Comment Re:Terraforming (Score 1) 429
Well, even a large mirror close to the Sun would just appear to be a bright speck from the distance to Mars, compared to the Sun.
As for a gravity well, everything has a gravity well, including the Moon. The Moon still doesn't have an atmosphere. This is because the gravity well isn't deep enough to keep the atmosphere from being lost to the solar wind or to sunlight pressure. The atmospheric pressure is mostly a function of how much the gravity can compress the atmosphere at the bottom; so Mars is never going to have a thick enough atmosphere to be breathable.
See, this is why Jupiter has a very deep, very thick atmosphere, and the pressure at the bottom is so high; it's got a huge gravity well.
Warming Mars would just make it worse; the atmosphere would tend to fly away even more. As for moholes, it would be easier just to live underground - no terraforming required. And speeding up rotation? How would you manage that?
As for a gravity well, everything has a gravity well, including the Moon. The Moon still doesn't have an atmosphere. This is because the gravity well isn't deep enough to keep the atmosphere from being lost to the solar wind or to sunlight pressure. The atmospheric pressure is mostly a function of how much the gravity can compress the atmosphere at the bottom; so Mars is never going to have a thick enough atmosphere to be breathable.
See, this is why Jupiter has a very deep, very thick atmosphere, and the pressure at the bottom is so high; it's got a huge gravity well.
Warming Mars would just make it worse; the atmosphere would tend to fly away even more. As for moholes, it would be easier just to live underground - no terraforming required. And speeding up rotation? How would you manage that?
