[extropy-chat] Frozen water ice found by ESA Mars Express on Mars.

Mike Lorrey mlorrey at yahoo.com
Sun Jul 31 19:13:30 UTC 2005



--- Rik van Riel <riel at surriel.com> wrote:
> 
> Now, according to the mail uptread, sunlight on Mars is around
> 60% as strong as that on Earth, Jupiter has 5% and Saturn 1.5%.
> Using the weakest luminosity for sunlight on Earth, that gives:
> 
> Mars:           20000 lux
> Jupiter:         1600 lux
> Saturn:           480 lux
> 
> Of course, this is the strength of sunlight in these orbits.
> The luminosity of objects on which sunlight reflects will be
> significantly less.
> 
> Still, sunlight on the good areas of Mars shouldn't be any
> worse than sunlight during spring and autumn in northern
> regions on Earth - eg. Scandinavia.  Enough to grow things
> in a greenhouse...

Quite so. Keep in mind that the 1.0 kw/sq meter is at the equator (or
up to 23 deg lat depending on the season). At 45 degrees north or south
latitude, solar flux at the times of the spring and fall equinoxes is
essentially the same as that seen on Mars at the equator and up to 25
deg lat depending on the season.

If we are able to initiate CO2 outgassing on Mars to boost its
atmosphere from 6 millibars up to about 100 millibars (possible with
less than 30 years effort) or more (depending on how many comets you
want to drop on Mars. Dropping a KBO of a sub-Sedna size on the planet
would not only supply enough water, methane, and other gasses to create
a 500 millibar atmosphere, but would shake up and heat the interior of
the planet enough to potentially restart the electromagnetic dynamo.)

FYI, the mars rovers Opportunity and Spirit have operated far beyond
their designed lifetimes, powered by their solar panels (which are
interestingly designed like bug wings) alone, no RTGs, the only problem
being the deposition of dust over time attenuated power output of one
rover, at least until a dust devil intercepted itand blew all the dust
off. The winter power output dropped significantly, but the rovers have
lasted far longer than expected.

Any solar powered installation on Mars could get Earth-normal flux
simply by using reflectors to draw in sunlight from a greater area
(solar cells are more efficient at higher flux levels).

Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
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