Mars soil more suitable for life than thought

So, Sewer Rat, you say, "You can't get something for nothing." While I tend to agree, true believers in the Big Bang say you are wrong.

Perhaps by bio-engineering it, we could have it feed off something that Mars has an abundance of, or just by sunlight itself.

Maybe if something did grow it would be "Mars" exclusive life. Only life there could survive there but wouldn't last on earth because of the atmosphere.

We should bio-engineer a moss or lichen that is hardy enough to take hold on Mars and grow everywhere pumping out oxygen and CO2(if CO2 production is possible) as it goes, it would be interesting to see if an atmosphere could re-establish itself over time. You are talking about terraforming and while that sound like a great idea there are several problems. The process could take many generations if it is even possible, but earth organisms need water which may, or may not, be easily available. If water is available it will be likely be in a frozen state and not readily usable, or so saline that... [More]

You are talking about terraforming and while that sound like a great idea there are several problems. The process could take many generations if it is even possible, but earth organisms need water which may, or may not, be easily available. If water is available it will be likely be in a frozen state and not readily usable, or so saline that it may be toxic to all earth live except perhaps certain halophytic bacteria. Then there is the extremely cold temperatures of Mars that will kill or at best render dormant any earth life. But the biggest problem I see is that Mars supposedly lost most of ... [More]

looks like a interesting article. But, it 's not there anymore!

looks like a interesting article. But, it 's not there anymore! The link on the newspage is broken, but if you use the link in the first post of this page you'll be fine...

But the biggest problem I see is that Mars supposedly lost most of its water and atmosphere because its gravity is too low to hold onto them. So even if you create an atmosphere, how would you keep it from evaporating into space? Finally we would need to be sure that there is not Martian life there already, because we could destroy a unique alien ecosystem. It may only be bacteria like organisms, but that would certainly be exciting to find! Right now Mars looks like a dead world and may never have had life, but it would be nice to be sure by sampling as many different likely sites for life be... [More]

Sounds pretty cool.

Couldn't we emit gases like we do here on Earth and find a useful purpose for man made global warming. That would unfreeze the water at least. No idea how you would do it with fossil fuels though.