Posted on 08/07/2016 2:21:25 PM PDT by BenLurkin
While most people wouldn’t suspect it, the closest planet to our Sun is actually a potential candidate for settlement...
Mercury’s very low axial tilt (0.034°) means that its polar regions are permanently shaded and cold enough to contain water ice. In the northern region, a number of craters were observed by NASA’s MESSENGER probe in 2012 which confirmed the existence of water ice and organic molecules. Scientists believe that Mercury’s southern pole may also have ice, and claim that an estimated 100 billion to 1 trillion tons of water ice could exist at both poles, which could be up to 20 meters thick in places.
In these regions, a colony could be built using a process called “paraterraforming” – a concept invented by British mathematician Richard Taylor in 1992. In a paper titled “Paraterraforming – The Worldhouse Concept”, Taylor described how a pressurized enclosure could be placed over the usable area of a planet to create a self-contained atmosphere. Over time, the ecology inside this dome could be altered to meet human needs.
In the case of Mercury, this would include pumping in a breathable atmosphere, and then melting the ice to create water vapor and natural irrigation. Eventually, the region inside the dome would become a livable habitat, complete with its own water cycle and carbon cycle. Alternately, the water could be evaporated, and oxygen gas created by subjecting it to solar radiation (a process known as photolysis).
Another possibility would be to build underground. For years, NASA has been toying with the idea of building colonies in stable, underground lava tubes that are known to exist on the Moon. And geological data obtained by the MESSENGER probe during flybys it conducted between 2008 and 2012 led to speculation that stable lava tubes might exist on Mercury as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
Colonize Mercury!?
So we can get away from the invasion?
So much easier to build the Wall. The Trump Wall
..ya start by dumbing it down. First you build an Edsel, than a Pinto,than......oh you meant the planet
Read the Mars Red-Green-Blue trilogy. The final book proposes how to survive on Mercury.
Liberty may someday be found only in underground space colonies.
Hey dont knock Mercury, I got “lucky” in it back in high school. Very Roomy at the back..
There’s gold in them that lava tubes!
The expense would be incredibly high. There would have to be an awfully good promise of a payoff. Maybe hidden minerals.
The article indicates the possibility of water, but then we return to the expense issue. Transportation in what form? It would almost have to be a solid form until reaching our lower atmosphere.
We may be better off first spending money to colonize the moon. At least we (one presumes) have been there before.
Google, the maker of Tesla, who’s name escapes me, The founder of Virgin Records, Zuckerberg and a few select others may be interested in such a venture.
Earth First!
We’ll mine the other planets later.
Mercury might be a good spot for solar panels...
Maybe a competitive advantage for some high heat processing jobs.
The Moon is a better target.
It has plenty of water too. Closer to Earth, as well as being in the habitable zone making it far easier to terraform under a dome, than Mercury where you are going to be living in the dark all of the time.
We Don’t.
I think Venus would be s better candidate.
I mean I’ve been deep sea diving with air tanks, but we really are capable of building a wall.
I think we should rent first and see how we like it.
Land at night :)
Frankie Avalon agrees.
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