Growing Earth plants on Mars

[Enviro-mental]

I read on the Green Geek that they've invented a Robotic machine to grow Earth plants on Mars. Its called the Le Petit Prince. What are your thoughts on this?

"Looking quite like something straight out of Star Wars, ‘Le Petit Prince’ (Little Prince) is a robot designed to seek out optimal conditions and nutrients on the surface of Mars, and then grow an Earth plant inside it’s protective dome. Swarming over the Martian landscape, each robot has the ability to communicate with the other robots and transfer information about movement, location, and other sensor data, allowing each one to learn and improve it’s actions based on input from every other unit."

Robot Designed To Help Earth Plants Grow On Mars | The Green Geek

[Amoeba]

There's something I don't quite like about this but I can't really pinpoint anything in particular. I'm not sure.

Maybe it has to do with the reasons for terraforming, because we are unable to live in harmony with the planet we currently reside on we have to expand, and the same would probably happen to Mars. Maybe it has to do with sentiment, Mars is a beautiful planet and terraforming it would remove from it what makes it unique.

I know this isn't actual terraforming but it's probably the closest step anyone has seriously considered taking towards it.

I like the last line:

so every effort should be made to fix the damage to our own planet, and look to Mars only as a next step in our exploration of space, not a replacement for Earth.

[loripo]

I take it that 'the little prince' is named after the one in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's story about the prince who lived on a tiny plant with 3 volcanoes and fell in love with a rose.
The Little Prince - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But it reminds me too of the film 'Silent Running' (1970's) where a small robot was left to look after a dome containing remnants of Earth's forests

YouTube - Silent Running (1972) Part 9

Unless we can find a way of reaching Mars without it taking generations I cant see the point. We'd just trash Mars too.

[valleyforge]

Originally Posted by Enviro-mental

... and then grow an Earth plant inside it’s protective dome.

Greetings Martians ... we come in peas !!

[loripo]

and lettuce be friends

[Meta menardi]

Originally Posted by loripo

and lettuce be friends

Now you're bean silly.