Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Pluto's Not Only A Planet - It's The Dominant Class Of Planets

Interesting implications

(And "interesting" may be an understatement.)

If so many small planets were formed, we should perhaps question the notion that the Earth-Moon system is such a rare occurrence because large bodies (these days I hesitate to use the term "moon") were thought to be rare in the Solar System. Some dominos might fall, like the theory that because an unusually large moon had effects on the early Earth that enhanced the possibility that life would arise, the rarity of large-moon systems like ours implied that life in the universe should be rare. So many variables in a lot of simulations are going to need tweaking.

The speculation that "...a few or few tens of bodies Earth's size were formed" triggered a thoroughly sci-fi thought: There may be a lot more raw material out there to reengineer the Solar System than once thought. If we could find a couple of Earth-size bodies, we could, in theory, nudge them into orbits within Sol's habitable zone. Maybe even at Lagrange points in Earth's orbit. With the rocky base in place at the right distance, other raw materials out at the edge of the system could be harvested to seed them with water and other volatiles...assuming they don't already have layers of frozen volatiles. If so, it would almost be like finding terraforming kits out there ready to be thawed out and used. Just add microbes.

Wow...

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