Whenever this show asks if we can do something, the answer is Yes. The real question is, how much effort and resources does it take.

Isaac Arthur: "Can we X the Y?" Audience: " Yes, YES!!"

When I play modded Stellaris I turn Earth into a Eco Ecumenopolis and Luna into an Industrial Ecumenopolis with an Equatorial Shipyard. I think thats the far more likely future for our closest planetary companion.

"There are over 50 million people living in the moon in my time. You can see Tycho City, New Berlin, even Lake Armstrong on a day like this."

Hey Isaac. We've interacted before on your live streams. I've been a fan of the channel since the earliest days. I just wanted to thank you. You leave me feeling optimistic about the future of humanity. I'm in treatment for mental health. Treatment resistant depression, among other issues. I'm doing the work necessary to mitigate these issues, but they're still prevalent. Your channel gives me hope. I can't count the number of times I've just put your channel on continuous play and just listened to a hopeful future. You inspire me to not give up. Thank you.

I would love to see the moon glitter with cities and greenery. She would look less lonely.

Green Moon sounds ominous

The moons' current inhabitants would never allow it.

If we can, we must turn it into Cheese There is no other option.

A novel called thunderstrike was about a comet being diverted from a terran impact, but it struck the moon, creating an atmosphere...

oddly enough, humans have a form of movement almost perfectly suited to low gravity. Skipping... yeah I know it's weird but the push-catch motion is oddly very useful in low gravity where the normal push-pull of walking is too slow. By pushing off and catching yourself you could have very long skips and cover very large distances. Some food for thought. =)

My favourite answer to the question of possibility is: Short term, yes Long term, no

Something i’ve always wondered: if you terraformed the moon, its albedo would be much higher, yes? And what effect would that have on life on earth? Nights would be less dark, possibly vastly less dark, and when the moon is out during the day, mightn’t it make those days slightly brighter than normal during the day? And wouldn’t this stress biological systems on earth? Just curious.

Would you consider making a video on terraforming harsh regions of earth? (For example, the Australian desert or the Sahara)

Why would we want to terraform it? It's more valuable without an atmosphere: we can store all kinds of things (records of ourselves etc.) for thousands of years without having to worry about things like corrosion etc.

Arthur is great at explaining how seemingly impossible ideas and objectives might be a lot more simple then they look

I looked up at the Moon, hanging big and bright over the Pacific. It didn't seem any dimmer, spotted blue and green instead of gray and white. Out here between Australia and New Zealand, away from the city-glow (which wasn't as extreme as it had been back in the 21st Century, but still enough to diminish the splendor of Moon and the stars), I could really appreciate the glory of its fullness as it hung near the horizon. “During my...well, my first lifetime, I argued with my friends whether we'd terraform any planets, and if so, whether it'd be Mars, Venus, even Titan, since it had a thick atmosphere. Most of us expected a mix of artificial habitats and terraformed planets. I said we'd build only habitats. Earth would be the center of our civilization for hundreds or thousands of years, and we'd never terraform another planet. “I don't think any of us, back then, thought of the Mo- Um, I mean, Luna.” Andeeya chuckled and lowered her eyes from the sky to look at me. “What are the first three rules of real estate?” “You mean, location, location and location?” “Exactly. If Luna weren't right here, barely more than a light-second away from Earth, there's no way we'd have ever considered terraforming such a small body, but since she was right there, and since it turned out to be possible - only just possible, but possible - for people to be born and grow up on Luna and be healthy and to live healthily on Earth, it made a lot of sense for us to terraform Luna. “That's why there are more than a billion people there right now, a tenth of the human race, and at times in the past, it's been home to almost a quarter of humanity.” “Gee, I get the feeling you're kind of fond of Luna.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “I used to say I hated it. I told everyone I hated it while I was living there, and for years I never had anything good to say about the time I spent there, but since then, I've been back a couple of times, and...yes, I guess I am fond of her at that.” She shrugged. “It's hard to find a decent restaurant there, though.”

The idea of looking up and seeing another living world does appeal to me. Would make for a geeat sight. Another excellent episode, Isaac.

The first rules of War there are no rules😊

I'm honestly a fan of the massive moon-wide dome. I'm imagining it a bit like the interior of a Berch-Earth, with massive (or not so massive due to the low gravity) pillars holding up a hugely tall dome over a terraformed moon.

ARTHURSDAY!!!!

I'd think it would be easier to basically snow globe the moon then what people normally think of Terra forming.

If a giant magnet were placed at the Earth-Sun L1, would it protect the Moon as well?

To provide artificial gravity to settlements on other planets, it would be key to experimentally discover how to regulate the density of space-time to control the expression of gravity just as we can control the expression of other phenomena such as electromagnetism.

As you were talking about these planetary dynamos, the first thing that came to mind was the insane idea of venting solar winds directly at the planet, like some kind of solar turbine. Sure enough, that was the very next thing you mentioned. Maybe I understand what's happening in these videos after all.

this idea is eerie and fascinating, would be a beautiful sight, but an uncanny valley sight, very good post apocalypse horror type setting

6:59 The side of the moon facing away from the earth is, in fact, darker than the side facing us, but only during its night. This is because the near side of the moon is illuminated by "earthshine" (sunlight reflected off of earth, similar to moonlight on earth but much brighter due to earth's much larger size and higher albedo than the moon), while the far side is not.

I don't think the moon has enough gravity to hold on to water and atmosphere

This randomly reminded me of that Busdriver song “Colonize the Moon.” Woah, that’s almost 10 years old now 😅

Surprised you haven't already covered this already among all your amazing work!

Terra form io? Sulfer hexa floride green house gas to add heat retention + artificial magnetic shield in orbit to protect the place and possibly gather power from Jupiter's magnitosphere

Hell yeah, Ive been waiting for you to do this topic for months.

With moon terraforming i expect it to be more like a series of connected bubble habitats with a synthetic atmosphere made from materials in the moon as it is needed rather than trying to constantly ship in an atmosphere from other parts of the solar system in order to maintain a much thicker gravitationally bound atmosphere.

I thought trees were limited by capillary pressure ie the ability of water to climb the tree. Lower gravity doesn’t matter if there’s not enough water pressure to hydrate the canopy

This is my favorite kind of your videos, exploring what is technically possible for humanity to do, even if it's not physically possible at the moment.

You're the best. I sincerely hope you are healthy. Stick around and keep making these.

It is interesting how similar Isaac Arthur and I think. The trick of using targeted deliveries of materials to increase or decrease spin is something I used in an unpublished story I wrote over a decade ago (I'm not happy with enough of the story, which is why I'm still rewriting).

Im onto you issac. I know your cat is putting you upto this. Another celestial body for the furry overlords growing empire.

Great video! I have often thought that taking out Magnetic Field with us is sooo important for Earth life to thrive on another planet, its not just about the protection from cosmic and solar radiation but the fact that ALL life has evolved to be dependant on the MF. I think that when the Apollo Astronauts came back as artists and poets instead of the engineers they were when they left Earth, is a big sign of what happens without our MF..

I would use an orbital ring that exerts torque to add spin. To add H2, use satellites to funnel the solar wind at the planet, thinking Venus, but you would need to slow the wind down so the H2 is captured. Once you had the necessary H2, use the satellites to deflect the solar wind as a magnetsphere.

I'm ready for this, can't wait for this episode.

Interesting topic! Looking forward to hearing your insight.

I'm writing a bunch of short stories based in the same universe and I love writing for the Lunar inhabitants because I made them super naturalist. Meaning, they prefer to live in their domes and keep the moon (Luna) as pure as possible. Ending up having over 90% of the moon's surface being a "galactic reserve."

I’m continually amazed at the art work and images in your videos ❤ so beautiful

We'll probably make it a billboard first.

Nice episode for my lunch break. Thanks to all involved

yo I like the way you say earth bro! thanks for the dope content!

Thank you very much for your work! I use a lot of interesting and useful things in my creativity. The first story will be printed soon, and then I’ll get to the novels!

The biggest problem with terraforming the moon is that you ironically take away its main advantage, the non existent atmosphere which makes it far easier to launch from and allows for drastically better solar opportunities.

I love all of your videos, but the moon will always be my favorite topic

Every time I hear about terraforming I'm reminded that once you can build real estate directly in space, planets become backwaters, not much more than raw materials storage. Terraforming is essentially like a caveman using modern construction techniques to build modestly better caves, rather than building mansions and skyscrapers.

❤, listening to your videos fill me with hope for our future.

The Moon has no Dark Side. It has a AquaTerra Side and Star Side.

There are those people that always want to preserve everything unaltered by human activity.

I once sketched out an idea for breaking the moon's tidal lock by using flywheels to rock it back and forth. I think the moon as it is would be a handy target for any deflected asteroids. Maybe pulverize them to reduce impact energy and debris plumes.

I think it's more likely that we dismantle the Moon and build countless space habitats, that sounds like a more efficient way to use it.

Changing the homo sapiens to adapt to exoplanets would be very dangerous. The same way any former colony in the americas would have no problems declaring war against their old coutries, those new "humans" would become a potential treat to humanity.

You can go literally to the moon and back in a couple of days. It is unbeliveable to me that we do not have already bases, hotels, an industry and whatnot there. It is not that hard. :)

We can't even have peace on earth. Terraforming the moon would just be one more war zone.

I believe that terraforming a world that is moving away is counterproductive.

What amazing timing, the day we put the first lander on the moon in 50 years.

I am a fan of the 'Worldhouse' roof approach, Luna is a bit too low grav to be worth doing normal terraforming, and as you say, even if so, domes are helpful.

Break the Tidal lock rotation by speeding up said rotation so the moon has similar length of day as Earth, the moon heats up from tidal forces and presto, an atmosphere would begin forming. Placing a Vesta sized moon in close orbit around our moon would prevent tidal locking from reoccurring to our moon. Our moon's moon would be tidally locked though.

Could you make a small series describing how each planet could be successfully paraterraformed?

I forget where it originated but there was a sort of "epic description" ,, In the future an architect wins enough support to build an enormous superstructure on the moon, which is designed to support modular addition of habitats as the structure is gradually populated. Some areas of the superstructure are heavily populated, some are completely empty and are nothing but girders, utility bones (giant empty pipes, for example), ,, other places are filled with storage containers and homeless ,,, but deep in the belly of the heavily populated areas the plumbing network culminates in a huge area of "naturalist oriented water recycling" where cultivation of wilderness has taken place. People live in the indoor jungle as tribes, and new animals have evolved as a result of the dynamics of the high-tech waste environment. Mario and Luigi are plumbers who work in all arenas of the super-structure (which spans miles and miles of the lunar surface) and specialize in heavy industrial plumbing, so often find themselves moving from one part of the superstructure to another through the pipes themselves. The pipes are also home to an illegal trafficking network led by a mysterious leader who ultimately turns out to be a creature that was born from the crazy animals in the under-jungle, but was intelligent and took genetic enhancements to become a giant powerful beast with human-equal intellect. M and L find themselves accidently in the midst of a plot by bowser to destroy the entire superstructure with the goal that the jungle-animals will reclaim the moon which will become atmospheric as a result of the destruction of the giant city, which contained so much water. Princess Peach is the daughter of a rich infrastructure baron and tells them about the plot, her father insists she is insane but she runs away and finds herself meeting M and L inside of the pipes. They try to avoid involvement but she is clumsy and after meeting them almost dies falling into the deep sewage jungle. - In this pit of dangerous jungle live all sorts of animals like dinosaurs and although M and L are aware of it they have never been to the place, as no one they have ever heard of has survived. They discover the girl is not insane after nearly losing their lives to creatures they never imagined, highly intelligent shelled animals (koopa troopers) attack them, and they narrowly escape into the presence of an altogether more friendly animal, Yoshi the velociraptor looking dinosaur. Big pointy teeth aside, Yoshi seems to be cuddly but like the Mario Bros also displays and incredible jump and allows them all to ride as they jump them back up to the edge of the superstructure and leave them there. Peach insists that to stop the destruction of the city, they must find a criminal mastermind living the jungle and suggests they too might be an animal like the koopa troopers they engaged. They are still lost, and do not know where they are in the city, and find themselves stuck there at the edge until they notice humans peeking at them through the brush. They meet the tribe of people who ultimately lead them to a nuclear bomb embedded in toxic waste which when set off will surely lead to the deaths of all humans in the superstructure. With much adventure, and more battles, they find themselves in the position to save the city by unleashing a flood into the jungle, which will kill everything in it, but also nuetralize the bomb. Yoshi sacrifices himself at one point to save M and L by jumping them up onto a pipe before falling to his death, and ultimately they cause their own deaths by deciding their only option was to release the flood upon themselves as the bomb is set to explode. backstory: Princess Peach has a real name, but being the richest daughter on the moon, she is often the feature of tabloids who describe her silly behavior and call her "Princess Peach" as a derogitory term. She is famous and everyone on the moon knows her. Princess Peach is spoiled and has cuddly animal friends, but one day she finds a new cuddly animal friend and begs to keep it. Of course she gets her way but only to discover this new cuddly friend can talk. This friend at first is just friendly and cuddly but as she askes personal questions to get to know her new friend, they describe the koopa troopers, bowser, and eventually bowsers plan to free them all of the humans and give them the moon, which her new friend is very excited for! Imagine! The whole moon only for the underlings.

I'm thinking the Moon will most likely become a world of tunnels. A "Worm World" of sorts.

I have a plan on how we could achieve this in only 30 years.

The thing that always gets me is realizing that Apollo 11’s discarded waste is still sitting in a bag on the moon. I wonder how many microbes are frozen, how many could be thawed out and survive after 50 years. The Apollo sites are designated national monuments. They would have to be preserved if we started putting erosive water on it.

We don't need to terraform the Moon, we need to make moon caverns livable.

Your name really is Isaac Arthur! This is funny coincidence. Isaac Asimov Arthur Clark. Years pass and I still can't believe it, it's so cool. (Sorry this is the kid in me).

I already know it will involve micro black holes to boost gravity, or a high tensile strength, transparent membrane to retain the atmosphere.

A terraformed Moon would be much brighter than it is now currently with an average albedo similar to asphalt. Forests and clouds would not only reflect significantly more light but also a fair amount of color instead of the age old white. Night would never be the same.

Wouldn’t increasing the gravity on the moon compress the moon?

Great as usual ❤

I think by the time we could Terraform the moon, we'll probably need to Terraform the Earth.

How do you get all the video and graphics? 👍✌🖖🥃Always interesting, thanks

We could just live inside the moon considering it is hollow.

How to you tackle to gravy differences? Added more mass would mess pull of the earth.

Looks like domes would be the way to settle the moon. As for long distance space travel, a base on a comet or large asteroid would be hitching a ride to someplace distant and hopefully predictable. Self-sufficiency would be the thing. Shuttles could easily resupply a moon base, however.

We can't even collaborate to keep our own earth to remain inhabitable.

I wonder if plants and animals that are adapted to the polar night lasting several weeks or months in the taiga and tundra biomes could adapt to the long nights on the moon or on a terraformed Venus as well. They might perceive the long night as a "winter" and throw off their leaves/go into hibernation, while going into spring mode when the long day starts.

Also, before we terraform Mars of the moon, we should scour the surfaces for any trace of alien activity.

Here is my solution, based on what is presented here and what I know from other videos here. First, spin up the moon using mass drivers, and make these the main method of importing and exporting to control the rotational speed precisely. Then, use orbital rings to create a “shell world” around the moon, except the shell would be the clear, ultra hard tank armour material that filters UV. Basically, “doming” over the entire planet. While this is being constructed, start the process of importing the atmosphere, so you can time it so when the atmosphere is in place, the shell is also completed. Then I probably just wouldn’t worry about the gravity and let evolution take its course there so that the plants and animals that live there specialize to the gravity, or even use genetic engineering to make it happen. The dome solves the atmospheric loss problem and the radiation/magnetosphere problem at the same time. It would definitely be a different kind of sky with the orbital rings overhead, but I think it would be its own unique attraction.

Can we do it? Yes, yes we can. The questions should be should we and what problems would it cause.

meanwhile in an alternate reality: "can we lunaform the earth?"

We don't have the tech and we might never have, habitats are way more feasible as the low gravity is a really big problem

Well I would say that at least one thing that the moon really has going for it is that it is located within the magnetic field of Earth as I understand it, which should provide some level of protection I would think anyway.

Gravity I think would be the most insurmountable for example a person that has been born on the moon and goes to Earth, the gravity here on Earth might actually be lethal imagine generations of "adaptation" to the Moon's gravity...

Events like these makes me wish i was born in 100 years so i could be there

for most things on this channel…it’s usually a question of practicality…not possibility…I like that…😊 we can do quite a bit within the laws of physics and engineering…unfortunately what our wallets allow is unfortunately quite a lot more limited…

We have to finally get there first.

This sounds like a lot more time and money than I’m interested in investing in a project.

So how do you protect from major asteroid impacts that would destroy domes? Auto canons?

What potential charge to the moons orbit would moving billions of tons on or off over hundreds of years.

How about using the same technology you suggested in the Orbital Rings video to support a dome that covers the entire moon?

We will dig tunnels and fill them with air. But even more likely we will build tunnels in space called space stations and rotate them. That way we not only can get the protection but also get gravity without the penalty of lift energies to get on and off the platform. Why terraform it as there is no magnetic fields to protect people on the surface and the gravity is likely too low to be healthy.

Studying horticulture knowing I might be growing plants in space soon 👀

We should give it a shot. 👍

could conservation of agular momentum, be used to spin the moon? moving tons and tons of mass from the equator to the poles?

Wouldn’t using rabbits on the moon to study genetic changes that would take place, make sense since they tend to reproduce relatively quickly. You could also see how they would adapt their hopping due to the lower gravity.