[HN Gopher] Cloud atlas of Mars reveals an atmosphere unlike our...
___________________________________________________________________
Cloud atlas of Mars reveals an atmosphere unlike our own
Author : Brajeshwar
Score : 29 points
Date : 2024-09-13 14:46 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.newscientist.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.newscientist.com)
| johncarlosbaez wrote:
| Strange title, since we've known for a long time that Mars has an
| atmosphere unlike our own.
| p0w3n3d wrote:
| I think people think that living on mars would be similar to
| living on Earth, and weather is a good start point to educate
| humanity
| 0x457 wrote:
| People can't grasp the concept of weather on the planet they
| live on.
| BlackjackCF wrote:
| I'm genuinely not trying to be a jerk when I say this... but
| I find that bewildering? I thought we all should have learned
| a very simplified version of this in elementary school...
| ink_13 wrote:
| Even setting aside that it's 95% CO2 and incredibly cold,
| most people have no appreciation for _how thin_ the Martian
| atmosphere is. Surface pressure is 0.6% that of Earth, with
| maximum density 2% that of Earth 's. It's not like Martian
| explorers could get away with just a respirator.
| ahazred8ta wrote:
| Even with an oxygen mask, your blood starts to boil below
| 6.0% / 1psi
| notamy wrote:
| http://archive.today/35dxI
| samschooler wrote:
| The fourth photo is Olympus Mons, not a volcano on Mars; it is
| the volcano on Mars. I'm sure a lot of you know this, however
| reminding myself of how big this peak is is always breathtaking.
| A hypothetical ascent in our future would be the single largest
| climbing feat human kind ever could undertake in our known solar
| system [0].
|
| Mt. Everest is 8,848.86 m (29,032 ft) [1].
|
| Mauna Kea (assuming you're climbing from the local bottom of the
| ocean is 9,330 m (30,610 ft) [2].
|
| Olympus Mons' prominence is 21,900 m (71,850 feet 4.724 inches)
| [3].
|
| Try climbing Everest, twice, where the entire mountain (and
| planet) is the "death zone" and your supplies have to be flown in
| from one planet over.
|
| Edit: Also! For a sense of scale, the crater in the photo is 85
| km (53 miles) in diameter [4]. About the distance from the Taco
| Bell in Half Moon Bay to the Taco Bell just east of Santa Cruz as
| the crow flies [5].
|
| [0]:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_mountains_in_t...
|
| [1]:
| https://web.archive.org/web/20201208113343/https://www.natio...
|
| [2]: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=TU2314
|
| [3]: https://tharsis.gsfc.nasa.gov/mola.summary.pdf
|
| [4]: https://www.britannica.com/place/Olympus-Mons
|
| [5]:
| https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=8.6/-122.6459/37.2976&pubLi...
| BurningFrog wrote:
| You also need to factor in that Mars has 1/3 of Earth gravity.
|
| I have no experience in low gravity climbing, but it has to be
| a substantial help!
| samschooler wrote:
| Interesting take! I feel like factoring that in:
|
| - low gravity: -1 difficulty
|
| - less traction because low gravity: +1 difficulty
|
| - supply chain from earth: +1 difficulty
|
| - full spacesuit in addition to supplies: +1 difficulty
|
| So overall my pseudo math: +2 difficulty
| renewiltord wrote:
| Considering it's a really old and wide shield volcano, the
| limiting factor can't be the 'climb' so to speak. Surely it's
| traction so perhaps lower gravity is worse? On the other hand
| you _can_ bound up it. Still, I can't help but think we'd be
| traction limited in some sense. Usain Bolt would probably be
| about the same time considering he can't push down enough, I
| imagine. Would be cool to estimate.
| BurningFrog wrote:
| Are you saying the terrain is more gravel/sand than solid
| rock?
| renewiltord wrote:
| I was just thinking about the gravitational force
| providing traction to go forward.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-09-13 23:02 UTC)