Known as the Mars Trilogy – Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars – this series centers on the transformation of Mars over the course of many generations into a thriving human civilization. In the 1990s, Kim Stanley Robinson released his famous trilogy that deals with the terraforming of Mars. The terraforming models presented in the book actually foreshadowed future debates regarding the goals of terraforming. Titled The Greening of Mars, the novel explores the formation and evolution of planets, the origin of life, and Earth’s biosphere. In 1984, James Lovelock and Michael Allaby wrote what is considered by many to be one of the most influential books on terraforming. In his Foundation series, humanity has effectively colonized every habitable planet in the galaxy and terraformed them to become part of the Galactic Empire. In Issac Asimov’s Robot series, colonization and terraforming are performed by a powerful race of humans known as “Spacers,” who conduct this process on fifty planets in the known universe. This was followed in 1958 by the Snows of Ganymede, where the Jovian moon’s ecology is made habitable through a similar process. The book was so influential that the term term “Big Rain” has since come to be synonymous with the terraforming of Venus. In his 1954 novel, The Big Rain, Venus is altered through planetary engineering techniques over a very long period of time. Poul Anderson also wrote extensively about terraforming in the 1950s. Not only is terraforming a time-honored concept, but as it turns out, humanity already has quite a bit of experience in this area! From all indications, it looks like terraforming is yet another science-fiction concept that is migrating into the realm of science fact.īut just what does terraforming entail? Where exactly could we go about using this process? What kind of technology would we need? Does such technology already exist, or do we have to wait? How much in the way of resources would it take? And above all, what are the odds of it succeeding? Answering any or all of these questions requires a bit of digging. In recent years, we’ve heard luminaries like Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking claiming that humanity needs a “ backup location” to ensure our survival, private ventures like Mars One enlisting thousands of volunteers to colonize the Red Planet, and space agencies like NASA, the ESA, and China discussing the prospect of long-term habitability on Mars or the Moon. And rather than being talked about like a far-off prospect, the issue of terraforming other worlds is being addressed as a near-future possibility. However, in recent years, thanks to renewed interest in space exploration, this word is being used in an increasingly serious manner.
Chances are you’ve heard that word uttered before, most likely in the context of some science fiction story.