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Karcinogene t1_iwqbnor wrote

Reply to comment by PaxEthenica 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

You're right, it's not enough to sustain life. It's not an Earth-like atmosphere. But it is enough pressure to allow liquid water on the surface and protect from micrometeorites and cosmic rays. It's enough moisture in the air to allow rain and distribute water to the entire surface.

You would still need habitats, but they would be simpler to build. Simple plastic-wrapped greenhouses would become viable. You could go outside with just full-body compression socks and an oxygen supply. Atmospheric CO2 and temperature would be high enough for lichen to grow on the surface.

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PaxEthenica t1_iwrhrag wrote

Nothing is growing on Mars due to the chemical realities of the planet. At least not for long.

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Karcinogene t1_iwrn54e wrote

I maintain faith in the adaptability of biochemistry. It has surmounted impossible chemical realities many times before.

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PaxEthenica t1_iwrnaaf wrote

... You don't know how evolution works. Noted.

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Karcinogene t1_iwrnn8l wrote

Evolution is no longer limited to how it has worked in the past. We're now an active part of the process, thinking purposefully rather than simply reacting. GMO crops are the first step. GMO ecosystems will colonize Mars.

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PaxEthenica t1_iwrp1bf wrote

You also don't know how biochemistry works, either. Nor are you informed about the current findings of prevailing Martian geochemistry.

You're not going to grow lichen on rocks that chemically bind water into different types of rock. You are not going to GMO plants into utilizing them, either.

Every terrestrial macroscale life form known isn't a modular organism. It's a complex, messy, interconnected thing supported & simultaneously under assault by a billions year old ecology. This ecology will never exist on Mars within the timespan of the human species, regardless of any genetic jiggery-pokery we do.

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