What currently prevents a human from living on Mars?

Question

And What would we need to do to make it liviable with out wearing a space suit?

Answer 1

Here are a list of things that prevent humans from living on Mars..(Keep in mind that I am a strong supporter of Mars colonization, and I could give you an endless list of advantages to living on Mars also, but here are some problems)
1-Mars atmosphere is 95% Carbon dioxide, which means we could not breathe
2-Mars atmospheric pressure is only one percent of Earth's and is not enough for even liquid water to exist, much less for humans to breathe
3-Mars air is permeated with dust, this would create breathing problems even if the air was oxygen.
4-Mars has only localized magnetic fields, so if we settled those, there would be no problem, however much of the planet is blasted by solar radiation.
5-The average temperature on Mars is -67 degrees F. While this can increase to +80 on an equatorial summer afternoon, we would have to have shelter from the cold during the winter, and year round on most of the planet.
6-Mars gravity is only 1/3rd of Earth's which might pose a problem to bone mass and density, as well as proper growth
7-Mars experiences global dust storms, which can warm the planet considerably, but would damage equipment, residences, and about everything else we would have on the planet. We would also be subject to dust devils, which can become powerful.
8-Though it has much water, mostly in the form of ice, liquid water on Mars is nonexistent for any length of time due to frigid temperatures and a low atmospheric pressure.
9-Mars is farther from the Sun, thus it would be slightly more difficult to harness solar power, for our use, this also means that less heat reaches Mars, which acccounts for the extreme cold.

That is about it, though settlement of Mars seems to have a lot of problems, it is more Earth like by FAR than any other planet with feasible traveling distance.

Answer 2

The list of requirements for human colonization of Mars is vast. I suggest you visit the Mars Society website. The environment of Mars is lethal to human life and we do not have the technology to terraform the planet. We could live beneath the surface in specially constructed bunkers. There would still be health issues for people living in these bunkers, such as gravity related bone loss and muscle degeneration. The basic problem is that life evolves to survive in a niche environment. When you change the environment, the life must evolve or perish. While we could live on Mars with current technology, life expectancy would be shortened. If the colony were to survive we would need to address the issue of economy. For example, Jamestown in North America produced tobacco with slave labor. Perhaps a Martian economy could be driven by a low gravity shipyard, abundant resources and mobile robotics.

Answer 3

In addition to having no breathable air, and air pressure too low to be useful even if there were oxygen in it, Mars also has no magnetic field. That means there's no protection from solar radiation - the level of radiation on the Mars surface would be fatal to humans.

So to make it livable isn't just as simple as adding oxygen to the atmosphere - humans would still need to be wearing lead underwear.

Answer 4

The martian atmosphere is much less dense and that too is mostly carbon dioxide. So, unless we have big air bubbles or sealed tents with air inside, we cannot dispense with space suits. We also need water and may be some extra greenhouses for growing plants there for food.

Answer 5

You would have to improve the atmpsheric pressure by about a factor or 100; increase the oxygen and nitrogen concentrations; introduce water vapor, raise the temp by about 100 degrees and generate a magnetic field around the planet to ward off the solar radiation that would fry you... Sounds pretty trivial.

Answer 6

We cannot Survive in the Envoirment on mars, And money also is a problem, A missions to mars Costs a lot

Answer 7

Mars' atmosphere is primarily carbon dioxide, so you wouldn't be able to breathe. The average temperature is around -81° F, so you'd freeze.

Answer 8

a breathable atmosphere would be a good start

Answer 9

the air you cant breath that stuff in not so good

Answer 10

Not enough oxygen.