> The third stage would begin when the Mars population exceeds 10,000 people. At this point, a Martian colony should have its own bio-foundry to engineer its ow

> The third stage would begin when the Mars population exceeds 10,000 people. At this point, a Martian colony should have its own bio-foundry to engineer its own microbes on demand. “This won’t happen for a long time, though. It's a possibility only when the planet is colonized. We’re probably hundreds of years away from it,” said Averesh. Well. There's Clark's first law - "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong." - which isn't directly applicable here, but looks awfully close.