the milky way contains over 100 billion
planets and moons but only a handful can
sustain biological life
but what if humans could modify the
ecosystem of any cosmic body in our
galaxy what if we could change the
temperature thicken the atmosphere and
create another green planet
in the 1940s author jack williamson
coined the term
terraforming
to terraform is to create an ecosystem
that supports living organisms from
large complicated vertebrates to simple
unicellular bacteria
unfortunately no cosmic body has ever
been terraformed it's an incredible feat
that we as a species are far from
achieving
but let's jump a few hundred years into
the future
if we could terraform another planet
where would we start
our most promising candidate isn't
actually a planet
it's a moon
the very same moon you see glowing in
the night sky
what makes the moon an ideal candidate
for humanity's first adventure in
terraforming
the moon has one major advantage over
every planet in our galaxy
it's only a short space flight away from
earth
of the seven non-earth planets in our
solar system
venus is the closest the distance
between earth and venus ranges from 162
million miles to 24 million miles but
the latter only happens once every 584
days
traveling such a vast distance creates
an incredible hurdle for our limited
technology
on average the moon is about 240 000
miles away
a fraction of the distance between earth
and venus a shorter space flight opens
up all kinds of possibilities
shipping supplies transporting parts
carrying astronauts and colonists a
smaller distance makes everything easier
and significantly less expensive
though the distance between earth and
the moon is comparatively small the moon
is far from perfect its dead and
desolate ecosystem presents a number of
environmental challenges
first and foremost the moon's atmosphere
is unbearably thin
it's made of a paper-thin layer of gases
which form a lunar exosphere this
exosphere contains just 100 molecules
per cubic centimeter
for reference earth's atmosphere at sea
level contains 100 billion billion
molecules per cubic centimeter
as it stands today the moon's exosphere
cannot support biological life
so how do we thicken the exosphere and
create a life-bearing ecosystem
the moon's exosphere remains razor thin
because it lacks the gaseous density of
earth's atmosphere if we're going to
thicken the moon's exosphere we're going
to need more gas
to spread gas around the exosphere we'll
need a series of icy comets that we will
crash into the surface of the moon when
these comets come thundering into the
moon's exosphere the impact will
populate the exosphere with a surplus of
water vapor water vapor contains oxygen
and hydrogen which are two essentials
for biological life
but we need at least one more element to
create breathable air
the last piece of the puzzle is nitrogen
aerospace engineer dandridge m cole
claimed a gas called ammonia could fill
the atmosphere with nitrogen coal
designed his proposal for the red planet
mars but the same strategy could
potentially thicken the moon's exosphere
humans could import a large quantity of
ammonia which would fill the moon's
empty exosphere with nitrogen ammonia
would also trigger the greenhouse effect
trapping and reflecting heat from the
sun
this brings us to another significant
roadblock the moon's wildly changing
temperatures
during the day the moon boils at the
lunar equator temperatures climb to a
fiery 250 degrees fahrenheit in the
evening they plummet to the opposite
extreme
freezing nights fall below minus 200
degrees fahrenheit around the equator
while deep craters at its northern pole
can reach minus 410 degrees fahrenheit
that's about
266 degrees colder than the coldest
temperature ever recorded on earth
why does the moon's temperature
fluctuate so dramatically it doesn't
have an atmosphere to protect and
insulate the surface
if humans tried to live on the moon
right now its radical temperatures would
make our lives a living nightmare
but a surplus of gases like hydrogen
oxygen and nitrogen would thicken the
atmosphere insulate the surface and
create a protective bubble from the
sun's violent rays
say we crash a hundred icy comets into
the surface of the moon say we import an
excess of ammonia into the atmosphere
and the moon's harsh ecosystem grows
more livable
soon we would build the first lunar
settlement
what would life be like for the first
group of settlers on the moon
colonists may notice a surprising number
of similarities to life on earth
for starters the moon's rotation could
hypothetically be sped up to match the
earth's 24-hour cycle
currently one lunar day spans almost 30
days on earth
the moon is tidally locked to the earth
so the moon rotates incredibly slowly
by purposely crashing a hundred comets
into the surface of the moon we could
speed up the moon's rotation
the impact could free the moon from the
earth's tidal pull thus changing its day
and night cycle
lunar colonists may also notice a
valuable resource on the surface of the
moon
because we populated the moon's
atmosphere with water vapor lunar
colonists may discover reusable sources
of water renewable water means renewable
energy which could power equipment grow
food and foster new life on the moon's
desolate surface
of course everything we've discussed so
far is theoretical
countless problems could arise at each
and every stage what if the ammonia
doesn't trigger the greenhouse effect
what if the moon can't handle a hundred
comets crashing into the surface
what if the moon's atmosphere changes in
ways we aren't expecting and how would
we deal with such low levels of surface
gravity it could mean devastation for
our bodies
terraforming is still a very distant
concept for our species a lot could go
wrong because there's a lot we don't
know
humans have only recently entered the
space age yet here we are contemplating
interplanetary colonization
each day our theories push us further
and our plans grow more detailed but we
have a long way to go before colonizing
another planet
if and when we terraform another cosmic
body we may begin close to home
the moon has its fair share of problems
but it's a strong candidate to house our
first interplanetary settlement
in the long run the moon may not be a
lifelong residence for our species
it may be a practice run before
terraforming a larger more sustainable
ecosystem but its proximity and
resources make the moon a great place to
start if we can create a functioning
lunar colony who knows where in our
solar system we will go next
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