Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Thanks by the way...

No problem
Robert — (archived)

I keep coming back to this thread cause I find terraforming fascinating too. Seems like by the time I've lobbed a few posts over on CE and funny captions on OffTopic, there's no time left for Space/Science.

Brief thoughts: Blowing off the CO2 seems like a heck of a waste of all the O2. I believe that the rocks are pretty depleted of oxygen by the all the heat, so the planet as a whole has an oxygen deficiency (I think). Chemical treatment to bind the C and leave the O2 might work, but it's pure bruteforce and will take a heck of a lot of raw material. What else converts CO2 to O2? Yep, photosynthesis. We'd need to slam some comets with primoridal proteins and stuff into the atmosphere for construction materials, but we wouldn't have to wait a billion years, just seed the atmosphere with bugs tailored to use it all. Maybe they die after binding to carbon molecules, then sink to the surface, where other bugs can use the carbon to build other stuff. Or, they keep floating, and in some kind of graphite or even crystalline form help screen out some of the solar rad (unlike the gaseous compounds which greenhouse). (Had to go look it up to be sure, but carbon's lighter than oxygen and nitrogen.)

Still need H2O, and I don't know any better way to get it than just slam some iceteroids. Then you have to worry about it breaking up and the H2 escaping off into space...

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