Scientists and science fiction authors have long suggested that terraforming could allow humans to breathe on the open Martian surface. But that vision is still a distant dream — far beyond the first Martian bases, according to Musk.
“Terraforming will be too slow to be relevant in our lifetime,” Musk wrote in a follow-up tweet. “However, we can establish a human base there in our lifetime. At least a future spacefaring civilization — discovering our ruins — will be impressed humans got that far.”
Terraforming Mars is indeed a massive undertaking. An analysis last year concluded that it may require 3,500 nuclear warheads every single day to increase Mars’ atmospheric pressure to breathable levels and melt the planet’s ice caps in order to release carbon dioxide, which will then be trapped in the form of greenhouses gases.
But there’s one big snag with that plan. The ensuing radiation would also turn the surface completely inhabitable.
And a 2018 study also concluded that there simply isn’t enough trapped carbon dioxide on the Red Planet to sufficiently raise enough atmospheric pressure to sustain humans on the surface.
But those limitations aren’t going to stop M
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