Early last month, NASA's Planetary Science Division hosted their annual Planetary Science Vision 2050 community workshop at their headquarters in Washington DC. The world’s greatest minds in science and technology descended upon the workshop to participate in panel discussions and presentations regarding the future of space exploration. An idea was proposed that could make the colonization of Mars not as farfetched as we think. During a talk titled “A Future Mars Environment for Science and Exploration,” Director Jim Green suggested positioning a magnetic shield around Mars that could improve the atmosphere and facilitate manned missions there in the future. The shield could potentially help Mars achieve up to half of the Earth’s atmospheric pressure within just a few years. What happened to the original atmosphere? So, Mars still actually hase a magnetic field, it’s just much, much weaker than Earth’s. It is agreed upon by the scientific community that Mars once had a magnetic field not unlike the one currently blanketing the Earth. It may once have had an inner dynamo to create its magnetic field in the way that our planet does. However, it is theorized that a shower of meteors bombarded the planet until its magnetic field effectively shut down. Scientists still aren’t positive exactly what caused the disappearance of the field. How would it work? By launching a magnetic dipole shield into a stable orbit in between the sun and Mars, an artificial magnetosphere could be created that would cover the whole planet. The positioning of the shield (the Mars L1 Lagrange Point) would allow for the shield to cover the two main portions of the planet where atmosphere is being lost the most. Scientists from Ames Research Center, the Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of Colorado, Princeton University, and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory found that a dipole field positioned at the Mars L1 Lagrange Point would be able to counteract the solar winds enough that Mars could regain its atmosphere. The atmosphere would then be able to thicken on its own over time. What does this mean for us? Most simply, a new home. If Mars’ atmosphere can improve enough to match that of Earth’s, it’s possible that humans could colonize the planet within the next century or so. It may sound futuristic but it’s really not that far off! For more magnetic news and DIYs, check out our News & How-To’s section. Would you uproot and move to Mars if the opportunity were presented to you? Let us know in the comments!