Scientists Propose Using Tiny Metal Rods In Bold Plan To Make Mars Habitable
Retired NASA Chief Scientist Dr. Jim Green argued in 2022, humans could potentially terraform Mars and Venus, but a lack of proper communication and classification have led to scientistf=s‘…screwing around with just crying wolf.”
Dr. Green proposed potentially placing a giant magnetic shield between Mars and the Sun, preventing the sun from “stripping” the Martian atmosphere and allow pressure, and in turn the temperature, to increase. Other theories on how to make Mars more habitable have centered on releasing greenhouse gases into the Martian atmosphere to capture more heat from the sun. Now, a group of researchers from Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Central Florida have possibly found a much more workable way to terraform the Martian planet.
In the recently published paper, the researchers point out dry river valleys cross Mars’ once-habitable planet, however today the icy soil is too cold for Earth-life to exist. They add modern Mars has a thin atmosphere that provides only ~ 5 K greenhouse warming via absorption, and the planet “apparently lacks” enough condensed or mineralized CO2 to restore a warm climate. Their research suggests if artificial aerosols can be made at scale of material readily available on the Red Planet (or delivered to Mars), such as conductive metal nanorods, then the barrier to warming of Mars “appears to be less high than previously thought.”
The results, according to the researchers, are subject to several uncertainties that motivate more sophisticated modeling than used in the study. One example—modeling of coupled dust flow and ice nucleation on Mars—is at an early stage in its development. Also, modeling the effect of nanorods as ice nuclei, which the team stated could either be a positive or a negative feedback, is an additional motivation to study the proposed method.
According to the study, the proposed method of using nanorods is not sufficient by itself to make Mars’ surface habitable again. The researchers concluded, “Nevertheless, our study suggests that nanoparticle warming may be of interest to the nanophotonics and planetary science communities, among others, and that further investigation might be fruitful.”
