The chances of settling down in Mars are pretty slim for all those sci-fi fans out there. First, you need to make a lot of money and then you need to get Elon Musk to give you a ride, hoping that he has finally managed to start a proper space service by then. However, before everything, the red planet has to be made habitable.
Yes, Mars lacks, along with basic amenities, a proper functioning atmosphere. In case you don't want your future self to sit all day in a space suit. A NASA scientist came up with an amazing idea that is actually feasible and can be executed. While speaking at the Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop at the NASA headquarters in Washington, NASA's Planetary Science Division Director James Green took to the stage to share with the audience how a magnetic shield around the planet will help to restore an atmosphere.
Recent studies already revealed that Mars had a proper atmosphere, which was able to maintain liquid water - the elixir of life and habitable conditions. However, the protective magnetic field around the planet, which the scientists dubbed as the "magnetosphere" collapsed billions of years ago turning it into a cold and almost dead planet.
According to Green, if scientists are capable of launching a "magnetic shield" forming a safeguard between Mars and the atmospheric loss into the solar wind, it could possibly make the planet feasible for human existence.
"These new conditions on Mars would allow human explorers and researchers to study the planet in much greater detail and enable a truly profound understanding of the habitability of this planet. If this can be achieved in a lifetime, the colonization of Mars would not be far away," said the NASA team, as reported.
