|
Did you know that mars' average temperature is -116 degrees F to 32
degrees? how do you plan to protect against this?
Dec. 19, 2001
Fortunately, the apparently insurmountable obstacles presented in these questions
have fairly straightforward and simple solutions. There are two reasons why Mars
is such a cold place. The most obvious reason is that Mars is 1.36 to 1.61 times as
far from the Sun as is the Earth (Mars has an elliptical orbit). This means that
the intensity of solar energy falling on Mars is 0.54 to 0.38 that on Earth.
However, this means that sunlight on Mars at the tropics has the same intensity as
that in Alaska during the fall, or that in the northern United States in December.
It is not Hawaii, but most industrialized countries experience this light intensity
for part of the year.
The main reason that Mars is very cold is that it has a
thin dry atmosphere. In turn, the atmosphere is dry because it is cold, and
most of the water vapor has frosted out in the North Pole. Water vapor is a
greenhouse gas, and the lack of water vapor in the Martian atmosphere allows much of
the heat generated by the incident sunlight to escape into space. However, a
hollow structure made of glass and/or metal (a greenhouse) would trap that heat
and create a comfortable temperature inside. On the Moon such an effect would
turn greenhouses and habitats on the surface into ovens. When people went to the
moon the lunar lander had to land during the early lunar morning in order to avoid
getting roasted inside the lunar lander. In addition, the lander was coated in
reflective foil to reflect most of that heat. Habitats on Mars will be
constructed in such a way that they will take advantage of this greenhouse effect.
During the Martian night additional heat could be provided by fuel cells which are
charged during the day using electricity from solar batteries. The first colonies
will be located near the equator. It is possible that this may turn out to be the
only part of Mars which is habitable. It might be some time before expeditions
are mounted to the Martian Poles. It is interesting to note that the lowest
recorded temperature on Earth was -120 degrees Fahrenheit in Antartica and we
have permanently inhabited bases there.
|
|
|
|
|
