/sci/ - Science & Math

I believe it will be possible to form a colony on Mars within the next five years. Just send a few doctors, farmers, and engineers, give them a small radiation-proof greenhouse and artificial atmosphere, a few small algae and brine shrimp farms for food to keep within the building, some tough spacesuits to wear, and put the colony in one of the poles so they can melt ice into drinking water. Then they can go outside in their protective spacesuits, and use pickaxes to mine resources to build more buildings with. This could probably be done with a few billion dollars.

And a few lichens and bacteria, and possibly tardigrades could be introduced to Mars. It has been shown that some lichens can survive in Martian conditions.