Can we terraform Mars & Venus? Here is what NASA's top scientist has to say

Contributing to the prolonged debate over making Mars habitable, Jim Green, a scientist from NASA opined that terraforming the Red Planet is possible. According to New York Times, Green joined the US space agency in 1980 and since then he has been involved in key roles concerning several missions and experiments. He has helped NASA undertake various complex missions, including understanding Earth’s magnetic field and searching for life on Mars.

Among Green’s most significant proposals is a scale for verifying the detection of alien life, dubbed “Confidence of life detection,” or CoLD, scale. The NASA scientist has proposed that humans could one day live on Mars if we create a giant magnetic field on the Red Planet to stop the Sun from stripping the atmosphere there, thereby raising the temperature on the Martian surface. Notably, Green has also for long been a proponent of the exploration of other worlds, including a mission to Europa, the ice moon of Jupiter.

Now, in an interview with New York Times, Green said that the possibility of the existence of life is measured on his CoLD scale from one to seven, where seven signifies life. He explained the importance, stating that a couple of years ago, some scientists were reported to have found phosphine on Venus. For them, it was an enormous discovery, however, on the CoLD scale, it was “one”, Green said. Later, the NASA scientist added that the researchers realised there was contamination in their signal, and what that has been found may not even be phosphine.

Green informed that on Mars, a lot of methane has been detected, but we’re only at a CoLD Level 3. When asked if he is surprised to haven’t found life on the Red Planet despite NASA running Mars exploration since 1976, Green said, “Yes and No”. He stated that scientists have made “great advances” since the early days. For instance, we know now that Venus was once a blue planet with a significant ocean. “It might actually have had life.” Similarly, Mars too was a blue planet once, he added. 

Terraforming Mars, Venus is 'doable'

Further speaking about his proposal to create a magnetic shield between Mars and the Sun, Green asserted that it is “doable”. The NASA scientist explained that Mars is going to terraform itself with the increase in pressure and temperature. He said that the higher temperature and pressure will enable the researchers to begin the process of growing plants in the soils.

Green said that he is trying to get a paper out that he has been working on for two years. However, he also added that it is not going to be received well by the planetary community, which “does not like the idea of terraforming”. Green went on to add that he is, however, confident that scientists can change Venus too with a physical shield.

(Image: Unsplash/Twitter/AP)