The thing about the trapar layer is, as far as I can tell, it doesn't seem to do anything. If it was dense enough to keep atmosphere in, it wouldn't hold the necessary altitude - it'd be more like a thick, low fog than anything else. And if it was the same relative density as the rest of the atmosphere, it'd be escaping off into space too. Sorry guys, I'm just not seeing it.
As for the oxygen, it's already there (We think, we're pretty sure.) locked up in the regolith and in the icecaps. Once that starts heating up, more and more of that will get released. Plus, once the atmosphere is thick enough to support plants the O2 levels will shoot up thanks to widespread photosynthesis. It's the buffer gas that's the tricky part, since it makes up most of the atmosphere (five quintillion tons, fix that number in your mind).
For buffer gasses & other stray organics, the solution is the stuff in the outer system. A Kuiper object about the size of Ceres that's mostly water and ammonia ices, plus a little methane ice, would do the job nicely. Getting it to Mars would be a bitch and a half, and there'd be some interesting gravitational problems to deal with as well, but that would take care of the missing volatiles. Getting it into the Martian atmosphere is as simple as dragging chunks through the upper atmosphere and letting 'em boil down.
(The hot new sport of questionable sanity: comet drag racing!)
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
As for the oxygen, it's already there (We think, we're pretty sure.) locked up in the regolith and in the icecaps. Once that starts heating up, more and more of that will get released. Plus, once the atmosphere is thick enough to support plants the O2 levels will shoot up thanks to widespread photosynthesis. It's the buffer gas that's the tricky part, since it makes up most of the atmosphere (five quintillion tons, fix that number in your mind).
For buffer gasses & other stray organics, the solution is the stuff in the outer system. A Kuiper object about the size of Ceres that's mostly water and ammonia ices, plus a little methane ice, would do the job nicely. Getting it to Mars would be a bitch and a half, and there'd be some interesting gravitational problems to deal with as well, but that would take care of the missing volatiles. Getting it into the Martian atmosphere is as simple as dragging chunks through the upper atmosphere and letting 'em boil down.
(The hot new sport of questionable sanity: comet drag racing!)
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"