The author writes "since Mars has 38% of Earth’s gravity, it can only retain an atmosphere of about 0.38 bar". My understanding of atmospheres work is, at best, non-existant, so does anyone mind explaining what happens if we over-pressurize Mars?<p>This question might totally misunderstand the situation, but the Martian atmosphere is about 2.5x10^16 kg right now [1]. Let's say I have a Very Large Tank, with an equivalent amount of gas at the exact same composition as Mars, but at an exotically high pressure. Then, I quickly dump the gases into the atmosphere, and now the Martian atmosphere is 5x10^16 kg. Is the pressure no higher?<p>Does the pressure spike to, say, double at first, and then slowly burn off from the atmosphere flying out of the influence of Mars gravity, returning back to a steady 0.38 bar?<p>[1]: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Mars" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Mars</a>
We don't have the ability to keep things at the right levels on Earth, with all of the Earth's population and resources at hand.<p>With just a few people (soon, maybe???) and practically no resources on hand, to expect to do better on Mars is ridiculous.