Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Terraformer Industries Make Methane
It's not easy to make methane (natural gas) from just air (or the CO2 part of air), water (split to get hydrogen from H2O) and of course sunlight (electricity from solar panels). Well, it's easy to make it - but can you make it cheaply enough to compete with natural gas out of the ground?
Don't forget the origin of the word "terraform" not to mention the original terraformer:
— Bill Christensen (@Technovelgy) May 4, 2026
"He had been the original claimant of Obania, forty years ago; and Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock, only two kilometers through—by sinking a… pic.twitter.com/pCAZq8RMD5
Casey Handmer was in seventh grade when he first thought about terraforming a planet. Handmer’s family lived in Sydney, Australia, and his father had taken him to see a talk by Robert Zubrin, an astronautical engineer and the founder of the Mars Society...At NASA, Handmer worked on projects mapping the surface of Mars, but that wasn’t enough Mars for him. In his free time, he developed his own roadmap for Mars colonization, complete with spreadsheets and CAD models. Martian settlers would need the technological equivalent of the Library of Alexandria—both the knowledge and the means to make a hostile world habitable.
One of the first things we would need is more fuel. We could fly there tomorrow, no problem, but we couldn’t carry enough juice for the return journey. A Martian outpost would also require an entire synthetic hydrocarbon supply chain for all the paints and oils and lubricants used in any industrial process. “How do you make fuel on Mars?” Handmer said. “Well, you make it from carbon dioxide, which is in the atmosphere, and water, which is in the dirt.”
(Via corememory.)
I'm quoting here from Jack Williamson's 1942 story Collision Orbit, in which he coins the word "terraform".
So, did they succeed? You should really read this very detailed article, but they did succeed at making 99% pure methane, but it is not yet price-competitive.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/5/2026)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")
MAI-Voice-2 Microsoft Text-To-Speech
'I made disks of my own voice to the number of five hundred very carefully chosen words.' - Nat Schachner, 1937.
Prufrock-MB2 Ready In Nashville
'It sounds to me as though you had invented a kind of metal earthworm.' - Paul Ernst, 1936.
US Army IBEX Exoskeleton Walks Troops Out Of Danger
'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.' - Iain Banks, 1987.
Terraformer Industries Make Methane
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...' - Jack Williamson, 1942.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Health Kiosk Has No Human Doctor
'The electronic body analyzer had been developed...'
Meta's Horizon Studio's Unique Avatars From Text Prompts
'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'
VaMEx Biomimetic Mars Robot Inspired By Skink
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
NEO Brain Computer Interface (BCI)
'The remains of the lace took on the rough shape of a brain...'
Did Frank Herbert Predict Bistable Displays Like E-Ink?
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'
Monolith One Giant Industrial Metal 3D-printer
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
'Mooncrete' Lunar Regolith Concrete (LRC)
'And here they began to build...'
China's 'Magpie Drone' Ornithopter
'Midges have many capabilities. To the untrained eye, they look like sparrows.'
MAI-Voice-2 Microsoft Text-To-Speech
'I made disks of my own voice to the number of five hundred very carefully chosen words.'
Tumblin' Tumbleweed Rovers To Eplore Mars
'His sensors out and working, and the whirring of the tape that sucked up sight and sound and shape and smell and form...'
Tentacled Robot Captures Space Debris
Preventing annoying space debris build-up.
Prufrock-MB2 Ready In Nashville
'It sounds to me as though you had invented a kind of metal earthworm.'
DIY Robotic Content Farming
'The chief wheeled to the master machine and pressed a button.'
Reflect Orbital Sunlight On Demand
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors that circulate around the satellite, making it habitable.'
The Amazing Lightfoot Electric Scooter With Solar Assist
'The steel tortoise gave MacKinnon a feeling of Crusoe- like independence.'
Fully Electric, Fully Automated Vegetable‑growing Agribots
'...then back to their work, though little enough it was on these automatic cultivators.'
