Nuking Mars to Create an Atmosphere? Probably Not
One of Musk’s most controversial ideas is dropping nuclear bombs on Mars to release carbon dioxide and build a thicker atmosphere. The theory is that warming the planet would help make it more habitable.
But Mars does not have enough stored carbon dioxide to make this work. Even if it did, the planet’s weak gravity and lack of a magnetic field would allow most gases to escape into space. Using nuclear weapons in space also poses huge risks and has never been attempted on this scale.
Creating a livable atmosphere would require building artificial magnetic shields and releasing greenhouse gases over many centuries. That level of planetary engineering remains far beyond current capabilities.
