Inspired by science fiction and strange wonders on the Martian surface, researchers have discovered a way in which Earth life could survive on the red planet.
A team of scientists at Harvard University, the University of Edinburgh, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have discovered that a substance called airgel can capture enough heat from sunlight to melt segments of water and create a temperature similar to Earth on Mars. This technology, they say, could soon be adapted to build human habitats.
In a new study, the researchers show that placing a thin layer of translucent airgel – just a few centimeters thick – at the top of Mars could heat the earth up to 50 degrees Celsius, or 90 Fahrenheit degree, or more. This would have been enough to previously dissolve water underground, providing the essential ingredient to sustain life.
Just like carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, the airgel allows visible light to pass through and warms the earth, but it makes it harder for infrared light – which humans cannot see, but which experience as a heat – escape. Thanks to its unique structure, airgel makes a greenhouse effect much more efficient than carbon dioxide.
“Jelly [is] structur [made] of solid filled with [tiny pockets of] liquid. If you exhale all the liquid and replace it with air, you get airgel, ”said Laura Kerber, research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
These air pockets are the best way to heat Mars. “Air is very bad at carrying heat, but it usually moves around and takes heat from place to place. But since then [in the aerogel] it’s locked in those tiny pockets, then [the air] it can’t mix around, and that makes it a good insulator, ”she said. The same kind of airgel is used to protect the Curiosity rover that is currently exploring Mars, as well as deep sea pipes, fire equipment, and even houses here on Earth.
Scientists could first use the money on a small scale and then work up to more ambitious projects. “The simplest is… to do [an aerogel] blanket and let algae and microbial life [from Earth] growth. Habitats for people – it would still work perfectly, but you had to mix [the aerogel] with other materials, ”said Robin Wordsworth, associate professor of environmental science and engineering at Harvard.
“In its current form, [the aerogel] it’s very fragile, ”said Kerber. Mars ‘s atmosphere is very thin and toxic to most of Earth’ s life, so any residential structure would have to be exposed. She explained that tiles made with airgel bonded between strong plexiglass could be used to make a pressurized globe for humans.
Because these terrestrial life environments would be self-contained, they would also preserve whatever Martian life was. “No one wants to go to Mars and kill the only other life we find by competing more with life on Earth. This is a nice solution; piece by piece, a small residential island, we can live in and [not] get rid of it, ”Kerber said.
“This is, we think, for the first time, a local and scalable way to achieve Martian residential potential. There are many challenges. But we think it’s very interesting that this is now possible in our lives, ”said Wordsworth.
This discovery, inspiring as it is, is just the latest in a story that began long before people even walked on the moon.
“The science fiction that started my life [is] is coming to fruition, ”said Edward Guinan, professor of astronomy and planetary science at Villanova University, who was not involved in the study. For more than a century, the authors of science fiction have been writing about human settlements on the red planet, depicted as breathing air, melting water, and alien advanced life.
Human understanding of Mars took a leap forward in 1965, when the Mariner 4 probe first took close-ups and found that Mars was completely unstable to humans – deserted, dry, and with a sense of danger. tana.
But writers and scientists didn’t – many of whom were inspired by their favorite novels. Instead, they focused on terraforming: using technology to radically turn Mars into a place where humans could live.
In 1971, Carl Sagan proposed vaporizing all the frozen water and carbon dioxide of Mars ice cups. The resulting gas would heat the planet with the same greenhouse effect behind the global warming crisis itself. But in 2018, NASA discovered that there was not enough frozen water and carbon dioxide on Mars to make this plan work without highly advanced technology.
Wordsworth at Harvard felt pushed into practical thinking about terraforming. “[We asked] what really could work and what could not in our lives, compared to far into the future, ”he said.
The direct inspiration for the money project, however, came from Mars itself.
The same heating process “is already happening on Mars right now, but with [frozen carbon dioxide]. It is very conspicuous, and accumulates on forts. The sun shines through, and gas begins to form. And it finally explodes, and you get those geysers of it [carbon dioxide] that leaves black spots. Happens every spring, ”Kerber said.
After studying the Martian surface, Kerber has already discovered the real place to build a human settlement.
“I know where all the underground water on the planet is. This place is called Deuteronilus Mensae. If you want to do this, this is where I would put goblets; this is where water is near the surface, ”she said.
As for what those living in air-heated environments on Mars could eat, Guinan and his astrobotany students are working on it. “We have a greenhouse in Villanova. We grow plants in simple Martian soil, [and] under the light conditions we get on Mars, ”he said.
Guinan already expects his students to try their hand at growing their “Mars Garden” in an airgel-based greenhouse. “I already bought it [aerogel]. We’re definitely going to try it, ”he said.
Having worked in astronomy for more than 50 years, Guinan is hopeful that this new technology will see humans living and growing food on Mars within his lifetime.
Kerber believes that solving only the remaining challenges – the biggest of which is the trip to Mars itself – is just funding. “If someone said, ‘Here’s a handful of money, and go do it,’ we would do it. People think it’s so far out of reach, or something from a sci-fi movie – no. We will try, ”she said.
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