• Question: would we be able to inhabit any other plants other than earth or mars

    Asked by Niall burs to Cristiane, Nicki, Nikolai, Richard, Samuel on 16 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Nikolai Adamski

      Nikolai Adamski answered on 16 Mar 2015:

      Yes, we could (if we ever get there!).

      Think about what makes this planet “habitable”.
      1) You need an atmosphere is breathable for humans.
      2) The planet needs a stable magnetic field that keeps harmful radiation away.
      3) The planet needs to orbit its sun just the right distance away: Too far, and the temperatures on the planet would be too low to sustain life. Too close and it will get very hot indeed.
      Maybe 4) It would be good if the planet was carrying some indigenous plant-life or so: That would make it easier to feed a colony, as the plants would be adapted to the local environment. but I guess this could be engineered beforehand if required.

      Other things like day-length (how quickly the planet revolves around itself), length of year (how quickly the planet orbits its sun) and so on are optional 🙂

    • Photo: Samuel Ellis

      Samuel Ellis answered on 17 Mar 2015:

      As Nikolai said there are a number of factors which could make a planet suitable for human habitation. But of course getting to planets in another solar system is currently not possible with our technology.

      As for planets in our solar system, well you mention Mars in the question which is probably the best bet. Venus is closer, but a surface temperature of around 460 °C and an atmosphere of 96% CO2 at very high pressure makes it extremely unsuitable for humans! Mercury is too close to the sun, with no real atmosphere and wildly fluctuating temperatures. And the outer planets are all made up of gas, so do not have a surface for us to land on!

      Another possibility is the large moons of the outer planets. For example, it is believed that Europa (a moon of Jupiter) might have a water ocean under its icy surface which could potentially have simple microbial life!

      But at the moment the I think the best option is Mars, with the first attempts to send people there probably not too many years away now 🙂

    • Photo: Richard Simons

      Richard Simons answered on 17 Mar 2015:

      The standard search for a new planet is to consider somewhere which is similar to our own earth – stable atmosphere, protective magnetic field, perfect distance from the sun.
      But, there’s nothing stopping us trying to carve out our existence in some pretty inhospitable places (apart from our science and engineering skills). If we can get nuclear fusion sorted we’ll have next to infinite energy capacity, so we could then look at using some really energy intensive processes to split the atoms in rocks into something we could use. We’d probably have to live indoors, but if we can break down rocks to give us the elements we need to grow plants for food (or even just synthesise the food directly) then there’s really no end to where we could live.

      The biggest problem of course, is actually getting there. With our current models of propulsion any long journey would take CENTURIES, rather than just years

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