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Nasa wants to make Mars habitable by giving it an artificial magnetosphere

Nasa scientists want to give Mars an atmosphere again, with the help of an artificial magnetosphere.

Aditya Madanapalle|Mar 07, 2017, 12:08:56 IST

In September 2016, Elon Musk unveiled ambitious plans for colonising Mars. Speaking at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Guadalajara, Mexico. The presentation included massive reusable colonial ships that would line up in Earth orbit and leave for Mars at every launch window, similar to a subway station. There were plans to go to Enceladus and Europa as well. During the course of his presentation, a slowly rotating graphic of Mars turned from the Red planet to a terraformed blue-green one, similar to how the Earth appears when seen from space.[caption id="attachment_365734" align="aligncenter" width="640"]

A version of the red to blue-green planet transformation of Mars is used as the header image for the SpaceX Twitter account.[/caption]Plans unveiled by Nasa scientists at the Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop touched upon the spectacular plans for exploration of the Solar System in the next 30 years. Nasa scientists hope to explore moons in the solar system, ice giants, Kuiper belt objects, asteroids, and exoplanets through a combination of probes and telescopes. There are planned missions to the Moon, and the first pioneers from Earth will voyage to Mars. The entire fascinating presentation can be viewed right here:

To make conditions suitable for humans on the red Planet, Nasa scientists want to give Mars an atmosphere again, with the help of an artificial magnetosphere. The reason why Mars is a desert is that solar wind strips away the atmosphere. The Maven probe by Nasa confirmed that the thin Atmosphere in Mars is being eroded by the solar wind interaction in the exosphere. Mars lost its magnetosphere three billion or more years ago, and as a result it has lost most of its atmosphere and surface oceans.[caption id="attachment_365737" align="aligncenter" width="640"]

How the solar wind strips the atmosphere on Mars. Image: Maven/ Nasa.[/caption][caption id="attachment_365735" align="aligncenter" width="640"]

Nasa plans to build an artificial magnetosphere to shield Mars from solar wind.[/caption]Nasa wants to create a magnetic dipole using inflatable structures at the sun facing Martian Lagrange-1 (L1) point. Objects at the L1 point are in the same relative position to the Mars and the Sun, so the magnetic dipole will always be between the Sun and Mars. Instead of a magnetosphere surrounding Mars, the magnetosphere at L1 will protect Mars from the ravages of the solar wind by enveloping the entire planet in the "magnetotail". New emerging research is making creating artificial magnetosphere for protecting humans and spacecraft possible, which has lead Nasa scientists to believe that this "fanciful" plan is in fact, technically feasible.[caption id="attachment_340516" align="aligncenter" width="640"]

An image of a carbon dioxide ice cap on Mars captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Similar orbiters may be used to scout the Martian surface for resources.[/caption]Increasing the average surface temperatures on Mars by about four degrees Celsius will release the frozen carbon dioxide in the polar regions. This will further increase the temperature of the planet, introducing global warming on Mars, and begin the process of melting the water trapped in an ice cap at the Martian north pole. About one seventh of the ancient Martian oceans are trapped in the northern ice cap, and the liquid water will flood the surface, returning Mars to the Earth like environment it once was.[caption id="attachment_337871" align="aligncenter" width="640"]

Humans on Mars. Image: SpaceX.[/caption]A Martian atmosphere that supports surface water has major implications for the future of human spaceflight, beyond 2040. The initial pioneers can sustain more equipment landed on the surface, there can be open air greenhouses for growing crops, and the enhanced atmosphere would increase the capacity for oxygen extraction. Human explorers can study the planet in much greater detail, which can potentially accelerate the process of colonising Mars.