Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Re: What about solar radiation on the planets surface?

The radiation is intense enough to sterilize the surface of Mars
E.P. Grondine — (archived)

Otherwise we'd have seen at least plants on the surface of Mars, and we haven't - 3 landings, Viking 1&2 and Pathfinder, and nothing.

Where we'll probably find life is subsurface, and I would not exclude the possibility of finding surface life forms in overhangs - cave mouths, under ledges, etc.

The authors of the paper talk about gamma ray flux, and everyone says, ah, that's the total radiation load, when it isn't, and they know it isn't - or at least they knew, but chose to forget. Why? Because they want Mars to be Earth-like. It isn't.

What you have is a bad situation - radiation levels high enough to make terra-forming impossible, along with probable existant life forms to be dealt with - and creating an atmosphere will do little to lessen the radiation load - there simply is not a significant magnetosphere -

Thin plastic films will disintegrate at these loads - and most synthetics will

ep

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