It’s been a long time dream of all scientists to set up a colony on Mars since the beginning of space evolution. In terms of position in the solar system, Earth and Mars both orbits sun at Goldilocks zone. But, Earth lived and Mars died, as there are no magnetic fields like Earth.
The magnetic field is just like a shield which protects a planet from solar winds and other cosmic rays and Mars already lost it’s shield 4.2 billion years ago. NASA scientists are now planning to cover Mars with a giant magnetic field to give Mars its atmosphere back and make it habitable for future Human colonists. Scientists first proposed their idea at the Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop.
NASA's Planetary Science Division director Jim Green said at the workshop,“It may be feasible that we can get up to these higher field strengths that are necessary to provide that shielding. We need to be able then to also modify that direction of the magnetic field so that it always pushes the solar wind away”. According to Engadget, researchers are planning to establish the magnetic shield at L1 Lagrange point beyond the red planet.
This shield would create an artificial magnetosphere around the Mars to deflect solar winds and incoming radiation. Although, this idea sounds like a sci-fi movie plot but, this is not a new thing. There are so many miniature magnetosphere researches being conducted o protect astronauts and spacecraft from cosmic radiation. This time their mission is just bigger in size.
Science Alert reported that the team conducted a simulation at the lab. Researchers found that Mars's atmospheric losses would stop if the solar wind were diverted by the magnetic field. The atmospheric pressure would be as much as half the atmospheric pressure of Earth.
NASA team estimated that the Mars's climate would become around 4 degrees Celsius warmer than the current average temperature. This temperature is enough to melt down the frozen CO2 that is remained deposited at the northern polar cap.
The carbon in the atmosphere would create a greenhouse effect that will help Mars to melt those ice which remained frozen on Mars. Liquid water is the most important team to sustain life. However, at this point, this plan is just hypothetical. Researchers are planning to conduct more studies on this plan to get the more accurate estimate of how long the climate-altering effects would take.
