Terraforming Mars Into a Habitable Planet is Possible, Says Former NASA Chief Scientist

James "Jim" Green has been NASA's chief scientist for 40 years and retired on Saturday, January 1, 2022. But before he bid the space agency goodbye, he has left a grand plan for Mars. He said it is possible to geoengineer the Red Planet into a habitable place for humans to thrive.

In an interview with the New York Times, he explained that it would need a giant protective shield against solar winds coming from the Sun to allow a human-friendly climate. If only scientists could stop the planet from being stripped of its atmosphere, the pressure would increase, and Mars will start to terraform itself. The higher the temperature and pressure, the more likely plants will grow.

(Photo: ESA via Getty Images)
The Echus Chasma, one of the largest water source regions on Mars, is pictured from ESA's Mars Express. The data was acquired on September 25, 2005.

Green: Terraforming Mars is Doable

Interesting Engineering reported that the atmosphere on Mars is made up of 95% carbon dioxide, which is not ideal for supporting human life. More so, the Red Planet is hostile to life due to dust storms, cosmic radiations, harsh temperatures ranging between 81°F below zero (62.78°C below zero).

But Mars is also the only planet that seems to share similar features to Earth, and scientists want to establish a human colony on the Martian surface soon. Scientists must find a way to make the planet habitable with that goal in mind. Green has offered a way of terraforming the Red Planet by making a giant magnetic shield between Mars and the Sun.

He said that this would prevent solar winds from stripping off the planet's atmosphere to trap more heat and warm its climate enough to become habitable for humans and plants to survive.

"Yeah, it's [terraforming Mars is] doable," he said during his interview with the Times. "Stop the stripping, and the pressure is going to increase. Mars is going to start terraforming itself. That's what we want: the planet to participate in this anyway it can."

Furthermore, Mail Online reported that this plan would free water hidden deep below the surface to restore at least one-seventh of the ancient ocean of Mars. It will kickstart the process of terraforming the Red Planet and help mitigate the extremes. Green said that simulations showed that the planet could have a stable climate and become Earth-like in a few years.

But Green said that this is not considered terraforming because the physics applied behind the mechanism would let nature take over and naturally change its climate to become habitable to life.

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How Would They Make the Giant Magnetic Shield?

Green said in the interview that there are many ways to make a giant artificial magnetic field. He also said that it could also be possible to change Venus with a shield that reflects light to decrease the temperature within the planet.

He noted that he has been working on a paper and plans to release it in about two years. Although he believes it will not be well-received because the planetary community does not support the idea of terraforming any planet.

One of his proposals in making the giant magnetic shield for Mars is the "Confidence of Life Detection" (CoLD). Scientific American reported that this scale is from level 1 to level 7 in which will help verify and communicate the detection of biosignature beyond Earth. Below is a video of how scientists plan to make the magnetic shield.