The pulper sort of Mars sounds quite right for what I'd been imagining. It would make the canals and aqueducts actually useful and not there just because. Not that they aren't there just because anyway, but it makes it even better if there's a reason.
I'd been imagining Mars as being terraformed faster than Venus for vaguely defined reasons, which could give Mars the opportunity to go heavily into farming and ranching more traditional crops, especially with the help of the Space Amish. Though that brings up an interesting question which I've barely begun to speculate on. Handwavium environmental contamination. Maybe that's where some of the monsters that show up in Adventures come from?
The MTP will need to come up with a way to increase Mars's mass so that it can hold onto the extra atmosphere they're going to give it. It's only 1/10th (~11%) of Earth's mass, and they'll need a thicker atmo to git rid of the domes and increase the greenhouse effect. And they'll need to create a planet wide magnetic field to help protect themselves and the atmosphere from solar wind. 'Though it wont be as bad as it is here that much farther out.
Pity Venus's atmosphere doesn't have anything they'd need on Mars. I'd gotten this idea for large, and I mean large, balloons made out of 'waved cloth and rubber being used to ferry atmosphere from one planet to the next. Maybe not even being towed at all, just drifting until someone at the other end can catch them...
--
Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to
build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the universe trying
to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning.
-- Rick Cook, Mission Manager, NASA Mars Pathfinder Project
I'd been imagining Mars as being terraformed faster than Venus for vaguely defined reasons, which could give Mars the opportunity to go heavily into farming and ranching more traditional crops, especially with the help of the Space Amish. Though that brings up an interesting question which I've barely begun to speculate on. Handwavium environmental contamination. Maybe that's where some of the monsters that show up in Adventures come from?
The MTP will need to come up with a way to increase Mars's mass so that it can hold onto the extra atmosphere they're going to give it. It's only 1/10th (~11%) of Earth's mass, and they'll need a thicker atmo to git rid of the domes and increase the greenhouse effect. And they'll need to create a planet wide magnetic field to help protect themselves and the atmosphere from solar wind. 'Though it wont be as bad as it is here that much farther out.
Pity Venus's atmosphere doesn't have anything they'd need on Mars. I'd gotten this idea for large, and I mean large, balloons made out of 'waved cloth and rubber being used to ferry atmosphere from one planet to the next. Maybe not even being towed at all, just drifting until someone at the other end can catch them...
--
Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to
build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the universe trying
to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning.
-- Rick Cook, Mission Manager, NASA Mars Pathfinder Project