Elon Musk wants to nuke Mars. What would happen?
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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]