Mars, despite its
inhospitable nature, is the planet in the Solar System that is most like the
Earth. Data uncovered by robotic probes have suggested that Mars was even more
Earthlike in the distant past, with a thick atmosphere, running water, and
perhaps complex life. Martian microbes
may have survived in some form, perhaps underneath the Martian surface.
Scientists are excited at the idea of finding extraterrestrial life, albeit in
microbial form. The discovery of such life might have profound implications for
our view of ourselves in the universe.
Other visionaries,
such as Robert Zubrin, believe that Mars may become the home of a “new branch
of human civilization.” Just as pioneers settled the Americas in the 17th through 19th
Centuries, future pioneers may settle Mars and create a new human community on
the Red Planet. Mars would literally become the new frontier of the 21st
and subsequent centuries. Some suggest that, using terraforming techniques, Mars
can be returned to its pristine, prehistoric condition, with a breathable
atmosphere, rivers, oceans, and life that can exist without mechanical life
support systems. In the distant future, human beings may be able to walk on the
Martian surface as humans do on the Earth. Mars would no longer be the Red
Planet, but a second Blue Planet as the human species extends itself beyond the
Earth, across the Solar System, and eventually, to the stars.