Feasibility of keeping Mars warm with nanoparticles
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2024
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| _version_ | 1866916384591577088 |
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| author | Ansari, Samaneh Kite, Edwin S. Ramirez, Ramses Steele, Liam J. Mohseni, Hooman |
| author_facet | Ansari, Samaneh Kite, Edwin S. Ramirez, Ramses Steele, Liam J. Mohseni, Hooman |
| contents | One-third of Mars' surface has shallow-buried H$_2$O, but it is currently too cold for use by life. Proposals to warm Mars using greenhouse gases require a large mass of ingredients that are rare on Mars' surface. However, we show here that artificial aerosols made from materials that are readily available at Mars-for example, conductive nanorods that are ~9 $μ$m long-could warm Mars >5 $\times$ 10$^3$ times more effectively than the best gases. Such nanoparticles forward-scatter sunlight and efficiently block upwelling thermal infrared. Similar to the natural dust of Mars, they are swept high into Mars' atmosphere, allowing delivery from the near-surface. For a particle lifetime of 10 years, two climate models indicate that sustained release at 30 liters/sec would globally warm Mars by $\gtrsim$30 K and start to melt the ice. Therefore, if nanoparticles can be made at scale on (or delivered to) Mars, then the barrier to warming of Mars appears to not be as high as previously thought. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_03925 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Feasibility of keeping Mars warm with nanoparticles Ansari, Samaneh Kite, Edwin S. Ramirez, Ramses Steele, Liam J. Mohseni, Hooman Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics Geophysics One-third of Mars' surface has shallow-buried H$_2$O, but it is currently too cold for use by life. Proposals to warm Mars using greenhouse gases require a large mass of ingredients that are rare on Mars' surface. However, we show here that artificial aerosols made from materials that are readily available at Mars-for example, conductive nanorods that are ~9 $μ$m long-could warm Mars >5 $\times$ 10$^3$ times more effectively than the best gases. Such nanoparticles forward-scatter sunlight and efficiently block upwelling thermal infrared. Similar to the natural dust of Mars, they are swept high into Mars' atmosphere, allowing delivery from the near-surface. For a particle lifetime of 10 years, two climate models indicate that sustained release at 30 liters/sec would globally warm Mars by $\gtrsim$30 K and start to melt the ice. Therefore, if nanoparticles can be made at scale on (or delivered to) Mars, then the barrier to warming of Mars appears to not be as high as previously thought. |
| title | Feasibility of keeping Mars warm with nanoparticles |
| topic | Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics Geophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.03925 |