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PaxEthenica t1_iwor1gr wrote

Reply to comment by TubaJustin in Early meteorites brought enough water to Mars to create a global ocean — Meteorites bombarding the Red Planet may have carried so much water that it could have covered the planet in a layer 300 metres deep if spread out, while also depositing molecules essential for life by marketrent

Not true. We know quite a bit, actually. We know chemical composition, age, geologic conditions, tectonic patterns, solar saturation, mean temperature & radiological conditions.

And all point to Mars being a cold, dry, inhospitable deathtrap for humans. The famous red dust contains poisonous chlorate compounds, while just under a thin topsoil of hydrate minerals lurk hydrate precursors. Substances ready to take any available liquid water they encounter, & irreversibly transform it into stone.

Why is it irreversible, & why not crack the existing hydrates for their trapped water? Because it'd be extremely energy intensive, & Mars doesn't get very much energy. With roughly half the luminance, Mars gets about a quarter of the solar energy input that we'd get on Earth. While the amount of water we'd get is, again, insufficient to bulk out a breathable atmosphere, much less sustain a science outpost or Martian agriculture.

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