Dec. 17, 2004, 2:17AM
Q & A
Conversation With John Young
Ex-astronaut says moon's resources may help Earth
By PATTY REINERT
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

Associated Press File
Astronaut John Young, who was part of the Apollo 16 mission to the moon in April 1972, salutes the U.S. flag after it was planted on the lunar surface.
WASHINGTON - In more than four decades at NASA, astronaut John Young has flown in space six times — seven if you count his lunar liftoff. He smuggled a corned beef sandwich aboard a Gemini capsule, walked the moon during Apollo and commanded the maiden voyage of the space shuttle Columbia.

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle two weeks before his retirement from the space agency, Young, 74, said he'll spend his time advocating for a return to the lunar surface and a human mission to Mars, convinced that life on Earth could depend on it.

Q: What were you thinking about and feeling when you first approached the moon on Apollo 10, and when you landed there to explore on Apollo 16?

A: I was flying the spaceship and we were breaking into lunar orbit, and we broke out over the highlands on the back side of the moon. It was completely dark ... so we were in the dark and then we broke out into sunlight and saw the back side of the moon. The impressive thing about the back side of the moon is how many darn craters it has. If the back side of the moon was facing us, I think human beings would be far more adaptive, far more educated, about (asteroid or comet) impacts on planet Earth. We're going to have a few of those before it's over with. ...

But one-sixth gravity on the surface of the moon is just delightful. It's not like being in zero gravity, you know. You can drop a pencil in zero gravity and look for it for three days. In one-sixth gravity, you just look down and there it is.

Q: Why should humans go back to the moon?

A: The moon has a lot of resources that we'll learn how to use in this century and that will be great. ... The technologies we need to live and work on the moon will save us right here on this planet.

Bad things are inevitably going to happen to us, like comet or asteroid impacts or super volcanoes. Flying in space is risky business, but just staying on this planet is risky business too.

The statistical risk of humans getting wiped out in the next 100 years due to a super volcano or asteroid or comet impact is 1 in 455. How does that relate? You're 10 times more likely to get wiped out by a civilization-ending event in the next 100 years than you are getting killed in a commercial airline crash.

The most dangerous thing we do in Houston, of course, is drive our automobiles to work every day, so you know how dangerous that is and how many people get killed doing that. But wiping out civilization. ...

It's not the point that we should move (to another planet). It's the point that the technologies that we need to live and work in other places in the solar system will help us survive on Earth when these bad things happen.

Q: You commanded the first flight of space shuttle Columbia in 1981, and you've also been a strong advocate for upgrading safety at NASA. How do you think the agency is doing with that, and how long do you think the space shuttle should be used?

A: You're going to need the shuttle to fly 28 missions in 10 years to build the space station. I think the only way to do that is to keep at the shuttle and look at every problem they have, and they're doing that right now. I wish we were flying right this minute.

Q: With Sean O'Keefe retiring, what do you think NASA needs in its next administrator?

A: I think they need to be looking at somebody who understands the business. It's a tough business, you know, doing things for science and technology and advancing the future and making real progress on the long term. It's tough to get people to want to do that.

The goal of going back to the moon and on to Mars — even though it would develop the technologies that over the long haul would save people on this planet — nobody wants to invest in it. You'd think people would be worried about their children and grandchildren and their children and grandchildren, but we really don't worry.

We now have the ability to develop the technology to allow us to control our own destiny, and I think we should do that. I think it would be very important in the long haul to try to keep civilization going. It's a pretty important bunch, a great gang we all belong to — the human race ...

Q: What are your retirement plans?

A: I plan to keep advocating for developing the technologies we need to get off the planet and keep the shuttle going and build the space station and do all the things we need to do to make progress in science and technology. Over the long haul, doing that will certainly make things better for people all over the Earth.

You know, sooner or later, the Chinese and the Indians are going to want two cars in every garage, just the way we do. If they put fossil fuel cars in every garage, there isn't enough oil on the planet to do that.

I think going to alternative sources of energy is the key to the future of civilization on this planet, because we're gonna run out. ... Nobody's worried about that, but we should be very worried about that.

I think it's really important to get folks educated about these problems ... Earth's geologic history is pretty clear: It says, quite frankly, that single-planet species don't last. Right now we're a single-planet species. We need to fix that.

Wait a second here... How come more people have gotten killed in commercial airline crashes than have gotten wiped out by a civilization-ending event in the last 100 years? I like the overall idea of the article, but that paragraph there is very questionable.

Because it says the NEXT 100 years. Not the LAST 100 years.

Someone call NASA.

Because the statistical probability of each of the various extinction level events collected together outweighs, for an individual human being, the statistical probability of being killed in the airliner crash. The odds change when you look at the population as a whole, because so many people fly.

Sounds like someone is begging for funds!

Killer volcanoes!
Asteroids!
Evil Spacement!

Fund our programs!



What say we take care of disease first? Or maybe war and strife?

Much to do before we all become Buck Rogers.

Are you saying that space exploration isn't important? Or can't be accomplished at the same time as finding cures for diseases? All of these can be accomplished at the same time. I believe that NASA has been ignored as of recently and deserve more attention.

I believe that manned space exploration is a waste of time, money, and human resources, Captain Piccard not withstanding. Fix Hubble, send out probes and robots, no need to go to Mars or colonize the moon.

--BuckDavid

I won't go so far as to say it's a waste of time, but I do think that the government shouldn't go spend-crazy on it. Look at SpaceShipOne. There is a desire in the private sector to explore.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. But I don't believe Space exploration is a waste of time or money. This will be very important steps towards our great-grandchildren's future. At the rate of human population and our natural resources being depleted don't you think colonizing another planet could be in the best interest for the human race? People don't care because they know it won't affect them in their life time but this is something that could take hundreds of years to accomplish.

No, I'm afraid I'm quite serious. I think space exploration is valuable, I'm just not convinced that there is anything more than Star Trek fantasies involved in sending manned craft for any distance further than Earth's orbit at anytime in the foreseeable future, and I can see pretty far.

I don't want to sound like a backward looking fool, but I think if we want to solve population and resource depletion problems, we should solve them here, not run off looking for new worlds to conquer. You talk about colonizing another world as if it is as simple as sailing a ship across the sea, but it's astronomically more difficult. For one thing, there is no place within reach that has either AIR or WATER or FOOD, so we would have to make our own, and the energy necessary to do something like that is ridiculously prohibitive. Hell, if we could figure out an efficient enough way to do that, WE WOULDN'T HAVE POPULATION AND ENERGY ISSUES HERE ON EARTH.

I'm sorry, I just think it's a wank.

--PunkDavid

This is why they want to explore Mars.

I was counting Mars as "within reach". There's still no significant water there, the air is not conducive to human life, and there is no food. Any exploration for such resources could be performed by robots, and I don't think they'll find anything.

--PunkDavid

Read Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson if you ever get the chance, he does a pretty good job of making the colonization of Mars sound like a fairly realistic and logical thing.

Taken from http://www.redcolony.com

Here are seven reasons why we should colonize Mars:

1. Its Similarity to Earth

Mars has water, frozen underground and at the polar caps. There is evidence that this water has, in the past and present, flooded the surface in liquid form. Signs of erosion can be found on the slopes of craters and volcanoes. Geological features resembling those on Earth suggest that Mars was once a wet and hospitable planet.

A day on Mars is 24.5 hours long. Mars is a third the size of Earth, but it has as much land area as the seven continents combined. Its gravity is 2.7 times less than that of Earth: enough to remain flat-footed on the surface, but a low enough escape velocity to make launching from Mars relatively simple. Remember, it was much easier for Apollo to lift off from the moon than it was to leave Earth. Construction materials would be lighter as well, facilitating labor in the early colony. The health benefits of such an environment are unknown, but it is theorized that Mars might prevent and relieve forms of arthritis and back pain. Also, Martian-born children would be taller than their Terran cousins.

Both planets have seasons and similar rotational patterns. Mars is roughly in the same heat-range as Earth, being next-door in the solar system, and if it had a thicker atmosphere it is likely the two planets would share the same climate. Today, Mars’s temperature varies from +1°F to -178°F, with an average global temperature of -85°F. That’s cold, but still the solar system’s most hospitable for humans.

2. Its Scientific Secrets

With its similarity to Earth, there is a strong possibility that bacterial life (or something more?) exists on the planet. Some people believe that Viking detected it way back in 1976. Others believe that we found it in a Martian meteorite. Two rovers are on their way to Mars to settle the debate, but we may only be sure if humans look for themselves. As any engineer will tell you, the ease with which a human being can cover a stretch of ground and examine specimens along the way, gathering and processing data, cannot be emulated with a machine. If we ever find life, we can begin to answer some of the biggest questions we’ve ever asked: “Are we alone in the universe? What else is out there? What is the basic unit of life? What does life need to survive?”

From a geological standpoint alone, Mars is exciting because it offers scientists a view of how planets develop. Mars is billions of years older than the Earth, and its features are much more exaggerated. The largest canyons, volcanoes, and craters in the solar system are available for our study.

3. Its Diplomatic Potential

It is obvious that the world isn’t perfect, but we’ve been trying for the entirety of our civilized existence. We’ve reached a point now where the majority of the world’s superpowers are on good enough terms to begin an international joint-project to colonize Mars. This was much the theory with the International Space Station, but dirty politics proved how immature the world’s superpowers are. Ending the quarrelling and going to space might sound like ignorant idealism, but imagine the diplomatic potential. When we become united in a goal, not just as Americans or as Russians but as mankind, all of humanity puts aside its differences.

Even if the initial trip to Mars is sponsored by one nation or one space agency, in the end Mars will be for everyone. The Old World’s boundaries will not be able to restrain the emigration. Who knows, the concept of countries might remain a thing of the Earth, an archaic reminder of castles and kings and the battle for power. Mars could be the beginning of a new era in human diplomacy.

4. Its Economic Value

Mars is worth a lot of money. There are 144 trillion square meters of surface area, roughly the land area of the Earth, available for development. I’m not going to tell you how great all that land is for residential, commercial, and industrial use… go play Sim City.

An important part of the fusion reaction process is deuterium, a stable isotope of hydrogen. Once we can contain a fusion reaction, the deuterium-tritium reaction will yield an energy gain of about 450:1! That means 450 times the energy put in will come out. Deuterium, or heavy hydrogen, is hard to obtain on Earth, but on Mars it is five times more abundant in the form of Hydrogen-Deuterium-Oxygen (See Also: Compositions). A milliliter of liquid heavy-hydrogen fuel would produce as much energy as 20 tons of coal. Deuterium is also important in chemistry because it reacts the same way as hydrogen, but can be distinguished from hydrogen by its mass. These reactions occur slower than normal hydrogen reactions.

There is an abundance of rare metals on Mars such as platinum, gold, silver, and others. Shipping from Mars to Earth, as mentioned above, is much easier than the other way around. Even more promising is the proximity of the asteroid belt to Mars. Dactyl, the moon orbiting the asteroid Ida shown in this picture, is 1.4 kilometers in diameter, yet it contains more iron that the human race has used in its entire existence. These asteroids could be mined near Mars and shipped from the planet for little cost. What we could see develop is a triangle trade route, much like the one in the 18th century between Britain, the West Indies, and America. The economic potential is colossal.

5. Its Location

That brings us to our next point: location. Mars is relatively close to the Earth. Mars sits between the asteroid belt and us, acting as a kind of stepping stone to what lies beyond. It remains close enough to the sun to benefit from its heat (and light) but remains far enough away to be protected from any significant change in the sun’s heat output. (We still know little about the sun’s long-term heat cycles.)

6. Its Home for Mankind

My personal favorite reason for colonizing Mars is that it offers a backup plan for humanity. Every few million years, the Earth tends to be wiped clear of almost all life in a globally catastrophic event (read: asteroid collision). An asteroid the size of Dactyl could wipe us off the face of the Earth. Who knows how close we’ve already come to blowing ourselves to smithereens.

A colony on Mars is not far off, but the question remains: could that colony be self-sufficient? The time will come when Mars will not need Earth to sustain it, much like the United States found itself long before the Revolutionary War. Does that mean life will be self-sufficient? No. We may be able to grow our own food on the planet in greenhouses, but what about wild animals, and birds, and fish, and rivers, and oceans? Terraforming, then, becomes a necessity in more than one way. Terraforming is the process of creating another Earth, and you can find out more about it by reading the various terraforming articles on this site. The general consensus is terraforming is necessary for global colonization and global colonization is necessary for terraforming. The two go hand-in-hand.

7. Its Challenge for Mankind

Colonizing Mars will no doubt be the most difficult thing that humanity has ever pursued. Like building a bridge or a skyscraper, it will represent the pinnacle of human achievement up to that time. We can begin colonization now with technology that exists now; this is not science fiction anymore.

Before he began his fateful expedition to Mount Everest, George Mallory was asked why man kept trying to reach the summit of that mountain. “Because it is there,” he said.

In the words of the great science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson, “We are the consciousness of the universe, and our job is to spread that around, to go look at things, to live everywhere we can. It’s too dangerous to keep the consciousness of the universe on one planet; it could be wiped out. Mars will always remain Mars, different from Earth, colder and wilder. But it can be Mars and ours at the same time. And it will be. There is this about the human mind: if it can be done, it will be done. We can do it, so we will do it. So we might as well start.”

Matthew Johnson's Terraforming Method



written by Matthew Johnson on January 24, 2004 | contact me
number of views: 514 | printable version (text only)



A terraformed Mars.
Credit: Matthew Johnson / TerraGen
The terraforming of Mars has been discussed by many. I have researched many methods by many different people. I have researched the various aspects of each method and judged their benefits and pitfalls and created my own with what I feel are the best pieces.
To begin, there must be a 20 or 30 year human presence on Mars collecting as much data as possible. You don’t want to mess with an atmosphere when you’re not very familiar with it in its primal state. This period will also be used to locate as many aquifers as possible as well as deposits of needed elements and locating asteroids and comets containing high amounts of water, nitrogen and other needed elements and compounds.

After the research period is over, terraforming will begin. Factories all over Mars will begin pumping out high amounts of various PFCs, SF6 and other such compounds that are powerful greenhouse gases, but otherwise totally environmentally friendly and have long lifetimes in an atmosphere.

Only a few parts per billion of these gases will be needed in a full atmosphere. So within a few years of global greenhouse gas production, Martian global temperatures will rise to the point where CO2 no longer can stay solid (or liquid?) on the surface. There will then be huge low pressure systems over the polar caps (mainly the south pole) that will release vast levels of CO2.

This mass CO2 sublimation will cause global dust storms for awhile, but for the greater good they must be endured. Depending on just how much CO2 sublimates, we can expect anywhere from a few dozen to a couple hundred millibars of CO2. The latter would be better, for it would warm the planet soon and allow for surface water under its weight.

With a thicker atmosphere, slightly warmer temperatures and possibly some surface water during perihelion summers, plants can take off. Initially, plants will be limited to genetically engineered lichen, moss, algae and bacteria. They must all be equipped with genes to guard them against radiation, cold, high salt and oxide content of soil and the lack of organic nutrition available.

There must also be nitrogen fixing bacteria to get some nitrogen cycles going. Some species must also begin breaking down the oxides in the soil, some of the oxides are toxic and carcinogens. But the point to these primitive yet hardy species is to live. Their life processes and deaths will add organic content to the soil, slowly making the soil better for more advanced plants.

At this point, maybe only 30 or 40 years after terraforming began, the atmosphere will be thicker, a little warmer and water existing during brief summer daylight periods. There is still much to do. Aquifers must now be drained out into the northern plains and Hellas and Argyre Basins.

Putting seas and lakes on Mars is essential. Some complain of higher albedo. Well, that will happen anyway, might as well do it now. If an aquifer is positioned correctly, it could simply be burst open to flow into a basin. However, they will probably need to be drained with high capacity plumbing.

On the basin floors, there is likely to be permafrost. Underwater, this ice would take millennia to melt, this must be sped up. Permafrost Pumps like those in The Red Mars Trilogy must be built. They will be huge pumps that generate large amounts of heat in the permafrost to melt it, and then will pump it onto the surface.

The sooner oceans are created, the sooner terraforming takes off. Cyanobacteria and other aquatic plants and bacteria will thrive in the water, raising O2 levels much more rapidly than land based ones. This is why greenhouse gas levels must continue to be raised, to make sure the surfaces of these young seas do not freeze.

Mars also has a nitrogen issue, there is just not enough of the stuff there. The most efficient method for obtaining it would be to “Aerobrake” ammonia rich comets in the atmosphere. The ammonia is made of hydrogen and nitrogen, the hydrogen will react with O2 to make water or float away, the nitrogen will stick around. A single comet could add several dozen millibars.

This method could also be used for water rich comets to obtain more water and oxygen. The sea level Mars’ own water content promises is rather low and would leave Mars with less than 30% water coverage. I say add more water to increase sea level to the rims of Borealis, Hellas and Argyre giving Mars water coverage closer to 60%.

Another note on seas, Borealis-Argyre and Borealis-Hellas Canals should be built. Some marine animals on Earth migrate during the seasons. Some simply go to the equator during the winter, others go into the other hemisphere. Without canals to the southern seas, this is not possible.

After a century or so after terraforming began, Mars will be wetter, warmer and greener. At this point, water will be laden with phototrophs sucking up CO2 and water to make oxygen. The water itself will also absorb CO2, helping to lower content of this gas. Also by this time, land based plants will be more advanced, consisting of grasses, shrubs and some trees.

Snow will be something common by this time during most of the year. During the summers, it will melt and the runoff will carry minerals to the seas. This will slowly take salt from the soil to the seas, making the soil more benign. Rain will do this job more quickly.

Also by this time, O2 levels may be high enough to introduce CO2 Tolerant Insects. Though a nuisance to people, bugs will helps many plants along, especially those that burrow and aerate the soil. And again, the more living things around, the more organic the soil becomes.

In about another 50 years, things will be even more benign. Water will exist as a liquid during more of the year and never freeze in the summer outside the arctic. CO2 filter masks may also be all that is needed to go outside and CO2 tolerant animals may be introduced (maybe we can pull that trick on ourselves).

The presence of animals will help many plants and get an ecosystem going. But it also brings up 2 big issues; the lack of a magnetic field and a major moon. Many animals that migrate don’t navigate by the sun, so they will be lost. And lunar phases control the lifecycles of many animals.

Lunar phases are big parts of mating cycles in many species. Some rely on full moons, others sliver moons and some the absence of one. Sure, Phobos and Deimos have phases, but theirs are too brief and frequent. A moon for Mars could be created by fusing many asteroids together.

The moon would need to be about 1,000 miles wide if we want terran proportions and positioned at a distance to give it about the same apparent size. Considering Mars’ mass, that distance would probably make for an orbit between 3 and 5 weeks.

The key to making this moon useful in the sense of phases is to create it in conditions that will cool the surface quickly. So, iron rich asteroids will be struck together to make a red hot small core. The asteroids on top will be less iron rich. This will limit the amount of density difference that will keep the moon convective and hot.

Also, to cool it quickly, there must be as little energy falling on it as possible. So, a shade between it and the sun and it and Mars will be erected. With no sunlight falling on it, nothing but cooling happens except for new impacts. Mars is shielded from it so as to keep nights dark instead of totally illuminated by a red glowing moon.

Since new impacts will be the chief source of new heat on the new moon, the impacts must be kept as slow as possible. We want to add mass, not blow it off. So, when the asteroids are nearing the end of their run to Luna Nova, they will do a 180 and a full burn from the attached engines. This will make their impact low energy and they will be consumed by the heat already there.

Depending on the efficiency of this system and how often the impacts are, building this moon may only take 2 centuries. There are millions of asteroids and automated factories could send out robots to build engines on any of them. There could be a steady stream of dozens of asteroids a month making this moon.

One last thing on Luna Nova: because sunlight is weaker near Mars, the albedo of this moon should be higher. Once the surface is cooled, Nanoprobes could remake the surface chemistry into silicon rich rocks, making for a shinier surface. When the moon is finished, it could have the shades taken off during New Moon, so as not to come suddenly, but naturally as it waxed.

Even once the surface is cooled and hard, the moon will likely still have some volcanic activity. And speaking of which, this moon has another benefit other than helping animals. This moon is about 1000 miles wide and 120,000 miles away from Mars, its pull on Mars will flex the core.

This flexing pull on Mars’ core will get it moving again and cause it to generate a magnetic field. This will create Martian “Van Allen Belts,” clouds of ions around the planet which will block radiation. It will also allow many species to navigate long distances, this will open up Mars for many species.

So, toward the 200th year, everything will be mostly maintenance. The atmosphere will be around 850 millibars (going for 1 Bar is asking a lot). The atmosphere will have to be topped off, unless some sort of planetary shield can keep it from leaving. Phobos and Deimos will likely have to have some sort of orbit stabilizers because of Luna Nova.

Time will make Mars truly Earth-Like. The passing years will make the trees tall, the soil brown and ecosystems stable. Time will also make rivers, until then the south will have lots of flooding while craters fill, spill and erode. By 3001 AD, everything on Mars will seem at first glance as though it’s been that way forever.

I honestly don't see how the statistical probability of a civilization-ending event occurring in the last 100 years differs significantly from the probability of a civilization-ending event occurring in the next 100 years.

Well Then all you have to say is that you disagree with the article because that is kind of what it was about.

It's kinda humourous the way we keep on making movies about how evil space aliens want to destroy humankind and take over the Earth, while at the same we seek to do the very same thing.

As far as I'm concerned, the only project worth pursuing in space is to build a giant solar power station up there. Solar power 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

I agree with Kiyo's points. We've got problems here on earth. Worry about them first.

I don't understand this philosophy. Why can't we do many things at once? Why can't we explore space AND worry about problems on Earth?