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Terraforming

Terraforming or terraformation ("Earth-shaping") is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology of a planet, moon, or other body to be similar to the environment of Earth to make it habitable for humans to live on.

This section is about the hypothetical planetary engineering process. For other uses, see Terraform.

The concept of terraforming developed from both science fiction and actual science. Carl Sagan, an astronomer, proposed the planetary engineering of Venus in 1961, which is considered one of the first accounts of the concept.[1] The term was coined by Jack Williamson in a science-fiction short story ("Collision Orbit") published in 1942 in Astounding Science Fiction.[2]


Even if the environment of a planet could be altered deliberately, the feasibility of creating an unconstrained planetary environment that mimics Earth on another planet has yet to be verified. While Venus, Earth, Mars, and even the Moon have been studied in relation to the subject, Mars is usually considered to be the most likely candidate for terraforming. Much study has been done concerning the possibility of heating the planet and altering its atmosphere, and NASA has even hosted debates on the subject. Several potential methods for the terraforming of Mars may be within humanity's technological capabilities, but according to Martin Beech, the economic attitude of preferring short-term profits over long-term investments will not support a terraforming project.[3]


The long timescales and practicality of terraforming are also the subject of debate. As the subject has gained traction, research has expanded to other possibilities including biological terraforming, para-terraforming, and modifying humans to better suit the environments of planets and moons. Despite this, questions still remain in areas relating to the ethics, logistics, economics, politics, and methodology of altering the environment of an extraterrestrial world, presenting issues to the implementation of the concept.

: the application of technology for the purpose of influencing the global properties of a planet.

Planetary engineering

: planetary engineering applied specifically to Earth. It includes only those macro engineering concepts that deal with the alteration of some global parameter, such as the greenhouse effect, atmospheric composition, insolation or impact flux.

Geoengineering

Terraforming: a process of planetary engineering, specifically directed at enhancing the capacity of an extraterrestrial planetary environment to support life as we know it. The ultimate achievement in terraforming would be to create an open planetary emulating all the functions of the biosphere of Earth, one that would be fully habitable for human beings.

ecosystem

Averner, M. M.; MacElroy, R. D., eds. (1976). . NASA. Retrieved April 4, 2023.

On the Habitability of Mars: An Approach to Planetary Ecosynthesis

Beech, Martin (21 April 2009). . Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-0-387-09796-1.

Terraforming: The Creating of Habitable Worlds

Dalrymple, G. Brent (2004). Ancient Earth, ancient skies: the age of Earth and its cosmic surroundings. . ISBN 0-8047-4933-7

Stanford University Press

Faure, Gunter & Mensing, Teresa M. (2007). Introduction to planetary science: the geological perspective. Springer.  1-4020-5233-2.

ISBN

Fogg, Martyn J. (1995). Terraforming: Engineering Planetary Environments. SAE International, Warrendale, PA.  1-56091-609-5.

ISBN

Fogg, Martyn J. (1996). "A Planet Dweller's Dream". In Schmidt, Stanley; Zubrin, Robert (eds.). Islands in the Sky. New York: Wiley. pp. 143–67.

Fogg, Martyn J. (2000). (PDF format). Space Policy, 16, 205–211. Also presented (1999) at the 50th International Astronautical Congress, Amsterdam (IAA-99-IAA.7.1.07).

The Ethical Dimensions of Space Settlement

Forget, François; Costard, François & Lognonné, Philippe (2007). Planet Mars: Story of Another World. Springer.  0-387-48925-8.

ISBN

Kargel, Jeffrey Stuart (2004). Mars: a warmer, wetter planet. Springer.  1-85233-568-8.

ISBN

Knoll, Andrew H. (2008). "Cyanobacteria and earth history". In Herrero, Antonia; Flores, Enrique (eds.). The cyanobacteria: molecular biology, genomics, and evolution. Horizon Scientific Press. pp. 1–20.  978-1-904455-15-8.

ISBN

MacNiven, D. (1995). "Environmental Ethics and Planetary Engineering". . 48: 441–44.

Journal of the British Interplanetary Society

McKay Christopher P. & Haynes, Robert H. (1997). "Implanting Life on Mars as a Long Term Goal for Mars Exploration", in The Case for Mars IV: Considerations for Sending Humans, ed. Thomas R. Meyer (San Diego, California: American Astronautical Society/Univelt), Pp. 209–15.

Read, Peter L.; Lewis, Stephen R. (2004). The Martian climate revisited: atmosphere and environment of a desert planet. Springer.  3-540-40743-X.

ISBN

& Druyan, Ann (1997). Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-37659-5.

Sagan, Carl

Schubert, Gerald; Turcotte, Donald L.; Olson, Peter. (2001). Mantle convection in the Earth and planets. Cambridge University Press.  0-521-79836-1.

ISBN

Taylor, Richard L. S. (1992). "Paraterraforming – The world house concept". , vol. 45, no. 8, pp. 341–352. ISSN 0007-084X. Bibcode:1992JBIS...45..341T.

Journal of the British Interplanetary Society

Thompson, J. M. T. (2001). Visions of the future: astronomy and Earth science. . ISBN 0-521-80537-6.

Cambridge University Press

New Mars forum

Terraformers Society of Canada

Visualizing the steps of Solar System terraforming

Research Paper: Technological Requirements for Terraforming Mars

Terraformers Australia

Terraformers UK

Archived 2019-06-09 at the Wayback Machine

The Terraformation of Worlds

Terraformation de Mars

Fogg, Martyn J.

The Terraforming Information Pages

BBC article on Charles Darwin's and Joseph Hooker's artificial ecosystem on Ascension Island that may be of interest to terraforming projects

Choi, Charles Q. (November 1, 2010). . Scientific American.

"Bugs in Space: Microscopic miners could help humans thrive on other planets"

Principal Investigator: Paul Todd (2004)

Robotic Lunar Ecopoiesis Test Bed