Sticks in my mind that someone proposed, years ago, that the Martian ice caps be seeded with lichens, so they can multiply, darken the surface so more solar radiation is retained as heat. With increasing heat, the ice caps start to melt, and the lichens convert the CO2 to O2.
Steve
That is what is desired. Nothing prevents a mutation that produces something elseāor nothing (of use, anyway).
True, but the utility of Mars, in itās present condition, isnāt that great. It isnāt like a swamp that has a vigorous and diverse biosystem now.
Steve
Or it is nothing like what we can imagineā¦
It might work. Seed Mars with lichen and various bacteria, then come back in a billion years and there may be larger animals evolving, maybe even highly sentient animals with growing intelligence such as humans.
However, the odds are very much against it. If you were to seed a million or a hundred million planets this way, then the odds would be a little better.
By that time theyāll probably be trying to figure out how to seed earth, as we will likely have killed it entirely by then. They will be surprised to come here and find ā¦ nothing, except maybe a broken VCR playing a clip of the same movie over and over.
And a quasi humanoid AI robot trained to clean things up. 
Would that be the goal? I thought the intent was to make Mars more habitable for human habitation - send the lichens, they grow wildly and partially terraform the planet (increase the albedo, add O2 to the atmosphere, etc.). Not to wait until the planet can evolve new life forms.
Okay, so you come back after 100 million years instead.
A journey of 1000 miles beings with a single step.
Steveā¦heard that somewhere
Maybe but youād certainly see it flashing 12:00
Mike
The atmosphere is thin. Disturb the polar ice and the atmosphere would probably lose some of the water. That would be an expensive mistake.