• Question: Is it actually possible to completely terraform a planet.

    Asked by dspennewynwh to David, Helen, Ian, rhysphillips, Sarah on 21 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Rhys Phillips

      Rhys Phillips answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      I don’t think so at the moment though who knows what the future holds! Changing the atmospheric conditions of a whole planet would be pretty impressive.

    • Photo: Ian van der Linde

      Ian van der Linde answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      It depends over what period. If we found a planet that was like earth a couple of billion years ago but in which there was no life, then we could introduce some microbes and leave them there for a few hundred million years. If all went well, next time we visited we might find that the atmosphere and surface conditions could have changed and that the life has started to take hold of the planet to create a new ecosystem.

    • Photo: Helen Fletcher

      Helen Fletcher answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      Yes it is possible but it would cost an awful lot of money so probably not worth it. You would get a lot of space stations for the same amount of money!!

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