Author Topic: RP-wise: terraforming the Moon  (Read 2121 times)

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Offline Garfunkel (OP)

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RP-wise: terraforming the Moon
« on: April 26, 2017, 09:15:43 AM »
In my head, the idea of terraforming Luna to be Earth-like habitable place is just so bizarre that, despite Aurora allowing it, I never do. Instead I terraform Mars and then work a little on the Jovian moons - not Earth-like enough but to bring down the colonization cost.

Those of you who RP your games, how do you justify terraforming Luna? Or does it matter? How would Luna even be terraformed, semi-realistically?
 

Offline Bughunter

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Re: RP-wise: terraforming the Moon
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2017, 10:41:42 AM »
Maybe the safe greenhouse gas is actually transnewtonian powered nanobots constructing habitable domes over the whole thing which you then fill with the rest of the atmosphere.
 

Offline Hazard

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Re: RP-wise: terraforming the Moon
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2017, 05:58:55 PM »
It may surprise you, but terraforming the Moon is not in fact a non-starter impossibility. The Moon actually has a useful gravitational field, which would be enough to bind a breathable atmosphere long term on a human timescale. However, between the low gravitational pull of the Moon and a non-existent magnetic field to protect the satellite from the worst of the solar winds would, on a geological scale, rapidly strip the atmosphere from the Moon.

Just realize we're still talking about an amount of gas massing millions and millions of tons. It takes time to get rid of that.
 

Offline MarcAFK

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Re: RP-wise: terraforming the Moon
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2017, 09:51:04 PM »
Another issue is that as the moon hasn't ever had an oxygen rich atmosphere it contains less oxidized iron, which will start to rust as soon as you start pumping in air, it will slightly increase the quantity of oxygen needed, it mostly depends on the quantity of lunar dust, and how much of it is iron based. It wouldn't be large by aurora standards in any event.
The entire current atmosphere of the moon is somewhere like a trillionth of an atmosphere and contains about 10-25 tons of gas. Lunar dust might only be 50,000 tons in total, and it's mostly silicates in any event.
Heating and pressurizing the atmosphere up should remove the electrostatic cling that plagued Apollo so much.
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Offline Hazard

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Re: RP-wise: terraforming the Moon
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2017, 06:55:30 AM »
A major component of the Lunar surface is, IIRC, regolith, which is a titaniumoxide. There's plenty of oxygen to be had on the Moon actually, but getting it out of the rocks is... difficult.
 

Offline bitbucket

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Re: RP-wise: terraforming the Moon
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2017, 12:18:33 PM »
While an atmosphere on Luna would slowly bleed away, the key word here is slowly, orders of magnitude slower. It's not like the air is being stripped away almost as fast as your terraformers pump it out. It would take a few thousand years for solar wind to remove a breathable terrestrial-like atmosphere from the Moon. Considering that in game terms you generated that atmosphere in the span of years to decades, maintenance is a pretty minor concern, just flick the terraformers back on for a few days every year. It's minor enough to abstract it away and assume that low-level civilian maintenance is keeping the gas balance the way you specified it during the terraforming process.
 

Offline 83athom

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Re: RP-wise: terraforming the Moon
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2017, 03:34:41 PM »
I turn it into a luxury resort for the rich. I put a load of financial and research centers there to RP that its a new, technologically advanced city project.
Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.
 

Offline Garfunkel (OP)

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Re: RP-wise: terraforming the Moon
« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2017, 04:26:16 PM »
Nice ideas! Keep 'em coming.