Global warming is a threat to our planet and consequently our species, but it might actually save us in the end.
Mars is a fascinating possibility for mankind, because it would make us a species that can live on multiple planets, which would not only be an incredible achievement but also protect our species should an extinction event strike either planet. But despite some big positives, at least compared to other planets in our solar system, the Red Planet ain’t exactly Earth. However, there is one thing that could change that: global warming.
Scientists have long suspected the life once lived on Mars, way back when there may have been lots of liquid water on the planet. At the very least, Mars is a blank slate that perhaps mankind could “terraform,” turning it a little more blue and green like our home planet.
As it turns out, our own problems with global warming could help us figure out how to heat up Mars, a planet where temperatures drop to inhospitable levels. We know how to harness sunlight through global warming to warm up the Earth, and that could help make Mars more Earth-like if we could figure out how to do ti there.
Mars’ current atmosphere is quite thin and cold, meaning that it’s tough for liquid water to stick around, either boiling or freezing. But if we could pump a lot of greenhouse gases into the Mars atmosphere, it’s possible we could create a situation where liquid water is stable.
And although scientists are talking about that now, researchers at NASA suggested that very idea back in 2005, according to an American Geophysical Union statement.
“Bringing life to Mars and studying its growth would contribute to our understanding of evolution, and the ability of life to adapt and proliferate on other worlds,” Margarita Marinova, then at the NASA Ames Research Center, said in the 2005 statement. “Since warming Mars effectively reverts it to its past, more habitable state, this would give any possibly dormant life on Mars the chance to be revived and develop further.”
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