On Aug/11/2018 at 10:12 PM, JF Mezei wrote :
"Thickening" the atmosphere with CO2 or whethever to retain heat would
have a negative effect: solar panels would get less of the sun's energy.

The loss of solar efficiency would be worth it if you achieved a
shirt-sleeve atmpsphere on Mars. But if you still need pressurized
habitats, then making the oustide less cold at the expense of reducing
solar power efficiency is a trade off that designers of the habvitats
will have to debate.

Solar panels usually make energy from visible light. CO2 isn't very
opaque for visible light. Even one full atmosphere of pressure from CO2
wouldn't reduce solar panels output much. So I don't think this is much
of a problem.


Alain Fournier