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Originally Posted by EricFD
As far as it being insignificant, I didn't mean to suggest that it will lose its atmosphere in our lifetimes or even in the relatively near future. But, over a great period of time, it will lose its atmosphere.
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Its present atmosphere (mostly carbon dioxide, some nitrogen) is very stable. Eventually, as the sun moves off the main sequence and gets much hotter, Venus will lose its atmosphere (and then will be destroyed), but then so will Earth.
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Besides, without a magnetosphere how do the terraformers plan on keeping any atmosphere that they may create on Mars from just blowing off into space.
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Because it isn't that big an issue. Mars would have greater losses (through thermal and non-thermal processes) than Earth or Venus because of its limited mass, but it still could hang onto a thick atmosphere for many millions of years.
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We don't even really understand the rhythms of our own planet and we're going to terraform another? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
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Oh, sure, there are a lot of practical problems in terraforming Venus or Mars. It's an interesting idea, though.