GEO Wednesday: Exploring Alien Worlds –Travelling the Solar System and Beyond
Lecture by Professor Stephanie C. Werner from Section for Earth Evolution and Dynamics, UiO.
Foto: Nasa
What would happen if plate tectonics stops, the Earth loses her magnetic field, her atmosphere, or slows down her rotation? What would the Earth look like if our Sun had been different? Is there a better planet out there? For many of these questions we can find clues by studying our celestial neighbors. Join Stephanie Werner in the exploration of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and exoplanets.
Since it is difficult to do field work on these remote places, satellites and robotic rovers will be our eyes and our arms and allow measurements of the atmosphere, topography, colors, and mineralogy of these planetary objects with their very diverse geological histories. For instance, we know that Venus is the best example of the greenhouse effect. Mars was once a habitable planet, but severe climate change transformed it into a freezing and dry desert.
Is it really a good idea to build a Moon village? Is space the next frontier for mineral resource exploration? And what about exoplanets, no one really had a good look at them yet…