Ok, all this data is from Wikipedia, consider it as accurate as anything from there is.
Martian Atmosphere:
Mean pressure: 0.6 kPa
95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon and contains traces of oxygen, water and methane.
A note about the methane, it has a a concentration of about 30 ppb by volume;[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars#cite_note-methane-94][/url] it occurs in extended plumes, and the profiles imply that the methane was released from discrete region. Also the implied methane destruction lifetime may be as long as about 4 Earth years and as short as about 0.6 Earth years. This rapid turnover would indicate an active source of the gas on the planet.
Earth's Atmosphere:
Mean pressure: 101.325 kPa
78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, with trace amounts of water vapor, carbon dioxide and other gaseous molecules.
So we've got a lot of CO2, but we can crack at least some of that to produce more oxygen. The nitrogen is more of an issue, and either way, there's a lot less atmosphere on Mars than we need so it will have to be imported from somewhere. This is as opposed to the VTP where the problem is less the lack of atmosphere and more the wrong kind.
--
If at first you don't succeed, put someone else's initials on
the worksheet.
Martian Atmosphere:
Mean pressure: 0.6 kPa
95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon and contains traces of oxygen, water and methane.
A note about the methane, it has a a concentration of about 30 ppb by volume;[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars#cite_note-methane-94][/url] it occurs in extended plumes, and the profiles imply that the methane was released from discrete region. Also the implied methane destruction lifetime may be as long as about 4 Earth years and as short as about 0.6 Earth years. This rapid turnover would indicate an active source of the gas on the planet.
Earth's Atmosphere:
Mean pressure: 101.325 kPa
78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, with trace amounts of water vapor, carbon dioxide and other gaseous molecules.
So we've got a lot of CO2, but we can crack at least some of that to produce more oxygen. The nitrogen is more of an issue, and either way, there's a lot less atmosphere on Mars than we need so it will have to be imported from somewhere. This is as opposed to the VTP where the problem is less the lack of atmosphere and more the wrong kind.
--
If at first you don't succeed, put someone else's initials on
the worksheet.