The Holonet Boards   » Leaving Orbit....   » Mars Mission


Alannidala

posted 07-05-2002 03:13 PM    
Anyone else interested in a mission to Mars?

Anakin

posted 07-06-2002 11:35 AM    
Everyone but those who could make it happen, it seems.

LumbiaSith

posted 08-07-2002 11:17 PM    
If we do, we are only one step closer ot Uranus, so we can see those incredible cracks that'll weild other planets

BobPalpatine

posted 08-11-2002 09:06 PM    
I'd really like them to start terra-farming Mars in my lifetime, but somehow I doubt that is going to happen. It can be done, but the amount of resources that would have to be shipped to Mars would prolly cost a whole heck of a lot of money, but I think it'd be worth it.

Graysith

posted 08-24-2002 06:30 PM    
Ummm... Lumbia, Uranus is a gas giant. There are no cracks on it that we can see, at least!

Yes, it would be awesome to terra-form Mars, but that's going to take a LOOOOOONG time to do so. I mean, it would take forever to terra-form it to human standards once we began the process. Might not be feasible; since the planet doesn't have a strong enough gravitational field to naturally hold a decent atmosphere, it's going to take many, many years using some kind of plant growth (low light, low pressure, cold temp, little water plants) to increase the oxygen percentage in it. (Most of earth's oxygen came from plankton in the seas, and still does. Terrestrial plants provide some but the majority comes from the oceans.) The air pressure would never be earth normal, but it might get high enough to support a man without an environmental suit on. Then there's the matter of warming the planet up due to greenhouse effects, which would take longer than it does on earth since the planet is so far from the sun.

However, I have hopes that eventually we'll at least send a mission there. There are plenty of resources on the planet to use once we set up an initial base: tons of iron ores, and probably other metals, not to mention water. (OK, so the water is ice at the moment, that can be melted!) I'd envision us setting up protected colonies rather than try to actually terra-form the planet entirely.