"Standard" Terraforming Package

[Jeff M. Hopper]

In sci-fi there is a lot of mentioning of the "standard" terraforming package used to seed worlds for human habitation. Usually this looks like a handwave for a reason to place human-edible flora and fauna in a setting.

So now I'm trying to figure out what would actually go into a "standard" terraforming package. The only conclusions I've come to so far is that you would want an algae in there, probably genetically engineered to be edible as well as being very hardy. Possibly some fungus (engineered to be edible) to break up any dead organic matter (algae) or as a symbiote to the algae (lichens for dry areas).

The only animal possibility that made sense to me was an insect genetically engineered to be edible. Like a honeydew ant analogue which has a distended abdomin full of sugary protein ("honey"? like bees?) that can be plucked and consumed without killing the ant (place most of the organs in the thorax, giving the ants more a "spidery" look).

(Now my first reaction to the above was "Yuk!" even though many people in Africa and South America eat insects regularly, its a cultural difference. Insect eggs are very hardy and can take a lot of abuse as well, good for "drop and run" styles of seeding.)

So what I'd like to know is: What would you put in a Standard Terraforming Package?

 

[TheEngineer]

Hi Jeff !

Well, I guess there is not real standard package, as a theoretical terraforming process depends completely on the various "raw" environments.
Perhaps tt might be a pretty good idea to have at least an atmosphere and some water, but ways to get that might be rather different.

But what would you define as a goal of terraforming ?
Just an environment with a somehow protecting athmo or with an breathable athmo and suitable temperature or something more Earth-like with a fully prepared biological "layer" etc. ?

Anyway I like the biological approach to do that very much, e.g. using geneered primitive lifeforms to create athmo components or water from solids, maybe called "Initilizers".
After a world is "prepared" seeds for a human friendly biology and "Stabilizer" organisms (to stop initializers and keeping actual conditions) could be distrituted.
Guess its a pretty tough task to create a somehow balanced system from the scratch

I just remember a pretty cool SF short story about such initilizers, which were found buried deep inside antartic ice shelf and unfortunatelly freed, so that good old Earth is biologically re-initilized

Best regards,

Mert

 

[Black Globe Generator]

Seeding the regolith with microorganisms to create soil will likely be a high priority, preceding the introduction of higher plant species.

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

Then once you have soil, what do you plant? Which bugs do you bring for the plants? What animals do you bring to feed on the bugs and the plants? What is the minimum food chain you need to create up to humans?

It becomes a ball of snakes trying to figure out, quickly.

I thought about mosquitoes for awhile. Why bring those critters? They are annoying and require unhealthy stagnant water to breed in. But could they be used as a beneficial disease vector to keep the colonists immune systems active?

 

[Laryssa]

If you have something like low berths, then what you would do is bring along a standard terraforming package along with the mothership. First step is to study the target planet through a telescope (a 100 meter apature telescope) and get some kind of sense of what kind of environment awaits you. You don't want a Venus like planet or a Mars like planet. What you want is a pregarden planet, one with physical properties similar to earth, a near 24 hour day, a near 365 day year with an axial tilt similar to Earth's but with no flora or fauna of its own above the microbe stage.

What you want is simply to be able to dump the life forms into the environment and have them convert the atmosphere while the colonists stay in their low berths. Then as the environment changes you release increasingly complex multicellular plant and animal life onto the surface and in the oceans until an ecological balance is reached and the environment is stabilized, then you revive the humans from their low berths.

 

[Klaus]

You might also want such a package to 'Terranise' a planetary biota that is detrimental to Terran ecology...

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

That is closer to what I was thinking. The life forms to be displaced would be equivalent to Earth post-precambrian era life, stuff that would be from the paleozoic era onward in evolution.

Terraforming a pre-garden planet (like Earth in the late precambrian era) is fairly easy. You seed the planet with algae and wait until the atmosphere becomes breathable, since oxygen kills the anerobic life - it becomes fertilyzer for the algae. The only problem is that the time it takes to make the atmosphere breatable may be longer than the lifetime of the interstellar government that initiated the terraforming project.

(Now there would be an interesting archaeological find, a world that is a half-finished terraforming project from the Long Night.)

For atmospheric terraforming, which to me is extensive, I'd keep it small. Something like dropping a comet into the Vallis Marinas on Mars and then making that habitable. I believe the Vallis Marinas is deep enough to retain the air for about a thousand years or so - which should be plenty of time.

 

[aramis]

Laryssa:

That might backfire; the organisms released will adapt to the new environment, perhaps in ways not conducive to the later intended waves. monitoring and interventions would be highly advisable.

Jeff:
Pressure will equalize it away from the valley, more than likely.

 

[Maladominus]

I don't think there can be a single "standard" terrform package. It will really depend on the planet you are trying to terraform, wouldn't it?

Think about it. Trying to terraform a waterworld will require measures far different than trying to terraform a desert planet, or even a vaccuum moon.

Perhaps, there will be a dozen different "packages" rather than a single one. And they are all shrink-wrapped and sold off the store shelves for a very affordable MCr960,500! VAT not included.

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

I think I'm asking this question wrong. Instead of terraforming from the uninhabitable to the habitable for humans, what about the standard flora & fauna used to support a colony of humans? Given that the atmosphere is tolerable and everything else is good. A standard seeding package instead of a standard terraforming package. What plants and animals, food crops and food critters would you include in a standard seeding package?

Soybeans are used as a good multi-use human food crop and animal feed, plus they can be processed using TVP plants. Would they be hardy enough to bring along and plant for colonists, though?

 

[TheEngineer]

Another question:
What kind of colony are you thinking of ?
A ecological agricultural colony, which is perhaps able to survive without high-tech stuff, or a colony using high tech stuff to generate food and water ?

Regarding the first option the seeding package is perhaps a pretty compex thing, as you want to create a self stabilizing ecology. But all in all it might consist of an optimized set of geneered food plants, energy plants (for optional bio-power plant) and a set of reducer organism, good for converting "waste" material into basic compounds.
Referring to animals, you might just don't need those, except You want to have a steak sometimes

Besides, organic terraforming could work pretty fast, as appropriate (quite perfectly adapted to the target environment) organisms would reproduce in an exponetial way. Thats just like seeding a bacteria in an heated arar-agar environment.
So, in maybe just takes 2 or 3 months to reach maximum populance on an earth sized planet (given optimal distribution).


Considering the last question I strongly believe, that food processing is possible in very compact arrangements at higher TLs.
E.g. a Traveller TL13 fusion still is about 150 l and a weight of 60 kg. A food processing unit for a small village could perhaps be container sized.

...

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

For a Star System:

Goal: Start Self sustaining colony.

Materials:
At least Five Fat Traders
At least one Dedicated Scout. Heck, make it three.

Each Trader has 5 Prefabricated Shelters.

One Trader is a Medical Ship, with at least 100 or so colonists in freeze.

Second Trader is a Life Support Ship

Third is an Industrial Ship

Fourth is a General Purpose Ship. This is the only one that will not be eventually dismantled for colony use.

Fifth is a Warehouse Ship.

Standard Vehicle is a ten ton Grav Truck

There should also be at least 5 Half Ton General Prupose Colony Robots.


First Phase would be Discovery/Mapping. I would first put a utilitarian satellite in orbit around the mainworld, or maybe a scout courier. Scouts would fan out all over the system, mapping.
This would get a good Map in a few orbits, and set a good GPS setup for all teams.

The Science Team gets to work solving an initial problems on the Mainworld, while checking and rechecking for a suitable landing site.

Precautions: Enough Emergency Supplies for at least one year.

First Goal is to make a stable environment, regardless of planetary conditions.

(End part one)

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

Originally posted by TheEngineer:
Another question:
What kind of colony are you thinking of ?
A ecological agricultural colony, which is perhaps able to survive without high-tech stuff, or a colony using high tech stuff to generate food and water ?

I'm thinking of an ecological agricultural colony. Which comes back to the fun old question of, "How small can you make a self-sustaining ecology?"

I like the idea of cattle, but maybe later in the colony's life. Cows are big and not very efficient at transforming plants into meat. For this, I'm thinking more along the lines of Guinea Pigs, Rabbits, and Chickens for food. Maybe Goats as well, but goats have got odd internal systems - if you want a goat for milk (what I was thinking of what you'd want them for), you really have to watch what it eats because one patch of wild onions will give you onion-flavored goat's milk for weeks. A goat getting into the local flora could have all sorts of effects on its milk (Adventure Seed!).

 

[TheEngineer]

Ok, a garden world

Thats cool.

Somehow those firefly terraformed worlds come on my mind....

Well, perhaps a ecology could be quite simple if artifically create, meaning just a limited number of higher plants, with each plant having a specialized purpose, e.g. stabilizing soil structure, controlling evaporation rates etc...
Fewer variables improve ability to control the system.
Guess it needs a strict set of rules, in order to protect this artificial ecology. So it may be illegal to import other plant or animals, which could influence environment in a way nobody wants.

So, if we would have geneered food plant, able to get along with soil (without fertilizers) I see no reason not to have something like cattles or the other food providing species You listed.

Anyway, the terraformed world might appear as "ecological poor" just as many extensively agriculturally used areas on this world do (somehow ecological wastelands), with just a very limited amount of species.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

1) Though cattle are poor "converters" (and require a large surface area), they are much more convenient for getting to the meat. Gutting and preparing guinea pigs would drive a butcher insane! (You could also use something more efficient like Bison.)

2) You would probably want to bring a lot of plants that you can propagate via cuttings. If the local flora can pollinate your plants, who knows what effect it might have on the resulting "fruit".

3) Grasses would be important. They provide a large green space quickly (unless I'm trying to grow it in my yard ), and begin converting the soil.

4) Insects would be a very poor nutrient source, as they are hard to "harvest" in any meaningful amount. If you spend all day trying to catch your calories, you don't have time for more productive activities. (Why, ultimately, the societies that start using larger animals become "civilization" and those that still eat bugs are not.)

5) Quick-growing trees would be neccesary as they convert large volumes of CO2 to O2. Also give your kids a safe place to play, later. (You don't want them tempted to climb the local trees - you know, the ones that have those tentacles that look just like tire swings........)

6) Sheep make for a useful item - food and clothing all in one package. The only drawback is you have to bring along some of them dang sheepherders.

7) Some bacteria and some nematodes for transforming the soil. Just make sure they're not the kind that can make you sick.

8) Use flame to sanitize the initial area of terraformation. Then apply any necessary chemicals to release nutrients bound up by the fire. Then start your planting/seeding.

9) You set the whole thing up with a subterranean and superhigh wall (high-tech, of course). You only terraform within that wall, initially. Then you begin experimenting outside the wall to see how the bugs/insects/plants you brought along work out in a semi-wild environment.

Ummmmm, Maladominus, how do you terraform a water world?

Aramis, how much atmo would escape if it's in a basin (crater)? Especially a very deep basin?