Mission to Mars

 

Quantum physicist and YouTube science educator Sabine Hossenfelder (yes, she´s a real life Gerrie) isn´t terribly impressed by the idea that we can all just move to Mars if we screw up Earth. For starters, Mars doesn´t have a magnetic field, its surface temperature is way below zero, and - wait for it - no life can survive there. On the plus side, it only takes seven months to reach the darn place! 

But what about terraforming? Well, if you build an enormous relay station 100 times the mass of the Eiffel Tower made of bismuth mined from asteroids, you might actually create a magnetic field on the red planet. Releasing all the carbon dioxide from the Martian ice caps into the planet´s atmosphere will raise its average temperature to a stunning minus 50 degrees Celsius. 

Growing plants at such a low temperature is of course impossible, and how do you water plants if all water is frozen? Even apart from the fact that Martian soil is extremely thin...

However, there might be a genial solution: cover patches of the planet´s surface with a material known as "aerogel" (which actually exists for real). This could make plants grow in the tiny space between the aerogel and the ground. While oaks and redwood trees are thus out of the question, at least we could grow algae! (Or mosses?) 

Unfortunately, due to the low air pressure on Mars, when the Martian ice melts and turns to water, it would immidiately evaporate...

Plants, of course, need water to survive.

It seems we are forever stuck on Earth together with Elon Musk.