Planet Age and Colonization

[maglaurus]

I was creating a couple of random solar systems using the CODA tables in the "Worlds" e-book and I came up with a 40 Million Year old class-M planet. While I realize I could just intervene here and "say" via Narrator's license it's suitable for colonization, I would like to see if anyone knows, in terms of scientific theory, if a space-faring species could live on a planet that's only forty million years young.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

...Why not? The lifeforms probably comes from some sort of panspermia-dealie, so something like algae and crap.

Wait... are the tables weighted to take into account ancient terraforming species and bored energy beings?

[black campbellq]

It could simply be early enough that the atmo and climate allow for easy terraforming.

[maglaurus]

I was thinking of going the "terraforming" route, maybe even a patch-work approach that would allow some parts of the planet (those near water perhaps) to be terraformed while the rest remained unstable and dangerous. Considering that it is going to be a Klingon colony, I think that would make sense.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Heh, Klingon terraforming.

I'm picturing a huge, clanking previously-owned atmosphere processor bought at half-price from some Orion dealer, constantly on the edge of failing or exploding or belching out noxious fumes instead of the supposedly oxygen-nitrogen mix...

[maglaurus]

On a 40 million year old planet they might need some kind of tectonic stabilization technology...maybe even whole underground facilities surrounding the colonized region designed to vent volcanic pressure in order to suppress earthquakes.

[Tobian]

Don't forget the classification for M class is broad: All it has to be is suitable for habitation by Human (and Vulcan) life: It doesn't have to be nice! it could be a horrible desert world, like tatouine, or almost ice locked. Don't forget Vulcan is an M class planet, and that's pretty harsh! I don't think that M class has to specify life, though it would just be odd to hae suitable atmospheric gasses without life creating them, but hey, it's Trek

[maglaurus]

Well, a class M planet with no life would certainly be probable, according to both the CODA tables in the "Worlds" PDF. The CODA tables list that a planet needs to be a billion years old for bacteria to develop, and this is more or less practical from what I've seen in text books. My original concern was what was going on before life forms in the first place. My anthropology and bio texts never really discussed the situation prior to the arrival for the first life--go figure.

[Tobian]

The largest obstacle is not the life in and of it's self but the delicate ballance of gasses in the atmosphere: it might be slightly toxic to some species, have no food and little drinking water, but without breathable air it's plain not M Class!

In early earth history, our atmosphere was rich in Co2, and various other noxious gasses, essentially when life evolved it converted the CO2 into carbon (for it's self) and Oxygen, which of course, ironically early life was entirelly intollerant too (and to a large degree still is! ) Most of the O2 reacted with iron in the ground and 'rusted' so for several billion years our planet rusted hehe O2 doesn't realy occur naturally (that we know) without life, which is where the conundrum lies if it is M class with no life?!

[maglaurus]

Now this was the sort of theoretical science I was hoping to discuss. So there is a point, prior to the development of life, where a life-sustaining planet cannot support that life. I know that statement is a touch confusing, but it makes sense to me now.

So taking a step back into the psuedo-science of the Star Trek universe, would terraforming technology do the job of speeding up atmosphere development as written, or would there need to be something different availible, maybe even a low-key version of the genesis technology?

[First of Two]

As I understand current theories of planetary development, you [U]can't[U] have a 40-million y.o. class M planet, or a lifeless class-M planet. At least, not a naturally-occuring one. (Superbeings, or high-end terraformers, they could do it, of course, but not nature.)

Earth wasn't a class-M planet all through its history, only after enough O2-producing life evolved to change the atmosphere to the one we have now. There IS an "non-canon" letter designation for a pre-class-M planet, in "Star Charts."

snipped from Wikipedia: Planet-Class evolution:

Class E Geoplastic
Class E worlds are younger than 1 billion years old. Their diameters range in size from 10,000 to 15,000 km. They are located in the biozone region of a star’s solar system. Their surfaces are molten, and have high temperatures. Their atmospheres are primarily hydrogen with other reactive gases. Class E planets cool over time to evolve into Class F worlds. Life forms, if any, are carbon-based.

Example: Excalbia

Class F Geometallic
Young planets, Class F worlds range in age from 1 to 3 billion years old. Their diameters range in size from 10,000 to 15,000 km. They are located in the biozone region of a star’s solar system. Their surfaces are actively volcanic. Their atmospheres primarily contain hydrogen compounds. Class F planets cool over time to evolve into Class G worlds. Life forms, if any, are silicon-based.

Example: Janus VI

Class G Geocrystaline
Young planets, Class G worlds range in age from 3 to 4 billion years old. Their diameters range in size from 10,000 to 15,000 km. They are located in the biozone region of a star’s solar system. Their surfaces are still crystallizing. Their atmospheres contain carbon dioxide and other toxic gases. Class G planets cool over time to evolve into Class M, N, O or P worlds. Life forms, if any, are primitive single-celled organisms.

Example: Delta Vega

So a 40-million yo "Class-M wannabe" planet would probably be molten. This is bad for terraforming. F-Class, at a scant billion years, might work, though.

[Tobian]

We've seen teraforming technology in trek that can terraform a planet in a matter of decades (or in the case of Genesis, minutes LOL) But then yes having a non-molten mantle would help!.. Of course it doesn't have to have an Earth type size, it could be smaller, and therefore would have cooled much sooner! It's very hard to know if a planet could be Class M without also having life at all during it's evolution?!

Given the number of civilisations who have been floating round teraforming planets here and making proto-roman civilisations there, it's quite plausible that it could have been teraformed entirelly - maybe that could be the seed of an adventure in it's self!

If the planet were small enough, say mars-size, it might have formed a stable crust, and then maybe life was seeded on it via an unusual comet (as life is believed to have begun here). Maybe a spaceship full of Hairdressers landed there ?