[peter]

hi there,

you know in some (million) years the sun will grow and its going to be hot on the earth. too hot to survive for mankind so there are two solutions: we fly to an other planet and terraform it (put oxygen in the air and so on) OR we change the way of the earth around the sun, in order to enlarge the distance between sun and earth. scientists discovered that its not that difficult to change the path of the earth, because we could use the gravity of a near asteroid.
so what do you think is the better solution ?

[Spitfire]

We can�t change the course of the earth immediately, it would take millions of years and in that time too many variables can screw it up, not to mention the next generation probably thinks "Aw fuck i dont feel like this whole displacement thing!"

Actually, there is a theory that the earth changed rotation a coupla thousand years ago. It�s seen as the explanation for all kinds of ecological mysteries as well as corresponding events in different religions.

I�m more into the "Aw fuck it" approach, lets blow up planet earth and let some monkey�s try again in 5 million years.

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I am but a statue, impervious to love.

[Dean Welsh]

agreed. awe fuck it.

but Terraforming's easier. If we set up carbon Dioxide factories on mars right now, the Global warming effect would warm it to the temperature of Canada in about 100 years. That would melt the frozen water and then it's just a matter of growing some plants to convert some Oxygen and we're set. (more or lesS)

another option would be to fry Mar's south pole which consists largely of Frozen Carbon Dioxide (AKA Dry ICE) that would do more or less the same thing as the factories.

-Dean

[Nex]

Hey Dean: this mars-terraforming theory sounds interresting.. do you have any links to related material?

[This message has been edited by Nex (edited February 09, 2001).]

[Count Zero]

http://www.y5b.com
So, either way, we're fucked eventually.

[sacrelicious]

Yeah, we're gonna have to move out of the solar system eventually... although I doubt we'll be around in any recognizable form by then. By we, I mean humans, of course.

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Weaseling out of things is what separates us from the animals... except the weasel.

[Ragnarok]

Hehehe, screlicious, you've made IE go mad!

[Duk3Nuk4n]

we should built a massive nitrogen/carbon/everything we can cram in there, rocket engine, strap it onto mount everest and go for a ride. buy that time we should be fully space capable and move to alhpa century. terraforming mars is useless. we have to be mobile or jump from planet to planet.

[Dean Welsh]

Nex: Yeah. I'll look around for where I was reading about it. Keep an eye here for if I find any websites for ya.

Peter: he he he All the more reason to go that route

Count Zero: ha ha OH NO! not the billionennium(tm) bug!!!

sacrelicious: We'll either have killed ourselves off or some natural disaster that we couldn't forsee and prepare for will happen Way before the sun explodes I'm betting so I tend to agree.

Duk3Nuk4n: Mars is an easy starting point where we can work out the obstacles blocking our patch to becoming galactic locusts.

-Dean

[peter]

i think the "Aw fuck it" approach may be a bad idea... consider some aliens find one of thouse satellites that are send into the deep of space. and they think 'wow, there are other intelligent beings in space, that even are able to construct satellites!' and they make huge efforts to search us, and all they find are some stupid watching monkeys.
so the aliens might be quite a little confused...

[peter]

yep mars may be a good practise for terraforming but its also very near to the sun so when the sun explodes mars is also a very insecure place

[aquamire]

Hmm, several problems with moving the Earth with an asteroid. 1, the asteroid would have to be one mutha of an asteroid.. approximately 1/3rd the size of the Earth or more. 2, the gravitational pull of the asteroid would cause a lot of sloshing of the oceans, and well, heh ever heard of tidal crust waves? The crust of the Earth would be buckling everwheres. Dont forget the core of the Earth.. all that lovely magma is gona turn to lava and spew out every pore this planet has, or make a few new ones. Humans would have to leave the planet in order to do so, and then wait a few thousand years for the planet to return to a somewhat normal state, providing everything else on the planet doesnt die from minute temperature changes. By the time the Sun starts to become a red giant, it will of been many millions of years.. and hopefully by then, humans will either be off this planet exploring and colonizing other planets, or we'll have such advanced technology, we wont even need the sun, or we might be able to control it.

I read the article your referring to this from.. some scientists are complete idiots, im sorry, heheh.

As for terraforming other planets to live on, this is indeed possible. Mars for example.. there was a discussion amongst some of the worlds finest scientists as to how we could literally transform Mars atmophere so we could inhabit it. The way too do this is to pump it full of super green house gasses, the same gasses that are destroying our ozone. The theory behind Mars is that it at one time had an atmosphere very much like Earths, only it didn't have enough gravity to keep it there, so the gasses slowly seeped away. Estimates say that if we started pumping the Mars atmosphere now, within approx 100 years, we'll be able to walk on the planet without pressure suits, only needing a small oxygen mask from time to time. However, we'd have to act immediately... and with the sluggish beurocracy of NASA, it probably wont happen any time soon.


[edit]I'm a perfectionist, but thats only relative to whatever perfection is. Nya![/edit]
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-Aquamire
"Quotes are for mislead wussies." - Me.

[This message has been edited by aquamire (edited February 10, 2001).]

[Impaler]

Number one, according to all current astrophysics models, we have 12 fucking billion years left. The standard planet-bearing star has a life of around 16-ish billion years. The sun is 4.6 billion years old. If we only had a million years left, then the Earth would be a molten rock. Mercury would have been consumed in the now-monstrous sun. Venus would be obliterated by the radiation and overwhelming solar winds. A million years is the equivalent to a day in astronomy. Plain and simple, we have more time left than what we can make use with.

Number two, we're going to be terraforming within the next two hundred years, provided we live that long. The first target is Mars, with experiments on the Moon. Mars is the closest in climate and atmospheric composition to Earth in the solar neighborhood, plus it's only 3 years away, unless we figure out anti-matter. So, we establish colonies on Mars and set up aristocratic cities there. Earth becomes the old home, where we unite into one mass race, form a superficial government (trying to rule both planets), and let the social underclasses decay into anarchy. Mars, on the meanwhile, becomes an advanced, rich, and arrogant planet. They want to have their freedom from the primitive Earth. An interplanetary war ensues. Mars succeeds in seceding. They become the gas station to the extra-solar systems. They send out interstellar space ships to all of the other planets we know of, outside of the solar system. We eventually amble across an advanced race, where our overpowering stink and contagion wipes out whole metropolae. They wage war against the humans, coming back to Mars and wiping out life. Earth is still trying to establish themselves and clean everything up on their own planet, so they stay uninvolved. The aliens, seeing Earth as an abstainer, makes peace with Earth and elevates it to an advanced status. We become a benevolent force in the Universe, finally being let in on all the big forums.

Number three, there are NO planetessimals spherical or big enough to effectively harbor an atmosphere, much less 10 billion people. The asteroid plan goes out the window.

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My signature is slightly better than yours.

[sacrelicious]

Ragnarok- Huh. That is so weird! I wonder why that happened.

Everyone else- We're screwed. Everything else is inconsequential.

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Weaseling out of things is what separates us from the animals... except the weasel.

[Duk3Nuk4n]

by that time we would all be dead or in some form of crygenics, so let them worry about it.