How can I keep an atmosphere on Mars?

Okay, so I'm an engineer who's been tasked with transforming Mars. I don't need to make it perfect for people to be able to walk around free with no life support. But I do need to make life, especially plant growth possible.

I know that by doing things like adding large quantities of methane to the, currently painfully thin, Martian atmosphere. Melting/sublimating much of the ice caps I can temporarily create an atmosphere, and once this manufactured atmosphere raises the planetary temperature by about 6 degrees centigrade, frozen carbon dioxide released by the planet's surface will create a generally self-sustaining/warming atmosphere.

The problem is, my best calculations only have this chain effect lasting for about a 100 years or so before my atmosphere starts to degrade and disappear again. If Mars is going to become humanity's second home, this atmosphere needs to last thousand if not millions of years. I don't want to have to "juice" the atmosphere every century or so.

I help keeping my atmosphere for thousands of years, warm, as cost effective as possible, and preferably with science/technology currently known, or likely to be developed/discovered within the 21st century.

I've tried these questions: Using temperature to contain an atmosphere? Maintain atmosphere on moon using global warming What can we do to Mars to give it a survivable atmosphere? But they're not enough. Please help!

posted over 5 years ago

Artsoccer‭

1 reputation 4 0 0 0