Okay, first, my suggestion about the trapar was not to use it to directly add atmospheric density, but rather as a layer of saran wrap around the entire planet to keep the freshness in and the vacuum out.
Second... we have power to burn in any form that we want. Plus we need to add water to Mars anyway. So why not get more water than we need and crack half or more of it with electrolysis? So we grab iceteroids from Saturn's rings or the Oort cloud (more likely the latter, as the ring fragments are generally rather small). Those not being used for oceans remain in orbit, where they are broken up and fed into electrolysis satellites powered by (energy source of choice); oxygen is fed down through the trapar via a skyhook-like pipeline arrangement and the hydrogen -- well, it can either be set loose in space, refined for fusion fuel, or sold as-is for H-powered vehicles. I won't begin to pretend I can work out the math, but assuming we're using the efficiency of handwavium throughout the process, shouldn't we be able to get a good rate of production?
Nitrogen we handle much the same way; comets are a mix of water and various organic gasses, like ammonia and methane. We tow a few comets in, break them down and feed them into orbital processors, crack the gasses, pipe down the stuff we want in the air, and come up with some efficient way of using up the leftovers.
Sound good? Or am I just blathering?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Second... we have power to burn in any form that we want. Plus we need to add water to Mars anyway. So why not get more water than we need and crack half or more of it with electrolysis? So we grab iceteroids from Saturn's rings or the Oort cloud (more likely the latter, as the ring fragments are generally rather small). Those not being used for oceans remain in orbit, where they are broken up and fed into electrolysis satellites powered by (energy source of choice); oxygen is fed down through the trapar via a skyhook-like pipeline arrangement and the hydrogen -- well, it can either be set loose in space, refined for fusion fuel, or sold as-is for H-powered vehicles. I won't begin to pretend I can work out the math, but assuming we're using the efficiency of handwavium throughout the process, shouldn't we be able to get a good rate of production?
Nitrogen we handle much the same way; comets are a mix of water and various organic gasses, like ammonia and methane. We tow a few comets in, break them down and feed them into orbital processors, crack the gasses, pipe down the stuff we want in the air, and come up with some efficient way of using up the leftovers.
Sound good? Or am I just blathering?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.