Terraforming

Terraforming is "earth-shaping" a planet, moon, or other body by a hypothetical process of modifying the temperature, atmosphere, topography, or ecology to something that is similar to the biosphere of Earth.

Last week we talked about Mars in class. Mars is considered by many to be the most likely candidate for terraforming. Studies have been done concerning the possibility of heating the planet and altering its atmosphere.

This is how the atmosphere of Earth and Mars currently line up:

              MARS                                  EARTH

				95.32% carbon dioxide 2.7% nitrogen 1.6% argon 0.13% oxygen 0.08% carbon monoxide	78.08% nitrogen  20.95% oxygen   0.93% argon  0.038% carbon dioxide  About 1% water vapor

Therefore, in order for the planet to be hospitable, we'd have to change that carbon dioxide into oxygen by introducing water and plant species.