Scientists propose warming up Mars by using heat-trapping 'glitter'

NBC
Aug. 9, 2024, 11:09 AM EDT / Source: Reuters

The idea of transforming Mars into a world more hospitable to human habitation is a regular feature of science fiction. But could this be done in real life?

Scientists are now proposing a new approach to warm up Earth’s planetary neighbor by pumping engineered particles — similar in size to commercially available glitter and made of iron or aluminum — into the atmosphere as aerosols to trap escaping heat and scatter sunlight toward the Martian surface. The idea would be to augment the natural greenhouse effect on Mars to raise its surface temperature by roughly 50 degrees Fahrenheit (28 degrees Celsius) over a span of a decade.

This alone would not make Mars habitable for people, but the scientists who developed the proposal see it as a potentially doable initial step.

“Terraforming refers to modifying a planet’s environment to make it more Earth-like. For Mars, warming the planet is a necessary, but insufficient, first step. Previous concepts have focused on releasing greenhouse gases, but these require large amounts of resources that are scarce on Mars,” said University of Chicago planetary scientist Edwin Kite, who helped lead the study published this week in the journal Science Advances.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/mars-scientists-propose-warming-using-heat-trapping-glitter-rcna165952