{"id":180760,"date":"2025-06-13T09:44:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T09:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/180760\/"},"modified":"2025-06-13T09:44:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T09:44:12","slug":"can-we-make-mars-habitable-through-terraforming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/180760\/","title":{"rendered":"Can We Make Mars Habitable through Terraforming?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In their new paper, Los Alamos National Laboratory planetary scientist Nina Lanza and colleagues looked at what would be needed to make the surface environment of Mars more Earth-like and what needs to be done now if there\u2019s a hope of the Red Planet someday being able to sustain human life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An artist\u2019s impression of a terraformed Mars. Image credit: Daein Ballard \/ CC BY-SA 3.0.<\/p>\n

\u201cBelieve it or not, no one has really addressed whether it\u2019s feasible to terraform Mars since 1991,\u201d Dr. Lanza said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet since then, we\u2019ve made great strides in Mars science, geoengineering, launch capabilities and bioscience, which give us a chance to take a fresh look at terraforming research and ask ourselves what\u2019s actually possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terraforming Mars<\/a> would require warming the atmosphere to enable engineered microbes to create oxygen through photosynthesis, which would further allow for slow oxygen build-up to support liquid water and more complex life.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore we can assess whether warming Mars is worthwhile, relative to the alternative of leaving Mars as a pristine wilderness, we must confront the practical requirements, cost, and possible risks,\u201d the researchers said.<\/p>\n

In the paper, they addressed current knowledge of Mars\u2019 water, carbon dioxide and soil composition, and possible approaches to warming the surface temperature of Mars and raising atmospheric pressure and oxygen abundance.<\/p>\n

New techniques have emerged<\/a> that could raise Mars\u2019 average global temperature by tens of degrees within a few decades.<\/p>\n

Research priorities can focus on understanding fundamental physical, chemical, and biological constraints that will shape any future decisions about Mars. Such research would drive advances in Mars exploration, bioscience, and atmospheric engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis research could ultimately help maintain \u2018oasis Earth\u2019,\u201d the scientists said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnologies developed for Mars habitation, such as desiccation-resistant crops, efficiently remediating soil, and improved ecosystem modeling, will likely benefit our home planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMars terraforming research offers a vital testbed for planetary science, potentially validating theories or exposing knowledge gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cContinued research promises significant scientific progress, regardless of whether full-scale terraforming occurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil that research is done, we don\u2019t even know what\u2019s physically or biologically possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people can learn how to terraform a world such as Mars, this may be the first step to destinations beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s paper<\/a> was published on May 13 in the journal Nature Astronomy.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

E.A. DeBenedictis et al. 2025. The case for Mars terraforming research. Nat Astron 9, 634-639; doi: 10.1038\/s41550-025-02548-0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In their new paper, Los Alamos National Laboratory planetary scientist Nina Lanza and colleagues looked at what would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3844],"tags":[74421,790,13376,70,12884,413,39468,67782,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-180760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-habitability","9":"tag-mars","10":"tag-planet","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-solar-system","13":"tag-space","14":"tag-temperature","15":"tag-terraforming","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114675414695245104","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}