Topic: Question for people knowledgeable on Mars

[Tus]

unless the atmosphere on mars was made thicker it would not be possible.  there is so little atmosphere in the first place that the trees would probably just die out.  so my best, guess because i don't remember if they did or not, is there must have been some form of teraforming done or it wouldn't be possible to walk around w/o an o2 tank

as for the eviro suits, since it is the future we can assume the suits are pressurized because i don't think mars ever was teraformed.  so basically they are walking around in alot better versions of space suits (what is it an EVA?).  but our guys would need a regular space suit unless we found some new tech which allowed use to shrink  it some.

Tus

edit: didn't read the first post well enough

[Sten]

I believe I read some were that the Martian atmospheric pressure is 1% that of Earth.  

[Iceman]

That would put a dent in my plan now wouldn't it?

[IKV Nemesis D7L]

It has been theorized that there is a very large amount of CO2 absorbed into the rocks and soil of Mars.  

Various plans have been proposed to slightly raise the temperature of Mars.  This would remove the current equilibrium and force some of the CO2 out of the soil and rocks.  With more CO2 in the air the greenhouse effect would raise the temperature, forcing out more CO2.  As the rocks and soil temperature rose and the heat penetrated to greater and greater depths the atmospheric pressure would rise, perhaps to as much as 4 or 5 psi, enough for the Babylon 5 scenes and genetically engineered plants to survive.  Perhaps enough for some standard plants as well.  Deep chasms and craters would reach the higher pressures much sooner than higher terrain and plains.  

Some scientists believe that "global warming" is a solar system wide natural event.  In that case Mars may be about to naturally under go the scenario above and may have done so many times in the past.   Water may run naturally on the surface of Mars again.

Of course with Babylon 5 tech building a ship that goes to passing comets and launches "snowballs" off the comets core to impact on Mars releasing methane and water (for example) would also add much to the atmosphere.  Methane is also a greenhouse gas and would raise the planetary temperature as above releasing more CO2 from the rocks. Especially if carried on for a century or two.

Mars in 2260 has the potential to be a considerably different place than it is today.  The Sci/Fi trilogy Red Mars/Green Mars/ Blue Mars details a variety of ways that Mars could be terraformed.  Most if not all of the methods are theoretically possible.
   

[Aldaron]

" Atmospheric pressure on Mars is approximately 1% of that on Earth and varies about plus/minus 15% during the year due to condensation and sublimation of its primarily CO2  atmosphere on to and from its polar caps."

The pressure at the top of Mt Everest is about 30% of sea level pressure. So depending on the season it is possible to be on Mars without a suit and only need an oxygen tank to breathe.
 

[Scott Allen Abfalter]

This has been speculated deeply upon with the Kim Stanley Robinson "Red Mars", "Green Mars" and "Blue Mars" series.

 

[SL-Punisher]

The tiny amount of atmospheric pressure would probably kill any exposed individual. Also do keep in mind that there isn't much protection against solar radiation so any exposed individual without proper shielding would most likley die a fairly painfull death.