• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Terraforming Mars

zyzygy said:
Will mankind ever terraform Mars?
Click to expand...

No.

It is impossible with our current technology but in the future it may be possible.
Click to expand...

It will never be a worthwhile endeavor, technology aside. It would make more sense to build vast cities underground and/or under the sea than try to terraform a planet that has pretty much nothing whatsoever going for it from a biological standpoint.
 
Neomalthusian said:
No.



It will never be a worthwhile endeavor, technology aside. It would make more sense to build vast cities underground and/or under the sea than try to terraform a planet that has pretty much nothing whatsoever going for it from a biological standpoint.
Click to expand...

What if we have to leave the Earth?
 
zyzygy said:
Will mankind ever terraform Mars? It is impossible with our current technology but in the future it may be possible.
Click to expand...

Would we even want to?

Living your life inside a suit or a confined living space isn't much of a life.
 
zyzygy said:
What if we have to leave the Earth?
Click to expand...

There is basically zero scenario in which the Earth becomes less inhabitable than Mars. Our chances of survival staying on Earth will basically always be better than our chances of survival on any other planet in our solar system.
 
Neomalthusian said:
There is basically zero scenario in which the Earth becomes less inhabitable than Mars. Our chances of survival staying on Earth will basically always be better than our chances of survival on any other planet in our solar system.
Click to expand...

well it will take a while but we've got about billion years left before the suns expansion renders the planet sterile

till then spreading out is only good for avoid local things like an asteroid strike or setting up self contained habitats in case of a near by gamma ray burst

but i guess you can do that on earth if you fortify it against any desperate survivors trying to brake in
 
blarg said:
well it will take a while but we've got about billion years left before the suns expansion renders the planet sterile

till then spreading out is only good for avoid local things like an asteroid strike
Click to expand...

No it isn't. Why? Because Mars is even less inhabitable, 100% of the time, than the Earth would be immediately post-asteroid impact.

And in all of Earth's history, no complex life form has survived for anywhere close to a billion years, so there's no point worrying about what we'll do when the sun expands toward red giant status. It's a virtual certainty that, just like the other 99.9% of species that have ever lived, we'll go extinct long before then, for some reason or another. Going to Mars is never going to save us from extinction. There's almost nothing that could happen to the Earth that would make it less inhabitable to us than Mars is all of the time.
 
zyzygy said:
Will mankind ever terraform Mars? It is impossible with our current technology but in the future it may be possible.
Click to expand...

There is no terraforming Mars. Its a dead planet, with no molten core which means no electromagnetic field to protect life from harmful high energy particles that bombard the planet from all directions. Im a huge fan of NASA, my Dad worked as a engineer on the Appolo missions and retired after 30 years working for NASA contractors, but Mars isn't worth the time or money
 
PoS said:
Terraform Mars? We havent even gotten a manned mission over there yet.
Click to expand...

We have the technology to do that but I dont think there's been enough justification for doing so, beyond "we did it!"

I'm sure there's a cost/benefit analysis examining it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom