Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - [Space] Getting Mars to 1% hydrographic coverage

Prince Charon · 02-22-2020, 07:48 AM

Given that the temperature of Mars at the equator can actually get fairly high - up to 70 degrees F (20 degrees C) on a summer day, it would probably be easier to create hydrographic coverage there. The main difficulty would be getting enough liquid water that it doesn't just freeze over the night (temperatures even in summer on Mars can get down to -100 F/-73 C) and stay frozen; also needs to not freeze completely during the Martian winter, or only so much that it can still melt in the spring.

Of course, adding water and water vapor could prevent temperatures from plummeting as far as they do, now.

02-22-2020, 07:48 AM	#5
Prince Charon Join Date: Dec 2012	Re: [Space] Getting Mars to 1% hydrographic coverage Given that the temperature of Mars at the equator can actually get fairly high - up to 70 degrees F (20 degrees C) on a summer day, it would probably be easier to create hydrographic coverage there. The main difficulty would be getting enough liquid water that it doesn't just freeze over the night (temperatures even in summer on Mars can get down to -100 F/-73 C) and stay frozen; also needs to not freeze completely during the Martian winter, or only so much that it can still melt in the spring. Of course, adding water and water vapor could prevent temperatures from plummeting as far as they do, now. __________________ Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life. "The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates." -- Tacitus Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.