Mars, also known as the Red Planet, is the only planet we know to be inhabited entirely by robots. This is understandable; the environment of Mars has been determined to be inhospitable for life, and scientists have found no evidence of past or present life. It is estimated that there were habitable conditions on Mars approximately 4 billion years ago, but, as there is no evidence of any life whatsoever, it can be assumed that microorganisms either did not survive or did not exist to begin with.
The dry, rocky, bitter cold of Mars is a subject of intrigue for many NASA scientists. In fact, students participating in the NASA High School Aerospace Scholars program (see this link for more information, applications open to humans that are juniors in fall 2024) are doing research with the express goal of getting to Mars. When one types in “why is NASA so in,” the first choice on Google is “why is NASA so interested in Mars,” a question to which there are many answers.
According to NASA, they have four main goals for their exploration of Mars:
- Determine if life ever arose on Mars
- Characterize the climate of Mars
- Characterize the geology of Mars
- Prepare for the human exploration of Mars (the robots will be alone no more!)
Happy Red Planet Day! Here’s some information if you would like to learn more about Mars!
