# Terraforming Another Planet - Possible? When?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 4, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117 "2017-06-04T16:50:18Z")\
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**Author:** ![chargerrich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chargerrich/32/5399_2.png) [@chargerrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chargerrich)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terraforming-another-planet-possible-when/788117/1 "2017-06-04T16:50:18Z")

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Let us say that ALL the world’s leaders and scientists agree that the Earth will be doomed in X years due to (insert outlandish scientific reason probably involving our Sun).

And based on that we make the following assumptions:

1. It is agreed that Mars or another celestial body (Titan, etc) offers the human race a chance at survival

2. All the Earth’s resources are brought to bare (money, technology, natural resources, knowledge)

3. We remove all the political/ethic/morality/religious/scientific debates and actually agree on a “plan” (very unlikely I know)

So with the above assumptions, I would love to hear opinions on and discuss possible answers to the following:

1. Do we currently have or would have the technology in 50 years to colonize Mars, Titan or any newly found earth like planet especially given the will and focus that unanimous agreement would bring?

2. Colonizing seems infinitely easier than Terraforming. Can you even Terraform AFTER colonization?

3. How many decades or centuries are humans away from having the ability to Terraform a planet? (I personally like to look at the technology available in 1917 and compare to 2017 as a belief that we may have the ability in 100 years).

4. What types of hypothetical technology would be needed that we do not have now to Terraform a planet and create an atmosphere? Is nuking polar caps REALLY feasible? It seems it would take 1000s or more nukes to even begin to create a real atmosphere and without a magentic core, it would just get blown away by the Sun, right?

5. Under the best case scenarios and with probably uninvented technologies, could a planet be Terraformed to create a breathable atmosphere in 50 or 100 years?

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