How to Terraform Mars – Erika DeBenedictis

Pioneer Labs, a nonprofit research group, has engineered a microbe that eats Martian dirt and excretes bioplastic. It is the first step of their "five organism" plan to terraform Mars and make the planet habitable. This interview is with Erika DeBenedictis, the co-founder and CEO of Pioneer Labs.

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0:00 A first microbe engineered for Mars
5:03 Simulating Martian chemistry
8:27 The five "pioneer species"
17:20 Water, warming, and nitrogen
26:39 Radiation, growth rates, and poor measurements
35:49 Starship
41:05 Why create a second biosphere?