Not that I WANT to terraform Mars...

From: "Bill"
To:
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2001 1:38 AM
Subject: [spacesettlers] Re: Not that I WANT to terraform Mars...

Such a ring would be structurally impossible.

I can't see why. The *entire* ring would be in circular orbit around Mars -
that is, the ring would be spinning in orbital velocity around Mars - and
so gravity would be counteracted by centrifugation, as in the case of any
satellite. As for tidal effects, I don't think that the ring would be more
than a few kilometers thick, and so the tidal effects would as negligible as
they are in Phobos and Deimos.

Even if we found some
magic material with that kind of strength, superconductors can't
really store as much power as everyone believes. The same magnetic
field that you are trying to create will cause decoupling of electrons
in the superconductor making it lose superconductivity. The magnetic
field for complete decoupling is not very high and is normally
measured in the micro-Teslas.

That seems a more plausible objection. I agree that the terraformers would
need a magical superconducting material (stable metallic hydrogen), not a
magical *structural* material.

[snikt]
Stop thinking of Mars as that planet over there ready to be colonized,
and start thinking of it as a very large colony that has to be
actively managed like any other complex none self-regulating system.

Hey, I never thought of Mars "as that planet over there ready to be
colonized". Remember, I'm the guy who created this group and who wrote at
the home page that this is for people who believe that space settlements are
a better option than terraformation ;-).

Anyway, I like to think about terraformation just because I think that it is
an amusing mind exercise. It is like thinking about interstellar travel: it
is something that you know will probably never be viable, but anyway it is
an interesting puzzle to solve. That's what I'm playing with in this thread.

[snikt]
Bill

Lucio