[ExI] Can you terraform Mars

[John Clark]

On Sat, Jun 27, 2026 at 9:41 AM Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:


>
>
> * > "Some researchers object to the idea of terraforming Mars because they
> worry that it would detract from efforts to safeguard Earth’s environment —
> and would use valuable resources that could help our own planet."
> Bullshit. *


*Yes indeed, that is extra-virgin triple distilled 100% BULLSHIT.*


> * > Research into terraforming Mars can also find solutions to terraform
> Earth - not "instead of"*


*That doesn't matter, environmentalist would object to terraforming Earth
too, not because they thought it might not work but because they thought it
might, and if it did work then people wouldn't need to conserve and suffer
and shiver in the dark as apparently they think we should as penance for
our sinful and wasteful ways.*

*I said it before I'll say it again, environmentalists are just not serious
people.  *

*> Identifying a distant asteroid is done all the time for trivial amounts
> of energy. *


*The new **Vera Rubin Observatory became operational just a few months ago,
and in its first year of operation they expect to find as many new
asteroids as have been discovered in the last 200 years. *

*Rubin Tracks Skyscraper-Size Asteroids, Failed Supernovas, and
Interstellar Visitors*
<https://www.quantamagazine.org/rubin-tracks-skyscraper-size-asteroids-failed-supernovas-and-interstellar-visitors-20260515/>



> *> Constructing a spacecraft capable of steering such an asteroid would
> likewise be well within the energy budget of current deep space missions,*


*You can exchange time for energy, a small amount of energy applied to an
asteroid can make a big change in its orbit if you wait long enough.  *



>
>
>
>
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> *> There are far more compelling reasons to not terraform Mars, at least
> not at this time: most to all of the proposed benefits of terraforming Mars
> can be achieved to better degrees with faster and less expensive solutions
> - for example (for not quite all, but most, of the proposed benefits),
> orbital habitats closer to Earth (at least at first) spun to create 1G with
> thick enough radiation shielding.*
>


*Gerald O'Neill's space cylinders make more sense to me than terraforming
mars. If the human race is really to become an interplanetary species then
I don't think the surface of a planet would be the ideal base because you'd
need to climb out of a deep gravity well every time you wanna leave and
climb down one every time you wanna go home. *

*John K Clark*


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