Terraforming – Making the climate of a distant planet like Earth

Terraforming is a science fiction fantasy wherein the climate and environment of a distant planet is manipulated by human beings to become more like their home planet Earth. If the latest science project that NASA has undertaken is anything to set store by, this science fiction fantasy may too become a reality.

NASA is creating an extreme environment test chamber. Here it hopes to replicate the surface conditions of Venus. The high temperatures, pressure and excessive carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are all to be reproduced. they main reason they are doing it is to help build more durable inter space vehicles and crafts.

The last spacecraft that was sent to Venus did not survive beyond two hours in the extreme hostile environment. The chamber is also to be used to conduct climate modifying experiments. These may answer worrying questions about our own globally changing climate.

It may not have the answer to global warming, but it may point us in a direction where we can do something to fix the weather. It is best that first we learn to deal with the climate of our own planet before we set out on as ambitious a science project as terraforming.