Planetary Science

Future Martians will need to breathe. It won’t be easy

Creating an Earthlike atmosphere is just one of many challenges to making Mars habitable

An illustration of silhouettes of two futuristic looking people facing each other. Their faces imply an Earthlike environment, with clouds and flying birds, while the background suggests a Mars environment with a red landscape.

Science fiction easily settles humans on Mars. To make that a reality, we’d need to make the planet more Earthlike. But creating the air we need to breathe is a tall task.

Ollie Hirst

By Aaron Tremper

A spacecraft slowly descends to the surface of Mars.