Mike Stellar

Mike Stellar

Mrs. Halebopp, English

May 31, 2174

The Process Of
Terraforming, Made Simple

So here’s what
they do: The Project sends exploration crews out to search for ice. And when I say out to search for it, I don’t just mean out to the Plug ’n’ Sip to find a bag of ice. It’d have to be a honkin’ big bag of ice, because it would have to cover part of a PLANET.

That’s what the crazy
Project dudes want. Ice on a planet.
So they can melt it.
So how do they melt it? With gigantic mirrors! In space! That look kind of like sails on old-fashioned ships! The mirror-sails can range anywhere from five miles across to two hundred miles across,
can you believe that?!

Once the space crews are finished building the mirror-sails (sometimes this takes years and years), they glide the gigantic mirror-sails over the ice on the planet and then turn the sails toward the sun. Why do they do that, you ask?
Well, I’ll tell you. The sails reflect the sun’s heat down onto the ice and melt it. My dad showed me how this works by taking a magnifying glass outside and using it to melt an ice cube.
It’s more fun to fry ants this way, so
I wonder if maybe the mirror-sails could be used to fry aliens. Anyway, the ice starts to melt and that releases carbon dioxide into the air. Carbon dioxide is the stuff humans spew
out when they breathe. This helps to heat the planet up somehow
. Once the planet heats up and the water melts, it’s easy to start growing plants and grasses and things like that. That’s when the fast-growing plants and frankenbugs
and bacteria and stuff are dropped onto the plnet
. Then, a few years later—voilà—Earth II (or III or IV). The whole process is called terraforming. Some people are really against it, like my sister, Nita. But other people think it’s just great. I don’t
really care one way or another.