Mission to Mars

The mysterious Red Planet, a land of imagination, dreams, and hopes, is one still to explore and is well within our reach. Again, the question is not so much whether we will go there, but more one of how do we get there, when would this be, and why would we send humans when robots still have difficulties operating that far from home. Out of all the probes sent to Mars, the failure rate is still higher than the success rate, though the odds are improving. No one ever said exploring space was easy or straightforward. Far from it, as the automated exploration of Mars has demonstrated time and time again since the early 1960s.

Again there are countless reasons for exploring the planet. Not least of these is the familiar desire to find evidence of fife as we know it or, more precisely, the chemical evidence of the potential for such life in ancient times. But there are other reasons to go to Mars, including mineral mining, a whole range of scientific studies of a different planet and its environment, and as a staging post for mis­sions farther into the outer reaches of the solar system.

Whatever the next decade or two brings in human space endeavor, it is clear Mars will feature highly in long-range objectives. It is hoped that the “long range” will be shortened somewhat to be achievable in our lifetime.