Astronomers’ Universe

Other titles in this series

Origins: How the Planets, Stars, Galaxies,and the Universe BeganSteve Eales

Calibrating the Cosmos: How Cosmology Explains OurBig Bang UniverseFrank Levin

The Future of the UniverseA. J. Meadows

It’s Only Rocket Science: An Introduction to SpaceEnthusiasts (forthcoming)Lucy Rogers

Martin Beech

Terraforming:The Creatingof Habitable Worlds

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Martin BeechAstronomy DepartmentCampion CollegeThe University of ReginaRegina, SK, Canada S4S 0A2martin.beech@uregina.ca

ISBN 978-0-387-09795-4 e-ISBN 978-0-387-09796-1DOI 10.1007/978-0-387-09796-1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2008936485

# Springer ScienceþBusiness Media, LLC 2009All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without thewritten permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 SpringStreet, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews orscholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval,electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology nowknown or hereafter developed is forbidden.The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms,even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as towhether or not they are subject to proprietary rights.

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This book is dedicated to the past, present,and future peoples of Tikopia.

About the Author

Martin Beech teaches astronomy at Campion College, The Univer-sity of Regina. His main research interests have focused on thesmaller objects that reside in the solar system; asteroids, cometsand meteorites. Asteroid 12343 martinbeech has been named forhis research relating to the Leonid meteoroid stream, but hehas published on topics as diverse as the works of graphic artistM. C. Escher, the folklore of mushrooms, the writer Thomas Hardy,and the formation of massive stars. In addition to interests in thehistory of science, scientific instruments and meteorite hunting, heis also actively concerned with the issues relating to global warm-ing, global overpopulation and climate change. He lives in Regina,with his wife, Georgette, and a somewhat motley collection ofthree dogs and three cats.

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Table of Contents

1. Prolog: The Big Guns of Kugluktuk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Summer, the Year 2100 ................................................................. 1Notes and References .................................................................... 4

2. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7What’s in a Word?.......................................................................... 9Moving Forward............................................................................. 11The Anthropocene......................................................................... 12Future Worlds, Future Homes....................................................... 13Economics...................................................................................... 17Notes and References .................................................................... 18

3. Life in the Solar System, and Beyond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Mars: The Once and Future Abode of Life? .................................. 21Life Express.................................................................................... 26The Miller–Urey Experiment........................................................ 28Panspermia: The Bigger Picture .................................................... 31Life and Death Clouds................................................................... 35Vignette A: What Is Life? .............................................................. 37The Rights of Microbes ................................................................. 40Notes and References .................................................................... 41

4. The Limits of the World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Home on the Range: A Brief History of the Solar System............ 46The Blue Marble ............................................................................ 53Breathing Room............................................................................. 56A Magnetic Shield ......................................................................... 59Humanity’s Footprint.................................................................... 61We, the Tikopia ............................................................................. 67The Aging Sun ............................................................................... 68Back to the Present........................................................................ 74Vignette B: The Viking Landers .................................................... 75Notes and References .................................................................... 79

5. In the Right Place at the Right Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Planetary Temperatures ................................................................ 82Atmospheric Temperature and Pressure ...................................... 88

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Phase Diagram of Water ................................................................ 93The Habitable Zone....................................................................... 96Atmospheric Retention................................................................. 97The Greenhouse Effect.................................................................. 101The Tail Wagging the Dog ............................................................ 103Feedback Cycles and Stability....................................................... 105The End of the Biosphere .............................................................. 110The Formation of Terrestrial Planets............................................ 112Super-Earths................................................................................... 118Vignette C: Kepler’s Somnium ..................................................... 119Notes and References .................................................................... 122

6. The Terraforming of Mars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125The Measure of Mars..................................................................... 128Whither the Water? ....................................................................... 136The Opening Salvo ........................................................................ 138Altered States: The Means of Terraforming Mars ........................ 142Increased CO2 Abundance ............................................................ 146The CO2 Runaway......................................................................... 147Super-Greenhouse Gases............................................................... 151Albedo Change and Increased Insolation...................................... 154The Phases of New Mars............................................................... 157The Times of Their Lives.............................................................. 162Worldhouse.................................................................................... 165Near-Term Developments ............................................................ 165Vignette D: Daisy World ............................................................... 167Notes and References .................................................................... 171

7. The Terraforming of Venus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175The Moist Greenhouse Effect ....................................................... 182Cloud Life ...................................................................................... 183Perelandra Remade ........................................................................ 185Atmospheric Blow-off, Cooling, and Mining................................ 186Roman Blinds, Spin Up, and Spin Apart ....................................... 191Back to Basics ................................................................................ 194Getting CO2 Stoned....................................................................... 196A Cold New Dawn ........................................................................ 197Surface Turnover ........................................................................... 199Flying High .................................................................................... 201A Distant Dawn............................................................................. 203Vignette E: Back to the Moon ....................................................... 203Notes and References .................................................................... 206

8. An Abundance of Habitats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211The Moon’s a Balloon.................................................................... 212

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Hot-Footed Hermes ....................................................................... 216A Fragmented Neighborhood ........................................................ 220Life on a Dwarf Planet: Ceres World............................................. 222Living in the Clouds...................................................................... 225Supramundane Planets and Shell Worlds ..................................... 226O’Neill Colonies and Orbiting Cities ........................................... 229The Coming of a Second Sun ........................................................ 230Earth Shift and a Synthetic Sun .................................................... 235Dyson Spheres and Jupiter ............................................................ 236The Galilean Moons: Food for Thought ....................................... 238The Deeper, Darker, Colder Solar System.................................... 242The Pull of More Distant Horizons .............................................. 245Other Worlds Abound ................................................................... 246Future Prospects ............................................................................ 248Habitable Exoplanets and Biomarkers .......................................... 251Vignette F: The Mysterious Titius–Bode Law .............................. 254Notes and References .................................................................... 257

Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Internet Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Glossary of Technical Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Appendices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273A. Blackbody Radiators ................................................................. 273B. Accounting for Greenhouse Gases........................................... 275C. A Terraforming Simulator Model for Mars.............................. 277D. Population Growth and Lily World.......................................... 281

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

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