I brought this up a while ago (couple months), and seeing it was a topic
again I thought I'd give a summary of what I think is a more likely, more
individualistic, and shorter term alternative to terraforming. Rather then
alter the planetary body to your biological requirements, why not alter your
biological requirements to suit the planetary body? For example, regarding
the danger of cosmic rays and solar storms, we could genetically engineer
ourselves so that our cells have the same radiation repair mechanisms as the
radiodurans bacteria. For oxygen requirements, perhaps nanites releasing
oxygen from compressed nanotanks as they travel through our blood stream.
Or, for living beneath the surface of Europa, just add a pair of gills. Most
planetary bodies have oxygen on them, it's just not floating around for us
to breath, so we would need to devise a way to get it from the surface rocks
biologically - perhaps eating the rocks, and having a second stomach with
some bacteria inside which can extract the oxygen? Pressure and temperature
control are pretty important too, and I haven't figured out an elegant way
to address either of them. Comfort is paramount... it would have to be
something as comfortable as eating rocks.
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Zeb Haradon (zebharadon@hotmail.com)
My personal webpage:
http://www.inconnect.com/~zharadon/ubunix
A movie I'm directing:
http://www.elevatormovie.com
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