Those whacky Terraformers...

CMDR Space Lurker · Jul 14, 2015

So, they say that this is terraformable...

By this standard, what is not terraformable?

I'm finding alot of cool stuff out on the fringe of the galaxy... lots of water worlds, a few ELWs, and a single Ammonia Poison Ball with life..

Cmdr Raz · Jul 14, 2015

Hehe, might be a bit hard on the lungs

But there are plenty of examples of weird terraformable planets - I've had a few near 1000 kelvin, which might be a bit on the warm side for most humans

Krunchie · Jul 14, 2015

Terraforming candidates must have a certain mass and distance from main star, all other stuff like atmosphere is irrelevant, since terraforming replaces the atmosphere. Theoretically.

Zieman · Jul 14, 2015

There are some planets that at first glance should be terraformable, but aren't. Ones that look much more hospitable than in OP's pic, like Water Worlds with Nitrogen-Oxygen atmosphere.

dayrth · Jul 14, 2015

If you could alter the atmosphere and get rid on the sulphur dioxide then the temperature would fall. This would also release a lot of oxygen. Maybe it being a high metal content planet makes this worth while.

(I'm just making this up as I go along mind).

Sapient6 · Jul 14, 2015

dayrth said:
If you could alter the atmosphere and get rid on the sulphur dioxide then the temperature would fall. This would also release a lot of oxygen. Maybe it being a high metal content planet makes this worth while.

(I'm just making this up as I go along mind).

I'm reading "206K" as "206 Kelvin". If your goal is to live there then you wouldn't want that temperature to fall...

Cmdr Raz · Jul 14, 2015

Sapient6 said:
I'm reading "206K" as "206 Kelvin". If your goal is to live there then you wouldn't want that temperature to fall...

Agreed, that could get... uncomfortable. But in the game (as for real life, I'm not sure) planets with 100% sulphur dioxide atmospheres seem to be somewhat colder than planets with, say, nitrogen or oxygen-nitrogen atmospheres. So in this case, replacing the atmosphere would probably raise the temperature to acceptable levels.

Sapient6 · Jul 14, 2015

Cmdr Raz said:
Agreed, that could get... uncomfortable. But in the game (as for real life, I'm not sure) planets with 100% sulphur dioxide atmospheres seem to be somewhat colder than planets with, say, nitrogen or oxygen-nitrogen atmospheres. So in this case, replacing the atmosphere would probably raise the temperature to acceptable levels.

Yes, I don't doubt that a change to the atmosphere would impact the planet's temperature. I would also assume that terraformers could tailor the atmosphere to the specific conditions of the planet itself in order to get the overall temperature exactly where they want it.

I would imagine the larger problem would be the lack of volcanism. To me that implies the planet does not have molten core, and therefore also lacks a magnetic field, leaving the planet's surface vulnerable to lethal amounts of radiation. If terraformers can handle that (they can: they've terraformed Mars), then how are the atmospheric conditions any sort of problem at all?

CMDR Space Lurker · Jul 14, 2015

Aside from its cold temperature and currently nasty atmosphere, look at its size.. can it really keep much of an atmosphere around itself?.. the current pressure at its surface does not promise much.

Cmdr Raz · Jul 14, 2015

CMDR Space Lurker said:
Aside from its cold temperature and currently nasty atmosphere, look at its size.. can it really keep much of an atmosphere around itself?.. the current pressure at its surface does not promise much.

About 1½ times the size of the moon (which does have an extremely thin atmosphere), but more metal-rich and denser. Still, probably not much of an atmosphere. As to whether it would support a breathable atmosphere, we'd probably need someone with more chemical knowledge than me