What If We Nuked Mars?

WHAT IF

8/21/2023

Elon Musk wants to nuke Mars. What would happen?

Transcript

00:00 (Explosion)

00:18 One day, Mars could look like this.

00:23 Allowing humans to comfortably live on the planet.

00:27 All we'd need to do is to terraform it.

00:31 But how?

00:32 (Explosion)

00:33 Well, we could nuke it.

00:37 Would dropping nukes on Mars

00:39 make it easier to live there?

00:42 (Explosion)

00:42 This is WHAT IF,

00:44 and here's what would happen if we nuked Mars.

00:48 Believe it or not,

00:49 this is something scientists have considered for decades.

00:54 Elon Musk of SpaceX

00:55 seems to think that nuking Mars

00:57 might be one of the best and quickest options

01:00 to make it a place where humans could live.

01:03 The idea is that we would explode thermonuclear bombs

01:07 in the sky over the planet's two poles.

01:10 This would heat up the ice caps

01:12 and release carbon dioxide and water from the poles.

01:16 Then, the greenhouse effect would take place.

01:19 It would heat up the whole planet,

01:21 making the surface more habitable.

01:25 So this all sounds super quick and easy.

01:28 Why haven't we done this yet?

01:30 It's because there's a high chance that nuking Mars

01:34 might not work out the way we want it to.

01:36 There are many things that could go wrong with this plan.

01:40 The first problem is it's all just theory,

01:42 and the theory could be wrong.

01:45 That's because Mars has been losing its atmosphere

01:48 for a long time.

01:50 Earth's atmosphere is almost 100 times thicker than Mars',

01:54 and if we're going to live on Mars,

01:55 it needs a thicker atmosphere.

01:58 Some scientists think that we could release CO2

02:01 from the North and South Poles,

02:02 and this could make Mars' atmosphere more like Earth's.

02:05 But a 2018 study published in Nature Astronomy

02:09 found that even if the nukes are successful,

02:12 it would only increase Mars' atmosphere

02:14 to 7% of what Earth has.

02:17 Even if we create more carbon dioxide in Mars' atmosphere,

02:22 it still wouldn't be nearly enough to heat the planet.

02:25 And the planet could seriously use more heat,

02:28 since its current temperature averages around -63°C (1,040°F).

02:33 And it would take decades for the red planet to warm up,

02:37 even after it gained the extra CO2.

02:40 So in theory,

02:42 this could delay humans from ever landing on Mars.

02:46 Not only that,

02:47 but this assumes that dropping thermonuclear bombs

02:50 on the planet would go perfectly.

02:52 Keep in mind, these are nukes,

02:54 you know, the things that can destroy entire cities.

02:57 In fact, the bombs we'd use on Mars

03:00 would be 1,000 times stronger

03:02 than the ones used in World War II.

03:05 If a bomb exploded on the planet's surface

03:07 instead of up in the atmosphere,

03:09 some severe damage would occur.

03:11 Not only would it completely destroy parts of the planet's surface,

03:15 it would also cause even more radiation.

03:18 Another thing that would delay us from ever settling on Mars.

03:21 It's also very likely that instead of warming Mars,

03:25 a bomb could cause a nuclear winter.

03:28 This could happen from the dust and particles in the atmosphere

03:31 caused by nuclear explosions.

03:33 They'd almost entirely block out the Sun,

03:36 causing Mars to cool down even more.

03:39 So nuking Mars probably isn't the best idea.

03:43 And maybe we should get some humans on the planet

03:47 in its natural state before we start trying to change it.

03:50 But what if we nuked another planet, like Venus?

03:55 Well, that sounds like a story for another WHAT IF.

04:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

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