A stable atmosphere that doesn't lose too many particles or fry humans with too much radiation is what any long term human presence on Mars would need.
NASA's own chief scientist, James Green, is one of the scientists suggesting that we protect humans on Mars from deadly atmospheric conditions by jumpstarting the planet's magnetic field.
A new paper written by the team will be published in the journal Acta Astronautica in January 2022, first spotted by Universe Today. The protection of a planetary magnetic field is a requirement for terraforming.
Mars is weak and fragmented, but Earth has a strong magnetic field.
The paper states that one of the first goals of terraforming would be to increase the atmospheric pressure above the Armstrong Limit. It is hard to imagine that we will be getting much done on any planet where humans turn into flesh soup.
How much of a magnetic field would be needed to protect Mars and the humans that might live on it? The team writes that the force needed to repel solar wind is the same as a regular fridge magnet. They would need to generate it over the entire planet.
The scientists suggested a few ways to pull it off. There are a number of ways to restart and circulate Mars' iron core, including using a chain of coupled sources with a controlled beam, or using a big ring of charged particles with an artificial current. Hardware can be found in locations as diverse as the Martian surface and Martian circle.
The team concluded that creating a torus with moon material would not cause significant damage to Mars' satellites. The latter option is similar to the plasma torus created by Io in his Jupiter circle.
The minimum power needed to create a magnetic field is around 1017 joules, which is roughly the entire power consumption of all humans on Earth in 2020. We will likely need to use a nuclear reactor as a power source, which the team thinks would be required for permanent colonization.
Among those who are interested in establishing permanent colonies is the CEO of SpaceX, who seems to believe that we don't have a lot of time before Earth isn't a good place to live.
Although the authors caution that they aren't saying a magnetic field is necessary for life on Mars, it seems pretty difficult to imagine a sustainable Martian presence without it. It is intriguing that NASA's chief scientist is on board.
There is more on life on Mars.
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