Talk:Terraforming

Ahem, the people back on Earth might not appreciate that moldy green look... Rose/Miros 04:05, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Many people, including me, would enjoy a blue-green Moon, marbled with white clouds and a cyan atmosphere fading into space. It would be so bright, at full moon one might be able to see full color! T.Neo 07:25, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Discussion from the MOO: MikeD-1 says, "I wouldn't be in favor of terraforming the surface of Luna"
dcarson says, "some of Schlock Mercanary is set on a terraformed Luna"
MikeD-1 says, "my obections are several, some are actually scientific"
MikeD-1 says, "and at least one has to do with maintaining a certain aesthetic"
You say, "Yeah, the people back on earth won't like that moldy green look"
MikeD-1 says, "now I don't mind if they can find a way to terraform the far side without effecting the nearside"
You say, "or strip mine it"
You say, "giving the man in the moon a black eye would be very bad press"
MikeD-1 says, "stripmining would not alter the appearance appreciably, certainly not to the naked eye"
dcarson says, "I have seen one proposal to basically build big glass hexagons so you terrarome a few square miles at a time"
You say, "how about 100 years of strip mining?"
You say, "the man in the moon would at least get a giant zit scar"
MikeD-1 says, "heh, nah, 1000 years _might_ be visible to the naked eye"
You say, "what about binoculars?"
MikeD-1 says, "even with binoculars or a decent telescope you can't see features less than about a mile accross"
You say, "didn't mr. carson just say something about a few square miles?"
You say, "oh, that was terraforming"
MikeD-1 says, "yes, and they could be built farside"
MikeD-1 says, "terraforming the whole of Luna would change the appearance and most importantly would be very high maintenance due to atmospheric leakage"
MikeD-1 says, "a couple of square miles would be hard to see from earth without optical aids"
dcarson says, "I've seen estimates of 50-100K years for the atmosphere to be OK"
You say, "we'll have mucked up the earth's atmosphere by THEN"
MikeD-1 says, "yes, I've seen some interesting estimates for that too Dana, I seem to recall Greg estimating it would be safe for 10k years due to it's atmosphere being in the same orbit around earth, I believe he did suggest topping it up periordically to keep it consistent though"
dcarson says, "http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20001203.html"
MikeD-1 says, "Barring our downfall, it will eventually be terraformed, there's no doubt about that. But I wouldn't support doing it at this point in time, that's a project for several generations down the line."
dcarson says, "http://www.amazon.ca/Terraforming-Creating-Habitable-Martin-Beech/dp/0387097953"
You say, "stick it on the terraforming page as an external reference"
MikeD-1 says, "It's not like Venus, there we'd have to do some terraforming just to be able to land. But Luna and Mars we can build infrastructure on and terraform from onsite"
dcarson says, "he also has one called Rejuvenating the Sun and Avoiding Other Global Catastrophes"
You say, "depends... in Spin, they did Mars all by remote control, because that was the only way to do it"
MikeD-1 says, "there were proposals for partially terraforming Venus as far back as the 70s"
dcarson says, "the other book on that topic is Terraforming: Engineering Planetary Environments by Fogg"
You say, "what if you just seeded venus's atmosphere with some mold?"
dcarson says, "it would vaporize in the heat and go back to being CO2"
MikeD-1 says, "the most promising proposals were expected to take about 200 years just to make it possible for us to land there, about 100-150 years to be able to send robotic missions"
You say, "the high atmosphere? above the clouds?"
dcarson says, "the other book on that topic is Terraforming: Engineering Planetary Environments by Fogg"
dcarson says, "and bookfinder.com has a copy for only $353.98"
MikeD-1 says, "the proposals did rely on biological aids"
dcarson says, "at some point it will fall lower"
MikeD-1 says, "that's why it would take about 200 years, we'd have to keep topping up the enzymes"
MikeD-1 says, "oh, and that 200 years would only make it barely possible to send manned missions, we'd still need ev suits"

Rose/Miros 08:23, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

500 years ago, nobody would have appreciated our urban sprawls. They happened anyways. Likely the same situation will apply to altering the moon. - Jarogers2001 09:34, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

I don't like the idea of terraforming Luna because it would lose its role s a key industrial centre. Fully "paraforming" is something that I doubt is possible and it would also ruin Luna's economy. I see small domes built built in craters, here and there. Medium term Luna will stay industrial. Short-medium term terraforming efforts spent on Mars will be worth more, IMO. T.Neo 20:26, 29 October 2008 (UTC)