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Comment by londons_explore | Hacker News Reader

> higher atmospheric pressure

But the pressure is still effectively nil. It's far below what would be needed for humans to venture outdoors, and makes a negligible difference to the strength required for pressurised buildings.

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I am sure someone will eventually come up with the crazy idea to seal the canyon and pressurize it.

The Martian soil is still unsuitable for humans since it's full of toxins.

https://www.space.com/21554-mars-toxic-perchlorate-chemicals...

The same article makes it sound pretty manageable. Showers for the spacesuits, microbes that eat it, and useful properties.

Absolutely but every little bit helps. A thicker atmosphere also means less radiation, thus less radiation shielding required. I don't have numbers on hand but from what recall it is a significant enough of a difference to worthy consideration.

Could human settlers on Mars adapt to progressively lower pressure levels over time (generations)?

Yes and no. Yes because there are people on Earth adapted to living at great heights (the Andes or Himalaya) and no because the pressure on Mars is far too low. At Mars' pressure, the boiling point of water is so low that our body temperature is too high and makes the blood boil.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_limit

I wonder how much difference it would make to the pumps sucking in Martian air to create fuel and pressurized atmosphere.

I believe it would make it easier to land supplies there though, since there is more atmosphere to aerobrake with.

Can you aerobreak all the way into the cannon though?

It is a few hundred kilometers wide.

Every bit helps, right? Even if you're using retrorockets by the time you're that low, atmospheric drag should still be helping.

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