Join us as we explore the science and challenges of building self-sustaining biospheres, where humanity could one day thrive beyond Earth.
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Credits:
Building Biospheres
Episode 475b; December 1, 2024
Produced, Narrated & Written: Isaac Arthur
Editor: Donagh Broderick
Graphics: Bryan Vertseeg, Fishy Tree, Jeremy Jozwik, Sergio Botero, Tytus Grabowski
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images
Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator
source
One thing to consider when building a biosphere, is building soil with permaculture principles and techniques. Hugelkultur, sheet mulching, compost teas, biochar, and many other techniques build up both the soil and its microbiome.
Rather than domes on airless bodies, a flat roof supported by air pressure across a crater lined to be air and watertight makes more sense. Domes must use tensile strength to hold in the pressure and are size limited, whereas a heavy roof hold the gas in with its mass. A roof of heavy glass or plastic over water over glass or plastic is a great radiation shield, allows light in, and has good thermal inertia. Plus, the size is unlimited by concerns of tensile strength. The top could be panes of heavy glass, heavy enough to overcome the water's vapor pressure. Panes in case a micrometorite strikes one, so it's easy enough to replace. At 15psi, that's almost two gallons per square inch, well over a meter's depth!
Let's not export the lawn across the galaxy… it's such a waste as it is. Even the original lawns–only for the ultra rich–grew useful plants like chamomile. So not as pointless as our current lawns.
That aside, if we are producing steel on a given rocky body, would that not both slowly remove oxygen absorbing iron from the equation and add carbon dioxide to the free atmosphere as a byproduct? That process might also require other gasses like argon and ammonia, but maybe those would be present already, or be available as byproducts from other processes.
Maybe industrial chemical processes would harmonize with the chemistry of life better on other planets than it does here.
I'm guessing you'd be looking for planets that already have water or ice, but not too much. If there is at least some land mass showing through the water then you'd have a foothold to getting all the materials from the planet itself. Then you genetically engineer seaweed to clean the oceans of toxic metals and produce O2. The planet having a nitrogen CO2 atmosphere would also be very helpful. It should also probably have somewhat less atmosphere than Venus, but I imagine a large surface that either reflects sunlight or diverts it from orbit could help in cases where there's a lot of atmosphere or too much ice. All stuff you've talked about before lol.
Perhaps the most important technology for our long term survival.
You too Isaac, have a great week!
When you speak about ‘literal world building’ I am reminded of one of our household’s all-time favorite Science Fiction novels “Building Harlequin's Moon”, by Brenda Cooper and Larry Niven.
An interstellar colony ship powered by anti-matter has an issue mid flight to their destination. They find themselves in a solar system, where they need to literally build a planet from the rocks up all the way through the ecosystem. They do this so that they might refuel and repair their ship. Unfortunately, they create a colony on an unstable world that they cannot take with them to their destination. This sets up an interesting dynamic between those on the newly created world and those on the colony ship.
If you have not read it I cannot recommend it enough.
Cellular agriculture leave the animals behind
Except cats
I'm tempted to tell you to send this video to Elon Musk so he has an idea of how unrealistic his Mars terraforming 'plan' is, but I doubt that vain moron would listen.
Let’s change our deserts first make all deserts on earth habitable
Couldn’t you extend the lifespan of a galaxy by moving gas giants into gas clouds that haven’t begun to collapse wouldn’t the super Jupiter start pulling in all the matter and become a star? Of course taking the gas giant from a system not bearing life or orbiting a star at the end of its life cycle.
I loved this episode.
Just spent 11 hours writing on my bachelors thesis, and this was a really great way to sit back and relax a bit <3
P.S.: 24:04 Man, the vibe of that image really is kinda cool. (Can't say much more than that, since the AI had its usual fun with the details, but still 🙂
Core staff:
1. steal clothing
2a. transport to business cave
2b. preliminary quality control
2c. laundry
2e. quality control
2f. package in labeled cardboard boxes
3. transport and sell to a 3rd party shop (transport core, see below)
Transport core:
Manage vans for transport. Manage transport staff. Ensure van drivers are qualified. Transport items to 3rd party local stores. Interface with the director of commerce (see below).
Director of finance:
Manages each other directors budget for each to spend of their department.
Director or transport:
Oversees the transport core. Manages van routing, refuelling, and maintenance procedure.
Director of commerce:
Identify interested local stores, manage associated paperwork, interface with the transport core.
Director of processing:
Ensure all cleaning and packaging supplies such as laundry powder, cardboard boxes and labels are ordered and sufficient. Periodically review available brands. Replace faulty equipment.
Director of liability:
Ensure any workers injured in the line of duty are compensated.
Director of personnel:
Ensure everyone knows what they are doing, reply to queries from other staff.
Director of enforcement mitigation:
Organise workers to keep watch for authorities, surveillance, gather intelligence.
Director of operations:
Oversee the other directors and the entire operation.
Thanks Issac, I love listening to your shows on a Sunday afternoon that's when my wife and I sneak off bed for a lazy rest with our little dog Rex . Hope you are still loving being parents, the good news is it's only the first FORTY YEARS that are the tough ones. Have a wonderful week and PEACE AND LOVE TO EVERYONE ❤❤.
I never thought setting to terraforming a planet was a good idea, so I usually avoid videos about going to a planet and starting the prosses, but some are good fiction. I have had some ideas, in the distant past? The first book I wrote was about Terraforming Mars or was it just a page in the book. Anyway, we used Hybrid Bambo and along the MagLev tracks between the Vacation Tent and the City Dome there were Vines growing on each side of the Tracks. The Hybrid Bambo Vines would help Oxygenate Mars’s atmosphere and cause clouds and flurries, I guess. I didn’t get much further than the Hybrid Bambo Vines that grew like weeds, even on Mars…?
What % of this could be done now? Makes me wish I was born 300 years from now.
For the water there's an easy solution. Don't just drop the comets down, dock them to an orbital ring, melt the water, and send it down in pipes. Then you can convert the kinetic energy into electricity, which then you can use to power everything you need. Including fuel manufacturing for diverting more comets.
Are there any episodes on surviving radiarion, like for mars colinization?
Bless Isaac
I don't believe in terraforming. No matter what we do to Mars, it doesn't have the core to keep atmosphere. It will always be leaking away. Plus its soil has perchlorates. Could we build habitats on Mars in the future? Maybe, though I am not sure why we would, other than denying sole occupancy of the planet to another earth based country. I do believe if we find another planet with the right/near right atmosphere, temperature, gravity, it will be us adapting to that planet.
More bacteria than atoms in the universe.😂
Your killing it with the quantity and quality.
Cns you do a video about starship and wnat technologies this will allow
You seriously should stop making these criminal propaganda videos or it'll eventually have massive legal consequences.
Thanks for the breakdown! I have a quick question: My OKX wallet holds some USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (alarm fetch churn bridge exercise tape speak race clerk couch crater letter). How can I transfer them to Binance?
New sub. loving the content❤ i pity any sci fi writer who wants to make a realistic space saga. The popular space fiction we have now does not really work. Too many concepts ignored — time dilation, 3 dimensional space (not 2D maps like Star Wars), ridiculously slow comms (like 100 years to get a message back or send one😢) etc… space travel is going to be hard to comtemplate let alone write about.