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Estimates of the timescale needed to terraform mars generally say that it will take 100 years to warm the planet enough so that liquid water can exist and melt the poles forming oceans and seas. Then another 100,000 years to oxygenate the atmosphere using algea and lichens.
From what I have read no one takes into account the oxides and superoxides that are thought to exist in the martian regolith. The Viking experiment took mars regolith, added water, and a lot oxygen was immediately released.
When we warm the planet and create oceans won't this oxide release oxygen? Likely most of it will oxygenate the oceans?
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How much would release by kilo of regolith to kilo of water?
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Hi everyone, Karov, Dook.
I think that a lot of the water on Mars is locked up in perma frost which will take hundreds to thousands of years to melt. (We are getting good data on the heat transfer into permafrost from watching the Canadian tundra thaw from global warming. Once you get a meter or so below the surface the heat transfer is very slow.
(This is why Fogg and KSR suggest using nukes to melt large frozen aquifers. They want seas or oceans quickly.)
I am not sure about how real these peroxides and super oxides are. They were theorized to exist to explain away the positive Viking biological experiements but I don't know of any direct evidence that they really are there. Nor have I seen any reliable estimate of how common they are.
I would be very interested if any one hears about any new evidence on these super oxides, peroxides or 'toxic dust'. My gut feeling is that this is a paper tiger but I do not know for sure.
Warm regards, Rick.
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