Excuse me, but the reason given by most scientists as to why Mars lost its atmosphere is because it lost its magnetic core because the core cooled off. This caused the loss of atmosphere. If this is true, then bringing in water and co2 is not going to help. Mars still does not have a molten core, iron to be exact, that it needs to have magnetism. Without it, we cannot hope to terra form it. This problem would have to be solved first or any atmosphere we bring in will be lost to space just as the original was.
That is just an old--100 years or so--offhand explanation by a scientist of some kind that has never been questioned because it seems so obvious. But, that is not the only mechanism as any reflection on some of the hugest mag fields in the solar system will disclose.
So we drop comets every 100,000 years or so .... works for me.
"Excuse me, but the reason given by most scientists as to why Mars lost its atmosphere is because it lost its magnetic core because the core cooled off. This caused the loss of atmosphere. If this is true, then bringing in water and co2 is not going to help. Mars still does not have a molten core, iron to be exact, that it needs to have magnetism. Without it, we cannot hope to terra form it. This problem would have to be solved first or any atmosphere we bring in will be lost to space just as the original was."
-- Would a few thousand nukes do the job???
I haven't heard that a magnetic field/molten core are requirements for a planet to retain an atmosphere. I would be interested to learn more of this, if you could point me in the proper direction.