New Earths

Planetary Engineering - definition - The artificial alteration of the physical, biological, and energy environment of a planet or moon with the ultimate goal of making it habitable for Earth life forms. Yesterday's dreams... Follow the history of planetary engineering from science fiction literature to a NASA colloquium agenda. Today's realities... Explore techniques of genetic transformation, weather modification, and nuclear fission as means of altering the existing environmental conditions on Earth and other planets. Tomorrow's adventures... Discover the plans for future enterprises and technology: -Venusian colonists on the now true "twin" of Earth -Air-tight canopies sheltering entire planets providing life support -Energy modulations refining nuclear fires of sun-like stars to provide power for far-away planets. Terraforming other planets, or transforming them to make them habitable by human beings, has captured the imaginations of people through the ages, but has just recently achieved a level of respectability among the scientific community.