by Kiona Smith
December 7, 2022
Introduction:
Read more of the Inverse article here: https://www.inverse.com/science/can-we ... -on-mars(Inverse) A CENTURY FROM now, people on Mars might stroll through forests filled with juniper trees, kudzu vines, and heath shrubs. Maybe.
Ecologist Paul Smith of the University of Bristol suggests that long-term residents of Mars, whether they’re settlers or astronauts at research outposts, could build small nature preserves, shielded from the harsh Martian environment by clear domes or layers of Martian crust. But they’re not going to look quite like any forest on Earth.
He published his proposal in the Journal of Astrobiology.
WHAT’S NEW — Smith proposes that once humans have established a solid presence on Mars, they’re likely to want a small piece of home, partly to provide some fresh food and produce oxygen, but also to enable people to do the Martian version of going outside to touch some grass. He suggests about 20 hectares of forest park, carefully contained under protective pressurized domes or sheltered in lava tubes lit by mirrors and fiber optics.
These hypothetical nature preserves won’t be able to replicate any of Earth’s forests, however; even with help from 22nd-century engineers, the Martian environment will be a bizarre place to try and plant a forest. The best option, says Smith, will be to throw in as many species as possible and let evolution select the combination that works best. And the result may include some combinations that would never happen naturally on Earth.
Read the plan as put forth the in the Journal of Astrobiology: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journal ... B6A4D9450
caltrek’s comment: Personally, for the short term at least (next hundred years), I would favor concentrating resource allocation on making Earth more livable. This might include more voluntary use of birth control and more imaginative optimization of living space and resources available here on this planet. Still, if there are hardy souls willing to relocate to Mars for colonization purposes, and if folks are willing to pay the additional tax burdens involved in financing such ventures…