What can we do to Mars to give it a survivable atmosphere?

Some science-fiction books I've read (including more than a few by Ray Bradbury) have men from Earth living on Mars, walking around outside of enclosures. I know that this is currently not realistic, because Mars' atmosphere is too thin to support human life¹.

Let's ignore temperature in this question, and just look at oxygen and pressure.

Problems with atmosphere on Mars:

• Oxygen levels are too low (no breathable air)
• Pressure is too low (critical body liquids will boil away)

So, my question is: what can we do to Mars to give it a survivable atmosphere?

Could we just add (a lot) more oxygen or something so that we don't have to live on Mars in pods?

In the interest of keeping this question within reasonable limits, let's limit this to current + slightly advanced technology (stuff we don't have yet but is almost certainly possible).

( monetary cost is of no consequence )

¹ I googled to find a good source for that assumption of mine, but wasn't expecting a SE result!

posted almost 10 years ago

Shokhet‭

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