MikeLinPA t1_j2by4vk wrote on December 31, 2022 at 2:52 AM

Wow, great thought! Lots to think about.

I believe there are nebula made of water vapor, (or ice crystals?) that are more massive than our solar system, so we wouldn't even have to isolate the hydrogen and oxygen, but a controlled burn of H and 2O would be a source of heat energy. (Also a risk of explosion!)

Hauling around enough to make a difference for a planet, (either water or the gasses,) would be another challenge. Even if we had spaceships the size of a football stadium, that would be insignificant compared to one of the great lakes, much less an ocean. If we could haul around volumes comparable to large asteroids or small moons, then we're making progress.

Without doing any math, I am picturing spheres of water the size of Texas. It would take a steady supply of them to fill the world's oceans. Thousands? IDK

Psychological_Wheel2 OP t1_j2byi0u wrote on December 31, 2022 at 2:55 AM

In corny sci-fi terms would this be easier then invading a planet

MikeLinPA t1_j2c2fdx wrote on December 31, 2022 at 3:26 AM

Much easier! No one is fighting for the water, and it doesn't have to be lifted up from a planet. Why fight a war for the privilege of lifting all that mass out of a gravity well when you can hoover it up and fly away?

Also, when I said the nebula were more massive than the entire solar system, I couldn't remember if it was hundreds of times more, or thousands, or millions. I just remembered it being astronomically more than the amount of water on earth.