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NASA Proposes a Magnetic Shield to Protect Mars' Atmosphere

posted by on Friday March 17 2017, @11:07PM   Printer-friendly
from the Mars-futuretech dept.

Sulla writes:

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-03-nasa-magnetic-shield-mars-atmosphere.html

In essence, they suggested that by positioning a magnetic dipole shield at the Mars L1 Lagrange Point, an artificial magnetosphere could be formed that would encompass the entire planet, thus shielding it from solar wind and radiation.

[...] In addition, the positioning of this magnetic shield would ensure that the two regions where most of Mars' atmosphere is lost would be shielded

[...] As a result, Mars atmosphere would naturally thicken over time, which lead to many new possibilities for human exploration and colonization. According to Green and his colleagues, these would include an average increase of about 4 °C (~7 °F), which would be enough to melt the carbon dioxide ice in the northern polar ice cap. This would trigger a greenhouse effect, warming the atmosphere further and causing the water ice in the polar caps to melt.

Pretty SF but I enjoyed the article.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by butthurt on Saturday March 18 2017, @12:25AM (5 children)

    by butthurt (6141) on Saturday March 18 2017, @12:25AM (#480710) Journal

    Yes, and Venus is a bit smaller and less massive than the Earth. Like Mars, most of its atmosphere consists of carbon dioxide (molecular mass 44 a.u.). The desire, I assume, is for water (14 a.u.) to remain. Venus is thought to have had much more water in the past, which was stripped away by the solar wind due in part to the weak magnetic field (the planet's somewhat weak gravity and its nearness to the Sun would also be factors).

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @12:27AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @12:27AM (#480711)

    Funny how all these planets have CO2 atmospheres and we freak out when our atmosphere gets a teenie tiny bit of CO2...

    • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @12:30AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @12:30AM (#480713)

      This! We so want our atmosphere to be like Mars or Venus.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by butthurt on Saturday March 18 2017, @12:39AM

      by butthurt (6141) on Saturday March 18 2017, @12:39AM (#480717) Journal

      Oh, absolutely. When some people freak out over a little puff of hydrogen, methane and hydrogen sulfide, I tell them it's just a recreation of the atmosphere of Jupiter.

  • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Saturday March 18 2017, @12:27AM

    by butthurt (6141) on Saturday March 18 2017, @12:27AM (#480712) Journal

    *correction, molecular mass of water is 18 atomic units not 14

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @09:57AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 18 2017, @09:57AM (#480814)
    18 not 14