A few weeks ago SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to announce a plan involving nuking Mars. According to Musk, this would be the quickest way to rapidly induce climate change on Mars, something that would help make it inhabitable for humans.

Musk recently clarified that statement. He doesn't really want to nuke Mars. Of course he doesn't. Instead, he simply wants to nuke the atmosphere above Mars' two poles once every couple of seconds. That makes a lot more sense.

The idea is that the nukes will essentially act like two tiny "suns" above the planet, and the nukes will be sent up every few seconds.

"They're really above the planet, they're not on the planet," said Musk during a SolarCity event in New York. "A lot of people don't appreciate that our sun is a large fusion explosion."

What would happen is that the "suns" would essentially warm up the planet, turning any carbon dioxide that has frozen into a gas. This carbon dioxide would rise into the atmosphere, and would trap heat within the atmosphere of Mars. The principle is very similar to what is happening on Earth with climate change, except on Mars it would be controlled and wanted. Other scientists haven't exactly rallied behind Musk's plan, suggesting nuking the poles might not be the best way to terraform Mars and questioning whether the plan would raise temperatures enough to make it habitable for humans and animals.

Musk himself is known for wanting to colonize Mars, and at the event for his company that makes solar panels he also noted that SpaceX is working on its Mars transit vehicle, with the plans for the vehicle set to be revealed sometime this year.

Via: The Verge