Is there a process in place that would make Mars inhabitable? How would we increase oxygen, water, trees,?

Answer 1

It isn´t possible to make Mars inhabitable. You could convert allt the CO2 in its atmosphere to oxygen and it would still be pretty much a vaccum. Only it would be much colder and the oxygen, being lighter than CO2, would drift off into space making the atmosphere even thinner. Same thing would happen (as it did in the distant past) if you would heat the entire planet up to make the frozen CO2 become a gas. There is no nitrogen either on Mars which is essential to life. So Mars can never be made habitable. Somebody please tell Bob Zubrin...

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And if you´re gonna build a planetsized structure why build a mirror next to Mars considering it is a lost cause? Why not build a sunblocker in between Venus and the sun? Block out 88% of the light and Venus begins to transform itself into another earth. All the ingredients are there. Atmosphere. Even water. Not alot but way more than Mars.

Answer 2

Some people have put a fair bit of time and thought into this and it appears to be possible with marginally more advanced technology and a fair bit of money. Aluminised Mylar mirrors in an orbit out from Mars could concentrate solar warmth on the Mars polar caps, which are composed of carbon dioxide and water ice. Some calculations show that increasing the average temperature there by "only" 4 degrees centigrade would cause all the carbon dioxide to evaporate into the Martian atmosphere.

This would greatly increase the greenhouse effect on Mars and the temperature would rise still further. Since Martian summer temperatures already approach or exceed the freezing point of water without our intervention, this could mean a partial melting of the water in the polar caps at least in the summer period. Mars has the same sort of seasons as Earth since the pole of rotation is tilted similarly, they just last a lot longer.

Another effect would be that carbon dioxide adsorbed by Martian soil would partially desorb in higher temperatures, leading to an even thicker atmosphere. See "The Case For Mars" by Robert Zubrin.

However getting a breathable atmosphere seems unlikely. Even with all the carbon dioxide out that could be got out the pressure might only be a third of that on Earth. We don't know what the maximum pressure might be but weaker Martian gravity would guarantee a lower pressure even if there was as much atmosphere as Earth has.

To get a breathable atmosphere at a third Earth pressure you would need the atmosphere to contain 45% to 60% oxygen. But what would the rest of the atmosphere be? Even at a third Earth pressure, 12% of carbon dioxide would be close to poisonous. So CO2 would have to go further down and there is little except nitrogen to replace it that humans and animals can tolerate. At present the Martian atmosphere contains about 5% nitrogen so where would the rest come from? This dilution of CO2 with oxygen and nitrogen even if it could be obtained might limit the greenhouse effect and the planet could freeze again.

http://www.marssociety.org/portal

Answer 3

There have been some fairly serious proposals made about ways to 'terraform' Mars. But there are a couple of hard facts about Mars that make it unlikely that it will ever happen.

First off is that Mars is about 40% further away from the Sun than we are. That means that it only gets a bit over half as much solar energy as we do. And solar energy is what drives the Earths 'weather machine' and provides all of the energy that plants use to do CO2 conversion and provide food at the bottom of the food chain. It also means that it's a lot colder than it is on Earth. It's kinda doubtful that we'd ever be able to get a food chain anything at all like Earths' started. Certainly most Earth plants wouldn't survive under those conditions.

Secondly, Mars only has a bit over 1/3 the gravity of the Earth. This means that it couldn't hold an atmosphere anywhere near as 'deep' as ours is and the best we'd ever get for atmospheric pressure would be about the same as at the top of Mt. Everest.

But it's not all bad. The surface pressure is still high enough that we wouldn't need full pressure suits. A simple oxygen mask (such as you see worn by mountain climbers above about 15,000 feet) would be enough. And that makes all of the engineering for habitats, etc. a whole bunch simpler. (Far simpler than what we currently have to do on the Space Station or what we'll have to do for a manned Moon colony.

Doug

Answer 4

I have seen documentaries on the Discovery Channel and others where they show how this could be done. But we are talking a process that would take hundreds of years, and we dont even have the technology to start doing it now.

Answer 5

We as humans would have to create our environment under ground.Containing our life giving gasses and fluids in cave like biospheres illuminated artificially.The real question to ask is what could a planetary colony produce that would finance such a venture.

Answer 6

even if we terraformed mars it wouldn't stay there because mars doesn't have a big enough magnetic field to keep the stuff safe from space.

Answer 7

If we can't maintain a viable environment here on earth,what chance would we have of starting from scratch on a planet we have never even visited.
It can't and never will be done.