Ganymede

[All Seeing Eye]

More sarcasm?

No, quite serious actually. I'm pretty sure even the icy asteroids of the Oort cloud would make a difference to Mars' mass with enough of them. We don't even know really how big the Oort cloud is afterall.

 

[Silvercrest]

If we have the power to move planets around with that kind of precision, we don't need planets to live on.

The power to move moons around with that precision isn't rocket science.

I sure hope that was a deliberate joke!

 

[All Seeing Eye]

If we have the power to move planets around with that kind of precision, we don't need planets to live on.

The power to move moons around with that precision isn't rocket science.

I sure hope that was a deliberate joke!

What does moving planets have to do with Rocket Science? who is to say we require the use of rockets?

At the end of the day the science behind moving planets will be astronomically greater than the science of rockets but he is indeed correct in that "it isn't rocket science".

 

[Silvercrest]

Your original post said "right now", so we must discuss this in terms of the technology available today. What would you use to move bodies around in space? Really big rocket engines? Nuclear explosions? The mechanics will be quite similar. What else is there?

 

[All Seeing Eye]

No rocket technology no matter how big is going to have the power to move a planet, so the idea of moving planets around 'now' is completely impossible. When we are able to move planets around, it won't be via the use of rocket science.

 

[Neroon]

It may have plenty of water, but it's all frozen harder than rock, and the ambient temperature is only slightly above absolute zero. Plus, ya know, there's that total lack of breathable air thing, and the constant sleet of hard radiation.

Maybe a nice vacation spot, but the cost of living is awful high.

Actually, there was an article on Space.com awhile back that stated a liquid, salty ocean probably exists on Ganymede. The problem is that it'd be far beneath the surface.

Found the article: "Ocean Lurks Deep in Ganymede, Galileo Finds".

Granted, it's not been proven I don't believe, but the evidence is pretty strong and fits with the observations made so far.

 

[scotthm]

there was an article on Space.com awhile back that stated a liquid, salty ocean probably exists on Ganymede. The problem is that it'd be far beneath the surface.

Interesting. How does that enhance our ability to colonize Ganymede?

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[c0rnedfr0g]

hmmmm, it would take a looooong time to bring in enough stuff from the keipur belt. and living on Ganymede? Remember all those meteorites hitting Jupiter?

 

[Neopeius]

No rocket technology no matter how big is going to have the power to move a planet, so the idea of moving planets around 'now' is completely impossible. When we are able to move planets around, it won't be via the use of rocket science.

Unless you use the mass of a planet as the propellant.

 

[Maurice]

Back to the topic of Ganymede, its "atmosphere" is considered "trace" at best. Its surface gravity is 0.146 that of Earth.

 

[Neopeius]

Back to the topic of Ganymede, its "atmosphere" is considered "trace" at best. Its surface gravity is 0.146 that of Earth.

But it's all oxygen!

Surely that's worth something!

 

[Forbin]

You can probably build enough cylinder colonies to house about a 1,000 earth worths of people with just the material from the asteroid belt.

Science Trivia: There isn't enough material in the asteroid belt to even make a planetoid the size of the moon.

Science Trivia Part Deux: O'Neill colonies are hollow.

A palpable point!

 

[BolianAuthor]

We need Ganymede elsewhere for terraforming.

Moving it toward the sun, burning off the excess water, the putting it into orbit around Mars as a real moon for that world.

Callisto?

Collide with with Mercury to create a Mars sized new world with plenty of water, moved out to orbit Venus.

See "New Earths" by James Oberg.

Or you could just use mass drivers to "push" Venus to a new orbit, directly opposite of the Earth, at equal distance from the Sun.

The movement of Venus further out from the Sun would cool the world, and after it's had a chance to settle into it's new orbit, we can colonize it, when it's cool enough.

The gradual bombardment from the mass drivers would gradually help to vent all the toxic gasses and atmosphere from Venus.

 

[scotthm]

Or you could just use mass drivers to "push" Venus to a new orbit, directly opposite of the Earth, at equal distance from the Sun.

How much energy will it take to move Venus 25,000,000 miles (more or less) further from the sun, and how do you propose to do this without disturbing Earth's orbit?

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[Silvercrest]

Well, apparently it doesn't require rocket science.

 

[Neroon]

there was an article on Space.com awhile back that stated a liquid, salty ocean probably exists on Ganymede. The problem is that it'd be far beneath the surface.

Interesting. How does that enhance our ability to colonize Ganymede?

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I don't believe I said that it does enhance our ability to colonize. On the contrary, that makeup and location makes it MORE difficult, I should think. Not only would you have to get to the water supply, you'd need to treat it before it could be used for much, wouldn't you?