Will Humans Ever Go to Mars?

Technology has advanced so much that we can imagine exploring beyond Earth as a mission for our civilization. Unfortunately, it is not that simple. Space missions, especially crewed ones, are extremely expensive. Even so, new advances in space exploration continue to appear.

For now, humans are prioritizing two main destinations: the Moon and Mars. They are relatively close rocky bodies, although their conditions are extremely different, and both are incompatible with life, at least as we know it on Earth.

However, Mars is the planet with the greatest potential to be terraformed, although it still has serious problems. The main issue is that you cannot breathe on Mars, at least not the way we do on Earth. Artificial oxygen would have to be produced for breathing, similar to what is done on the International Space Station.

In addition, Mars has a very thin atmosphere, which means it receives a large amount of solar and cosmic radiation. On top of that, Mars has an extremely cold climate, with temperatures that can range from around 20 °C (68 °F) during the day to about −100 °C (−148 °F) or even lower at night. It also experiences dust storms that can cover large parts of the planet.

Communication from Mars would also be a major challenge because of the huge distance between the planets. Signals can take between about 4 and 24 minutes to travel one way, depending on the position of Earth and Mars. Since the speed of light is the universal limit, the electromagnetic waves that carry communication signals take several minutes to arrive. On the Moon, the delay would be about 1.3 seconds, but if someone were on Mars, saying “hello” over the radio could take several minutes to be received on Earth.

Currently, there are two robots operating on Mars and sending data back to Earth: the Perseverance rover, which landed in 2021, and the Curiosity rover, which landed in 2012. These robots collect soil samples, including minerals, rock types, and geological formations, to better understand the Martian terrain.

For example, this is a very recent image taken by the Perseverance rover on March 8, 2026. On NASA’s official website, you can see all the photos both robots are taking, so it is common to find images from the same day.

Does Mars Have Water?

Yes. Although many people mistakenly believe that only Earth has water, many planets contain water. On Mars, the water is frozen, mainly at the poles and underground. However, it is not fresh water. Most of it contains high levels of minerals, especially salts.

Is There Any Crewed Mission to Mars?

No. At the moment there is no official crewed mission to Mars. Both NASA and SpaceX, which currently lead many advances in space exploration, are focusing their efforts on the Moon.

However, a few years ago Elon Musk said that by the late 2030s SpaceX could begin sending equipment that might eventually allow astronauts to live on Mars. For now, that possibility is still far away.

Artemis Program: NASA Wants to Return Humans to the Moon

The last time a human walked on the Moon was more than 53 years ago during NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Currently, the Artemis II mission is preparing for launch in April, although it has experienced several delays. I personally followed this mission very closely, but unfortunately its early February launch was postponed. If everything goes well, it could launch with astronauts in April 2026.

However, Artemis II will only orbit the Moon with astronauts on board. The future Artemis III mission will be the one aiming to land astronauts on the lunar surface again.

Is There a Realistic Date for a Crewed Mission to Mars?

Everything I say here is speculation, but if someone asked me, I would say we first need to see the next missions to the Moon. Once those missions are completed, attention could shift more seriously toward Mars. If we are optimistic, we might be among the first people on Earth to witness astronauts arriving on Mars before 2040.

Interested in Space Exploration?

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