Science fiction writers have long believed that terraforming is a key process for creating terrestrial or habitable environments on another planet. Scientists also considered the option of using terraforming to ensure long-term colonization of Mars. As an option, both of them proposed to release from under the surface layer of gaseous carbon dioxide, discovered earlier on Mars, to thicken the atmosphere and then heat the planet.
However, according to a new study by NASA scientists, Mars does not contain enough carbon dioxide to heat the planet, even if it returns to the atmosphere. Transforming the inhospitable environment of Mars into a place where astronauts could do research without support from Earth is not yet possible without the technologies of the future.
Although the current Martian atmosphere itself is mostly carbon dioxide, it is too thin and cold to support the existence of liquid water on the surface - an essential ingredient for life on any planet. On Mars, atmospheric pressure is less than one percent of the pressure of Earth's atmosphere. Any liquid water on the surface evaporates or freezes very quickly.
Proponents of terraforming Mars suggest releasing gases from various sources on the Red Planet to thicken the atmosphere and raise temperatures to such an extent that liquid water would become a stable factor on the surface. These gases are called "greenhouse gases" because they have the ability to retain heat and warm the climate.
Despite the fact that studies studying the possibility of terraforming Mars were carried out earlier, the new result is based on about a twenty-year period of additional observations of space stations in Mars orbit. "These data provided significantly new information about the history of easily evaporated (volatile) materials, such as CO2 and H2O, helped to find out the volume of volatiles both on the surface and below it, and made it possible to determine how the gas leaves the atmosphere into space," he shared co-author Christopher Edwards of Northern Arizona University
Using data from the MRO and Mars Odyssey probes, the researchers analyzed the abundance of carbonaceous minerals and the appearance of CO2 in the polar ice of Mars, and the MAVEN spacecraft helped to reveal data on atmospheric loss.
Dmitry Mushinsky