“I don’t know why you’re on Mars… But whatever the reason you’re on Mars, I’m glad you’re there. And I wish I was with you. This is part of the recorded message that astrophysicist Carl Sagan left for future humans on Mars, months before his death in 1966. On average, Mars is about 140 million miles from Earth; 250 million at its farthest point and 30 million at its shortest point. If you were to take the shortest possible non-stop trip to Mars and back with our current technology, you would be in a spacecraft for over a year, and the way there would take another seven to eight months. What would make this trip worth it? Why is the exploration of Mars so important for the future of humanity? To answer these questions, we first need to know the geography of Mars. Mars is the closest planet to the sun after Mercury, Venus and Earth. It is believed that at one time Mars looked a lot like Earth. Large floods have altered the surface and left features similar to those we see on Earth today, ancient floodplains and massive valleys cover the face of Mars. But now Mars' atmosphere is too thin and too cold for water to persist on the surface. The water that was once there has retreated toward the ice caps at the North and South Poles. But the amount of ice is nowhere near what it would be if all the water on the planet froze. Perhaps the water evaporated entirely into the atmosphere, leaving behind the dry rocky surface we see now. But then why is Mars' atmosphere so thin? Perhaps all the water absorbed into the soil and its remains disperse into the soil deep down. Knowing the history of water on Mars is the key to understanding the full history of its climate and how planets evolved, including Earth. If we can unlock the...... middle of paper...... end up storming out on the way. The spacecraft could explode on launch, be riddled by asteroids along the way, or burst into flames on the way down, these are all hypothetical things that anyone wanting to take this trip must be mentally prepared to accept. Additionally, any human on Mars will not be able to set foot outside a pressurized room without a spacesuit. Any leak could quickly kill a person. There is not enough air in the atmosphere to vent it into living capsules of any kind. So where could people get air in the first place? On Mars, there was the idea of ​​putting the soil in an oven where the ice crystals in the soil could be converted into breathable air, but this may only work for a while. So, as a population grows and advances over time, we have come to the point where we have to ask ourselves: "To go to Mars, or not to Mars »?”