How will humans living on Mars affect the martian atmosphere?
I can only speculate about this. Humans breathe out carbon dioxide as a waste product, but the martian atmosphere is already primarily carbon dioxide, so our respiration should make little difference. Nuclear power or solar power of some kind probably will provide energy to the first human settlement on Mars, and these do not impact that atmosphere the way combustion (e.g., a coal- or oil-fired plant on Earth) would. However, the atmosphere of Mars is very thin, so even subtle effects of human habitation might cause changes that could be detected. 7) Will the two rovers ever meet on Mars? No, they are too far apart (half-way around Mars from each other) and their ranges are too limited (a few kilometers at most). 8) Where do you see this mission leading us 10 or 20 years from now? Rovers are tough to build right, but when that happens the scientific potential is far, far greater than landers. Ten or twenty years from now I expect we will be using bigger, more advanced, more autonomous
