12-12-2014, 10:50 PM
I was kicking around an alternate history for a roleplaying session and got to thinking about swelling up Mars a bit, like in Harry Turtledove's "A World of Difference."
The idea is that plus-sized Mars would still be red and lifeless (?), so it wouldn't alter human history. (Lots of religions depend on Mars being red.) However, it'd be larger (surface gravity ~0.8G) and have a thicker atmosphere (~0.7 bar.) If that atmosphere was 80% nitrogen and 20% carbon dioxide, what would that do for the Martian climate?
Are there any handy planet climate modelers to figure out a planet's average temperature based on pressure, CO2 levels, and insolation?
The idea is that plus-sized Mars would still be red and lifeless (?), so it wouldn't alter human history. (Lots of religions depend on Mars being red.) However, it'd be larger (surface gravity ~0.8G) and have a thicker atmosphere (~0.7 bar.) If that atmosphere was 80% nitrogen and 20% carbon dioxide, what would that do for the Martian climate?
Are there any handy planet climate modelers to figure out a planet's average temperature based on pressure, CO2 levels, and insolation?
Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
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"Everbody's always in favor of saving Hitler's brain, but when you put it in the body of a great white shark, oh, suddenly you've gone too far." -- Professor Farnsworth, Futurama
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"Everbody's always in favor of saving Hitler's brain, but when you put it in the body of a great white shark, oh, suddenly you've gone too far." -- Professor Farnsworth, Futurama