this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2025
75 points (98.7% liked)
Mars (Planet)
137 readers
1 users here now
This is a place to discuss everything about the planet Mars.
- scientific research
- settlement plans & discussions
Art, community discussion & scientific data are all welcome.
Related communities:
founded 5 months ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Oxygen isn't the real issue. The lack of atmosphere is a side effect of the real issue. No one will colonize Mars before Venus because the gravitational well issue is far harder to solve than pesky greenhouse gasses.
Mars can hold an atmosphere just fine, idk what you're talking about.
Most of the martian atmosphere is CO2 and water vapor, and both freeze when it's cold enough. That's exactly what happens. The martian poles are so cold that the atmosphere freezes there and causes the martian polar caps. The atmosphere is there, just frozen.
The gravity well of Mars is about ⅓ that of Earth. Humans won't fare well there. Also Mars' atmosphere used to be much thicker from what I understand. It is slowly losing its atmosphere due to lack of gravity.
Venus is easier to terradorm just because of it having a gravity well that is closer to 0.95-0.98 that of Earth. Throw some ice asteroids at it to create oceans and it may have an equal mass to the Earth.