Why is there so little water on Mars?

[Japher]

Nah, all wrong...

The reason there is so little water on Mars is because of the martian bottled water export industry... it was all the rage!

[Az]

Another very important detail. Once upon a time, mars wasn't cold. Actually it was HOT. but since Mars is smaller than earth, much more of the water vapor escaped, much the same way as its' atmosphere.

[Inverse Icarus]

Originally posted by Japher
Nah, all wrong...

The reason there is so little water on Mars is because of the martian bottled water export industry... it was all the rage!

until it eventually fizzled out, when people realized again that water came from the tap.

[Odin]

Most of Mars' air is frozen as dry ice. If all the dry ice was melted Mars would have an air pressure of Denver. If we would warm the polar regions by about 4 degrees Celsius a chain reaction would start and CO2 will begin evaporating, increasing air pressure, warming the planet more, and sets off a runaway greenhouse effect. when the water starts melting some of it will evaporate, and water vapor is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 is. Then you seed the planet with conifers, moss, lichen, algae, and cyanobacteria to oxygenate the air. Complete terraforming will probably take 500 to 1000 years. Mars will be just like it was a 1 billion years ago, a gem of contrasting blue and red.

[kittenOFchaos]

Re: Why is there so little water on Mars?

Originally posted by Lancer
The distance from the sun isn't much different... Less water asteroids hit Mars while the planets were forming, right? Why?

The distance isn't much different???

Whilst the Earth is 1 "Astronomical Unit" away from the Sun, Mars is 1.52 "Astronomical Units" away from the Sun.


An "Astronomical Unit" is 92,956,000 miles or 149,598,000 km.


We are closer to Venus than we are to Mars and Venus is not a 10 minute bounce on a spacehopper away.



P.S Why is Mars drier? Bet it is because Mars is FAR less tectonically active than Planet Earth.

[Spiffor]

BTW, are we 1 AU away from the surface of the Sun, or are we 1 AU away from the core of the sun ? I know it is only a few thousand kilometres (insignificant), but I'm wondering...

[kittenOFchaos]

Originally posted by Spiffor
BTW, are we 1 AU away from the surface of the Sun, or are we 1 AU away from the core of the sun ? I know it is only a few thousand kilometres (insignificant), but I'm wondering...

A few thousand kilometres??? You mad aswell

The distance from the Sun's core to the surface is approximately 432,500 miles / 696,000 kilometres.

I'm pretty sure that AU would be calculated from the core of planets and the Sun...wait, I'll get my measuring tape and check

[Dinner]

My money is that the measurement is "core to core" but I don't know that for certain.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by kittenOFchaos
The distance from the Sun's core to the surface is approximately 432,500 miles / 696,000 kilometres.

THAT much !?
Edit : I shouldn't try to do mental calculation at 04:00

[Dinner]

Re: Re: Why is there so little water on Mars?

Originally posted by kittenOFchaos
P.S Why is Mars drier? Bet it is because Mars is FAR less tectonically active than Planet Earth.

Mars doesn't have an active tectonic regime like the Earth does. Tectonic is powered by density differences that result from different temperature pressure regimes. Mars has a very weak magnetic field which scientists theorize means that most of it's core has solidified. No liquid outer core means no internal convection and ultamitely no plate tectonics.

We know this is true by looking at Martian mountain of Olympus Mons (the largest mountain in our solar system). Olympus Mons is a "hot spot" volcano meaning that unlike subduction regime volcanos (most of the world's volcanos) the source of the magma is a plume coming up out of the earth's mantle. On earth we have active plate techtonics so as the plate moves over the hot spot the result is a series of mountains which form an island change like the Hawaiin islands. There is no tell tale chain of mountains near Olympus Mons; instead the volcano just keep erupting in the same spot and building the mountain higher and higher.

[Lancer]

Amazing...


Thanks for the replies.

Wish there would be a colony on Mars in my lifetime, but not much chance of that.

[Chemical Ollie]

Why is there so little water on Mars?

Little green men drank it all...

[Az]

Does that mean there is alien piss on mars now?