Why is it always Mars?

[Ophiolite]

So before your next leap to the reply box, I suggest you take more time to actually follow the discussion....

I suggest this is more applicable to you than to me. I have followed the discussion perfectly well.

Pangloss reflected on the comparative ease of seealing out a toxic atmosphere - (such as a would be provided, for example, by a denser Martian carbon dioxide atmosphere). Thus there is no particular issue with carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere, even if it were at toxic levels, since we can readily keep it out of any living environments.

Your reference to the 5% toxicity level implies (I clearly used the word implications in my post) that somehow this largely carbon dioxide Martian atmosphere could somehow infiltrate the living environment and achieve, or exceed that 5% level. That certainly strikes me as nonsensical.

 

So before your next leap to the reply box, I suggest you take more time to actually follow the discussion, and less time thinking about how to be condescending and downright rude.

This requires absolutely no time at all.

[Sayonara]

I suggest this is more applicable to you than to me. I have followed the discussion perfectly well.

Pangloss reflected on the comparative ease of seealing out a toxic atmosphere - (such as a would be provided, for example, by a denser Martian carbon dioxide atmosphere). Thus there is no particular issue with carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere, even if it were at toxic levels, since we can readily keep it out of any living environments.

Indeed. However Sisyphus' post, to which I replied, asked a question about CO₂ toxicity and inward leaks, which I chose to answer under the assumption of toxicity control within a sealed habitat. Whether or not an inward leak would actually occur is immaterial - carbon dioxide toxicity doesn't change depending on its source.

 

Your reference to the 5% toxicity level implies (I clearly used the word implications in my post) that somehow this largely carbon dioxide Martian atmosphere could somehow infiltrate the living environment and achieve, or exceed that 5% level. That certainly strikes me as nonsensical.

This is not my implication - it is your inference. Perhaps your nonsensical inferences have little to do with me.

 

The point of mentioning the toxicity of CO₂ is because it is directly relevant to Sisyphus' question. The point of mentioning the toxicity level by volume at a standard Earth atmosphere is that, if the conversation were to develop along those lines of atmosphere control requirements in a sealed habitat, an unacceptable level for carbon dioxide would already have been established.

 

One thing to take into account in a closed habitat is that exhaled air is about 4.5% carbon dioxide by volume, if memory serves. This seems high but of course in a modular habitat it is going to diffuse into the internal atmosphere and I would expect a carbon scrubbing system would work to keep the environmental level below 0.35% (iirc danger levels in working environments are listed at about 0.5%, but this needs to be lowered in a reduced-gravity environment).

 

Now let's refer back to my post:

Carbon dioxide is dangerously toxic at levels as low as 5% by volume' date=' so although it is not a massive risk you would definitely need constant monitoring and compensation.

Oh, you also need to take into account that tolerance to gaseous toxins like carbon dioxide will be reduced in Mars colonists due to the physiological effects of the low gravity.[/quote']

At what point do I specify that I am talking about leaks of Martian atmosphere into the habitat?

 

I would be surprised if any significant volume of Martian atmosphere got into the habitat at all (in the absence of a serious hull breach), what with the pressure gradient, but this does not mean that we can't discuss the problems of carbon dioxide control within a Martian colony. There is, after all, going to be plenty of it about.

 

The lesson here is not to try to tell people what they should have posted. If I posted exactly as you, then there would be no need for you, would there?

 

If you have a point to make about the toxicity of the Martian atmosphere, make it yourself. Don't do it by using someone else's post on a related but separate issue as a whipping boy.

 

This requires absolutely no time at all.

Now you are spotting my implications.

[MolotovCocktail]

Take a look at this map here that was taken from the Mars Global Surveyor:

 

 

This map shows that Mars still has somewhat of a magnetic field that is generated by the crust. The crust is magnetized, and in some places the field is stronger than others. It is nothing like Earth's magnetic field, but I'm thinking that the areas that have one would be much safer to establish colonies, or land in for that matter, because the magnetic field would block out some harmful radiation. Of course, there is still the issue of solar wind blowing the atmosphere right off, but we could probably pump much more gases into the atmosphere much more quickly than it can be blown off.