tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338070402887246857.post6977827603364989086..comments2023-09-21T06:27:50.845-04:00Comments on Ramblings on the Future of Humanity: TerraformingStephen D. Coveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12946494775268235149noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338070402887246857.post-36492396993406280182008-07-23T10:16:00.000-04:002008-07-23T10:16:00.000-04:00francesco, my primary point on terraforming is tha...francesco, my primary point on terraforming is that, while possible, why bother? You end up with a potentially livable environment stuck at the bottom of a gravity well. And you'll have to wait a few centuries for even that.<BR/><BR/>I think we should hollow out asteroids and comets (or use their raw materials to build habitats), spin them for gravity, use a huge amount of rock/slag/ice as radiation and meteor shielding, and live inside.<BR/><BR/>The "terraforming asteroids" quote in my post wasn't meant to be literal. We'll just build homes, and use technology (including greenhouses or the equivalent) to provide air, food, and water. <BR/><BR/>All that exterior mass provides more than enough radiation shielding. A ten meter thick layer of ice provides as much protection as Earth's atmosphere; you'd want more rock than that because hydrogen is better at stopping certain types of radiation. And why skimp when you have megatons of mass to work with.<BR/><BR/>You are absolutely right; ecosystems are quite a complex thing. It will be difficult enough simply to maintain (for an indefinate period) the farm, or greenhouse, or algae and fish tanks that are needed to recycle CO2 and waste products into food, oxygen, and potable water. <BR/><BR/>Indeed, that likely the biggest challenge in creating an asteroid or comet based civilization. We have much learning to do.Stephen D. Coveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12946494775268235149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338070402887246857.post-11844185238979931112008-07-23T03:09:00.000-04:002008-07-23T03:09:00.000-04:00Hello Stephen,I stumbled in your blog and just sta...Hello Stephen,<BR/>I stumbled in your blog and just started reading it.<BR/><BR/>About "Terraforming" which is indeed a fascinating topic, I am a bit pessimistic about the "biological" part.<BR/><BR/>Few years ago I was in New Zealand for vacation and I learnt there what a disaster on the local ecosystem was done by the europeans simply by bringing there cats, rabbits, dogs and pigs.<BR/>Well, spreading bacteria and other living creatures on a planet where no living creatures are there at least is not going to destroy anything, but I feel that chances for success are still pretty low.<BR/>Eco-systems are quite a complex thing. I don't think it takes a god to build them, but still I think that our knowledge is pretty far from being able to produce something predictable from scratch on a planetary basis.<BR/>Maybe in some small "domes"...<BR/>Also small asteroids would not provide radiation filtering we usually get from the atmosphere, which would prove unsuitable for most of the life-forms we know.<BR/>Besides that spinning them so that the time distance between day and night would be like 15 minutes may give me some sleeping problems :)<BR/><BR/>I keep on reading...Franzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18441386776102308538noreply@blogger.com