Why go to Mars? 1st requurement is IMPORT atmosphere ..?

Why go to Mars? 1st requurement is IMPORT atmosphere ..?

Because it is the only planet we can land on in this Solar system and have a hope of surviving. Any other bodies we might have hope of settling are moons of the gas giants.

So it needs an atmosphere, not a big deal you need to take your atmosphere with you whether going into space , exploring the oceans or even climbing a mountain, we're getting good at it.

Scientific reasons, to determine the composition of mars , whether it ever contained life, possibility of finding minerals, determining how the solar system formed and determining why a planet that was at one time wet managed to dry up. Prime reason is a base of operations for further explorations, it's a lot easier to lift off a planet that has 38% earth gravity than to lift from Earth. Future considerations, if we are going to mine the asteroid belt it's the most convenient location to do that from.

The reason is so that politicians can bask in the publicity of having got away with spending a trillion dollars on sending some bozo to Mars, and thus crippled Earth based science for a generation to come. No doubt the military will use the opportunity to test some top secret technology as well. Then there is the media circus that goes with it: more billions of dollars uselessly squandered.

No need to worry about atmosphere. Just like the lunar landings, it will be a flash in the pan, then we'll lose interest and noone will go again.

Cheers!

The reason for wanting to settle Mars is so they can lay claim to the minerals. Once a colony is established it becomes easier to conduct exploratory research into prime mining regions.

That's a long term plan of course, because at present it's not economically viable to ship the minerals back to Earth.

As for an atmosphere they don't need it. Sufficient oxygen can be transported there to sustain life in a dome, enclosed building or vehicle. After that oxygen can likely be re-constituted from exhaled carbon dioxide or from frozen sources on the planet.

We should use much of Mars natural resources to make an atmosphere for the base camp. The first visitors will need redundancy and have some ability to create a sustainable existence using local resources.

Why go there? The future. The current status quo is that no humans live anywhere except for Earth or the ISS. Mars is a whole world with resources that are valuable. There will be discoveries that we simply cannot predict. In the future, those that are first, usually reap the rewards. The future will see humanity expanding into space. Do you desire that our nation should be the leader going forward?

JFK probably states it best: "The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in the race for space.

Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolutions, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding."

No, the atmosphere doesn't need to be imported. The CO2 and H2O that are frozen on the surface of Mars need to be melted by something like giant solar mirrors. Then some further greenhouse gases need to be manufactured from materials available on Mars itself.

There is no proposal (yet) for a manned mission to Mars. There will (within current basic theory) never be an attempt at moving atmosphere - pointless and futile.

the reasoning behind wanting to go to Mars is really just two main reasons. The first, as explained above, is because of the abundance of resources such as Iron waiting to be mined. The second reason is that scientists have figured out that just inhabiting one planet is not a viable long term solution if we want to thrive as a species. So to survive we must look at other planets and Mars just has the most Earthlike conditions

Import atmosphere? From where? To where? Mars?

I think it's both a matter of "if we can, we should" and maybe using what we find there to combat earth's issues (overpopulation, etc.). I don't know if it's a great idea honestly. Like it would be cool to research, but what's the point?

But how much will it cost, and can UPS deliver it in a timely manner?