Terraforming Mars to restore its ancient atmosphere may be possible someday, but not in our lifetimes, according to Elon Musk. In the interim, early human settlers on the Red Planet will need to contend with its harsh conditions, likely residing in protective glass domes.
Billions of years ago, Mars boasted a thick atmosphere similar to Earth's, providing warmth and shielding its surface. Solar winds eventually stripped this protective blanket away, leaving behind a cold, dry, and unbreathable world.
Terraforming Mars—altering its environment to mimic Earth—would require rebuilding that atmosphere. One approach involves releasing trapped carbon dioxide from the planet's surface to thicken the air and trap heat. But is this feasible?
A study published two years ago by astrobiologists concluded no. Mars lacks sufficient accessible CO2 to generate meaningful warming, even if released into the atmosphere. Most reserves are buried too deeply to reach with current technology.
The researchers determined that creating a habitable environment for unsupported exploration exceeds our present capabilities.
While Mars holds vast water ice deposits that could produce vapor, analyses show this alone won't warm the planet significantly. Without initial CO2-driven heating, temperatures remain too low for stable water vapor.
Turning Mars into Earth 2.0 remains a distant dream, as Elon Musk acknowledges. Yet SpaceX, founded in 2002 to pursue this vision, presses on. When recently asked on X (formerly Twitter) about colonization plans, Musk replied: "We'll live under glass domes initially. And later [the planet] will be terraformed to support life, like on Earth."
Innovative habitat concepts abound. In 2018, researchers at Switzerland's École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) proposed giant igloos of polyethylene fibers shielded by 3 meters of ice against cosmic radiation.
More recently, AI SpaceFactory introduced "Marsha," tall vertical structures built from Martian basalt fibers.
These remain conceptual. SpaceX aims for its first uncrewed Starship mission to Mars in just four years, paving the way with this fully reusable spacecraft.
