Unless you’re creating pure fantasy, sci-fi writing requires some attention to detail. I’m not a ‘hard sci-fi’ writer, so I don’t spend months disseminating copious amounts of scientific research, but background knowledge of the subject is a minimum. My forthcoming novel, SENTIENT, is set a hundred years into the future where colonisation of Mars has occurred. A flash point has occurred between the two global powers as they dispute the need to terraform Mars. So to bring greater depth to my scenes, it was important to review what is currently a hot issue, given Elon Musk’s comments about ‘nuking Mars’ to change its climate.
Mars is not a bad selection, given its many similarities with Earth, including: size; inclination; composition and structure. Importantly, Mars has water, making it potentially a prime candidate for colonisation. But the similarities end there, with many ecological challenges to be faced including: an unbreathable atmosphere; a cold atmosphere just one percent the size of Earth’s and no magnetosphere, meaning high radiation levels. Colonising Mars faces a myriad of daunting challenges.
Many sci-fi writers have written about the process, the most detailed being Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy, a wonderful work of imagination backed by extensive research. Sentient does not attempt to recreate that level of detail, but I did pay some attention to the research so far.
So what are the key issues? There have been many studies in the last forty years.
A NASA study in 1976 was one of the first serious studies researching if terraforming, suggesting importing ammonia from the outer solar system, or coating the Mars surface (icecaps) with dark materials to increase the amount of sunlight absorption on the planet. Dark dust (from Phobos and Deimos) or extremophile lichens and plants were suggested.
Technological methods were reviewed in 1997 looking at the use of orbital mirrors to sublimate the poles as well as redirecting asteroids to impact the surface.
Just recently, a study (2014) researched the use of biodomes to develop colonies of oxygen producing cyanobacteria and algae to terraform domed farms for use by human missions.
So, research has shown potential methods of terraforming are possible, but the challenges of terraforming all of Mars are significant, not least being the loss of its magnetosphere. Quantities of CFCs required to trigger warming are estimated at 39 million metric tons, three times the amount produced on Earth between 1972 and 1992! Even if that could be done, there is a risk CFC introduction could destroy Mar’s ozone, undermining efforts to shield radiation. The other possibility of introducing terrestrial organisms could be effective, it the time frames are very long term, upwards of millions of years!
Logistically, pulling resources from other planets would require large fleets of space haulers with advanced drive systems that currently doesn’t exist. It would also need manufacturing infrastructure on Mars requiring heavy payload rockets that would cost more than all previous space programs combined.
So, is it worth it? It is clear that the Mars space program is a long term goal that will require much more than government support, a spasmodic support at best, given their short term electoral cycles. Luckily, sci-fi writes such as me can remain idealistic as we imagine potential long term futures, free from the pragmatic realities of politics. In Sentient, I imagined government willingly handed control to AI intelligence, given the climate emergency that was faced in the late 21st century. Resources funneled into the global industrial military complex were diverted to areas that helped addressed the climate emergency as well as exploration. Heavily idealistic I know, but this is one purpose of science fiction writing. Imagining ‘what if?’
