Knowledge

If Olympus Mons was on Earth, would it be possible for people to climb it?

First of all it would probably collapse on Earth. Mars only has 38% gravity which allows taller structures. However lets ignore that for the moment,

Olympus Mons is about 25 km (72,000 feet) tall. That is about 2.5 times Everest. It is also so high up that not only can’t you breathe, it is starting to push body limits on withstanding low pressure. I think at a minimum you would need a pressure suit and LOTS of oxygen.

In fact it would require so much oxygen that you couldn’t possibly carry it up. The only possibility would be for you to somehow parachute oxygen tanks onto the route ahead of time and then use all of those. However, most aircraft can’t even fly that high.

That would require something like military aircraft to get that high. I won’t say it is impossible but it would be a logistical nightmare and cost many millions of dollars.

It is also about -55 C half way up, so you better have cold weather gear.

There is also the sheer distance issue. After scaling the initial cliffs that are kilometers high (think 4 or 5 El Capitans on top of each other) you have hundreds of kilometers of uphill slope. Below is Olympus Mons laid over France.

Just an update note. The slopes are about 5–10 percent grade on top depending on which side you come from, so it isn’t gentle on the top but it isn’t climbing either. It is walking uphill. The cliffs on the edge however are about 4 km (2.5 miles) high. That is because when it was formed it was sitting in a 4 km deep ocean and at the edges the lava cooled and fell to the bottom. It is a couple of billion year old feature from a time when Mars was wet and volcanic. It is the largest volcano in the solar system.

Related Posts

Why do people think Ohio-class submarines have buoyancy issues after launching their SLBMs?

If an Ohio-class submarine launches its payload, it sheds over 2.6 million pounds in minutes. By the laws of physics, it should shoot to the surface like a…

I’ve heard that a magnet can seriously damage an SD and hard drive. Is this true?

Once, the myth busters on the Discovery Channel dealt with this issue. They tried all kinds of the strong magnets, but none spoiled the hard drive in a…

Do submarines still have a big advantage over ships in war, or can ships find them and launch smart guided torpedoes from a safe distance?

During the time I served, if you asked a submariner what kind of ships did the Navy have, they would usually reply: submarines and targets. During one particular…

Is it better to inflate the tires a little more than recommended?

Will it make the tires last much longer? Why was I told this? Will it also make your tires more prone to blowing up if they are older…

Why do PCs gradually get slower with usage?

There’s 4 main reason for this, but only 2 of them are genuinely noticeable unless it’s a severe case of the latter reasons. Here are they by rank…

Do submarines hit things in the water?

Yes they do. There have been reports of submarines hitting whales, surface ships, and other submarines. Here’s a photo of the Los Angeles class USS San Francisco after…