Yes. But remember, it's science fiction.
What would be the point of terraforming a planet that never gets above -100c? even if something could be made to grow in that temperature? It would STILL be uninhabitable by man for many reasons, temperature, gravity, radiaton.
It's near impossible to live at the north pole on earth for any significant length of time, never mind mars with the barest of supplies and shelter.
Maybe in another 500 years or so we can go for a quick visit when we discover warp engines, Scotty. Or learn to open up worm holes, or space portals, or...
But it’s our atmosphere that keeps our planet from being either a frosty tundra or a barren dust blown crater magnet.
It keeps the temperatures the way they are, and protects the close in surface. Mars is not all that different otherwise.
Perhaps what it needs to develop an atmosphere, is just a long continual nudge, until it begins to sustain an atmosphere all by itself.