Retired NASA scientist throws light on the possibility to make Mars 'habitable'

Mars can be terraformed to allow human settlement if we can figure out a way to shield the red planet from the sun's high-energy solar particles, says a retired NASA scientist Jim Green. The scientist, who retired on January 1, 2022, after serving over 40 years in NASA, said that terraforming Mars is 'doable' if humans can prevent stripping of the Martian atmosphere. Specialising in the study of magnetic and electric fields and low energy plasma in the solar system, Green's contribution ranges from starting up NASA’s first internet to conducting some groundbreaking research.

Here's how Green proposes to make Mars habitable

According to Green, Mars can be made habitable if the planet participates in the process, and the only thing humans need to do is construct a 'magnetotail', which in this case is the artificial magnetic field. He explains that if we somehow manage to contain Mars into this magnetic field, the planet would witness an increase in atmospheric pressure, which would in turn warm the planet. 

"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 in anyway it can. When the pressure goes up, the temperature goes up", Green told The New York Times. 

Further explaining his theory, he said that the first level of terraforming is creating such an environment where your blood does not boil on the Martian surface and once we have achieved an optimal temperature plus pressure, Mars would even allow the process of growing plants in the soil. According to a report by Daily Mail, Green had explained his theory via simulations and models in 2017 at the NASA Planetary Science Vision workshop. There, the veteran scientist revealed that the warming of Mars due to the magnetotail would heat the planet enough to free some of the frozen water below the surface and might even bring one-seventh of the red planet's oceans.

As for the magnetotail, Green said that he is working on a paper that would suggest several ideas suggesting how to create a magnetic field around Mars. "I’m trying to get a paper out I’ve been working on for about two years. It’s not going to be well received. The planetary community does not like the idea of terraforming anything", The New York Times reported him saying. However, he is still optimistic about the possibility as he stated that with a reflecting physical shield, even Venus can be made habitable. 

Image: Twitter/@mysteriousuniv