Phase 2: Turning up the Heat
 
 

To produce heat we would need hydrogen (H), carbon (C), and oxygen (O). Hydrogen can be imported from Earth. Carbon and oxygen are two elements in the Martian atmosphere. They can be acquired easily. We can filter carbon dioxide by condensing it into a liquid state and then removing other gases. Then we can vaporize off the holding tanks of carbon dioxide. Thus, it will be distilled 100 percent pure. Now that we have the three elements, we can make a reaction with oxygen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen by using a reaction called the methanation reaction. This reaction is also called the Sabatier reaction, which produces methane and water from carbon dioxide and hydrogen. This is written:

CO₂+4H₂® CH₄+2H₂O

This reaction releases heat. Because of this, it is exothermic, and no energy is required to do it. This reaction would give us not only heat, but also water.

Other way of warming Mars is by using orbiting mirrors which could be capable of warming the surface of Mars to terrestrial temperatures.

Another way is by setting up factories that produce the strongest greenhouse gases known to us, the halocarbons. We could use a gas called perfluoromethane, CF₄. This would require several hundreds billions dollars.

The best way to "turn up the heat" is by using biological assistants, bacteria. Bacteria can metabolize nitrogen and water to produce ammonia. Nitrogen can be found on Mars on nitrate beds. Bacterial ecology can synthesize water and carbon dioxide into methane. Ammonia and methane would shield Mars’ surface against solar ultraviolet radiation, too.