[cripplecreek]

Well, not quite. Not the kind of soil that has had eons of moisture , decayed plant and animal material in it along with little microscopic bugs and things to aerate it.

That is my first problem with the plan to send people on a one way trip to mars. The surface soil appears to be quite sterile and highly alkaline. You can't just scoop up some martian dirt, throw it in a pot, put tomato seeds and water in it and expect it to grow.

The soil will need a lot of conditioning including a whole series of microbial treatments.

[jmacusa]

Indeed. But without an atmosphere to shield the planet from deadly radiation, nothing is going to happen. The creation of an atmosphere is a kind of ‘’ankle bone connected to the leg bone’’ thing. You need a molten iron core to generate a magnetic field which creates and atmosphere and contains it. Once the inner core cools down, the magnetic field weakens and the atmosphere begins to evaporate. Once the core has cooled to the point where it cannot sustain the magnetic field, it’s game over.