Terraforming
For fans of Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos, a question arises: is "Terraforming" possible? Can humankind find a way to modify worlds to a more comfortable state in terms of gravity, temperature, and climate for Earthlike plants and animals?
Above: what a terraformed Mars might look like by Frans Blok's Red, Green and Blue Mars website
Below: an abstract from the article "Terraforming Mars: a Review of Research" by Martyn J. Fogg
"For many involved in the space exploration business, the ultimate goal of space exploration is space settlement, the founding of new branches of civilization remote from the Earth. However, missions such as visits to other planets, followed by outposts and pioneering settlements, are all likely to have their life-support subsidized in the way of machinery and consumables supplied from Earth. For space-based civilizations to achieve growth and permanency requires the harnessing of local resources in autonomous and stable bioregenerative life-support systems, energized by the sun."
Click on the following links to learn more:
"Terraforming Mars – Basic Concepts" by Thomas Lagner and Robert Lauer; written at a level easy for high school level students to understand and enjoy
"Terraforming Mars: a Review of Research" by Martyn J. Fogg
"Technological Requirements for Terraforming Mars" by Robert M. Zubrin of Pioneer Astronautics, and Christopher P. McKay of the NASA Ames Research Center