Hello Everyone,

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, the next planet furthest out from Earth. It just barely missed being in the Goldilocks zone for our Sun by just a bit. At one time in its life (after forming from the planetary debris field), it had temporarily been able to support liquid water. This is why it is so interesting to us, because who knows what could have happened within that liquid water environment. This is all possible because the Sun, in its initial span of life, burned hotter and brighter than the Sun we know today, which is good, because it provides the third planet, our Earth, with just the right amount of energy to keep us from freezing solid or boiling all of our water away.

From ancient times,

The red color (from the iron oxides) of Mars has spurned on ancient civilizations to associate it as the Roman God of War (by association with blood and fire). Nowadays, we look up and see the red color and think of the beautiful barren Martian landscape that our landers and probes have sent back to us. The probes and landers we have sent provide us pictures and significant scientific data on the planet, all in order for us to understand it better (the past and present). Due to the polar ice caps and identification of ancient waterways (run off), it is currently the most likely candidate for human visitors in the future.