/sci/ - Science & Math

>>4762435
We also had to go through stages where we formed mats of slime in the seabottom, were being eaten by giant scorpion-like monsters, and got stepped on by even more gigantic monsters.

And yet, I see no reverent masses espousing the virtues of getting stomped to mush by huge clawed feet, or of the joys of existing as slime on the bottom of the sea.

Eat both, then piss in a bucket with straw. Come back in a few months with some potash and roll up your sleeves. It's time to turn calcium nitrate into potassium nitrate.

>>4106499
No, I mean south. The martian southern polar cap is covered with a layer of solid CO2, offering a wealth of greenhouse gasses. It could easily be sublimated if a solar mirror could raise the temperature there just a little bit.

CO2 is fine for the initial period of terraforming. It's what is there, and provides a decent greenhouse gas to warm up Mars. Yes, even once we get it up to 250 millibar you will still need a breathing mask to survive on the surface exposed, but that's a big step up from a space suit.

It's likely Mars has about the same amount, proportional, of nitrogen as earth, just locked up in nitrates rather then free in the atmosphere. We can release it by creating or just importing bacteria that can break down nitrates and release it into the air, or we can crash ammonia rich asteroids into Mars.