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Science Fiction

phantom power

(25,966 posts)

5. If you have that kind of energy available, and you want time...

Reply to NickB79 (Original post)

Fri Mar 9, 2012, 05:22 PM

Mar 2012

Then I would drag planets of the right size and core activity into the habitable zone around very long-lived red dwarf stars, which can burn stably for hundreds of billions of years. Also, red dwarfs may not require a planet to have a shielding magnetic field, as they aren't as active as a star like our sun.

Life on earth will get less than 10 billion years before the sun starts to move off the main sequence. A planet orbiting a red dwarf could possibly get a hundred times that.

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Highlight:

I have a SF short-story idea, but I'm having a problem fleshing it out (terraforming question here) [View all] NickB79 Mar 2012 OP

If we can spare the energy needed to terraform a planet Pab Sungenis Mar 2012 #1

I can't think of an easy way to jump-start the core. krispos42 Mar 2012 #2

Blog entry on terraforming Mars that brings up the magnetic problems getting old in mke Mar 2012 #3

Protomatter. It worked for Dr. David Marcus... sort of. wyldwolf Mar 2012 #4

If you have that kind of energy available, and you want time... phantom power Mar 2012 #5

How quick do you want it terraformed? quakerboy Mar 2012 #6