Originally posted by biblelighthouse
Originally posted by LadyFlynt
Sure, plant things on Mars. They won't grow. Except in an expensive and suseptible artificial environment. And then it would be limited.
Wrong.
There are already places on earth (the poles) which endure extreme temperatures, much like what you find on Mars. And there is ALREADY life there.
Of course it would be silly to put an elephant or oak tree on Mars for starters. Rather, you would transplant Earth-life that would be immediately comfortable on Mars.
Then, over a period of many years, those life forms would multiply exponentially, and would change the atmosphere of Mars itself, converting CO2 into O2. With some oxygen in the atmosphere, there are even more life forms that would be able to exist there.
I am talking about a gradual change of the Martian environment itself. Of course if we dropped all of Earth's life onto Mars today, 99% of it would die, but not 100%! But no one would do that anyway. Rather, you gradually introduce life that can pioneer in those harsh conditions, and then let the life forms themselves change the face of Mars.
It's like what happens on new volcanic islands, only to a much greater degree. First, only a few simple life forms migrate to the island and are able to survive. But over centuries, the island itself is changed by the presence of life, and eventually, much more complex and advanced life forms can live there.
It is important to remember that there are some life forms on Earth that could live on Mars *today* without any "artificial environment" at all.