# Enabling martian habitability with silica aerogel via the solid-state greenhouse effect

## TL;DR

This paper proposes using silica aerogel layers on Mars to create a solid-state greenhouse effect, making the surface habitable for photosynthetic life by increasing temperatures and blocking UV radiation, without large environmental modifications.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel method of using silica aerogel as a solid-state greenhouse to enable habitability on Mars, avoiding the need for global atmospheric changes.

## Key findings

- Silica aerogel can transmit light and block UV radiation under Martian conditions.
- A 2-3 cm thick silica aerogel layer can raise temperatures above water melting point.
- This approach enables habitability in ice-rich regions with minimal intervention.

## Abstract

The low temperatures and high ultraviolet (UV) radiation levels at the surface of Mars today currently preclude the survival of life anywhere except perhaps in limited subsurface niches. Several ideas for making the martian surface more habitable have been put forward previously, but they all involve massive environmental modification that will be well beyond human capability for the foreseeable future. Here we present a new approach to this problem. We show that widespread regions of the surface of Mars could be made habitable to photosynthetic life in the future via a solid-state analogue to Earth's atmospheric greenhouse effect. Specifically, we demonstrate via experiments and modelling that under martian environmental conditions, a 2 to 3-cm thick layer of silica (SiO2) aerogel will simultaneously transmit sufficient visible light for photosynthesis, block hazardous ultraviolet radiation, and raise temperatures underneath permanently to above the melting point of water, without the need for any internal heat source. Placing silica aerogel shields over sufficiently ice-rich regions of the martian surface could therefore allow photosynthetic life to survive there with minimal subsequent intervention. This regional approach to making Mars habitable is much more achievable than global atmospheric modification. In addition, it can be developed systematically starting from minimal resources, and can be further tested in extreme environments on Earth today.