If you could emigrate to Mars, but could never come back to Earth, would you go?

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by CerberusIV
Atmospheric leakage? My memory of this is a bit hazy as it is several years since I studied it but isn't there a problem with the solar wind blowing away gases from the upper atmosphere. Most of the solar wind is deflected by Earth's magnetic field. So you need both gravity and a magnetic field to preserve an atmosphere.

Earth and Venus have both and have atmospheres. Mars and the Moon don't have a significant magnetic field and don't have much in the way of atmosphere.
[/COLOR]

I've never heard this before. It's possible, but your examples are a bit off.

Earth and Venus are similar masses.

Mars has 0.107 earth mass
Moon has 0.0123 earth mass

I think that has more of an effect than lack of magnetic field.

[The Mad Monk]

Now that he mentions it, I do remember that -- the..."erosion"...on unprotected atmospheres by the solar wind is quite significant.

[Ned]

KH, what is the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Mars in Earth equivalents of altitude, if you know.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Whaleboy
I second MrFun. Upon a satisfactory answer, I would quite happily go. This planet sucks and at least on Mars you will have winters that are ACTUALLY COLD!!!

It has summers that are "ACTUALLY COLD!!!" as well.

[Alex]

hm, summers which are cold... i like it. (i hate summer. got to be the only brazilian who hates summer)

[Seeker]

Cold like Antarctica on a cold day...-50 C...

Tropical for Mars is 20 C...which is my favourite temperature...

[Alex]

i like -50, provided i have a female to make me feel warm

[The Mad Monk]

MARS NEEDS WOMEN!

[JohnT]

To answer the title: No, I've got a wife and a little girl whom I want to spend the rest of my days with.

[Ned]

The Mad Monk, I like your sig material. It looks like bfg9000 is a speech writer for Al Sharpton or Dennis Kucinich.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Ned
KH, what is the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Mars in Earth equivalents of altitude, if you know.

In terms of altitude, no clue. Something like 50 kms?

It's about 1 kPa on average, IIRC. Sea level pressure is 101.3 kPa

[Whaleboy]

How cold does it have to be, exactly, for it to be 'actually' cold?

Britain's daytime temps this winter are rarely below 2 degrees C. I want to invent a time machine to go back to victorian days to skate on the Thames dammit!

[Ned]

50 Kms?

It seems that even if Mars had oxygen, it would be far too thin to breathe -- even at the bottom of craters that appear to go 2 kms deep or more. Now, if they had a crater or rift 50 kms deep, we would feel right at home.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Ned
50 Kms?

It seems that even if Mars had oxygen, it would be far too thin to breathe -- even at the bottom of craters that appear to go 2 kms deep or more. Now, if they had a crater or rift 50 kms deep, we would feel right at home.

Hence the need for terraforming. I imagine for several hundred years at least, Mars would be an anoxic environment. The top of Mons Olympus will probably always require environmental suits.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Whaleboy


Britain's daytime temps this winter are rarely below 2 degrees C. I want to invent a time machine to go back to victorian days to skate on the Thames dammit!

It's -50 celsius with the windshield where I am. Want to trade places?


Actually, no. Living in britain isn't worth it.