Turning the Red Planet green? It's time to take terraforming Mars seriously, scientists say

Terraforming Mars, once a sci-fi fantasy, is now a serious scientific pursuit. A new study proposes a three-phase plan to transform the Red Planet into a habitable world. "Thirty years ago, terraforming Mars wasn't just hard — it was impossible," says Erika DeBenedictis, CEO of Pioneer Labs. "But new technology like Starship and synthetic biology have now made it a real possibility."

The ambitious project would start by warming Mars' surface, then introduce engineered microbes to produce oxygen, and finally build a complex biosphere. While the full process could take centuries, advocates argue it could benefit Earth too. "If we want to learn how to modify our environment here on Earth, maybe it would be better to experiment on Mars," suggests planetary scientist Nina Lanza.