Trees to be grown on Mars

ANNOVIA ^ | FR Post 12-29-04 | Luiz Cruz Kuri

[vannrox]

Trees to be grown on Mars

A new project from Nasa and three Mexican universities will grow trees on Mars.

The Earth Formation in Mars Project will plant a special type of tree on the red planet that grows on the highest mountain of Mexico, Orizaba Peak.

Nacional Autonoma University of Mexico, Veracruzana University, Veracruz University and Nasa have been researching the trees for years.

Because of the high places they grow - with little oxygen and extreme cold - they are thought to be ideal for the project.

Researcher Luiz Cruz Kuri told Clarin newspaper: "Orizaba Peak has the highest line of trees in the world. We can take then to Mars."

[johnnycap]

I wonder how many illegal Mexicans are gonna sneak onto that ship.

[bjs1779]

Possible vegetation: The thickness of the dark structures increases at lower altitudes, just as it does on Earth. The edges have a fractal character, almost a signature of vegetation on Earth. On the right, a radial quality, much like terrestrial life with a stem or trunk, may be discerned. Sources: M1001442.gif & M0804688.gif.

"I'm now convinced that Mars is inhabited by a race of demented landscape gardeners," Sir Arthur C. Clarke announced recently.

The author of 2001: A Space Odyssey was only half-joking. He claims that an image produced by the Mars Global Surveyor satellite shows "large areas of vegetation . . . like banyan trees." Most experts dismiss the idea. But Popular Science loves a free thinker, especially one as talented and charming as Sir Arthur. We questioned him in Sri Lanka via e-mail.

http://www.ultor.org/Popular%20Science%20%20The%20Banyan%20trees%20of%20Mars.htm

[Ignatz]

Companies will be formed...like SPACE TRUCK LINES....or SPACE MOVERS.

I think I'll start a company now so I can be ready. How about OVERSPACE CARTAGE, INC.?

[sheik yerbouty]

At least the good captain never went back to the head on the Enterprise to retrieve his captain's logs!

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Of course, once we plant forests on Mars, you know that the tree huggers won't be far behind.

[SunkenCiv]

Arthur C. Clarke Stands By His Belief in Life on Mars
by Leonard David
Monday, 11 September, 2000
Space.com

Clarke spoke last night, June 6, via phone from his home in Sri Lanka as key speaker in the Wernher von Braun Memorial Lecture series held here at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. Pouring over images on his home computer taken by the now-orbiting Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), Clarke said that there are signs of vegetation evident in the photos. Clarke repeated several times that he was serious about his observations, pointing out that he sees something akin to Banyan trees in some MGS photos.

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Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe

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[SunkenCiv]

No liquid water, and the atmospheric pressure as can be found on Earth at 40 miles altitude... yeah, it's gonna turn Mars into an old-growth forest in no time. ;')

[Lazamataz]

I wonder how many illegal Mexicans are gonna sneak onto that ship.

LOL!

"Just doing the jobs that Martians won't do."

[KevinDavis]

Very Interesting...

[Future Snake Eater]

LOL! That's a good one...

[Turbopilot]

He said suck your brains...

(I'm bad.)

[Wilhelm Tell]

I suspect that this story is false because any plants placed on Mars would forever ruin experiments to see if Mars ever had life (Is that virus from Mars or did it hitchhike on a tree that was planted?).

Someday we do need to think about terraforming Mars and seeing if any plants could survive on Mars would be a good experiment.

The environmentalist extremists (and possibly some religious cultists) would go violent over this. I predict that there would be terrorist attack attempts against any facility involved in researching bringing life to Mars. A lot of crazies would think that bringing life to Mars is a crime against the "purity" of nature or a sin against God or Allah or whatever. Bringing life to a dead planet would be a beautiful act of creation, and some people's "morality" forbids creation and only allows for death and destruction.

[ken21]

mexico landed a man on the moon in 1917.

[MeekOneGOP]

[U S Army EOD]

Our basic problem on this planet is the lack of abundant intelligent life. Take the Democratic party for instance.

[longtermmemmory]

Didn't ray bradbury write this in a short story about a future mars?

[U S Army EOD]

Your theory is unsound, the UN will own and control the whore houses so what good will they do to benefit mankind?

[U S Army EOD]

Do you think we could plant trees on the sun at night?

[U S Army EOD]

Well, if I remember right, "THE THING", was a vegetable So all of this is starting to make more sense.

[U S Army EOD]

Do you think if we just lied to them and told them there were trees on Mars, they would leave and go up there?