The future of the Human Species - Part 3: How do we engineer an Earth-like environment?

Written by K.A.Cassimally


Continued from page 1

Many people think that to make Mars habitable, we only need to takerepparttar planet’s temperature into consideration. Well this is not true of course but these people will also insist that to succeed in makingrepparttar 127655 temperature of Mars same as that of Earth, we only have to crash an asteroid or even a comet into Mars.

Now when you come to think of it,repparttar 127656 basic essence of this idea is. If ever we manage to crash a space rock on Mars and this is yet another problem,repparttar 127657 temperature of Mars will gradually increase. This is due torepparttar 127658 fact that greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide will be released. They will then trap heat makingrepparttar 127659 planet become hotter and hotter. Unfortunately, scientists are working on teraforming so as to manage to make man, one day, live on Mars! The latter’s air thus has to be, well… breathable! Ifrepparttar 127660 asteroid/comet theory is put in practise,repparttar 127661 percentage of these greenhouse gases will mount instantly and will take ages to drop back to normal.

To me huge mirrors might work out alright. These will orbit Mars and reflect light and heat fromrepparttar 127662 sun torepparttar 127663 red planet. Another idea is that instead of using these man made mirror-satellite, why not use natural mirror-satellites? Mars has two natural satellites orbiting it namely Phobos and Deimos. We could cover these with mirrors! They may then act asrepparttar 127664 mirror-satellites and reflect light and heat onto Mars.

Many ofrepparttar 127665 present ideas of how to teraform Mars seem ridiculous and only good for science fiction movies but isn’t teraforming itself still inrepparttar 127666 realm of science fiction? Maybe these ideas will, one day, from part ofrepparttar 127667 revolutionary ideas mankind has had; but maybe they will not.

Teraforming is a dream. And this dream lies onrepparttar 127668 shoulders ofrepparttar 127669 next generation of scientists and astronauts. But we really should bear in mind that teraforming Mars is only a small step in human flight for survival. Whenrepparttar 127670 sun blows up, both Earth and Mars will disintegrate. Teraforming Mars is only an experiment before really doingrepparttar 127671 ultimate job: teraforming a planet outsiderepparttar 127672 solar system for humans to live in peace at least for some millenniums. Can humans bear a 2 year-long voyage in shuttle condition though? Won’t we be obliged to modify ourselves to make this Mars experiment a success?

K.A.Cassimally is the editor in chief of Astronomy Journal and Astronomy Journal Ezine. He is also the co-founder of the RCPL Astronomy Club. K.A.Cassimally is best known for his article 'Harry Potter and the Moons of Jupiter'. He is also Senior Columnist at BackWash.com where he writes 'Not Scientific Science'. Website: http://www.rcplastronomyclub.zik.mu http://www.backwash.com/content.php?id=358 Email: kcassimally@rcplastronomyclub.zik.mu


I saw a(n) UFO!

Written by K.A.Cassimally


Continued from page 1

‘An Unidentified Flying Object is anything seen in air or briefly onrepparttar ground that looks like an unfamiliar object and still cannot be identified afterrepparttar 127654 report has been studied by scientifically qualified persons.’

Searching forrepparttar 127655 UFO’s definition wasrepparttar 127656 first step in checking whether that white dot I saw was really a UFO. The second step was to actually examinerepparttar 127657 components ofrepparttar 127658 definition and ask myselfrepparttar 127659 following questions:

·A UFO is anything seen in air or briefly onrepparttar 127660 ground that looks like an unfamiliar object…

Was that thing I saw familiar? No, so till there that white little dot is a UFO!

·…and still cannot be identified afterrepparttar 127661 report has been studied by scientifically qualified persons

Well I didn’t phone anybody qualified in science because… I knew that that thing I saw up inrepparttar 127662 sky must’ve been a satellite fromrepparttar 127663 quasi-start. No UFO then.

But is it really important to prove whether UFOs exist or not? I don’t think so. Of course if a true UFO is discovered, this would mean that intelligent life does exist elsewhere but do you really think we will accept that fact? Or willrepparttar 127664 military decide to bombardrepparttar 127665 ‘flying saucer’?

Well it’s fortunate that I didn’t phonerepparttar 127666 CIA, NASA or SETI . Because I would have received some severe cranial injuries due torepparttar 127667 broomstick assaults!

K.A.Cassimally is the editor in chief of Astronomy Journal and Astronomy Journal Ezine. He is also the co-founder of the RCPL Astronomy Club. K.A.Cassimally is best known for his article 'Harry Potter and the Moons of Jupiter'. He is also Senior Columnist at BackWash.com where he writes 'Not Scientific Science'. http://www.backwash.com/content.php?id=358


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