And where is NASA getting this money?? Besides I have read where CO2 is not a problem here on earth.

Me dino read that Earth got its water from asteroids and meteors crashing on it.
Must be plenty of that in the Asteroid Belt.
So me dino sez divert some of those heavenly bodies to blow Mars all to hell.
Econazis would protest about all those lovely fireworks transforming all the planet's scenic pristine whatevers,
but we wanna terraform Mars anyhoo while me dino loves to see gargantuan explosions. Bwahaha!

The intention is to make methane (CH4) and oxygen, which theoretically should be possible using the atmospheric or solid CO2 and water, which has been confirmed to exist on Mars. I suspect what NASA is looking for is a small enough generating system that can reside in a small unmanned rover as a proof of concept before we start sending people there.

This is similar to a project I worked on several years ago where solar energy (light) and carbon dioxide were used by specially bred algae to produce oxygen and complex hydrocarbons. I am sure NASA is aware of this as it was a NASA project. I have given the process some additional thought over the years so maybe I should submit my ideas. Should be fun.

Why not send up a bunch of blue/green algae and spread them in as many places as possible? Cyanobacteria use Photosynthesis, so Oxygen is a byproduct. Also, once there is enough of them (much as we are already doing here on Earth) you can create fuel from them. The only issue is the lack of water on Mars' surface. The other issue that comes to play is the overall amount of Iron in Mars' soil. There is a hypothesis going around that one of the reasons that Oxygen is limited on Mars is that the majority is bound in the Iron making Hematite or Goethite, the majority of the rest is captured within the CO2 in the planet's atmosphere. Unlike Earth where the majority of the Iron has sunk to it's core or trapped in the mantle, Mars hasn't had such fortunes. So there are a few obstacles to overcome besides just converting CO2 into something a little more useful. That is, unless you want to fuel a base, provide some oxygen for it's inhabitants, and maybe some food/fertilizer.

The concept of making fuel out of the CO2 in the martian atmosphere is so common in sci-fi I actually thought a process already existed to do it. Maybe there's a theoretical reaction but not process to realize it with equipment that would fit on a space ship.

The long-winded way of saying they're seeking CO2 reaction processes is funny.

Simple plants turn CO2 into C and O2. I suggest evergreen because of the cold climate. The carbon stays in the plant the oxygen and water vapor gets released into the atmosphere

If there's so much CO2 in Mars atmosphere, why is the planet so darn cold? I thought CO2 caused global warming. Someone needs to sick algor on this quickly.

NASA is stealing outside competitive ideas again, ie, from Robert Zubrin-Mars Society and others then claim it as there own. There are no more creative thinking people left at NASA. Even when they're talking about sending astronauts to Mars they don't say anything about creating centrifugal gravity or a magnetic field around the craft to deflect interstellar particulate radiation. I remember reading a long time ago in Analog Scifi magazine an article about doing that.

Maybe a better endeavor to try and turn common materials into gold.

Why? Greenhouse gasses are essential for terraforming Mars. What we deem industrial pollution woyls help contain/retain an atmosphere. Further, trees and other oxygen generating foliage consume co2.