Why humans must not give up the quest for Mars | Nicky Jenner
When US president Donald Trump called astronauts aboard the International Space Station last week to congratulate Peggy Whitson, who now holds the record for the most time spent in space by a Nasa astronaut, he also asked when he could expect to see humans land on Mars (answer: the 2030s). "Well, we want to do it in my first term or at worst in my second term," he joked, "so we'll have to speed that up a bit."
Nasa's not alone in its mission. Space agencies worldwide are aiming for Mars, and the coming decades hold numerous plans for manned and unmanned missions. Although other worlds in the solar system hold significant scientific promise (not least Saturn's moon Enceladus, which hosts a salty underground ocean and was found to have almost all of the ingredients needed to support life as we know it about a week ago), it seems that we just love Mars the most. Too much? I don't think so.
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