From: g_d_pusch_remove_underscores@xnet.com   
      
   "Brian Gaff"  writes:   
      
   > "Henry Spencer"  wrote in message   
   > news:Ho8s8t.Bwt@spsystems.net...   
   >> In article ,   
   >> Roger Stokes  wrote:   
   >>> If Mars were provided with a breathable atmosphere by some means in the   
   >>> future, how long would it take to be lost to space?   
   >>   
   >> Geologically, not long; by human standards, quite a long time -- I think   
   >> the estimate is millions of years, although it undoubtedly depends on some   
   >> guesswork about details.   
   >   
      
   > OK, but the fact is it cannot be a stable system, and I still feel   
   > that the technology to make a breathable atmosphere fast enough to   
   > outweigh the losses is jut not possible, at least not if you need   
   > to have a stable ecology.   
      
   "Stable" on what timescale?  Even a "mere" million years is pretty darned   
   long on human terms !!!  Indeed, no human institution has survived unchanged   
   for even a couple of centuries, let alone a couple aeons.   
      
   Even the Earth's ecology will not be "stable" forever --- the slow increase   
   in the Sun's luminosity will render it uninhabitable in a few billion years.   
      
      
   > It may depend on if there is water in a   
   > sufficient quantity somewhere that could be eventually liberated   
   > safely on the surface.   
      
   Even a "mere" million years is plenty of time to figure out something else.   
   For example, if one were to import a few good-sized KBOs, it would supply   
   more water than is in all of Earth's oceans --- and there are a =LOT= of   
   KBOs out there...   
      
      
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