Keeping Warm on Mars

[kerbiloid]

I guess, there are not only perchlorates, but other salts. And underground pipes usually don't like ions very much.

(Perchlorates just show, how much rust agents are sleeping there).

Edited January 25, 2017 by kerbiloid

[Northstar1989]

On Wed Jan 25 2017 at 2:25 AM, kerbiloid said:

I guess, there are not only perchlorates, but other salts. And underground pipes usually don't like ions very much.

(Perchlorates just show, how much rust agents are sleeping there).

Mars isn't an oxidizing atmosphere/soil, in fact it's a slightly *reducing* one (which bodes well for the chances life might have once evolved there, by the way- a slightly reducing atmosphere is a prerequisite of the abiotic synthesis of biomolecules and it is believed Earth's early atmosphere was reducing as well...)

 The atmosphere there is already highly-oxidized, and most free oxidizing agents have been consumed by reactions (the more oxidizing agents are consumed by chemical reactions, the less oxidizing and eventually more reducing an atmosphere becomes).  There is very little free Oxygen on Mars, for instance.  So Mars is *not* a rust-inducing planet, precisely because it's already been rusted...  

Anyways, can you please try to stay on-topic?  The discussion was about one very specific- keeping warm on Mars.

The heat balance there is such that you'll still lose some heat and need to actively heat your habitat, but the amount of heating needed would be comparable to what you need on a cold winter night in a temperate zone on Earth.  So not really the super-freezer science fiction likes to portray it as.  I was thinking particularly of Nat Geo's MARS and its many sins against science when I wrote this...

 

Regards,

Northstar

Edited February 13, 2017 by Northstar1989

[mikegarrison]

13 hours ago, Northstar1989 said:

I was thinking particularly of Nat Geo's MARS and its many sins against science when I wrote this...

Why the heck did that guy try to climb up the ladder during re-entry anyway? He would have been OK if he had just lain down on the floor. I guess they needed a reason to make the desperate march to the workshop dramatic.

[kerbiloid]

10 hours ago, mikegarrison said:

Why the heck did that guy try to climb up the ladder during re-entry anyway? He would have been OK if he had just lain down on the floor.

Probably he had watched "The 100" series, where two more lemmings got out from their seats to enjoy the "vomit comet" experience, and decided to try this at home.

Edited February 14, 2017 by kerbiloid