Quirks and Quarks

Podcast Bonus - Making Mars Green

A classic documentary from the Quirks archives on how we might make Mars an Earthlike, habitable world.

Terraforming Mars - From the Quirks Archives

Artist's impression from NASA's Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture (NASA)
Way back on May 12, 2001, we broadcast a documentary on Terraforming Mars - the massive geo-engineering project of making the dry and barren Red Planet into an welcoming and Earth-like new home for humanity. As a bonus for our Mars coverage, we're re-releasing that documentary, which, despite its age, actually holds up pretty well. In it, you'll hear the voices of:

Dr. Chris McKay, a research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Centre in California. one of the Pioneers of the idea, who has studied using super greenhouse gases to warm the planet.

Dr. James Graham, a biologist and research associate at the University of Wisconsin who suggests that the first life we introduce on Mars should be the hardy microbes and plants that live in Antarctica.

Dr. Hap McSween, a geologist from the University of Tennessee who says that terraforming is closer to science fiction than science, and that everything from poison soil to political resistance could prevent it from ever happening.