Hello everyone! I'm Hank Green and Elon Musk wants to blow up Mars!
OK, no. He said that if you want to make Mars livable really quickly,
We just need to drop some nuclear bombs on the poles
The idea is that the bombs would be a quick way to terraform Mars.
In other words, make the planet capable of supporting human life,
or at least more comfortable for human life.
These nuclear explosions would have the double effect of adding a lot of heat to the Martian atmosphere
And also releasing a bunch of the water and carbon dioxide locked in the ice at the poles
So Mars would warm up more, possibly enough for people to not be dead
For a fairly long time if exposed on the surface.
We talked a little bit about terraforming before
And there are ways that it could work on Mars
But, contrary to the title of this video, there are quite a number of problems with Musk's idea
First, you're talking about making Mars even more radioactive than it already is.
That being not the lack of oxygen, or air pressure, or livable temperatures, but the lack of a magnetic field.
On Earth, our magnetic field bends the sun's radiation around us.
Now, our atmosphere also helps with that, but the magnetic field is a big deal
And our bodies evolved to live on this planet so, when we don't have that magnetic field,
Like when we're in space, our bodies don't do particularly well
DNA ionizes, cancers form, organs are damaged
Now, it's not an immediate death sentence
And it would be made better if there was some CO2 and water in the atmosphere
But it would definitely decrease the lifespan of residents on Mars
Additionally, blowing up a bunch of nuclear bombs,
And, to be clear, it would be a bunch of them, not just one or two, on the surface of Mars
Would also seriously mess with our scientific goals
I want people on Mars as much as the next geek
But, the reason I want them there is primarily so we can study our universe and
Expand our sample size of well-understood planets from one to two
And, particularly, if we can expand our sample size of well-understood biologies from one to two
Regardless of how likely, or unlikely, it is that Mars has life,
The last thing I want to do is introduce a massive change to the potential Martian ecosystem before we're able to study it
Now, my last problem with this, aside from my growing belief that Elon Musk is literal supervillian,
Is that I have not mentioned the biggest problem with Mars's habitability.
It's kind of a dumb one, and it's not sexy, and it was only recently confirmed: Perchlorates
They're Chlorine atoms bonded to four Oxygens in an ionic compound with some metal
Calcium Perchlorate seems to be everywhere on Mars, in quantities that will be very dangerous to people
Which is an extremely strong oxidizer,
Which controls your body's endocrine system
Martian dust is everywhere,
Tiny, tiny, particles of it constantly blowing around the planet
These particles, which contain perchlorate salts are so tiny that it would be extremely difficult to wash off suits
The good news, though, is that [text onscreen]
Which means we pretty much won't have to bring any oxygen with us to Mars
Meaning that it may be an important part of potential Martian ecologies
The bad news is: Mars is covered in poison
And we can't nuke it away
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Transcribed by Ethan M