technology

I did a little editing so it was easier to read.

r/space thread

Terraforming Mars could be easier than scientists thought | Science | AAAS

A previous study suggested lofting chlorofluorocarbons—the same ozone-destroying compounds once used in aerosols such as hairspray—high into the atmosphere. In another recent study, researchers suggested placing tiles of silica aerogel, a transparent and lightweight solid, on the ground to trap heat in martian soils while also blocking harmful ultraviolet radiation.

But the major barrier to both approaches would be cost: With chlorofluorocarbons sparse on Mars’s surface and silica gels requiring human manufacturing, huge quantities of each substance would need to be transported from Earth, a near impossibility with the rockets of today.

Ansari and her colleagues wanted to test the heat-trapping abilities of a substance Mars holds in abundance: dust. Martian dust is rich in iron and aluminum, which give it its characteristic red hue. But its microscopic size and roughly spherical shape are not conducive to absorbing radiation or reflecting it back to the surface.

So the researchers brainstormed a different particle: using the iron and aluminum in the dust to manufacture 9-micrometer-long rods, about twice as big as a speck of martian dust and smaller than commercially available glitter.

Collaborators at the University of Chicago and the University of Central Florida then fed the particles into computer models of Mars’s climate. They examined the effect of annually injecting 2 million tons of the rods 10 to 100 meters above the surface, where they would be lofted to higher altitudes by turbulent winds and settle out of the atmosphere 10 times more slowly than natural Mars dust.

Mars could warm by about 10°C within a matter of months, the team found, despite requiring 5000 times less material than other proposed greenhouse gas schemes. The 2 million tons of particles still represent about six Empire State Buildings, and roughly 0.1% of the industrial metals mined on Earth each year. But because the rods’ raw materials exist on Mars, people could mine them on the Red Planet, the team says, eliminating the need for transport from Earth.

Doesn't sound too far fetched, and 10°C+ is very impressive. Thoughts on when that'd be possible?