Harvard University Has A Plan To Make Mars Habitable

Aadhya Khatri - Jul 23, 2019

Making Mars a planet human can live on is a vision that has not yet been fulfilled. However, Harvard University has found a possible way to do this

Making Mars a planet human can live on is a vision that many big names in space exploration share, from NASA to Elon Musk. Recently, researchers from Harvard University claimed that they had found a way to do that.

The process of turning a planet into something that more closely resembles Earth is called terraforming and by the results of last year research, sponsored by NASA, terraforming Mars is impossible. However, just a few months later, the opposite is proven to be true.

terraforming-Mars-NASA — Terraforming Mars was proven by NASA-sponsored research to be impossible

To put the concept into simple words, Mars does not have enough carbon dioxide to warm itself. By processing the existing CO2, we may end up increasing the atmospheric pressure to just 7% of what we have on Earth.

Here is what NASA announced:

According to the agency, Mars is far too cold to inhabit.

However, Harvard has found a possible solution. They suggested using silica aerogel, an insulating material to grow plants on Mars, thus sustaining life on the red planet.

Silica-Aerogel-harvard-university-Mars — Harvard University suggested using silica aerogel, an insulating material to grow plants on Mars

For now, the idea remains a hypothesis, but Wordsworth and his collaborators have reasons to believe that it may work.

They demonstrate what they said by setting up a solar simulator to mimic the spectrum and flux of sunlight on Mars. Next, they put aerogel sheets on dark material and quantify the solar flux using a pyranometer. The temperature was recorded by a thermal camera and an array of thermistors.

The next step was to use a computer with data on Mars climate to simulate how the zone with silica aerogel changes in several Mars years.

Going to Mars is easier now than ever, with several plans of nations like the US, Japan, and China to send probes to the planet. Not to mention lots of proposed missions from private companies.

What Harvard University proposes comes with some significant risks though, including the possibility that our actions may interfere with the development of alien life on the red planet.

Even if the plan makes it to reality, obstacles remain. Some of them are controlling possible toxins and providing nutrients.