# Generating Oxygen on Mars?



## Serendipity (Aug 19, 2017)

NASA are planning to send an experiment to Mars in one of the 2020 launches to see if they can generate oxygen on Mars from the its atmosphere... see Nasa plans to extract oxygen from Mars to make a new atmosphere


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## J Riff (Aug 20, 2017)

Next comes plumbing and bacteria and Earth diseases!


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## Dave (Aug 20, 2017)

J Riff said:


> Next comes plumbing and bacteria and Earth diseases!


Even before that comes taxing air to breath!


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## Ursa major (Aug 20, 2017)

Dave said:


> Even before that comes taxing air to breath!


I'm sure I heard that there was a film about this. It was, I think, called...




_Mars: A Tax!_


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## BAYLOR (Aug 20, 2017)

Serendipity said:


> NASA are planning to send an experiment to Mars in one of the 2020 launches to see if they can generate oxygen on Mars from the its atmosphere... see Nasa plans to extract oxygen from Mars to make a new atmosphere



The problem is that  , without an active core and magnetic field,any atmosphere that they  create will only get stripped away by the solar winds.


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## Ursa major (Aug 20, 2017)

They're planning to obtain the oxygen _from_ the existing Martian atmosphere, so it would be impossible to use the oxygen obtained in this way to increase the amount of oxygen in the Martian atmosphere.


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## Alexa (Aug 20, 2017)

It's just an experiment. It might or might not work. We can check in 2020, if it was successful.


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## Vertigo (Aug 20, 2017)

BAYLOR said:


> The problem is that  , without an active core and magnetic field,any atmosphere that they  create will only get stripped away by the solar winds.





Ursa major said:


> They're planning to obtain the oxygen _from_ the existing Martian atmosphere, so it would be impossible to use the oxygen obtained in this way to increase the amount of oxygen in the Martian atmosphere.


Yes, I don't think they're looking at creating a breathable atmosphere on Mars quite yet. Rather they're looking at ways to obtain oxygen for something like a human habitat on Mars. If they can't generate the oxygen locally then no habitat is going to last long.


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## Serendipity (Aug 20, 2017)

BAYLOR said:


> The problem is that  , without an active core and magnetic field,any atmosphere that they  create will only get stripped away by the solar winds.


I understand NASA is also working on some form of magnetic shield design for Mars.


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## J Riff (Aug 20, 2017)

IF you believe a word of it. The o2 is hiding inside the planet, where the cheese grows.


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## BAYLOR (Aug 20, 2017)

J Riff said:


> IF you believe a word of it. The o2 is hiding inside the planet, where the cheese grows.



I just don't see how its air could be in the crust. 

But it is possible  we might find sealed subterranean caverns with air.


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## J Riff (Aug 20, 2017)

Heh heh. Well, NASA always tells the truth, I believe everything I read, but the cheese rumour just won't go away. Red cheese, ew, no wonder there's no life there.


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## BAYLOR (Aug 20, 2017)

J Riff said:


> Heh heh. Well, NASA always tells the truth, I believe everything I read, but the cheese rumour just won't go away. Red cheese, ew, no wonder there's no life there.



Yes  because the extra Cheesy red crust of mars caused all life go extinct due to cheese related constipation.


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## Cathbad (Aug 20, 2017)

BAYLOR said:


> Yes  because the extra Cheesy red crust of mars caused all life go extinct due to cheese related constipation.





J Riff said:


> but the cheese rumour just won't go away. Red cheese, ew, no wonder there's no life there.



*HEYYY!!*

There'll be no dissing of cheese here!!


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## BAYLOR (Aug 20, 2017)

Cathbad said:


> *HEYYY!!*
> 
> There'll be no dissing of cheese here!!



And why not ? It probably ended all life mars! It was Cheese related bacteria that ended to poor martins in Wells novel *War of the worlds * because all of them without exception died on the Jon.


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## Cathbad (Aug 20, 2017)

That's there own fault.

If you don't want cheese... ALL THE MORE FOR ME!!!


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## Alexa (Aug 21, 2017)

You all seem to believe there is no chance to get humans on Mars.


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## BAYLOR (Aug 21, 2017)

Alexa said:


> You all seem to believe there is no chance to get humans on Mars.



Its not impossible to get a man to Mars but it the time and the cost and technical hurdles  will be considerable.


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## Alexa (Aug 21, 2017)

Didn't you hear the news yet ? Those who have enough money, they already spend them in this future mission.


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## Vertigo (Aug 21, 2017)

Oh I fully believe we will eventually put humans on Mars. But don't underestimate the level of difficulty involved and, once there, it will be even longer, if ever, before humans can walk about on the surface without serious atmospheric and radiation protection.


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## BAYLOR (Aug 22, 2017)

Vertigo said:


> Oh I fully believe we will eventually put humans on Mars. But don't underestimate the level of difficulty involved and, once there, it will be even longer, if ever, before humans can walk about on the surface without serious atmospheric and radiation protection.



Mars current  atmosphere density  is barely 1  percent of Earth ? So no Ozone layer.


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## Vertigo (Aug 23, 2017)

BAYLOR said:


> Mars current  atmosphere density  is barely 1  percent of Earth ? So no Ozone layer.


I think the lack of magnetosphere is probably more significant than no ozone. But it all adds up to a place that humans will probably never really be comfortable; providing both atmosphere and radiation protection is probably unlikely for millennia at least and maybe/probably never.


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