How British scientists propose to create a magnetosphere on Mars

Mars is known to be the first contenderto human colonization. It is located relatively close to the Earth. In addition, it has the most suitable conditions for this - an acceptable temperature that can be adjusted, an acceptable time of day and a gravitational field. True, conditions cannot be called absolutely suitable for life. The planet lacks oxygen in sufficient quantity for breathing. Freezing temperatures sometimes reach -130 degrees Celsius. Add to this the powerful cosmic radiation. As a result, a person is unlikely to be able to live on Mars without a spacesuit for more than two minutes. Therefore, terraforming the red planet in order to make humanity multi-planetary is a goal that space agencies are increasingly pursuing. At the moment, scientists have already developed methods for creating an atmosphere. However, it is not enough for life on Mars - a magnetosphere is still needed. Scientists, including NASA, offer a variety of ideas for the restoration of the magnetosphere. In particular, British scientists recently shared their ideas.

Scientists have figured out how to create a magnetosphere on Mars for further terraforming the red planet

What is the magnetosphere and why is it needed

Besides the atmosphere that provides the Earthcomfortable temperature, contains oxygen for breathing and protects us from excessive ultraviolet radiation, there is a magnetosphere. It is thanks to her that the Earth has not undergone erosion for billions of years of its existence. The magnetosphere, formed by the planet's poles, protects us from strong solar wind and ionizing particles.

The magnetosphere protects the Earth from charged solar particles

In addition, the magnetic field protected ourthe atmosphere from deadly charged solar particles and thus prevented its disappearance. Today it is obvious that it was the weak magnetic field of Mars that led to the destruction of its atmosphere. Presumably, before the magnetosphere disappeared on Mars, the planet had a dense, water-rich atmosphere.

The lack of atmosphere, in turn, led tothe disappearance of the oceans, which simply evaporated. True, there are different versions of the disappearance of the oceans on Mars. It is quite possible that some of the water did not evaporate, but “petrified”, as I talked about earlier. Scientists also suggest that large volumes of water remained frozen under the planet's surface.

Scientists propose to create a magnetosphere on Mars using the Phobos satellite

How to recreate the magnetosphere of Mars

The magnetic field on our planet arises inas a result of the dynamo effect in its core, where, due to convection of iron alloys, a geomagnetic field is generated. But on Mars, it will not work to launch such a dynamo. According to a new article by British scientists to be published in the journal Acta Astronautica in early 2022, there are several methods that could help restore the magnetosphere around Mars.

To obtain a powerful planetary magnetic field,a powerful stream of charged particles is needed. Since it is impossible to provide such a flow from inside Mars, the option of creating a flow around the planet should be considered. According to the authors of the work, it is possible to provide a dense protective ring with the help of the Mars satellite Phobos.

The scheme of creating a magnetic field around Mars

Phobos is the largest of the two availableMars satellites. And most importantly, it rotates close enough to the surface of the planet. So close that it completely flies around it in 8 hours. The scientists' idea is to ionize particles on the surface of the satellite and then accelerate them. Thus, you can create a plasma shield along the orbit of Phobos. This will provide the planet with a strong enough magnetic field to protect its atmosphere from destruction.

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The plan, while daring, seems achievable.However, it has some serious technical hurdles. The fact is that to create an artificial plasma shield, a power source with a capacity of about 10 to the seventeenth power of joules is required. Roughly the same amount of energy has been expended on Earth over the entire past year. The significance seems inconceivable, and it is clear that with the technologies available today, it is impossible to provide a satellite with such an amount of energy.

However, the authors of the work are sure that all the difficultieswhich will arise before the implementation of this idea, you can decide. Besides, we, earthlings, still have time for this. Fortunately, there are no prerequisites for the need to leave the planet at an accelerated pace, and is not foreseen. Unless, of course, we ourselves create them, for example, by accelerating global warming to unimaginable values, or by staging a nuclear apocalypse.