Colonizing Mars: Why we can’t

Mars is a dying planet

What is living, what is dead? A definition that I find useful for “life” in a non-biological sense is that which tends toward order; non-living things tend toward disorder. Another way of putting it is that changes in non-living things occur only by outside influences. Living things can change and form orderly structures.

In Biology, a living organism grows and forms an ordered structure. When it dies, it decays; other organisms or inorganic processes take it apart. Now, take that definition to non-biological things or systems.

The Moon

The Moon is a dead planetoid. The only changes that occur result from outside influences. The most obvious are meteor impacts. In addition, there is some minor breakdown by the intense heat and cold cycles on a monthly basis. Large meteor impacts may heat up the surrounding rock enough to melt it. That is the source of the lunar maria (so-named because early astronomers thought they were seas). The majority of the lunar surface is primarily made up of anorthosite. The many samples of anorthosite brought back from the Apollo lunar missions crystalized about 4 billion years ago. The Moon has been dead for 4 billion years.

Earth

Earth’s heat sources

The Earth is a living planet – not just because it harbors biological life. The Earth has an internal heat source – the inner and outer core and the mantle have latent heat, leftover from the formation of the planet. Much of that heat was produced by the energy of meteoric impacts and from gravitational compression as the planet grew. There is also heating from radioactive elements, thought to be primarily in crustal rocks, though it is likely that some radioactive elements also exist in the core. In addition, some amount of heating is generated from Earth tides – the change of Earth’s shape due to gravitational interaction with the Sun and Moon. Eventual heat loss and solidification of the core, through convection, conduction, and radiation, is estimated to take tens of billions of years. That is, unless the Earth is totally destroyed when the Sun burns out in an estimated 5 billion years. So, why is this internal heat source important?

The heat within the Earth, along with gravity, is what drives convection in the mantle of the Earth. The rocks of the mantle undergo differentiation with the lighter minerals rising to the top and forming the crust. The lithosphere (crust and uppermost mantle) is broken up into plates that move about atop the mantle. Their interaction with each other, with the mantle below, and the ocean above (plate tectonics) is what keeps mountain building going. If the mantle became totally solid, plate tectonics would cease, and eventually the continents would erode down to sea level. That would make life difficult for land plants and animals. But that alone would not make Earth a dead planet.

Earth’s Magnetic Field

The molten outer core is believed to be responsible for Earth’s magnetic field. The magnetic field protects the Earth from the effects of the solar wind. If the outer core became solid the magnetic field would be no more, and the solar wind would eventually strip away the Earth’s atmosphere. That would be catastrophic for biologic life on Earth, as the oceans would also evaporate.

What happens when the magnetic field decreases during a reversal (swapping of north and magnetic poles, as happens occasionally – on the order of thousands to tens of millions of years)? Fortunately, it is estimated that it would take several billion years to remove most of the atmosphere. There is the question of genetic damage from increased cosmic radiation during a reversal. Maybe that has caused an increase in the rate of evolution, but life has survived many such reversals.

Mars

The loss of its magnetic field is exactly the predicament in which we find Mars. The magnetism that has been measured is a weak remanent magnetism of crustal rocks. That remanent magnetism was acquired from a past global magnetic field by certain metallic minerals when they were hot, and remained as they cooled.

There is evidence that Mars at one time had oceans, and therefore a much thicker atmosphere. Mars is only about 1/8 the volume of Earth and 1/10 the mass. Its small core would have cooled much more rapidly than Earth’s. Recent measurements of Mars tides1 suggest its core is not completely solid, but it no longer has the internal circulation needed to generate a magnetic field. Because of this, Mars now has little or no global magnetic field, and that has apparently been the case for about 4 billion years.

So, Mars has lost most of its atmosphere, and with the low atmospheric pressure, surface water has evaporated and been lost as well. There is still evidence of moisture seasonally at the polar regions, and there may still be some groundwater. Mars is not dead, but it is dying. When it dies, there is little prospect for sustaining life, certainly not Earthly life.

Can we terraform Mars?

Some have posited the idea that we can terraform and colonize Mars. Mars’ atmosphere is about 95 percent carbon dioxide, with very little oxygen or nitrogen. The Mars Rover Perseverance successfully made breathable oxygen from carbon dioxide. That would allow astronauts to manufacture oxygen for whatever habitats they build to live in on Mars. If there is subsurface water or ice, that could perhaps be filtered to provide for the needs for those limited habitats.

But that doesn’t make Mars habitable on any large scale. To make Mars truly habitable, we would need to create an atmosphere that is comparable to that on Earth. That means keep the existing carbon dioxide, which is at an abundance close to that on Earth (considering that Mars’ total atmosphere is about as much as the Earth’s atmospheric carbon dioxide), and add enough nitrogen and oxygen to get the atmospheric pressure to at least that on high mountains on Earth (~10,000 feet elevation). You cannot manufacture that from Mars’ current atmosphere. If there is a way to create these gases from something in Mars’ crustal rocks (oxygen is abundant in the rocks), it would take thousands (more likely, millions) of years. Meanwhile, the solar wind would be removing them as fast as you make them. In other words, it can’t be done.

Ray Bradbury had it right in 1950 2  – Mars is a dying planet. And there is nothing we can do to change that.

Featured image: Mars Earth composite image from Getty images

References

1. Callaghan JO. InSight Lander Makes Best-Yet Maps of Martian Depths. Scientific American. 2021 July 22 [accessed 2022 June 14]. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/insight-lander-makes-best-yet-maps-of-martian-depths/

2. Bradbury R. The Martian Chronicles. Simon & Schuster; 1950. As of 2022 Jun 14, available at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Martian-Chronicles-Ray-Bradbury/dp/1451678193

Additional reading

Brann T, Steigerwald B, Jones N. MAVEN Maps Electric Currents around Mars that are Fundamental to Atmospheric Loss. NASA RELEASE 20-011. 2020 May 25 [accessed 2022 Jun 14]. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/2020/mars-electric-currents

Goldsmith D, Rees M. Why should we ever send humans to Mars? Slate; Technology. 2022 Apr 19 [accessed 2022 Jun 14]. https://slate.com/technology/2022/04/end-of-astronauts-excerpt-mars-robots-humans.html

Gramling C. Earth’s core may have hardened just in time to save planet’s magnetic field. Science News for Students, 2019 Mar 1 [accessed 2022 Jun 15] https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/earths-core-hardened-just-time-save-magnetic-field

Gough E. We Might Know Why Mars Lost its Magnetic Field: Universe Today, Space and astronomy news. 2022 Feb 11 [accessed 2022 Jun 14]. https://www.universetoday.com/154461/we-might-know-why-mars-lost-its-magnetic-field/

Hand E. Oldest rock crystals point to ancient magnetic shield for Earth. News from Science (AAAS). 2015 Jul 30 [accessed 2022 June 15] https://www.science.org/content/article/oldest-rock-crystals-point-ancient-magnetic-shield-earth

McFadden. How much longe until the core of the earth runs out of fuel? Interesting Engineering. 2021 Jan 03 [accessed 2022 Jun 16] https://interestingengineering.com/how-much-longer-until-the-core-of-the-earth-runs-out-of-fuel

O’Callaghan J.  InSight Lander Makes Best-Yet Maps of Martian Depths. Scientific American. 2021 Jul 22 [accessed 2022 Jun 16] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/insight-lander-makes-best-yet-maps-of-martian-depths/

Pappas S. Earth’s core is a billion years old. LiveScience. 2020 Aug 26. [accessed 2022 Jun 16] https://www.livescience.com/earth-core-billion-years-old.html

Shekhtman L. With Mars Methane Mystery Unsolved, Curiosity Serves Scientists a New One: Oxygen. NASA 2019 Nov 13 [accessed 2022 Jun 16] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/with-mars-methane-mystery-unsolved-curiosity-serves-scientists-a-new-one-oxygen

 

The People versus Our Laws

A Plan for Reducing Laws and Regulations

Our laws are usurping the sovereignty of the People.

The Declaration of Independence and Constitution rejected the concept of a Crown Sovereign and established instead the sovereignty of the governed – the People. The proliferation of laws has eroded that sovereignty, that liberty.

We often hear our lawmakers’ pronouncement: “We are a Nation of Laws.” I say, “No, we are a Nation of People who love and desire freedom.” It is even a part of the text at the Statue of Liberty “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free…” That is the hope that brought many of our ancestors here and still brings so many from around the World.

The original Constitution (1789) contains only 4,543 words, including signatures. Including all the 27 amendments, the total is 7,591 words.1 It is the shortest and oldest written national constitution still in use. It is an amazing document, considering its brevity and scope. The various State constitutions range from 8,295 words (Vermont) to about 389,000 words (Alabama).2,3

Laws are out of control.

However, since the early days of the Constitution, things seem to have gotten out of control. Untold thousands of Federal laws have been passed. Nobody knows how many for sure. Apparently, its too difficult to count them, because some of them are amendments to others, some are to repeal others, some are case law (written by courts based on past cases), and some are regulatory provisions that have the force of law.4,5,6  And these are just the Federal laws. The Constitution leaves most lawmaking to the separate States – fifty more quagmires!

Many of these laws tell us what we can’t do (for example, there were over 5000 Federal criminal offenses counted as of 2015).7 Some laws tell us what we must do (for example, pay taxes). Some allocate money for running the government and for all the entitlements that they promise the people in order to buy their votes. And some create agencies or other bureaucracies.

The Federal bureaucracy has grown enormously as well. Today, there are 15 Executive departments and hundreds of bureaus, agencies, laboratories, councils, and other offices 8,9  Most of these are in the Executive Branch, but there are plenty under the Legislative and Judicial branches as well. And there are a host of so-called independent agencies and corporations (like the CIA and the Postal Service).

Regulations are an even greater burden.

It seems that legislators at all levels think they must create new laws in order to justify their existence (and salaries). From 1995 to 2016 Congress passed an average of about 200 laws per year.5 If all those laws aren’t enough, many or most of them engender regulations. The regulations are not enacted by Congress; they are created by unelected bureaucrats in all those agencies, offices and so forth. How many are there? Forbes estimates an average of 20 regulations for each law.5 This may be an underestimate for newer laws.

To get an idea of the enormity, I looked up the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) because I know it is a huge document. The law itself (actually two laws in one) is “only” 381,517 words. As of 2013 there were 109 regulations (10,535 pages in Federal Register) created by the affected departments; together with the original law there are about 11,588,500 words.10

Nancy Pelosi famously said “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.” Several months after it had passed, she was asked whether she had read it.11 She would not answer.

There is no way Pelosi, or anyone else knows everything that is in it. And yet doctors, pharmacies, healthcare insurance companies and the general population are expected to follow it. And this is but one of tens of thousands of laws, and hundreds of thousands of regulations that affect us all, in one way or another. Again, add in the even more enormous burden imposed by whatever state you live in.

All this leaves me wondering whether a society’s longevity is dependent on how much law its citizens can stand, before they rebel and start over from scratch. Remember, our Constitution has only been around 231 years and it is the oldest anywhere. Is this what really did in Rome?

Do we really need this?

The interesting thing about all this is that we all get along pretty well, in near total ignorance of most of these laws and regulations. We know about driver’s laws and may come across some of the regulations when we want to do something like adding on to our house or making sure our automobiles meet emissions standards. Other than that, how much do we really need, on a day-to-day basis? Yes, corporations need to adhere to safety and environmental regulations and the like, but most of us can get by with common sense.

Moses handed out Ten Commandments that covered most of the things that his people needed to live by (figs. 1,2).

Ten Commandments in Hebrew
Figure 1. Ten Commandments abbreviated in Hebrew
Ten Commandments translated from the Torah.
Figure 2. Ten Commandments translated from the Torah.

Jesus made it even easier: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27, New International Bible).12 His reasoning was that if you really follow those, they will take care of the other commandments.

A simpler time, maybe, but I can see why so many of us tend toward the Libertarian mindset.

A simpler way.

I have a couple of simple suggestions that could help turn the situation around.

Suggestion 1. Laws

Congress should have a rule that in order to vote yes on any bill, a member of Congress must read the entire bill and certify that they understand it. Those who have not read it, or have read it but not understood it could vote no or recuse themselves.

This would have several benefits:
> First, because many members of Congress are not lawyers, the laws would need to be in plain English, not “lawyerese.”
> Second, the laws would be shorter, so they are easier to understand and implement.
> Third, if they really understand it, it would eliminate most of the “pork” riders that are typically written into laws to benefit certain constituents of those who wrote the law.
> Fourth, the public could also read and understand the laws. (It’s kind of like Martin Luther printing the Bible in the local language so the people could read it for themselves.)
> Fifth, and maybe most important, there would be far fewer laws. This is in part because it would take extra time for them all to read a proposed law. And, because those who have not read and understood the law can vote no, or recuse themselves it is more difficult to pass a bad or poorly written law. Moreover, because this rule would preclude voice votes, it would slow the process further. Even better, those voting could not remain anonymous.

Now, lawmakers are generally regarded as about as honest and honorable as a used car salesman. So, to make sure that they are telling the truth about reading and understanding the law, the rules would be strict. If it could be demonstrated that a legislator lied about having read and understood a law that they voted for (that would be lying to Congress), they would be censured, and perhaps fined and suspended, or expelled.

Suggestion 2. Regulations and Unnecessary Laws

This suggestion regards all the existing regulations and unnecessary laws. Government employees would be rewarded for finding ways to reduce or eliminate them. The employees of the various agencies have the greatest knowledge about the laws and regulations for their own departments. A bonus system like this would be far better than the kudos for suggestions that have been presented in the past for “showy” suggestions that have no real benefit or cost savings.

States and other Jurisdictions

Similar rules changes should be put in place in the States and other jurisdictions as well. I don’t have any illusions that any of this will come to pass. In fact, it is more likely that a state would make such changes. The House of Representatives and Senate set their own rules and would not want to implement rules such as these. They won’t even consider for themselves the term limits that they set for the President back in 1951.

Some states could enact such requirements for their own legislators through voter initiatives (propositions). But the only sure way to reign in Congress is through a Constitutional Amendment created in a Constitutional Convention, which has never been done. (See here for progress on a Constitutional Convention for term limits.

Although I think it is unlikely, I can only hope that some state has the foresight to do something like this and demonstrate positive results.

Your ideas?

If you have any alternative ideas, please comment. And to see future articles, you can subscribe. Thanks.

References

1. Constitutionfacts.com. (2019). Constitution Day Materials, US Constitution, Pocket Constitution Book, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights. [online] Available at: https://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-constitution-amendments/fascinating-facts/.

2. Wikipedia Contributors (2019). State constitution (United States). [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_constitution_(United_States).

3. Ballotpedia. (n.d.). State constitution. [online] Available at: https://ballotpedia.org/State_constitution.

4. Cali, J. (2013). Frequent Reference Question: How Many Federal Laws Are There? | In Custodia Legis: Law Librarians of Congress. [online] blogs.loc.gov. Available at: https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2013/03/frequent-reference-question-how-many-federal-laws-are-there/.

5. Jr, C.W.C. (n.d.). How Many Rules And Regulations Do Federal Agencies Issue? [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/waynecrews/2017/08/15/how-many-rules-and-regulations-do-federal-agencies-issue/#4e8ab63b1e64.

6. kowal.com. (n.d.). How Many Federal Laws Are There? No One Knows. | Kowal Communications. [online] Available at: http://kowal.com/?q=How-Many-Federal-Laws-Are-There?

7. Vespa, M. (2015). How Many Federal Laws Are There Again? [online] Townhall. Available at: https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2015/06/06/how-many-federal-laws-are-there-again-n2009184.

8. USA.gov (2018). Branches of the U.S. Government | USAGov. [online] Usa.gov. Available at: https://www.usa.gov/branches-of-government.

9. Wikipedia Contributors (2019). United States federal executive departments. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_executive_departments.

10. CNSNews.com. (2013). 11,588,500 Words: Obamacare Regs 30x as Long as Law. [online] Available at: https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/11588500-words-obamacare-regs-30x-long-law.

11. CNSNews.com. (2013). Pelosi Won’t Say If She’s Read It To Find Out What’s In It. [online] Available at: https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/pelosi-wont-say-if-shes-read-it-find-out-whats-it.

12. Biblehub.com. (2019). Luke 10:27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” [online] Available at: https://biblehub.com/luke/10-27.htm.

13. U.S. Term Limits. (n.d.). Term Limits Convention Progress Map. [online] Available at: https://www.termlimits.com/progress/.

Figure 1. Vogel, L. (n.d.). The 10 Commandments Importance in Modern Life. [online] www.jesusboat.com. Available at: https://www.jesusboat.com/the-ten-commandments-importance-in-modern-life/.

Figure 2. www.chabad.org. (n.d.). The Ten Commandments. [online] Available at: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2896/jewish/What-Are-the-Ten-Commandments.htm.

Featured Image: Getwallpapers.com. (2020). [online] Available at: http://getwallpapers.com/wallpaper/full/9/2/4/239227.jpg.