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This project uses System Engineering principles to delve into the viability of different methods for Terraforming Mars, with a comparison between Paraterraforming, Terraforming and Bioforming. It will then examine one subsystem that will be integral to the terraforming process, which is the space infrastructure necessary to import enough gases to recreate Earth’s atmosphere on Mars. It will analyze the viability of Chemical Rockets, Nuclear Rockets, Space Elevators, Skyhooks, Rotovators, Mass Drivers, Launch Loops and Orbital Rings for this subsystem and provide recommendations for an implementation plan.

A mobile robotic platform for Autonomous Site Selection and Preparation (ASSP) was developed for an analogue deployment to Mauna Kea, Hawai‘i. A team of rovers performed an autonomous Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey and constructed a level landing pad. They used interchangeable payloads that allowed the GPR and blade to be easily exchanged. Autonomy was accomplished by integrating the individual hardware devices with software based on the ArgoSoft framework previously developed at UTIAS. The rovers were controlled by an on-board netbook. The successes and failures of the devices and software modules are evaluated within. Recommendations are presented to address problems discovered during the deployment and to guide future research on the platform.

A mobile robotic platform for Autonomous Site Selection and Preparation (ASSP) was developed for an analogue deployment to Mauna Kea, Hawai‘i. A team of rovers performed an autonomous Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey and constructed a level landing pad. They used interchangeable payloads that allowed the GPR and blade to be easily exchanged. Autonomy was accomplished by integrating the individual hardware devices with software based on the ArgoSoft framework previously developed at UTIAS. The rovers were controlled by an on-board netbook. The successes and failures of the devices and software modules are evaluated within. Recommendations are presented to address problems discovered during the deployment and to guide future research on the platform.

Mars is a potentially habitable planet given the appropriate planetary engineering efforts. In order to create a habitable environment, the planet must be terraformed, creating quasi-Earth conditions. Benchmarks for minimum acceptable survivable human conditions were set by observing atmospheric pressures and temperatures here on Earth that humans are known to exist in. By observing a positive feedback reaction, it is shown how the sublimation of the volatile southern polar ice cap on Mars can increase global temperatures and pressures to the benchmarks set for minimum acceptable survivable human conditions. Given the degree of uncertainty, utilization of pressure scale heights and the Martin extreme terrain were used to show how less than desirable conditions can still produce results where these benchmarks can be met. Methods for obtaining enough energy to sublimate the southern polar ice cap were reviewed in detail. A new method of using dark, carbonaceous Martian moon material to alter the overall average albedo of the polar ice cap is proposed. Such a method would increase Martian energy efficiency. It is shown that by covering roughly 10% of the Martian polar ice cap with dark carbonaceous material, this required energy can be obtained. Overall contributions include utilization of pressure scale heights at various suggested settlement sites, as well as polar albedo altering as a method of planetary engineering. This project serves as a foundational work for long term solar system exploration and settlement.

I Dune: Messiah (1969) sker en förändring av klimatet, en terraformning som människan initierar. Vatten introduceras i rikliga mängder på planeten Arrakis och detta påverkar planetens ekologi såväl som människans kultur. Uppsatsen granskar Frank Herberts roman genom att teoretiskt utgå ifrån ett ekokritiskt perspektiv och tematiskt ifrån vatten, dess varande och relation till människan samt planeten. Människans medvetenhet av sig själv som en art på planeten och sin kulturella koppling till både planeten och vatten är centralt i analysen. Klimatförändringen som sker när människan terraformar planeten och hur detta påverkar människan behandlas också. Även postkolonialism väger in i analysen.  I Dune: Messiah är vattnet, människan och planeten starkt kopplade till varandra. Människan utgår från sin antropocentriska världssyn och betraktar planeten som en plats vilken kan förbättras till människans fördel. Eftersom fremenfolkets kultur är djupt grundad i naturen skapar terraformningen av planeten en identitetskris. Kulturen blir kopplingen som får människan att vilja bevara planeten som den är. Vattnets värde kulturellt men även som valuta gör den till en maktskapande vara. För människan är terraformningen en strävan mot förbättring, vilket speglar de teman av stora strukturer som finns genomgående i Dune-serien. Den här långsiktiga visionen som Frank Herbert målar upp, avbildar människan med en större medvetenhet, en möjlighet att tänka stort. Jag menar (likt andra inom ekokritiken) att detta större tänkande är en väg framåt som ger mänskligheten ett större perspektiv – därmed förståelse av – ekologiska förhållanden. / In Dune: Messiah (1969) the climate changes due to terraforming caused by humans. Water is introduced on the planet Arrakis, and this affects the planet’s ecology as well as the people’s culture. This paper is an exploration of Frank Herbert’s novel, theoretically anchored in ecocriticism and thematically in water, its nature of existence, relationship to humankind and the planet. Humanity’s awareness of themselves as a species on the planet, and their cultural connection to both the planet and water is central to the analysis. The climate-change which occurs when humanity terraforms the planet and how this affects humankind is also touched upon. Post-colonialism also plays a role in the analysis. Water, people, and the planet are strongly connected to each other in Dune: Messiah. Humans see the planet as a place which can be improved to their own benefit due to their anthropocentric worldview. Because the Fremen culture is deeply rooted in nature, an identity-crisis occurs when the planet is terraformed. It is culture that enables humans to want to preserve the planet as it is. Water is a resource that creates power due to its cultural and economical value. The terraforming is humanity aiming for improvement, which mirrors the themes  of larger structures that can be found continuously in the Dune-series. This long-term vision which Herbert paints, pictures humans with a broader consciousness, a capability to think in a larger magnitude. This I (as others within ecocriticism), consider to be a path forwards which offers a broader perspective – therefore an understanding of – ecological conditions.