Question about "Mars One"?

Question

The Mars One program claim they plan to colonize Mars. To do this, they need Mars to be more suited to life by making it warmer. One of the solutions to this will be to flood Mars' atmosphere with greenhouse gases, resulting in a warmer climate. However, wouldn't the greenhouse effect ware off over time on Mars since it isn't as close to the Sun like the Earth is? Without the Sun's strong off enough heat, the greenhouse effect isn't supported enough which means Mars' temperature would return to it's natural state of temperature, wouldn't it? Isn't it like saying if we flooded a planet like Uranus with greenhouse gases, it would get warmer? It doesn't make sense.

It's hard to explain, but I'm basically asking would the greenhouse effect on Mars be enough to actually make Mars' temperature rise to a temperature like Earth's in order to support life?

Answer 1

I don't believe the Mars One project is planning to actually terraform Mars. In any case, a green house effect doesn't just "wear off". As long as there are greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, heat will be trapped in. Mars receives about 43% of the sunlight which earth gets. With enough CO2 in the atmosphere, there is no reason the temperature can't be raised to roughly match Earth. A person wouldn't be able to breathe it, however, since too much CO2 is toxic. With no magnetic field, however, the atmosphere would eventually be lost to the solar wind, but not for millions of years which I think would be acceptable.

Answer 2

Actually they say their plans are to "establish a permanent human settlement on Mars", not exactly the same thing as colonization, though that is nit-picking on my part. Even if Mars One isn't a publicity stunt (which it pretty clearly is from where I'm sitting), though, their goals are nowhere as ambitious as terraforming the planet--I don't see it stated anywhere in their mission plan.

.

Their goals are actually (in the highly unlikely event they should ever get off the ground) to keep the volunteers alive for as long as possible, or until the advertiser and subscription revenue streams dry up. So your question is actually about the terraforming of Mars, and really has nothing to do with Mars One, and since Martian terraforming has been discussed here ad infinitum I won't add to it here.

.

I would make two points, though:

1) "wouldn't the greenhouse effect ware [sic: wear] off over time[?]" Assuming one acheives the effect in the first place, that wouldn't change unless something like the atmospheric composition were to change, which due to solar wind ablation probably would happen. So, no, that wouldn't happen without such a change, but yes, it would happen due to it.

2) "if we flooded a planet like Uranus with greenhouse gases" Overlooking the highly-dangerous reference to Uranus (due to troll 'humor'), it must be noted that the Uranian atmosphere essentially *is* greenhouse gases, so perhaps not the best example for at least two reasons.

.

.

Answer 3

Well, a greenhouse effect doesn't just "wear off". If the temperature reached a certain point it would be maintainable. However, since Mars has no magnetic field and much weaker gravity than Earth does it would be difficult to maintain such an atosphere there. It would be eroded away by the solar wind. Which is exactly what happened to Mars's original atmosphere.



Comparing Mars to Uranus is apples and oranges though. Uranus is a LONG way from the Sun. Mars is not. Mars is actually entirely within the Sun's "habitable zone".

Answer 4

What you are describing cannot be done. Mars lacks the gravity and magnetic field to maintain an atmosphere, and as you've said, the distance to the sun is much greater than here on earth, reducing it's ability to warm the planet. So neither Mars nor the sun can do their part in creating a greenhouse effect - all of which is moot, because we are not capable of producing enough greenhouse gases on another planet to have an effect, that would require us to haul them over to Mars, which would be costly.



I don't think they plan to do anything to Mars as part of their colonization. I believe the plan is to make use of enclosed habitats.

Answer 5

First let's look at the Earth.Most of our warmth on Earth is geothermal.It's essential for life as we know it.

Our nice thick atmosphere is maintained by a combination of biology and geothermal activity.

Since Mars shows no techtonic activity or vulcanism it's at a disadvantage right off.

It also has a very weak magnetic field.The core is very cool relative to Earth's.

Earth's geomagnetosphere has huge influence over the atmospheric density.

Down here we are protected from solar winds that can strip atmospheric gasses by shearing them away from the planet..Like water running on a bar of soap,it will eventualy melt away.

To terraform mars would be a daunting task.

It has been suggested that we could thicken mars atmosphere by melting the polar ice which is largely water and carbon dioxide ice(dry ice).

That would not be enough to get it to earth density but it would help.

After that we could plant microbials that produce more co2 that retain solar heating.

But that's not enough since mars' low gravity also needs to be considered.

Some believe we could "heat up" mars' core with nukes dropped into the core but that would be a huge task.

I believe dropping comets on mars would work better.With comets we would add atmosheric gasses and water and melt the poles at the same time by impacting the comets at the poles.

The problem of no protective magnetic field would still remain.

If humanity does ever get a foothold on mars I would think it would build colony domes covered with native soils. That would provide insulation from solar radiation and small meteoric debris that commonly falls on the planet.

I believe going to mars is itself a loosing prospect.

It would be far easier to harvest the asteroids for materials to construct space habitats. Everything we need is out there floating in microgravity ready to be scooped up and refined.

It's estimated that a single hab cylinder a killometer in diameter three killometers long could support several hundred thousand people in a self contained system.

And space is a great place to harvest solar energy.

If humanity needs a place to move to in the future,that would be the best way to do it.And with spaceborn habitats we could move them out away from the expanding sun as it nears it's end of life.

Mars is a great fantasy but it's much harder to deal with gravity than not.

Space habs are the way to go.Mars realy offers little we can't get in the asteroid belt.

Answer 6

Mars One is a pipedream by a few people that have NO scientific experience in the matter of what the job would take. All they'll manage to do if idiots spend money on such a ludicrous idea is get someone killed before they ever leave Earths atmosphere.



Edit: Then you have people like BobD1 who post a bunch of links to sites that have NOTHING to do with the Mars One project. He might consider visiting the Mars One website and do a little research in the matter himself. The Mars One project claims to put 4 people on Mars by 2023. They also plan to launch from the Earths surface. Maybe Bob would like to enlighten us on just exactly HOW they plan to launch a payload big enough to feed the occupants for more than eight months, keep them in a capsule with breathable air and enough water, and carry enough supplies and devices to set up a colony on Mars when we can barely get a satellite up in a space shuttle. He's as gullible as the fools who are paying to enter this foolish contest. Now if he would like to argue with my 6 years experience with NASA on the latter Apollo missions, he can have at it. He might also clue us in on where one of the founders of the Mars One project (one of them being an architect no less) has any inkling of an idea of what it would take to accomplish such a feat. Studies on HOW to get to Mars run rampant on the internet. That does NOT mean these devices are being built. They're merely speculation and not related to the Mars One project what so ever..It would take us at least 50 years to build a ship with all the requirements to take on such an endeavor and would require funding from various Nations. Since that isn't happening nor even on the drawing board, more than likely, a man won't set foot on Martian soil for at least the next hundred years.

Does Bob think this motley crew stand a chance of a snowball in hell?

http://mars-one.com/en/about-mars-one/team

Maybe the Concept artist is going to draw all this equipment up on the way there LOL!!!! They had better consider a wagon and hitch on the rocket to take along all the drawing paper he'll need. Do a little research yourself Bob before you make any bigger a fool of of yourself any more while thumbing everyone else down.

Answer 7

This is just "doomsday 2012" all over again:



Get your ugly face on television, sell some books, make a profit, laugh at the suckers, then let the ship sink is what it's all about. When this nonsense has sold enough merchandise and the novelty has worn thin it will disappear into the obscurity from which it came.







Cheers!

Answer 8

You are describing "Terraforming" that is not what Mars One plans to do and it would take hundreds of years to terraform Mars into a Earth-like planet. Mars One plan to create isolated environments in which the colonists will live.

Answer 9

("Question about "Mars One"? ... they plan to colonize Mars. ....")

----------------------------------------------



See: Incredible Technology : How To Engineer the Climate

http://www.livescience.com/37865-how-to-engineer-the-climate.html?cmpid=529605



See: Nano-suited insects survive in a vacuum

http://www.gizmag.com/insect-nano-suits/27220/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=3c9d453642-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email



See: Mars One

http://mars-one.com/en/mission/is-this-really-possible



See: Mock Mars Mission: Mars Society Eyes Training Program In Arctic To Simulate Life on Red Planet

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/03/mock-mars-mission-training-program-arctic_n_3378859.html?cid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl32%7Csec3_lnk2%26pLid%3D322856



See: 3D Printing Could Aid Deep-Space Exploration, NASA Chief Says

http://news.yahoo.com/3d-printing-could-aid-deep-space-exploration-nasa-114616617.html



See: Commercial Spaceflight Company Will Revolutionize Space Science

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=commercial-spaceflight-companies-revolutionize-space-science&WT.mc_id=SA_DD_20130408



See: Private Mars Flyby Mission Ponders NASA & Commercial Rockets

http://www.space.com/21158-inspiration-mars-mission-rockets.html?cmpid=525401



See: Mock Mars Mission Will Test Stresses of Red Planet Living

http://www.space.com/21392-mock-mars-mission-arctic.html?cmpid=527253

-----------------------------------------------------

Does that look like they are serious about Mars? There is a hell of a lot of new high-tech, specialized equipment being developed for the Mar's mission that people on this forum do not know (or care about) of that will make Mar's One possible. It is simply time for humanity to move forward with human space missions to other worlds. Let's just get it done, and then move on to the next phase ...



Best regards

Answer 10

DrDave is correct; Mars One is a pipe-dream.