Terraforming the Nine Earths, Episode I: Could Cyanobacteria Thrive in Muspellheim?

Long ago, I asked a question on how to make the Nine Realms of Norse mythology--Niflheim, Muspelheim, Asgard, Midgard, Jotunheim, Vanaheim, Alfhiem, Svartalfheim and Helheim--a reality in regards to astronomical orbits. But now that they are confirmed to be possible, via a variety of ways, let's start terraforming them all. But first, some important notes:

1. The Nine Earths orbit three K-type main sequence stars (or "orange dwarves")--Ve, Vili and at the center of it all, Odin. This puts the Nine Earths at a range from 0.1 to 1.3 AUs (9,300,000 to 120,900,000 miles) of the third star, Ve.
2. The only forms of life on all of the Nine Earths are microbial. (With terraforming, that is going to change.)

In the first of what I hope to be a series, we look at the World of Fire, Muspellheim. Norse mythology, Muspellheim is the haunt of the fire giants and their master, Surtr. The closest of the Nine Earths to Ve is indeed a hostile place to live--13,539 miles in diameter and six times as massive as Earth with an atmosphere consisting of higher concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane than back home. Despite this, however, there is still water available, and that water is full of microbial life. Try to imagine a Pacific Ocean with the toxic but vibrant compositions of Yellowstone's Grand Prismatic Spring.

Obviously, there is no way that complex life could thrive in this planet, but that is why we are starting the terraforming of Muspellheim small with inserting cyanobacteria to colonize the sulfur-rich oceans. It is hoped that once the colonists multiply and proliferate, they can photosynthesize, absorb the atmospheric CO2 and release oxygen into the atmosphere as a result. Once oxygenation starts to dominate Muspellheim can we move on with other phases of terraforming, but will the first phase succeed? Can cyanobacteria thrive in the specific conditions listed in the previous paragraph?

posted over 5 years ago

JohnWDailey‭

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