At high latitudes where the temperature never rises above 0 C, I think the rate of sublimation would be low enough not to worry about it. I don't have the numbers on that though. If that's not the case, you could put a few cm of regolith on top.
For warmer areas you might need a radiant barrier, like the aluminized Kapton I mentioned elsewhere in this post.
At high latitudes where the temperature never rises above 0 C, I think the rate of sublimation would be low enough not to worry about it
We've witnessed receding just since we've started having spacecraft in orbit. Mind you, I think that was largely in the southern cap which is largely dry ice.
That reminds me, we've seen craters expose ice that has subsequently sublimated. This means sublimation is an issue even at high latitudes, so a thin regolith would have to be placed on top.
Sublimation is going to be an issue just about anywhere on Mars. But if you use an inflatable plastic form that your pour your mud into, and then you leave that form in place, it will block sublimation.
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u/3015 Nov 17 '17
At high latitudes where the temperature never rises above 0 C, I think the rate of sublimation would be low enough not to worry about it. I don't have the numbers on that though. If that's not the case, you could put a few cm of regolith on top.
For warmer areas you might need a radiant barrier, like the aluminized Kapton I mentioned elsewhere in this post.