trust_HERO Issue 055 Trust Unspoken_CURTAIN_THUMB Issue 054 The Unspoken Monsters_Curtain_THUMB Issue 053 Monsters * Hive_Curtain_THUMB Issue 052 The Hive Limits_Curtain_THUMB-2 Issue 051 Limits Emergence_THUMB Issue 050 Emergence Absurd_THUMB-F Issue 049 The Absurd Chaos_THUMB Issue 048 Chaos 047_TH-2 Issue 047 Consciousness Balance_CURTAIN-THUMB Issue 046 Balance Power_TH_2 Issue 045 Power Luck_TH-2 Issue 044 Luck Heroes_TH-1 Issue 043 Heroes Fakes_TH Issue 042 Fakes Selection-TH-1 Issue 041 Selection * LEARNING_TH-2 Issue 040 Learning Sport_THUMB-2 Issue 039 Sport Noise_THUMB Issue 038 Noise Currents_TH-3 Issue 037 Currents Aging_THUMB Issue 036 Aging Boundaries_THUMB-preview Issue 035 Boundaries Adaptation_CURTAIN_THUMB Issue 034 Adaptation Attraction_THUMB-F. Issue 033 Attraction Space_TH. Issue 032 Space Stress_THUMB Issue 031 Stress Identity_TH-1 Issue 030 Identity 029_Scaling_TH-2 Issue 029 Scaling * 028_THUMB Issue 028 2050 027_THUMB_F1 Issue 027 Dark Matter 026_CURTAIN_THUMB Issue 026 Color 025-Water_THUMB Issue 025 Water 024_THUMB-F. Issue 024 Error 023-THUMB-1 Issue 023 Dominoes 022_THUMB-2 Issue 022 Slow Information_THUMB-1 Issue 021 Information 020_Creativity_THUMB-v2 Issue 020 Creativity SP_Nature_THUMB Special Issue In Our Nature 019_THUMB Issue 019 Illusions 018_THUMB_1 Issue 018 Genius * Cover_THUMB Issue 017 Big Bangs 16_THUMB. Issue 016 Nothingness 015_THUMB Issue 015 Turbulence 14_THUMB Issue 014 Mutation Issue13_THUMB Issue 013 Symmetry 012_THUMB Issue 012 Feedback See Issue Library Enter Search Below... [ ] Search TRENDING TOPIC Science Practice [14783_7a60] Does Theranos Mark the Peak of the Silicon Valley Bubble? Aerodynamics Aliens Animals Anthropology Archaeology Architecture Art Artificial Intelligence Astronomy Chemistry Climate Cognitive Science Computer Science Cryptography Earth Science Economics Education Environment Evolution Fiction Fine Art Food Genetics Health History Information Theory Insects Linguistics Literature Math Memoir Microbiology Mortality Music Neuroscience Oceanography Paleontology Philosophy Physics Physiology Psychology Reproduction Science Practice Sociology Technology The Web MOST POPULAR Does Theranos Mark the Peak of the Silicon Valley Bubble? The Smaller the Theater, the Faster the Music What Time Feels Like When You're Improvising A New View of Time She'll Text Me, She'll Text Me Not When Bad Things Happen in Slow Motion How I Taught My Computer to Write Its Own Music Is Artificial Intelligence Permanently Inscrutable? We Need to Save Ignorance From AI The Trouble with Theories of Everything The Strange Brain of the World's Greatest Solo Climber Why You Feel the Urge to Jump Resume Reading -- Should We Terraform Mars? Let's Recap Close Nautilus Matter Astronomy Should We Terraform Mars? Let's Recap Elon Musk wants to engineer Mars' atmosphere. Can he? Brian Gallagher By Brian Gallagher May 12, 2021 * Add a comment * Facebook * Twitter * Email * Sharing * Reddit * Stumbleupon * Tumblr * Pocket It seemed inevitable that Elon Musk would eventually get into a Twitter war over whether Mars can be terraformed. When you're on...By Brian Gallagher It seemed inevitable that Elon Musk would eventually get into a Twitter war over whether Mars can be terraformed. When you're on Twitter, he told Businessweek in July, 2018, you're "in meme war land." "And so essentially if you attack me," he said, "it is therefore okay for me to attack back." Musk, the CEO and lead designer of SpaceX, wants to "make life multiplanetary," starting with Mars. "Public support for life on Mars is critical to making it happen," he tweeted last week. The red planet is relatively close to the Earth and once harbored surface seas and rivers, and it still has ice and a subsurface lake. Its weather is surprisingly workable, too. Mars' surface temperature range (-285 to 88 degrees Fahrenheit) isn't too far off from Earth's (-126 to 138 degrees Fahrenheit). The problem is Mars' atmosphere now has 0.006 bar of pressure, where one bar is the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level on Earth. Not only does this mean that dangerous levels of radiation reach the surface unchecked, but humans need at least 0.063 bar to keep our bodily liquids from boiling (this is called the Armstrong limit). [Prime_paywall_2-733x200px] You've read all of your 2 free monthly articles. Join the Club It's expensive to produce the kind of high quality, in-depth journalism you've come to expect from Nautilus. In order to keep telling those stories, we need your support. Join Prime today, and help us keep science journalism alive. Prime gets you unlimited, ad-free reading, tablet editions of our award-winning print magazine, and eBooks of all our online editions. Learn More Members Sign In Current print subscriber? You're already a Prime member. Sign in. Special Issue Outsiders Explore This Issue * Chapter one Space + Zubrin_THUMB Astronomy The Profound Potential of Elon Musk's New Rocket + Gallagher_THUMB Astronomy Should We Terraform Mars? Let's Recap + Brooks_THUMB Physics The Country Gentleman of Physics Join the Discussion Next Article: Brooks_THUMB Matter The Country Gentleman of Physics By Michael Brooks Related Articles: * McKay_THUMB Matter Make Mars Great Again By Christopher P. McKay * Folger_THUMB Matter Why Discovering Martians Could Be Disappointing By Tim Folger * Solomon_martians-THUMB Biology The Martians Are Coming--and They're Human By Scott Solomon [Prime_payw] Nautilus uses cookies to manage your digital subscription and show you your reading progress. It's just not the same without them. Please sign in to Nautilus Prime or turn your cookies on to continue reading. Thank you! * About * Awards and Press * Contact / Work with Us * Donate * FAQ * Media Kit * Prime * Privacy Policy * RSS * Subscribe * Terms of Services NAUTILUS: SCIENCE CONNECTED Nautilus is a different kind of science magazine. We deliver big-picture science by reporting on a single monthly topic from multiple perspectives. Read a new chapter in the story every Thursday. Get Nautilus Editor's Picks and new articles right to your inbox! [ ] [Subscribe] x (c) 2021 NautilusThink Inc, All rights reserved. Matter, Biology, Numbers, Ideas, Culture, Connected Site by Code and Theory * Quantcast