Mars' Atmosphere

"Mike Williams" wrote in message
news
If we ever do attempt to terraform Mars, we probably wouldn't bother too
much about having lots of Nitrogen in the atmosphere anyway, so a total
pressure of one third of Earth pressure might well be acceptable.
Perhaps something like 3psi Oxygen and 2psi Nitrogen instead of 3 and 12
as on Earth.
0.2 bar pure oxygen is perfectly OK for humans. I think that this was used
in Apollo.

No chance of making a decent cup of tea, though.

Sally

"Sally" wrote in message
...
No chance of making a decent cup of tea, though.

Sally


Yes, I believe that's called the Arthur Dent phenomenon

"Robert Casey" wrote in message
...
Chosp wrote:

"Paul Neave" wrote in message
...


A little off-topic, but:

If humans ever planned to terraform mars' atmosphere, what would be
the maximum pressure that could be attained? Surely Mars' gravity
would be a limiting factor; it couldn't possibly grow beyond one-third
of Earth's atmospheric pressure.



It is not quite so simple.
You will note that Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is not much
larger than our own moon and yet has an atmosphere 90 times
as dense as that on earth.

That's Venus. But your point is still valid, as Venus is a bit smaller
than
Earth, and much hotter. Titan's atmosphere is about 1.5 times denser
than Earth's.


You are correct. My memory was faulty.

JRS: In article , seen in
news:uk.sci.astronomy, Sally posted at
Thu, 15 Jan 2004 20:37:43 :-

0.2 bar pure oxygen is perfectly OK for humans. I think that this was used
in Apollo.

No chance of making a decent cup of tea, though.

Use a pressure-cooker, ma'am; or a pressurised coffee-infuser.

H'mm. - tea is bad made at 80 C, and good made at 100 C; what's it like
made at 120 C ?

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On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 21:47:50 -0000, in uk.sci.astronomy , "Jase"
wrote:

This is probably a very stupid question, but since Mars' atmosphere is
predominantly Carbon Dioxide, would it be possible to put plants on the
planet with a long-term view to begin the generation of some sort of oxygen
based atmosphere?

Only if they could still photosynthesise when frozen. AFAIR the air
temperature doesn't often get above freezing.

The idea however is often discussed. Heck, a film on channel 5 even
used it, last night.




--
Mark McIntyre
CLC FAQ http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html
CLC readme: http://www.angelfire.com/ms3/bchambless0/welcome_to_clc.html


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"Mark McIntyre" wrote in message
...
The idea however is often discussed. Heck, a film on channel 5 even
used it, last night.
And what a rubbish film it was too! Can't think of one good thing to say
about it. Switched off "Red Planet" after the first half hour.
Sally