Terraforming

Terraforming or Earth-shaping is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology of a planet, moon, or other astronomical body to be similar to the environment of Earth, with the goal of making it habitable for humans. The concept of terraforming developed from both science fiction and actual science. The term was coined by Jack Williamson in the science-fiction short story "Collision Orbit" in Astounding Science Fiction in 1942. American astronomer Carl Sagan later gave one of the first scientific propositions of terraforming with the planetary engineering of Venus in 1961. Even if the environment of a planet could be altered deliberately, the feasibility of creating an unconstrained planetary environment that mimics Earth on another planet has yet to be verified. While Venus and the Moon have been studied in the subject of terraforming, Mars is usually considered to be the most likely candidate for terraforming. Much study has been done concerning the possibility of heating the planet and altering its atmosphere, and NASA has even hosted debates on the subject. Several potential methods for the terraforming of Mars may be within humanity's technological capabilities, but according to Martin Beech, the economic attitude of preferring short-term profits over long-term investments will not support a terraforming project. The long timescales and practicality of terraforming are also the subject of debate. As the subject has gained traction, research has expanded to other possibilities including biological terraforming, para-terraforming, and modifying humans to better suit the environments of planets and moons. Despite this, questions still remain in areas relating to the ethics, logistics, economics, politics, and methodology of altering the environment of an extraterrestrial world, presenting issues to the implementation of the concept.

Concept The term "terraforming" was coined by Jack Williamson in “Collision Orbit” in 1942, as a term for making the environment around people habitable. It later came to mean making planets Earth-like in the sense of "Earth-forming". The concept gained traction when it became evident, with the first space probes going to other planets, that other planets were not habitable. Terraforming has since been envisioned as a means for humans to "colonize" space, or to make space relatable to Earth. During the 1980s, American geographer Richard Cathcart successfully lobbied for formal recognition of the verb "to terraform". The word was added to the fourth edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary in 1993. The concept is contrasted by pantropy, the adaptation of humans to an alien environment rather than an environment to humans. Pantropy has also been envisioned as a substitute when terraforming is not complete.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.