Can We Terraform The Moon? 

Isaac Arthur: "Can we X the Y?" Audience: " Yes, YES!!"

When I play modded Stellaris I turn Earth into a Eco Ecumenopolis and Luna into an Industrial Ecumenopolis with an Equatorial Shipyard. I think thats the far more likely future for our closest planetary companion.

Whenever this show asks if we can do something, the answer is Yes. The real question is, how much effort and resources does it take.

I would love to see the moon glitter with cities and greenery. She would look less lonely.

Hey Isaac. We've interacted before on your live streams. I've been a fan of the channel since the earliest days. I just wanted to thank you. You leave me feeling optimistic about the future of humanity. I'm in treatment for mental health. Treatment resistant depression, among other issues. I'm doing the work necessary to mitigate these issues, but they're still prevalent. Your channel gives me hope. I can't count the number of times I've just put your channel on continuous play and just listened to a hopeful future. You inspire me to not give up. Thank you.

"There are over 50 million people living in the moon in my time. You can see Tycho City, New Berlin, even Lake Armstrong on a day like this."

Green Moon sounds ominous

The moons' current inhabitants would never allow it.

oddly enough, humans have a form of movement almost perfectly suited to low gravity. Skipping... yeah I know it's weird but the push-catch motion is oddly very useful in low gravity where the normal push-pull of walking is too slow. By pushing off and catching yourself you could have very long skips and cover very large distances. Some food for thought. =)

A novel called thunderstrike was about a comet being diverted from a terran impact, but it struck the moon, creating an atmosphere...

If we can, we must turn it into Cheese There is no other option.

Would you consider making a video on terraforming harsh regions of earth? (For example, the Australian desert or the Sahara)

The first rules of War there are no rules😊

The idea of looking up and seeing another living world does appeal to me. Would make for a geeat sight. Another excellent episode, Isaac.

Something i’ve always wondered: if you terraformed the moon, its albedo would be much higher, yes? And what effect would that have on life on earth? Nights would be less dark, possibly vastly less dark, and when the moon is out during the day, mightn’t it make those days slightly brighter than normal during the day? And wouldn’t this stress biological systems on earth? Just curious.

Why would we want to terraform it? It's more valuable without an atmosphere: we can store all kinds of things (records of ourselves etc.) for thousands of years without having to worry about things like corrosion etc.

I thought trees were limited by capillary pressure ie the ability of water to climb the tree. Lower gravity doesn’t matter if there’s not enough water pressure to hydrate the canopy

I looked up at the Moon, hanging big and bright over the Pacific. It didn't seem any dimmer, spotted blue and green instead of gray and white. Out here between Australia and New Zealand, away from the city-glow (which wasn't as extreme as it had been back in the 21st Century, but still enough to diminish the splendor of Moon and the stars), I could really appreciate the glory of its fullness as it hung near the horizon. “During my...well, my first lifetime, I argued with my friends whether we'd terraform any planets, and if so, whether it'd be Mars, Venus, even Titan, since it had a thick atmosphere. Most of us expected a mix of artificial habitats and terraformed planets. I said we'd build only habitats. Earth would be the center of our civilization for hundreds or thousands of years, and we'd never terraform another planet. “I don't think any of us, back then, thought of the Mo- Um, I mean, Luna.” Andeeya chuckled and lowered her eyes from the sky to look at me. “What are the first three rules of real estate?” “You mean, location, location and location?” “Exactly. If Luna weren't right here, barely more than a light-second away from Earth, there's no way we'd have ever considered terraforming such a small body, but since she was right there, and since it turned out to be possible - only just possible, but possible - for people to be born and grow up on Luna and be healthy and to live healthily on Earth, it made a lot of sense for us to terraform Luna. “That's why there are more than a billion people there right now, a tenth of the human race, and at times in the past, it's been home to almost a quarter of humanity.” “Gee, I get the feeling you're kind of fond of Luna.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “I used to say I hated it. I told everyone I hated it while I was living there, and for years I never had anything good to say about the time I spent there, but since then, I've been back a couple of times, and...yes, I guess I am fond of her at that.” She shrugged. “It's hard to find a decent restaurant there, though.”

If a giant magnet were placed at the Earth-Sun L1, would it protect the Moon as well?

This randomly reminded me of that Busdriver song “Colonize the Moon.” Woah, that’s almost 10 years old now 😅

I'm honestly a fan of the massive moon-wide dome. I'm imagining it a bit like the interior of a Berch-Earth, with massive (or not so massive due to the low gravity) pillars holding up a hugely tall dome over a terraformed moon.

Terra form io? Sulfer hexa floride green house gas to add heat retention + artificial magnetic shield in orbit to protect the place and possibly gather power from Jupiter's magnitosphere

My favourite answer to the question of possibility is: Short term, yes Long term, no

this idea is eerie and fascinating, would be a beautiful sight, but an uncanny valley sight, very good post apocalypse horror type setting

ARTHURSDAY!!!!

6:59 The side of the moon facing away from the earth is, in fact, darker than the side facing us, but only during its night. This is because the near side of the moon is illuminated by "earthshine" (sunlight reflected off of earth, similar to moonlight on earth but much brighter due to earth's much larger size and higher albedo than the moon), while the far side is not.

As you were talking about these planetary dynamos, the first thing that came to mind was the insane idea of venting solar winds directly at the planet, like some kind of solar turbine. Sure enough, that was the very next thing you mentioned. Maybe I understand what's happening in these videos after all.

To provide artificial gravity to settlements on other planets, it would be key to experimentally discover how to regulate the density of space-time to control the expression of gravity just as we can control the expression of other phenomena such as electromagnetism.

Surprised you haven't already covered this already among all your amazing work!

I'd think it would be easier to basically snow globe the moon then what people normally think of Terra forming.

Hell yeah, Ive been waiting for you to do this topic for months.

You're the best. I sincerely hope you are healthy. Stick around and keep making these.

I like to imagine all this has already been accomplished and your simply explaining the proceess of how we completed it..

This is my favorite kind of your videos, exploring what is technically possible for humanity to do, even if it's not physically possible at the moment.

I would use an orbital ring that exerts torque to add spin. To add H2, use satellites to funnel the solar wind at the planet, thinking Venus, but you would need to slow the wind down so the H2 is captured. Once you had the necessary H2, use the satellites to deflect the solar wind as a magnetsphere.

I once sketched out an idea for breaking the moon's tidal lock by using flywheels to rock it back and forth. I think the moon as it is would be a handy target for any deflected asteroids. Maybe pulverize them to reduce impact energy and debris plumes.

It is interesting how similar Isaac Arthur and I think. The trick of using targeted deliveries of materials to increase or decrease spin is something I used in an unpublished story I wrote over a decade ago (I'm not happy with enough of the story, which is why I'm still rewriting).

I'm ready for this, can't wait for this episode.

Interesting topic! Looking forward to hearing your insight.

Im onto you issac. I know your cat is putting you upto this. Another celestial body for the furry overlords growing empire.

I’m continually amazed at the art work and images in your videos ❤ so beautiful

Nice episode for my lunch break. Thanks to all involved

Arthur is great at explaining how seemingly impossible ideas and objectives might be a lot more simple then they look

With moon terraforming i expect it to be more like a series of connected bubble habitats with a synthetic atmosphere made from materials in the moon as it is needed rather than trying to constantly ship in an atmosphere from other parts of the solar system in order to maintain a much thicker gravitationally bound atmosphere.

Great video! I have often thought that taking out Magnetic Field with us is sooo important for Earth life to thrive on another planet, its not just about the protection from cosmic and solar radiation but the fact that ALL life has evolved to be dependant on the MF. I think that when the Apollo Astronauts came back as artists and poets instead of the engineers they were when they left Earth, is a big sign of what happens without our MF..

Thank you very much for your work! I use a lot of interesting and useful things in my creativity. The first story will be printed soon, and then I’ll get to the novels!

❤, listening to your videos fill me with hope for our future.

yo I like the way you say earth bro! thanks for the dope content!

I love all of your videos, but the moon will always be my favorite topic

We'll probably make it a billboard first.

I already know it will involve micro black holes to boost gravity, or a high tensile strength, transparent membrane to retain the atmosphere.

I am a fan of the 'Worldhouse' roof approach, Luna is a bit too low grav to be worth doing normal terraforming, and as you say, even if so, domes are helpful.

How to you tackle to gravy differences? Added more mass would mess pull of the earth.

The thing that always gets me is realizing that Apollo 11’s discarded waste is still sitting in a bag on the moon. I wonder how many microbes are frozen, how many could be thawed out and survive after 50 years. The Apollo sites are designated national monuments. They would have to be preserved if we started putting erosive water on it.

Would the human body be able to feel the tidal difference on a rotating Moon? Would measuring weight there show much of a difference at high and low tide?

I think by the time we could Terraform the moon, we'll probably need to Terraform the Earth.

I have a plan on how we could achieve this in only 30 years.

The Moon has no Dark Side. It has a AquaTerra Side and Star Side.

Great as usual ❤

Looks like domes would be the way to settle the moon. As for long distance space travel, a base on a comet or large asteroid would be hitching a ride to someplace distant and hopefully predictable. Self-sufficiency would be the thing. Shuttles could easily resupply a moon base, however.

I don't think the moon has enough gravity to hold on to water and atmosphere

could conservation of agular momentum, be used to spin the moon? moving tons and tons of mass from the equator to the poles?

Could you make a small series describing how each planet could be successfully paraterraformed?

How about using the same technology you suggested in the Orbital Rings video to support a dome that covers the entire moon?

You can go literally to the moon and back in a couple of days. It is unbeliveable to me that we do not have already bases, hotels, an industry and whatnot there. It is not that hard. :)

What amazing timing, the day we put the first lander on the moon in 50 years.

I was thinking about building a dyson sphere around the moon so that then the can make the inside more habitital

I wonder if plants and animals that are adapted to the polar night lasting several weeks or months in the taiga and tundra biomes could adapt to the long nights on the moon or on a terraformed Venus as well. They might perceive the long night as a "winter" and throw off their leaves/go into hibernation, while going into spring mode when the long day starts.

I'm writing a bunch of short stories based in the same universe and I love writing for the Lunar inhabitants because I made them super naturalist. Meaning, they prefer to live in their domes and keep the moon (Luna) as pure as possible. Ending up having over 90% of the moon's surface being a "galactic reserve."

When changing the day night cycle, wouldnt it only have to be at least some what like earths (19-30 hours or so), for it to be good enough. Wouldn't it would be too much effort to make it exactly 24 hours when we would just need it to be fast enough to not cause one side of the planet to heat up a bunch?

We should give it a shot. 👍

So how do you protect from major asteroid impacts that would destroy domes? Auto canons?

What about the reflection of light from the dome over the moon to Earth?

Would changing the rotation speeds , not change their orbit too?

My guess without watching the video first: The answer in theory: Yes, but in reality it would be so much work that it neither worth it nor could we actually complete the task (as in, its not impossible, but would take so long that we would abandon the project sooner than it would be finished) Now i will watch it and then update my comment whether i was write or wrong :) Update: yeah, pretty much correct :) Interestingly i was thinking about the atmosphere issue of Mars and Venus and was running numbers to see how long and how much we would need to ship from one place to another - when half way through it dawned on me that just making a thicker CO2 atmosphere would make little sense on Mars... we would need Nitrogen there... and a lot... and the same with Venus too. So while we need to ship gasses (or materials) to each planet... we would simply need to find a reliable and cheap way to do so... and then i landed on the conclusion that... it is in theory possible, but the timescale and the effort and cost... simply makes it a non viable option. Sad thing with Mars is that it would have made sense to replenish the original atmosphere to compensate for the loss (its a fairly small amount daily... which we could simply sort out just by building industries and then pollute the air... and that way it would have been "cheap"... but topping up now is a no go. so yeah... good video... but we will not see that Blue moon... (and i'd wager that it wont ever happen... as the sun gets hotter and hotter, this zone will be baked like a cookie, so it would make more sense to start the work a bit further outside and wait a bit until the sun actually gives a helping hand by warming up the area out there slightly...

How do you get all the video and graphics? 👍✌🖖🥃Always interesting, thanks

Very nice job. Another key issue I wish you would explore is the practical cost of baking the Oxygen as a byproduct of mining, out of the lunar surface. The most abundant moon minerals contain a lot of oxygen: anorthites (CaAl2Si2O8), orthopyroxenes ((Mg,Fe)SiO3), clinopyroxenes (Ca(Fe,Mg)Si2O6), olivines ((Mg,Fe)2SiO4), and ilmenite (FeTiO3). So do we really need to harvest Jupiter's atmosphere? Or could domed cities mine oxygen and slowly cover the surface with plants that make it? Is it possible that biomass like plants and people could slowly increase the Moon's nitrogen? Can Helium, argon and neon take the place of nitrogen in the dome air?

There are those people that always want to preserve everything unaltered by human activity.

Would it be a good idea to apply a slow-molecule (CO2 or something alike) thin atmosphere on a domed-over Moon or Mars? It would add a layer of micrometeorite and radiation protection. Just few millibars (like in 80-60 km above Earth) can take care of a lot of micrometeoroids, even some larger stuff. And it would require much less maintenance/replenishment than a breathable or even „just“ a no-spacesuit-required-level-pressure atmosphere.

I am curious how we make it magnetic enough for it to not lose atmosphere from it getting blasted off. What would it take to put a thin layer of pure silver over it?

Could you make or change a gas to make it heavier so moons gravity can hold on to it?

Break the Tidal lock rotation by speeding up said rotation so the moon has similar length of day as Earth, the moon heats up from tidal forces and presto, an atmosphere would begin forming. Placing a Vesta sized moon in close orbit around our moon would prevent tidal locking from reoccurring to our moon. Our moon's moon would be tidally locked though.

Studying horticulture knowing I might be growing plants in space soon 👀

What potential charge to the moons orbit would moving billions of tons on or off over hundreds of years.

Changing the homo sapiens to adapt to exoplanets would be very dangerous. The same way any former colony in the americas would have no problems declaring war against their old coutries, those new "humans" would become a potential treat to humanity.

The aliens living inside of the hollow moon, would probably come out side and scrap Terraform settlements. Like sailors scrap barnacles off the hull of a ship.

An artificial magnetosphere and domes make a lot of sense to me in this context. Doubly so if a lot of the heavy industry and commerce are underground. Heck, you might even still want to keep a lot of your housing down there too. After that we just need to figure out how much gravity is enough for health. Can't wait to find out! :)

We have to finally get there first.

I think it's more likely that we dismantle the Moon and build countless space habitats, that sounds like a more efficient way to use it.

Isaac, how much of the moon would need to be removed to effect Earth tides. Along the same line, how much weight shift would need to be done to the moon (I.e. cities and other mass movement) to create tidal wobble.

Gravitational effects scale roughly as size squared, so we do know to a great extent how low gravity affects organisms because we can readily observe small people and small organisms. Though obviously evolution is usually to a relatively narrow size range and asteroid gravity probably wouldn't do for most terrestrial organisms.

I'm thinking the Moon will most likely become a world of tunnels. A "Worm World" of sorts.

would there be a way to create an ozone layer on the moon? If so, how?

We can't even have peace on earth. Terraforming the moon would just be one more war zone.

Hey I have a question. How often and much hydrogen would have to be fed into a kugelblitz black hole in order to sustain it? I appreciate your help!

Why when I hear Issac speak, I just imagine its Andy Garcia in Smokin Aces 😂

We could, if we wanted to badly enough, terraform every rock body with surface gravity between whatever wide limits we end up working out. But would it be worth the bother, especially considering most of them will need maintenance in perpetuity?

I’m curious what you think about David Shapiro’s channel. I recently found it myself.

Let's go do it

A terraformed Moon would be much brighter than it is now currently with an average albedo similar to asphalt. Forests and clouds would not only reflect significantly more light but also a fair amount of color instead of the age old white. Night would never be the same.