This book offers an exercise in theoretical planetology, presenting five different scenarios to assess the evolution of habitable conditions on Mars to assess planetary terraforming potential and to give insight into the ongoing search for habitable exoplanets. Four of the scenarios involve Martian satellite capture models, in which gravitational capture via tidal deformation and energy dissipation processes are measured to predict a pathway of biological evolution, while the fifth scenario analyzes the possible model that led to the Mars that we have today (i.e. with no life forms). In ten chapters, readers will learn how a Mars-like terrestrial planet can be transformed into a habitable planet, and what conditions must be assessed when searching for exoplanets in a star-centered orbit to support life. The book is intended for planetologists, and general enthusiasts of planetary evolution and our solar system.

Hersteller:
Springer Verlag GmbH
juergen.hartmann@springer.com
Tiergartenstr. 17
DE 69121 Heidelberg

Dr. Robert Malcuit is Professor Emeritus at Denison University. Though he retired from teaching in 1999, he still pursues research interests in the earth and planetary sciences. His current research pursuits are: (1) gravitational capture potential for planets, (2) explanation of many of the major features of the Earth and Moon, (3) explanation of the major features of planet Venus, (4) explanation of many of the features of the Neptune-Triton system, (5) explanation of several of the unique features of the Earth in terms of a capture origin of the Earth-Moon system and the subsequent evolution of the lunar orbit to the present condition.