Hear me out. This thought process requires a bit of knowledge of physics/chemistry.
On the martian poles, there are vast quantities of frozes CO2. This frozen CO2 exerts a certain “vapor pressure” - in other words, a certain partial pressure of gaseous CO2.
Now, if we convert this CO2 into O2 by removing the carbon out of it, the concentration of O2 in the atmosphere increases. And therefore, the concentration (and partial pressure) of CO2 decreases.
But since the frozen CO2 on the poles causes a certain partial pressure of CO2, a bit of the frozen CO2 will go into gaseous phase to refill the CO2 partial pressure.
So, by converting CO2 into O2, the concentration of O2 increases, but the concentration of CO2 stays approximately the same. As such, the total pressure (and density) of the atmosphere increases. This would happen if large-scale biological photosynthesis/growth took place.
I don’t think that vapor pressure is necessarily relevant when the atmospheric pressure is 610 pascals (0.6% of Earth’s).
But don’t we need something to keep it together?
Probably yeah, doesn’t help that mars has no magnetic field anymore.
I’ve seen arguments made that if things got going well enough, the rate of loss would be negligible enough to be replaceable by new materials bright in via asteroids, if things ever get that far in the first place.
However, the same arguments said that the real problem with the lack of magnetic field is the lack of protection given for pretty much anything the sun sends that way
Mind your, these arguments were made the same way both of these comments have been, just random internet people talking, so take it with a grain of Martian salt
the concern of radiation protection is not just from random internet people talking. that’s a very real concern for long term settling of Mars or anywhere without a magnetosphere.
Yeah, if we ever try to live on Mars, it will most likely be underground, baring some major breakthrough in shielding.
The wikipedia article mentions the idea of superconducting rings build around mars surface. They could also be used for energy transport. This is basically already possible with current technology.
Maybe it’s also possible to somehow extract energy from the solar wind but that is only speculation on my part.
That is purely science fiction. I’m talking about current technology living on mars.
Well yeah, then underground in lava tubes. But then the moon would be much easier for building habitats to live in.
There is a sort of paradox. To do any of this in any scale would be much more likely with automation. And automation, like robots being able to build robots and then factories and anything else is coming especially with the recent advances in AI and computer vision etc. And then such megaprojects won’t be unthinkeable any more. But then it would probably also be easier to build a mega space habitats mining the moon. Without automation, it might never be worth it to actually colonize there so it’s better to wait a few more decades.
So, the major issue with settling moon is resource availability: water (!), carbon, fertile soil, and energy.
On the moon you have none of that. Maybe, with a lot of luck, you find water somewhere. Then you need carbon, energy during the long moon nights, and soil that isn’t razor sharp particles.
On Mars, you have all of them: low concentrations of water in the atmosphere, carbon from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, soil that isn’t razor sharp (thanks to erosion), and the nights are short enough that you can make it through them.
Do you know anything about engineering? This is a much harder problem to solve than you’re making it out to be.
Edit: Just to be clear, I’m not making fun of you, or trying to belittle you. I’m an engineer myself, so I’m asking bcz automation, and design are really hard problems, even when we’ve already solved a problem.
take it with a grain of Martian salt
I’d prefer to keep my perchlorate consumption to a minimum, thank you very much.
Well, your loss
Some people just aren’t adventurous eaters
You’d probably need to grab ice balls rich in nitrogen ice from the kuiper belt and somehow hurl them on a curse to impact mars. And do that a lot. Or maybe build a railgun on Triton to shoot nitrogen bullets at mars
