Science fiction, Earth like worlds, and terraforming (in your opinion)?

Question

Hypothetically, lets say the laws of physics fall apart, we discover faster than light travel, and Einstein starts turning in his grave...

You have probably read a science fiction story where mankind has habitated many worlds beyond Earth: Star Trek, Halo, the Ender's Saga, etc...

What are the realities to habitating other worlds?

Worlds with microbial, plant, or animal life may be harmful to humans despite an Earth like environment due to disease (descolada if you have read the Ender's Saga).

Would it be ethical to extinguish life on another world for human colonization?

The chances of finding an Earth like world in itself is astronomical so what would be the chances of finding a Earth like world were life has not evolved? and if there was no life and the atmosphere was primarily CO2 (like Earth's before life) than would terraforming be as simple as dropping some algae and then higher plant life?

Already know most of the facts for this kind of stuff, just want opinions.

Answer 1

I really believe we have the technology to do all these things.  US technology with Russia's. Europe as a whole, and maybe Canada and Japan-- with all this combined technology, there is almost no excuse for us not to do anything.  Humans are explorers by nature, we always want to go a little further.  We laugh at the early explorers who thought the world was flat and its seas were filled with monsters.  But they went out and discovered new lands anyway.  Why should we of the 21st Century be different?  

I know we are all jaded and everything is boring and dull.  We have poor people among us and social programs haven't really done a lot to lift them up.   Thinking about space and the possibilities can do a lot for education and maybe make people think they can do better and reach higher than being 30 years old and flipping burgers.

Answer 2

I think you would enjoy reading the excellent book "Entering Space" by Dr. Robert Zubrin, PhD. available on amazon.com. It is a down to earth scientific discussion of the real nuts and bolts aspects of all that you are asking. Please check it out.

Answer 3

It wouldn't be that easy.  And, it depends on how close the planet was when you start.

Let's say you want to make Venus habitable.  You want to reduce the surface temperature, get the planet rotating faster, get a planetary magnetic field, introduce a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere, and add lots of water.  Impossible?  Here's my plan.

Crash Ceres into Venus.  That could give Venus a good rotation and it might even kick start a magnetic field.  It would give Venus lots of water.  When you're done, you may or may not have an atmosphere.  You'd want to remove the CO2 and Sulfuric acid.  You might shade the new planet with halo space craft around the Sun/Venus L1 spot. Maybe you'd even put lots of big area spacecraft in various orbits.  And so on.

Possible? Yes.  Easy?  Not so much.

Answer 4

Hypothetically, it is impossible for Einstein to turn over in his grave.

Hypothetically, live is based upon survival, and mutation, therefore the heavenly objects which have been in existance in a relatively constant state the longest have the best chance of life.

That would be the most common stars.

Answer 5

Homo Sapians have been on earth approx 150,000 years out of say 4 billion years since the earth had an atmosphere.

By the time we are ready to colonize other planets they will be extinct

Answer 6

higher lifeforms did not come from Earth, we settled here after bacteria cleaned up the atmosphere

Answer 7

I think the big problem with terraforming would be the eons of time involved. And who would fund a project project whos return on investment could be 1000 - 1000000 years away.

Answer 8

Terraforming would take centuries or Milena to accomplish.  It would be far easier to adapt human DNA to allow life on a world than it would to adapt the world to humans.  But this is still biological thinking.  Biology could be a thing of the past.  After all, you are the one who has insisted on advanced, highly unlikely technology.  Perhaps the next step in evolution isn't evolution at all but technology.  If we could download human consciousness into an eternal robotic form or even a vast computer virtual universe.  Who would need the real universe when you could create your own.  Then no ethical problems of killing aliens and unpleasant dealing with diseases.

Answer 9

It would not be ethical to extinguish any form of life on another world.Colonists from Earth would have to adapt themselves to an alien environment.Any modifications would have to be taken without damage to already existing forms of life,no matter how primitive.Plans already exist to terraform Mars.Hundreds of years from now it will be an accomplished fact.To terraform Venus might be impossible.

Answer 10

Howdy Spaz...

Well I am pleased that you know most of the answers, because that saves me a lot of time in responding to

your question...

A.) Lots of energy is being spent searching for and identifying Exoplanets which are planets that orbit

around stars that are not the Sun...as in, not part of our

Solar System. Last time I looked at this technical site

they had located, cataloged, and named 270 Exoplanets

with more coming down the line very rapidly. All of this is

because of the development of a new technique for finding

actual planets in other solar systems. Previously, when you

looked at a distant star you could never see the planets

orbiting around it because your eyes were blinded by the

brilliance of the star itself (just like our Sun is blinding to

look at). So folks never really comprehended the idea that

for each star you see there might be something like ten

planets and a bunch of moons associated with that particular star. Now in the Milky Way Galaxy alone (our Galaxy) there are more than 200 Billion Stars... RIGHT?

And, beyond our Galaxy, there are thousands and thousands of other galaxies that each have billions of stars within them... RIGHT?  And each one of those stars could have say ten planets and a bunch of moons orbiting around them...

So the probability that there really is one or more Earthlike Planet out there is VERY HIGH.

See  http://exoplanets.org

Then when your mind is really tuned in to this concept...

Go see:

http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com

to get an idea of how immense the Universe really is, and

how large the total number of possible planets and stars and galaxies really is. Once you see that, you have to admit that

yup, some of them might have all the right stuff. Which ones??? I have no idea.

Another neat place to check out is:

http://gallery.spitzer.caltech.edu/Image...

But the silly system Yahoo uses won't let me type the

full link for you ...bang away at it for a while and you

will probably get in with no problem.

Sending a couple of guys to MARS is a monstrous undertaking. We are no where near the prospect of sending

say 5,000 folks to another planet outside of our Solar System.

Terra Forming is a cute idea...That is all.