Terraforming Mars, a game with extensive research behind it

I really liked the concept from Nature magazine—it’s a game backed by extensive research (after all, it comes from the scientific journal Nature) about how to terraform Mars, and it asks you how you w

For example, you need to raise the temperature to a moderate level—since the current average is around -70°C—and you have to choose from a range of options within the plan to transform Mars. You pick the one you consider most appropriate. Let's go with the most extreme one—the one proposed by Elon Musk: using nuclear explosions to vaporize the polar ice and fill the atmosphere with heat-trapping gases. Let's see what score we get: a bad choice—zero.

If you choose different options, you’ll get different scores; but what’s really interesting—and what I liked most—is that beyond the gameplay itself (the steps taken to colonize and determining the best options based on current scientific data), everything is well-documented. There are supplementary readings at the bottom, and you can access scientific reports—in this case, from 2025—on terraforming Mars. I think it’s brilliant and entertaining. The game scores your choices based on existing scientific reports regarding the best ways to transform Mars—or at least establish a secure colony there that has everything a colony needs to function.

There is a distinction between a base—whether for mining or scientific research—and a colony. At a base, people stay for a few months, or perhaps up to a year, to carry out a specific mission or job—mining operations, scientific exploration, research, and so on—before returning home to Earth. A colony is something different; it is your home. In that Martian colony, Mars becomes your home—the place where you live, raise your family, and care for your loved ones.

And naturally, it will need greenhouses, factories to produce goods, and textile factories to make clothing—everything necessary to live comfortably on Mars. You have the source material if you want to experiment with life on Mars. It would also help to know how to take care of that planet.

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