Scientists came up with a plan to warm Mars and prepare it for human habitation

Scientists recently proposed a new way to heat the Red Planet. They believe that by injecting engineered particles the size of commercial glitter powders, made of iron or aluminum, into the Martian atmosphere as aerosols, they could retain lost heat and direct sunlight toward the planet’s surface. The aim of this plan is to strengthen the natural greenhouse effect of Mars and increase its surface temperature by approximately 28 degrees Celsius during a decade. Although this action alone will not be enough for human habitation on Mars, researchers consider it to be an initial and practical step.

According to Tekna Technology News Service, Edwin Kite, a planetary scientist at the University of Chicago and one of the researchers of this research, the results of which were published in Science Advances magazine, said: “Earthmaking means changing the environment of a planet to make it similar to Earth.” For Mars, warming the planet is a necessary but insufficient step. Previous plans focused on greenhouse gas emissions, but these gases require vast resources that are scarce on Mars.

Kite added: “The main innovation in our paper is the proposal to use engineered nanoparticles for heating the Martian atmosphere and climate modeling, which shows that this method will be much more efficient than previous designs.” This is important because it provides a potentially more practical way to change the Martian climate that could influence future exploration strategies of the planet.

NASA has sent robotic probes to explore the surface of Mars and the InSight spacecraft to study its interior. Also, the Artemis program of this space agency plans to send astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972 in order to prepare for future human missions to Mars. There are many challenges for human habitation on Mars; including lack of breathable oxygen, harmful ultraviolet radiation due to thin atmosphere, salty soil unsuitable for agriculture, extensive dust storms, etc. But the very low temperature of this planet is one of the main obstacles in this mission.

Saman Ansari, a doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering at Northwestern Illinois University and supervisor of this research, said: We intend to show that the idea of ​​warming Mars is not impossible. We hope that our findings will encourage the scientific community and the general public to further investigate this intriguing idea.

The average temperature of the surface of Mars is about minus 65 degrees Celsius. Due to the thin atmosphere of this planet, the sun’s heat is easily emitted from its surface into space. This plan aims to create conditions for the existence of liquid water on the surface of Mars, where water is found as ice at the poles and below the surface. Scientists propose to inject small nanorods into the Martian atmosphere at a rate of approximately 30 liters per second for several years.