What is terraforming? Terraforming is the process of transforming another planet’s climate until it resembles the climate and environment we have here on earth.

Why terraform? Here are some reasons why we might terraform:

1. The Earth might become overpopulated; there will be no more room to live.
2. The Earth may not be suitable (polluted) for human beings to live on.
3. The Sun might burn out creating a super nova which will explode and wipe out Earth. We’ll want to get as far away as possible.
4. We might want to use a terraformed planet, for example Mars, as a base to travel farther out into space from.

Currently we are considering Mars as the planet we will terraform. NASA probes have provided evidence that Mars once had flowing water and was warmer than it currently is. These are some reasons why we consider Mars as the planet we will terraform.

There is a stage in terraforming where basic life forms must be placed into the natural environment of the planet. Putting these basic life forms into the planets environment is often called ecopoiesis.

Bacteria able to live under extreme conditions are called extremophiles. These extremophiles will be put into the planet’s environment long before plants and animals will be. Here are some extremophiles that could help terraform Mars:

1. First off we’ll discuss the extremophile called Matteia (right). This bacterium is able to survive during a complete drought. Matteia make nitrogen from very little nitrogen compounds. These bacteria could release the CO2 of Mars, for they are able to dissolve through carbonate rocks.
2. This next extremophile is called Deinococcus radiodurans. These extremo-philes are resistant to ionizing radiation and UV rays. The reason these bacteria are unaffected by radiation is that they can heal any damaged DNA relatively quickly. Studying these bacteria might help us figure out how to protect our extremophiles from mutation.
3. Here is an extremophile called Chroococcidiopsis caldriorum. These bacterium can live through droughts, both high and low temperatures, and very salty environments. These extremophiles could help change the lack of oxygen on Mars, as they helped to do on Earth.