With his “Death Ray Zorcher,” no less!
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Oh, heavens to Bradbury…
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I was about to suggest water-fluffs with brine-shrimp DNA, but that would only work on the eggs (if there were any).
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You know, if the humans just asked nicely, the Martians probably wouldn’t mind some terraforming.
I mean, look at Mars. It’s just red sand and red rocks. A splash of greenery would really brighten up the place.
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Sure it would…
Prances among the dunes and rocks, wearing a pink spacesuit
“And then we can liven up this whole area with mirrored walls, and maybe some track lighting?
And a tiger-print rug and…oh, my stars…Is that PAISLEY!? Gag me with Dior, Darling! That simply HAS to go! It just SCREAMS ‘cheugy!’ And that cliff can absolutely ZING with a dingle-ball hanging from the edge, and then…”
Martians staring in silent dismay; some actually facepalming
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Extreme Makeover: Planet Edition! I’d watch that show.
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Queer Eye for the Space Guy!
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There’s an obvious joke about the 7th planet from the sun I could make, but that’s low hanging fruit.
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Low and to the back, I’d wager…
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I saw that and the premise of the story and went. “Mark Watney would be proud to have an terra-forming group of fluffies in his name”
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I hadn’t thought about that. I’d imagine not. Sketti should be a treat, not the norm.
Glad to surprise you 
Yes, but only relatively speaking, and only to specific hazards. That said, they’d be a far better fit for the overall situation than actual livestock animals for a vast number of reasons.
Side thought after the fact: the poop would likely be used to breed bacteria to make methane with. The methane would then be used as a power source (heating and cooking at the very least). Mars is not the cleanest place, so solar wouldn’t be reliable without a lot of external labor.
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It’s probably cleaner than Earth, especially after what we’ve done to this place.
Well, all the dust and dirt plus winds (such as they are) would cover over solar panels fairly regularly.
How bad are the dust storms on Mars? | Cool Cosmos.
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Obvious solution: bigass vacuum cleaner. Just suck all the dust up and put it somewhere else.
But of course, we can’t ever do anything the fun way.
Hold on. You said winds. Why not just use wind turbines? Shit, the Dutch can help with that, windmills are our thing!
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That’s a good question, but not one I can answer. Cool idea though! Designing for such a rough environment ought be an interesting challenge.
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Better answer: it probably COULD after significant genetic modification. But then you wouldn’t have X anymore, you’d have XY. I think the creation of fluffies would lead to there being a very significant amount of data on how things work for them, what does what (in theory), etc., mixed with practical experience. Their legal status helps, too.
In theory, this could eventually lead to tech for doing the same process on humans, but that’s got TONS more legal, ethical, and technical challenges. IIRC, there’s actual research now looking into how hibernation works in hopes that maybe it could be used for long trips to Mars or further (ie, stuff that might not get used within even a few decades from now).
For a long-term project like a colony? I’d expect they’d eventually have different breeds of tardigrade fluffy with different purposes. Right now what they have is a baseline model with some general jobs: convert cheap organics and inorganics into other things within the local biosphere system plus provide emotional relief/support for the crew who could not bring their own pets (dogs, cats, lizards, whatever).
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Do the Martians look like Dejah Thoris as played by Lynn Collins in the movie a few years ago? I need to get to Mars!
i love this
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now have someone taking one like a pill, lol
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“Duuude, gimme a hit of that fluffy…”
It’d probably be quite non-descript in that case.
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