NASA Wants to Terraform Mars?

That's what I read in this Gizmodo article .....wwwweeeeeeell terraforming may be stretching it, but NASA is considering sending plants on the next rover mission.  Nope, no furrows or holes with seeds in them.... there WILL be a modified Cubesat box with Earth air, dirt and a small handful of seeds from a plant that is a cousin to the mustard plant.  Oh and the box will be no where near Martian dirt but  positioned on the back of the rover (less and less glamorous ).   However this experiment, called the Mars Plant Experiment, would be entirely self-contained and will hopefully help lay the foundation for a long-term, sustainable base and possibly even colonization of Mars

Now don't go looking for a brand new rover on Mars, anytime soon.  NASA's next Mars rover, which is scheduled to launch in mid-2020 and land on the Red Planet in early 2021.

Read the Space.com article HERE

Plants on alien worlds, it isn't easy being green

The greenery on other planets may not be green. Astrobiologists say plants on Earth-sized planets orbiting stars somewhat brighter than the Sun may look yellow or orange, while those on planets orbiting stars much fainter than the Sun might look black. Vegetation colour matters to astrobiologists because they want to know what to look for as a sign of life on planets outside the solar system. Terrestrial photosynthesis depends mostly on red light, the most abundant wavelength reaching the Earth's surface, and blue light, the most energetic. Plants also absorb green light, but not as strongly, so leaves look green to the eye. Extraterrestrial plants will look different because they have evolved their own pigments based on the colours of light reaching their surfaces.

submitted by Shaun A. Saunders