US Government is Engineering Organisms That Will Make it Possible to Live on Mars

The US Governement’s military science wing is in the process of engineering organisms that will transform Mars into an Earth-like planet capable of supporting human life.

The process known as ‘terraforming’ - artificially transforming a planet’s ecosystem - would involve warming up the red planet’s atmosphere by cultivating green plants, algae and bacteria on Mars’s barren terrain.

According to Motherboard, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - better known as DARPA - has developed new software that makes it easier to genetically engineer organisms of all types, rather than just e.coli and yeast which are the two most commonly used substances in synthetic experiments,

Part of the US Department of Defense, DARPA is an advanced military research division that is constantly working on future innovations.

As well as being used to potentially colonise a new planet, the technology could also be used to repair Earth-based ecosystems following natural disasters an indeed Earth will provide the testing ground for future use in space.

DARPA was created in 1958 by president Eisenhower in response to the potential threat posed by the launch of the Soviet Sputnik satellite.

(Image credit: PA)