[X] My Assistant

[Rem31]

Can you walk on Mars (without) protection spacesuit? I think it is possible because it is only my thought. Is this true?

[mcaplinger]

Not currently, no. But I feel compelled to mention that in the 24-hour media blitz following the publication of "Observational Evidence for an Active Surface Reservoir of Solid Carbon Dioxide on Mars" by Malin et al, I made a remark to abcnews.com which they reported thusly:

Michael Caplinger of San Diego's Malin Space Science Systems points out that if the warming were to continue at the same rate (that's a big "if"), Mars could become a nearly inhabitable place for people within 5,000 years or so.

"Rather than wearing a spacesuit, you could get away with wearing just an oxygen mask and a thick parka," said Caplinger, who co-authored a study about the observations in this week's issue of Science. "It would be like standing on top of Everest."

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Well, OK, I said it, and the person from abcnews.com did the best job by far of reporting the story, but it wouldn't be that much like standing on Everest. If the atmospheric pressure went up 10X to, say,
60-90 millibars, that's still about 4-5 times thinner than the summit of Everest (which is at about 320 millibars.)

It's an interesting question if you could avoid skin hemorrhaging at this pressure. Would a spandex bodysuit under your parka be enough?

[Bob Shaw]

Mike:

There *have* been interesting experiments with Spandex-like garments as spacesuits (and no, I don't refer here to any UK Conservative MPS and their, ahem, 'hobbies'). The problem is not so much with your body as your head. The human body isn't likely to go bang as such if exposed to low pressures, but you are talking about bleeding and bursting problems at the head end of things (let's leave the bottom end out of this at the moment!). Another problem relates to the direction that oxygen will flow - it'll pass from the blood to the lungs at very low pressures, and you'd become unconscious even though nominally hyper-oxygenated. But, if you can keep the upper body properly sealed, the rest of the body is quite resilient - Spandex and a vapour barrier might well be enough. It does, however, all sound pretty uncomfortable! Temperature control might be fun, too...

Perhaps these sorts of technologies would be more appropriate in agricultural habitats on Mars, where you would have an unbreathable atmosphere of CO2 at (to you and I) low pressures. Such buildings, domes, tents or whatever might well be unsafe to work in without some sort of emergency personal life support (think of a yachtsman's life vest - just enough to get you to safety).

Titan, though...

Bob Shaw