Will Mars finally answer, ‘Are we alone?’

We looked at how and why Venus could answer the question. Its atmosphere is hospitable for life despite its harsh environment. The planet Mars, also known as the Red Planet and the fourth planet in our solar system, has been a source of fascination for sky watchers for thousands of years.

In terms of space exploration, Mars has been visited more than any other planet. There are 3 rovers and 1 lander on Mars, along with over a dozen orbiters teaching us something new every day. What makes Mars so interesting?

Antonio Paris is the Chief Research Scientist with The Center for Planetary Science and author of Mars: Your Personal 3D Journey to the Red Planet. The mysteries of the Solar System, such as how did life on Earth begin and will our planet meet the same fate as Mars, can be solved with the help of the Red Planet.

Mars is both a cold and dry world with an average surface temperature of -140 degrees to 21 degrees Celsius and not a drop of liquid water on the surface. The lack of pressure in the atmosphere is the reason for the lack of water. This isn't good for life as we know it. What makes Mars so interesting?

Dr. Day said thatMars used to look like Earth. Liquid water flowed across the surface that carved river valleys and formed lakes. Mars is an interesting target because it used to have a lot of lakes. The Mars 2020 rover, Perseverance, is exploring a dry paleo- lake with a delta deposit. The best place to find signs of life are in the smallest grains, because Deltas organize sand, mud, and gravel by size. Taking advantage of what we know about the Nile River Delta or Mississippi River Delta will improve the rovers chances of making exciting discoveries.

The current Mars missions are trying to figure out if life once existed on the surface or if it was just beneath the surface. Humans can't study Mars directly because we don't have any samples back on Earth NASA is planning to launch a Mars sample return mission in the late 2020s. The Perseverance rover is currently working on samples that will be returned to Earth sometime next decade. How could the returned samples help us understand Mars better?

The suite of samples that the rover is collecting is being carefully selected to get a little bit of everything because there are so many questions that could be answered with an actual piece of Mars. Many laboratory tools and methods that the rover doesn't have can be used with actual samples. The samples will give us a better idea of what happened on ancient Mars.

Is Mars able to support life for a long time? We don't know what the current missions will uncover about the Red Planet. In the next few years, these questions will be answered.

There is a lot of speculation about the existence of life on Mars. I would choose lava tubes as the places to look for life on Mars. Many of the lava tubes on Mars remain closed off, which can be important locations for direct observation and study of Martian geology, as well as potentially uncovering any evidence for the development of life early in the natural history of Mars.

We wonder if Mars will reply, "Are we alone?"

Continue to do science and look up!

A true-color image of the Red Planet was taken by India's Mars Orbiter Mission from 76,000 kilometers away. The file is licensed under a Generic license.