Technological requirements for terraforming Mars
Abstract
The planet Mars, while cold and arid today, once possessed a warm and wet climate, as evidenced by extensive fluvial features observable on its surface. It is believed that the warm climate of the primitive Mars was created by a strong greenhouse effect caused by a thick CO2 atmosphere. Mars lost its warm climate when most of the available volatile CO2 was fixed into the form of carbonate rock due to the action of cycling water. It is believed, however, that sufficient CO2 to form a 300- to 600-mb atmosphere may still exist in volatile form, either adsorbed into the regolith or frozen out at the south pole. This CO2 may be released by planetary warming, and as the CO2 atmosphere thickens, positive feedback is produced which can accelerate the warming trend. Thus it is conceivable that by taking advantage of the positive feedback inherent in Mars' atmosphere/regolith CO2 system, engineering efforts can produce drastic changes in climate and pressure on a planetary scale.
- Publication:
-
Journal of the British Interplanetary Society
- Pub Date:
- January 1997
- Bibcode:
- 1997JBIS...50..309Z
- Keywords:
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- Mars Environment;
- Terraforming;
- Mars Surface;
- Technology Utilization;
- Carbon Dioxide Concentration;
- Mars Atmosphere;
- Planetary Meteorology;
- Greenhouse Effect;
- Rocks;
- Mathematical Models;
- Lunar and Planetary Exploration