Mission Mars Terraforming
Mission Mars
The Extraction of Carbon Dioxide from Martian Regolith A Simulation Experiment
One of the most critical stages of terraforming is the establishment and maintenance of a stable atmosphere with an appropriate availability of gases necessary for life and its processes. These gases are already available on Mars, but they are trapped in regolith or permafrost.
The Extraction of Carbon Dioxide from Martian Regolith A Simulation Experiment
Terraforming is the procedure of developing an uncontained planetary biosphere that should be fully habitable by human species (Yang, 2012). Mars one of the inner terrestrial planets has likely been selected the appropriate candidate for transforming its atmosphere similar to earths. This …show more content…
The release of CO2 either deposits can raise temperatures, but melting permafrost needs higher temperatures. Carbonate rocks can be mined before permafrost to initiate the melting and help to continue build a shield of greenhouse gases to maintain heat.
Mining Carbonate deposits can be done with the following chemical reaction which illustrates a small scale gas extraction procedure: CaCO3(s) + 2HCl(aq) CaCl2(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l)
Hydrochloric acid would need to be imported from Earth to supply the activities on Mars which acid is reacted with the rocks to generate CO2. Calcium carbonate minerals contained within the rocks of Mars have quantities of CO2 which can be extracted using a double displacement reaction. Calcium Carbonate is an alkali, and when mixed with an HCI generates CO2.
During the reaction hydrogen combines with one oxygen part of the Calcium Carbonate to produce H2O. Calcium reacts with the water element to produce an aqueous solution of Calcium Chloride CaCl2, therefor leaving Carbon and Oxygen to combine into Carbon Dioxide CO2 which is product of the visible milky solution seen in the experiment (Figure …show more content…
This process can take approximately 100 years. If the amount of CO2 is frozen in the South Polar Cap and absorbed in the regolith it can result in a thick and warm CO2 atmosphere. This can support various types of plants, microorganisms, and invertebrates. If a planet-wide Martian biosphere converted CO2 into oxygen with an average efficiency equal to that for Earth’s biosphere, it would take over 100, 000 years to generate similar oxygen levels to Earths (Mckay, 2001; Marinova,
The Extraction of Carbon Dioxide from Martian Regolith A Simulation Experiment
One of the most critical stages of terraforming is the establishment and maintenance of a stable atmosphere with an appropriate availability of gases necessary for life and its processes. These gases are already available on Mars, but they are trapped in regolith or permafrost.
The Extraction of Carbon Dioxide from Martian Regolith A Simulation Experiment
Terraforming is the procedure of developing an uncontained planetary biosphere that should be fully habitable by human species (Yang, 2012). Mars one of the inner terrestrial planets has likely been selected the appropriate candidate for transforming its atmosphere similar to earths. This …show more content…
The release of CO2 either deposits can raise temperatures, but melting permafrost needs higher temperatures. Carbonate rocks can be mined before permafrost to initiate the melting and help to continue build a shield of greenhouse gases to maintain heat.
Mining Carbonate deposits can be done with the following chemical reaction which illustrates a small scale gas extraction procedure: CaCO3(s) + 2HCl(aq) CaCl2(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l)
Hydrochloric acid would need to be imported from Earth to supply the activities on Mars which acid is reacted with the rocks to generate CO2. Calcium carbonate minerals contained within the rocks of Mars have quantities of CO2 which can be extracted using a double displacement reaction. Calcium Carbonate is an alkali, and when mixed with an HCI generates CO2.
During the reaction hydrogen combines with one oxygen part of the Calcium Carbonate to produce H2O. Calcium reacts with the water element to produce an aqueous solution of Calcium Chloride CaCl2, therefor leaving Carbon and Oxygen to combine into Carbon Dioxide CO2 which is product of the visible milky solution seen in the experiment (Figure …show more content…
This process can take approximately 100 years. If the amount of CO2 is frozen in the South Polar Cap and absorbed in the regolith it can result in a thick and warm CO2 atmosphere. This can support various types of plants, microorganisms, and invertebrates. If a planet-wide Martian biosphere converted CO2 into oxygen with an average efficiency equal to that for Earth’s biosphere, it would take over 100, 000 years to generate similar oxygen levels to Earths (Mckay, 2001; Marinova,