I've been reading and hearing a lot about mars lately, and I think its pretty cool how humans are planning to terraform (make it livable) and colonise the planet. Do any of you think its possible? I know its random and some of you probably find the subject boring.
I think that it is very possible as technology increases. I would love to see it done in my lifetime but that is unlikely to say the least (although who knows with the rate that technology evolves)
I'm studying to be an Astrophysicist, so I find it very interesting.
Mars is thought to once have been Earth-like. Mars would probably be very much like Earth now if it weren't for how small it is. Because it's smaller than earth, it cooled down faster after its formation than the Earth did. Where the Earth managed to keep a molten core, Mars' core has frozen solid. This means that it doesn't have a magnetic field like the Earth does (you need a fluid core for that). A magnetic field is important for a planet because it stops the solar wind (a constant stream of particles being radiated by the sun) from ripping its atmosphere off into space - it acts kind of like a planetary force-field.
The long of the short of it is that Mars's once thick atmosphere was stripped off into space a long long time ago. Without the blanket of an atmosphere to keep it warm, all the water on Mars froze solid. There's probably enough water on Mars to form seas and oceans, just locked up in the ice caps or as ice underground.
So, if you could add back Mars' atmosphere, the place would start to becomes quite habitable. Getting so much gas to Mars from somewhere else would be hard, but luckily there's a whole icecap on the south pole which is made of frozen carbon dioxide. If you could raise the temperature of the south pole slightly, it would evaporate the CO2, the atmospheric pressure would rise, the resulting greenhouse effect would make up for the fact that Mars is further from the sun than we are, raising temperatures all over the planet. This would melt the ice making oceans.
The atmosphere would still be a bit thin and there would be no oxygen. Add some plants and you solve the oxygen problem. Magic up some more atmosphere from a nearby moon or water hydrolysis or something and you start to have a half decent planet.
You still have the problem of the solar wind slowly stripping off the lighter parts of your atmosphere into space, and it would take a while for an ozone layer to form so you (and the plants) could go outside without getting fried from UV radiation, but hey, where there's a will there's a way!
Discharge .... The Sun -> Red Giant -> Bigger and bigger -> Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, ect. melt -> Red Giant Explode -> white dwarf -> Diamond Core
The Sun Core -> No More Hydrogen -> Burn Helium -> Produce Iron -> Iron Absorb Heat ? or things -> Core Contract but Crust Expand -> KABOOOOM (Explode)
Am I Right ?? lolz.....
Hotmage...that is about the most condensed summary of stellar lifecycles I have ever seen, or am ever likely to see for that matter.
Stellar lifecyles are my particular area of interest, and I could talk for hours about it (and indeed have been known to do so on more than one occasion).
The first one is what will happen to our own sun (all be it in a very long time). The second path you mentioned is that taken by a much larger stars (10 times more massive than the sun or so), which do indeed explode in type II supernovae for more or less the reasons you outlined (skipping all that dull stuff about electron degeneracy and inverse beta decay and such).
Very impressive!
Speaking of space, it's my goal in life to die one of two ways. Option A : Find a black hole and be shot into it with live video feed.
Option B : Jump into lava.
I suppose Minecraft has already supplied option B though. =P
I don't know if you guys heard, but NASA is planning to send astronauts to mars in 2030 to establish a colony and leave them there. They do not want to bring them back to earth because the project will raise from 10 billion US dollars (I think) to a lot more. It's cheaper to leave them there. But I think its very posible to terraform Mars. Probably not in any of our lifetimes but who knows what technology we will have 20 years from now.
I hope next year to start an astrophysics course to become an astrophysicist much like Discharge.
Mars is what I see to be the first proper step for humans in space. The distance between the Earth and the Moon is nothing compared to interplanetary distance, never mind interstellar.
As Discharge says, at the moment the atmosphere needs sorting out for proper colonisation to happen, Bio-dome experiments haven't gone perfectly on Earth, never mind on another planet. Once the pressure is around norm for us we could walk around without the need of a pressurised suit and if we add oxygen then we wouldn't even need the gas supply.
About the Ozone, there is still research going into a possible nanotechnology that can produce ozone, most of this research is being undertaken so we can repair our own ozone layer, but if that technology works we could very easily use it on mars too with the right resources.
Mars also has a smaller gravity well meaning it is easier to get things off of Mars, it is the perfect place to start outer system exploratory missions, from Mars the asteroids could potentialy be mined or even inhabited in some cases (more like a space station than an actual colony).
Some of Jupiters moons look pretty interesting as well, wonder what Europa holds for us? And Titan around Saturn.
Its incredibly unlikely that Europa and Titan could be habitable without the need for gas supplies or pressurised suits. But they seem more suitable than alot of places out there.
And being sent to Mars but not coming back? I could do that I suppose... It'd be hard but having the chance of being one of the first on Mars? It'd be amazing.
Something interesting I read is that Mars' gravity could possibly relieve arthiritis and Martian born children could be taller than their "Earthling" cousins.
Dubian yes they would be taller the lesser gravity would = less strain on our bodies. Also terra-forming Mars is possible with todays tech we would basicly do to Mars what we are doing to earth global warming.
Would we get Minecraft on Mars? It'd be worth it if we did. =D
Or mars on minecraft. either one is ok with me.
Gravity on Mars is about 1/3 of Earths gravity. So yes people on mars would be taller and the first settlers would need to exercise to stay strong while further generations would potentially adapt to the conditions.
Everything about science ! Physics to Chemistry to Bio to Astronomy 
I love the universe its very beautiful..... i bet they will but ... i think its to late because 2012 lol .... there are so many natural disaster this year ..... i saw it in the newspaper ... tsunami to tornado to volcano eruption and earthquake ... 
Maybe they will make Air Bubbles Room ..... Wow discrahge ... impreesive ;D Solar Strom = Cut Down all Electricity and Broke your Electrical App 
