What if a "global killer" hit Mars instead?

[Leovinus]

Assuming that we had a global killer asteroid hitting the Earth. This would wipe out most non-bacterial life, even on the other side of the planet from the impact.<br /><br />I was wondering if the same sized rock hit Mars. I'm thinking that this would be surviveable for a colony on Mars (assuming that the blast itself was far enough away) for two reasons:<br /><br />1) Mars is already so hostile to life that a colony has to be self-supporting<br />2) The atmosphere is so thin that it wouldn't hold a lot of debris for long and therefore the colony wouldn't be Sun-deprived for too long<br /><br />That second one is a guess. Any thoughts on how a Mars colony would hold up after a "global killer" impact? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[3488]

This is more likely as Mars is considerably closer to the Asteroid Belt than Earth,<br />not to mention the Amor asteroids or (NMAs) Near Mars Asteroids.<br /><br />This has clearly happened before several times looking at some of the huge impact<br />craters as well as Hellas & Argyre.<br /><br />Also Phobos is expected to impact in about 55 million years time, when its<br />orbit decays.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[qso1]

Unless the impact occurs close enough to the base for it to sustain impact shockwave and/or debris damage...I wouldn't think there would be much effect in large part because as you mentioned. A base would be self supporting. As for solar deprivation, this could be a factor on a base that is solar powered depending how much the atmospheric debris can be sustained. Bases with RTG sources would likely fare better. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[silylene old]

Possibly one of the contributing reasons that Mars' atmosphere has thinned over the ages is that large asteroid hits have blasted some of the atmosphere away. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[why06]

wouldn't a colliding asteroid add atomosphere.... C reate an ice-age... It would seem that Mars would undergoe the same geological changes as earth did when it was hit. <br /><br />Also could mars thin atomosphere have something to do with the way it recieved its moon? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div>________________________________________ <br /></div><div><ul><li><font color="#008000"><em>your move...</em></font></li></ul></div> </div>

 

[silylene old]

Well perhaps a comet or some type of iceball might actually add more atmosphere than it blows away. But I think a rocky object would blast a lot of it away.<br /><br />I had read articles in which there was scientific speculation that nearly all of Earth's atmosphere was blasted away during the collision that created the moon, and then afterwards during heavy bombardment period. Then the atmosphere was partially replenished from gases released by volcanism over the eons. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[3488]

Hi silylene.<br /><br />I have heard of that too.<br /><br />Whether or not Earth had its atmosphere completely removed by gigantic collosions, before<br />volcanism rebuilt it, still appears to be an unanswered question.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[dragon04]

One concern I've not seen addressed yet would be that of potential contrecoup damage on the side of Mars opposite the impact site.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[mental_avenger]

I agree, an asteroid big enough to destroy all life on Mars if Mars had an environment like Earth’s would do little damage to a colony unless it hit very close to the colony. Actually, I have used that argument in discussions about creating a viable Mars colony to prevent mankind from being wiped out in the event of a killer asteroid on Earth. I pointed out that Earth would be susceptible to global annihilation from a single strike because life is dependent upon the surface environment. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-left:0in;margin-right:0in" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="2" color="#ff0000"><strong>Our Solar System must be passing through a Non Sequitur area of space.</strong></font></p> </div>

 

[nexium]

During the cold war there were as many a 100 nuclear submarines far below the surface. These would have had a fair chance of being the only humans to survive a big impactor as each sub carryed supplies to remain submerged for a year. Most of these subs are still operational, but now, perhaps fewer than ten are far below the surface at any instance. With even 5 minutes warning, most of them could likely crash dive to escape shock waves close to the surface. Neil

 

[silylene old]

Nexium: no women on those subs. Mankind would have died off even if the subs survived. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[vonster]

imo:<br /><br />The same impact large enough to reboot the Earths ecosystem - on Mars - would have consequences way beyond what we can predict, <br /><br />And most of that or none of that would be favorable to a colony on that planet. Cataclysmic seismic upheaval, possible deep volcanic revivals, and climate changes (planetwide duststorms for years or decades) would be enough to rupture critical fuel or food supplies, <br /><br />Not to mention the social chaos produced by people freaking out and behaving unpredictably and stupidly in extreme isolation and confined spaces under extreme duress<br /><br />No I wouldnt lay odds on it.<br /><br />Also note that there are some speculative theories that say this has already happened more than once, that one side of Mars is extremely damaged then we have monstrous features like Olympic Mons and Valles Marineris<br /><br />These could be a result of the planet almost splitting in half from the impact. <br /><br />.