The problem with terraforming is that Mars is a connected planet. Especially introducing new life to it is irreversible. I don't think myself we have anything like the understanding to do it. And is no reason at all that introducing life to a planet would make it Earth-like. We know of only one planet with life on it so can't begin to say what the effect is of introducing life to planets in general.
Mars is a lot further away from the sun, dry, cold, no magnetic field and no continental drift. It may have been Earth like, even with life, in the early solar system. If so, what you see now is at least one possible result of introducing life to Mars. Other possible end results may be less habitable than present day Mars in one way or another and we have nowhere near the understanding and knowledge. And we don't have loads of planets to experiment with like petri dishes.
So, I think caution is needed before grand experiments with planets that are irreversible and probably at our stage of understanding also unpredictable (and may be many ways it can go depending on conditions we don't understand the significance of or indeed random).
Imagined Colours Of Future Mars - What Happens If We Treat A Planet As A Giant Petri Dish?
Mars is a lot further away from the sun, dry, cold, no magnetic field and no continental drift. It may have been Earth like, even with life, in the early solar system. If so, what you see now is at least one possible result of introducing life to Mars. Other possible end results may be less habitable than present day Mars in one way or another and we have nowhere near the understanding and knowledge. And we don't have loads of planets to experiment with like petri dishes.
So, I think caution is needed before grand experiments with planets that are irreversible and probably at our stage of understanding also unpredictable (and may be many ways it can go depending on conditions we don't understand the significance of or indeed random).
Imagined Colours Of Future Mars - What Happens If We Treat A Planet As A Giant Petri Dish?
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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