Is There Life on Mars? The Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Introduction

Mars is a cold, dry desert today. But billions of years ago, it was warm and wet, much like Earth.

The Evidence

• Ancient Riverbeds: Rovers like Curiosity and Perseverance have found dried-up river deltas.
• Ice: Mars has polar ice caps made of water and CO2.
• Methane: Spikes in methane gas have been detected, which could be a sign of biological activity.

Future Missions

NASA plans to bring rock samples back to Earth in the 2030s. Elon Musk's SpaceX aims to send humans to Mars to build a colony.

Related: The James Webb Telescope: Seeing the Universe Like Never Before

Conclusion

Finding even a single microbe on Mars would prove that life is not unique to Earth.