Did an asteroid terraform Mars?

A celestial body the size of Ceres dwarf planet collided with Mars and broke away a part of its Northern Hemisphere. (NASA)

It left behind a deposit of rich minerals. The debris left after the collision slowly came together to form the two moons – Phobos and Deimos, according to a research paper, recently published in the Geophysical Research Letters by Stephen Mojzsis and Ramon Brasser.

According to the study, the rich minerals account for 0.8 percent of Mars. The theory is known as "Single Impact Hypothesis”.

Stephen Mojzsis said in a statement, "We showed in this paper — that from dynamics and from geochemistry — that we could explain these three unique features of Mars.”

“This solution is elegant, in the sense that it solves three interesting and outstanding problems about how Mars came to be,” he added further.

Can humans terraform Mars and make it habitable? Former NASA top scientist Jim Green has said that humans can Terraform Mars. Not just the Red Planet, he said that perhaps even Venus. Green was speaking to the New York Times.

Green has said that Mars can be made habitable for humans through some really nifty technology. He said that a giant magnetic shield can be used to stop the sun from stripping the red planet’s atmosphere. (Unsplash)

How will that help in making Mars habitable? It would help in  raising the surface temperature of the planet. Mars is much colder than Earth. Average Mars temperature is about -81 degrees F. (Unsplash)

NASA says, "The temperature on Mars can be as high as 70 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) or as low as about -225 degrees Fahrenheit (-153 degrees Celsius)."

Mars is cold because the atmosphere is so thin and this allows the heat from the Sun to easily escape out into space.