Sharjah24 – Reuters: The New York Times reports that NASA”s chief scientist started his retirement on Saturday January 1, but on the way out he touted a plan to geo-engineer Mars so that humans can live on the planet.
Jim Green says his plan is to place a massive magnetic shield between Mars and the Sun, to protect Mars from the Sun’s high-energy solar particles that have been stripping the planet of water and atmospheric gases for millions of years.
With Mars blocked from the sun, the temperature would eventually rise to a point that allows the carbon dioxide on the polar cap to sublimate, returning to the atmosphere and enhancing the greenhouse effect.
Green told the newspaper: “Stop the stripping, and the pressure is going to increase. Mars is going to start terraforming itself. That’s what we want: the planet to participate in any way it can. When the pressure goes up, the temperature goes up.”
Green says higher pressure and temperatures will start the process that will allow humans to grow food in the planet’s soil, and one day walk freely on Mars without spacesuits.
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