Mars, a planet towards which man has looked for century as a place where life could potentially dwell.Over the last few years , various missions have sought to determine the probability of such an evolution.  What  we need to support life on mars is a habitable planet. As we know that all form of life require water. This raises a problem on Mars as the planet today is dry and barren with most of its water locked up in the polar ice caps. The planets atmosphere is also not suitable as it is very thin  and allows radiations from the sun. But scientists think that in the past water may have flowed across the surface in rivers. There has been many observations like tiny ufo’s in the atmosphere of earth and also many rocks blown from the red planet. Samples from many meteorites provide hints of possibility of life in the early history of the red planet.

The first closeups of the red planet came from flyby photos taken by mariner 4. Followed up by images from Viking orbiters that revealed dry surface with landforms that give hint that at sometimes there was water on the dry planet. Future missions on mars would include sample returns, bringing pieces of the Martian crust back to Earth. It might be possible that our earth transfers materials to mars.

Q1 is life possible on mars ?

Well this is the most basic question. There are many evidence that support the fact that once there was water on mars. The landscapes resembles that once river used tom flow on the surface of mars and also that once there was life on mars.

Q2 What is the thickness of the atmosphere of Mars?

Ans  The atmosphere of Mars is thin, cold, and dry and contains much less oxygen than the atmosphere of Earth. The oxygen content of the Martian atmosphere is only 0.13 percent, compared with 21 percent in Earth's atmosphere. Carbon dioxide makes up 95.3 percent of the gas in the atmosphere of Mars. It also contains nitrogen and argon and very small amounts of water and methane. Additionally, the atmospheric pressure on Mars is only about 1/100 that of Earth's!

Q3 why mar’s atmosphere is so thin?

Ans Scientists are studying why Mars' atmosphere is so thin. It may be because there's not as much sunlight arriving at Mars as there is on Earth, since Mars is 1 1/2 times farther away from the sun than the Earth is. It may be that Mars had a lot of atmosphere in the early part of the planet's history, but once its magnetic field disappeared, this lack of a protective barrier allowed sunlight to strip away the upper atmosphere, making the atmosphere thinner.

Q3 what will the astronauts do on mars?

Ans  the astronauts will be busy performing three main tasks besides relaxing i.e. construction, maintanence, research

Construction involves working on the settlement so that they can make their new home a comfortable place to live. They will install the corridors between the landers, they will deploy extra solar panels, and they will install equipment, such as greenhouses, inside the habitat and many other stuffs.

Maintenance will be crucial to ensure long-term functionality of all systems. The astronauts lives depend on the technology present in the settlement. All these systems need to be checked and maintained regularly.

Research is also an important part of work on Mars, especially when the settlement is fully operational. What is the history of Mars? Did Mars have a long wet period, or just a few wet years every now and then? When did the dramatic climate change take place? Is there life on Mars now? The astronauts will do their own research, but will also collect data for other researchers, and transmit it to Earth.

Q4 When will we send a mission to the poles of Mars? What are the dangers of such a mission and why?

Ans In the continuing pursuit of water on Mars, the polar regions are a good place to probe, as water ice is found there. NASA has already sent two lander missions to the poles of Mars. The first,mars polar lander(1999) - an ambitious mission to set a spacecraft down on the frigid terrain near the edge of Mars' south polar cap and dig for water ice with a robotic arm - was lost upon arrival. The 2007-2008 Phoenix Mars Mission to the north pole of Mars, on the other hand, was a great success. Phoenix landed farther north than any previous mission, at a latitude equivalent to that of northern Alaska on Earth, and used a robotic arm to dig through the protective top soil layer to the water ice below, bringing both soil and water ice to the lander platform for sophisticated scientific analysis

Another point is that there are frequent dust storms on Mars, making it pitch black and difficult to do activities that use light. More importantly, the technology used for self contained habitats on Mars has not yet been proven. The aforementioned includes the fact that it is very difficult to make Mars self sufficient as there is a need for parts and supplies from the Earth. 

There are also better places to colonise such as space colonies, and they are much closer to Earth, and require the same amount of support as do planetary surfaces. In short, life on Mars is not impossible, but at the same time it is not the best alternative for future colonisation. There are bigger, more economical and suitable habitats.

Methane — the simplest organic molecule — was first discovered in the Martian atmosphere by the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft in 2003. On Earth, much of the atmospheric methane is produced by life, such as cattle digesting food. Methane is suspected to be stable in the Martian atmosphere for only about 300 years, so whatever is generating this gas did so recently. 

Still, there are ways to produce methane without life, such as volcanic activity. ESA's ExoMars spacecraft planned for launch in 2016 will study the chemical composition of Mars' atmosphere to learn more about this methane.

Q2)Does Liquid Water run on the surface of mars now?

Although large amounts of evidence suggest that liquid water once ran on the surface of Mars, it remains an open question as to whether or not it occasionally flows on the face of the Red Planet now. The planet's atmospheric pressure is too low, at about 1/100th of Earth's, for liquid water to last on the surface. However, dark, narrow lines seen on Martian slopes hint that saltwater could be running down them every spring.

Q3) Were there oceans on Mars?

Numerous missions to Mars have revealed a host of features on the Red Planet that suggest it was once warm enough for liquid water to run across its surface. These features include what appear to be vast oceans, valley networks, river deltas and minerals that required water to form. 

However, current models of early Mars' climate cannot explain how such warm temperatures could have existed, as the sun was much weaker back then, leading some to ask whether these features might have been created by winds or other mechanisms. Still, there is evidence suggesting that ancient Mars was warm enough to support liquid water in at least one site on its surface. Other findings hint that ancient Mars was once cold and wet, not cold and dry nor warm and wet, as is often argued.

Q4) Is there life on Mars?

The first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars, NASA's Viking 1, began a mystery that remains tantalizingly unsolved: Is there evidence of life on Mars? Viking represented the first and so far only attempt to search for life on Mars, and its findings are hotly debated today. Viking had detected organic molecules such as methyl chloride and dichloromethane. However, these compounds were dismissed as terrestrial contamination — namely, cleaning fluids used to prepare the spacecraft when it was still on Earth. 

The surface of Mars is very hostile to life as we know it, in terms of cold, radiation, hyper-aridity and other factors. Still, there are numerous examples of life surviving in extreme environments on Earth, such as the cold, dry soils of the Antarctic Dry Valleys and the hyper-arid Atacama Desert in Chile. 

There is life virtually wherever there is liquid water on Earth, and the possibility that there were once oceans on Mars leads many to wonder if life ever evolved on Mars and, if so, whether it might be extant. Answering these questions might help shed light on how common life may or may not be in the rest of the universe.

Q5) Did life on Earth begin on Mars?

Meteorites discovered in Antarctica that came from Mars — blasted off the Red Planet by cosmic impacts — have structures that resemble ones made by microbes on Earth. Although much research since then suggests chemical rather than biological explanations for these structures, the debate continues. These findings do raise the tantalizing possibility that life on Earth actually originated on Mars long ago, carried here on meteorites.

-looking in the library for related books

-searching through newspapers

watching related videos from Youtube and other channels

-reading theses written by researchers

2)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiiX-sfk2iI

3)https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDIQFjAHahUKEwjx4PHtz5HIAhUJco4KHZYLBGU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FLife_on_Mars&usg=AFQjCNHSS--X2PEvjDKbDTxOikt346mkhw&sig2=HpZT67mRJbXdii6bRliogw&bvm=bv.103627116,d.c2E

4)http://www.space.com/8316-nasa-claims-life-mars-positively-false.html

5)http://www.space.com/13681-mars-biggest-mysteries-water-life.html

6)http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/28/tech/mars-photos-alien-life/

7) http://www.mars-one.com/mission/risks-and-challenges#sthash.N65NvD8E.dpuf

Mars One has developed a mission to establish a human settlement on Mars built entirely upon existing technology. While the integration of systems proven in prior missions does greatly improve the chance of success, it by no means eliminates the risk or challenge of such an incredible endeavor. Sending humans to Mars remains a phenomenal undertaking by all standards and, as such, presents very real risks and challenges.

United States President John F. Kennedy said in his famous Rice Moon speech "We choose to go to the Moon, not because it is easy, but because it is hard”.

Mars One takes on the challenge of establishing a settlement on Mars with the same frame of mind, knowing all great endeavors, especially space exploration, incorporate risk of lost time, resources, ... and sometimes lives. Venturing to Mars is no exception.

The challenge is to identify the risks in every step of the ten year Mission, from astronaut selection through training, from launch to living on Mars. Mars One has incorporated into its Mission plan a detailed risk analysis protocol, built by highly experienced individuals, some of them with experience at NASA and the ESA. Ever evolving, ever improving, Mars One is constantly working to reduce the risk of delay and failure at every level.
For example, the Mars lander will be tested eight times prior to the landing of the first crew, using identical vehicles. As is standard in the aerospace industry, every component will be selected for its simplicity, durability, and capacity to be repaired using the facilities that are available to the astronauts on Mars.

An important aspect of risk management is for quality information to be shared between suppliers and made readily available to all parties. In the case of the Mars One Mission, this includes sponsors, investors, aerospace suppliers, and of course, the astronauts themselves. Because the Mission is ultimately funded and supported by the global audience, Mars One also desires for the general public to have a sense of what the risks are and how Mars One is working to mitigate them.

Mars One identifies two major risk categories: the loss of human life and cost overruns.

Human Life

Human space exploration is dangerous at all levels. After more than fifty years of humans traveling from Earth to space, the risk of space flight is similar to that of climbing Mount Everest.
Mars is an unforgiving environment where a small mistake or accident can result in large failure, injury, and death. Every component must work perfectly. Every system (and its backup) must function without fail or human life is at risk.

With advances in technology, shared experience between space agencies, what was once a one-shot endeavor becomes routine and space travel does become more viable.

Cost overruns

Cost overruns are also not uncommon in large projects in any arena. The risk for cost overrun in the Mars One Mission is reduced by using existing technologies, and by the fact that about 66% of the cost is associated with launch and landing--both of which are well understood and proven variables.

The proposed Mars One budget includes a large safety margin to take into account significant mission failures as well as smaller but costly failures of components on Mars.

Mars One has developed a detailed risk analysis profile which guides both its internal technical development as well as the relationships it builds with its aerospace suppliers. This risk analysis profile will continue to evolve and improve over the years prior to the first humans walking on the planet Mars.

4) greater Investment

2 ALH84001- Allan Hills is a meteorite that was found in Allan Hills, Antarctica on December 27, 1984 by a team of U.S. meteorite hunters from the ANSMET project. 

3. MARTIANS - native inhabitants of the planet mars

4. MARINER 4- is a meteorite that was found in Allan Hills, Antarctica on December 27, 1984 by a team of U.S. meteorite hunters from the ANSMET project. 

5. FOSSILIZED- preserved to become a fossil.

2. Do you think there is life of some form on other planets in the universe or not?

3. What about the planet Mars -- do you think there is life of some form on Mars, or not?

2.Youtube.com (for videos)

3. Wikipedia

4. nat geo documentary

5. nasa website

6. mars.nasa.gov

7.www.nasa.gov

8. spaceplace.nasa.gov

2.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzGV2Jr9H-A

3.http://www.space.com/17135-life-on-mars.html

4.http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/review/dr-marc-solar-system/life-on-mars.html

5.http://www.mars-one.com/mission

6.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Orbiter_Mission

2. The martian soil's composition is silicon, oxygen, iron ,magnesium, aluminum, calcium and potassium. These minerals are very rich and can be used for many purposes.

The technology is developing rapidly, both through the games industry, and through various applications such as remote telepresence surgery (surgeons in the USA operating on patients in France for instance), and field geology especially deep wells.

With humans in orbit around Mars, then they could explore the surface with telepresence. You get super human abilities too, as you can build telerobots able to fly (hard for a heavy human to do in the thin Mars atmosphere), or smaller or stronger than humans.

Eventually we might have a sizeable colony in orbit around Mars and a sizeable "colony" of telerobots on the surface which might make materials for export to the orbital colony or indeed to Earth.

Telerobots could do mining, and all the things envisioned for a human surface colony, with almost no risk of contamination, either of Mars, or back to Earth of any micro-organisms on Mars.

augmented-elongated

suitport-an alternative technology to an airlock, designed for use in hazardous environments and in human spaceflight, especially planetary surface exploration.

biosignatures- any substance – such as an element, isotope, molecule, or phenomenon – that provides scientific evidence of past or present life. Measurable attributes of life include its complex physical and chemical structures and also its utilization of free energy and the production of biomass and wastes.

aqualung- the original English name of the first open-circuit, self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (or "SCUBA") to reach worldwide popularity and commercial success

telerobotics-the area of robotics concerned with the control of semi-autonomous robots from a distance, chiefly using Wireless network (like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, the Deep Space Network, and similar) or tethered connections. It is a combination of two major subfields, teleoperation and telepresence.