Eli5: What are the main things holding humanity back when it comes to being able to Terraform a planet or other large celestial objects in space?
In: 14
Even if you had the huge amount of energy and resources to do it, it’s still not a simple task to achieve. Creating a self sustaining biosphere would be incredibly complicated. You can’t just add water and oxygen like baking a cake.
On earth we have the right mix of plants and animals that keep each other in check. They keep the water, nitrogen and carbon cycles flowing. Without these, a planet could easily fall out of balance. Think of what has happened when humans have introduced invasive species into places they don’t belong.
On Earth this has all happened through billions of years of evolutionary trial and error.
Eli5: What are the main things holding humanity back when it comes to being able to Terraform a planet or other large celestial objects in space?
In: 14
Even if you had the huge amount of energy and resources to do it, it’s still not a simple task to achieve. Creating a self sustaining biosphere would be incredibly complicated. You can’t just add water and oxygen like baking a cake.
On earth we have the right mix of plants and animals that keep each other in check. They keep the water, nitrogen and carbon cycles flowing. Without these, a planet could easily fall out of balance. Think of what has happened when humans have introduced invasive species into places they don’t belong.
On Earth this has all happened through billions of years of evolutionary trial and error.
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