Dr. James Graham has a dream of a planet with green grass, deep blue oceans, puffy white clouds in the sky, and children running and playing in clean air. Graham's dream is not of Earth, however. It is of Mars. Graham presented a slide show on the topic at the recent American Astronomical Society Division of Planetary Science conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Although it sounds like an idea straight out of science fiction, terraforming is receiving serious attention both from proponents and critics.
Proponents see terraforming as a natural step in a program taking man to Mars.
Critics view it as an environmental crime worse than anything that has yet been done to Earth. No human being has yet been sent to Mars, but the technology for such a venture is available, said Graham. Mars Direct is a project supported by the Mars Society, a group dedicated to supporting Martian exploration and research. In Mars Direct, an unmanned lander launched in the year 2000 could prepare the site and manufacture materials for use by humans landing a few years later. What weighs 100 pounds on Earth weighs 38 pounds on Mars.