They say that humanity is corrupted, that we don’t care about each other, that we have lost touch with our true origins… I disagree; I believe that, amid all the divisions between East and West from the past, in science and in spirit of exploration, we truly have one united planet exploring another, the planet Mars, as never happened before.
The mysteries of Mars are of central importance to NASA and the science goals for the upcoming mission Mars 2020. Mars is more relevant to us than ever before. We have discovered proof; I mean real proof, that Mars was once a wet and warm world, there is plenty of evidence of the presence of former rivers, lakes and even oceans. Here on Earth, wherever – and I mean `wherever´ – we find water in any form and any temperature, we find life. I feel now, more than ever, the question whether life is or was on Mars is deep within us. The answer would address the deepest questions that we all have thought at some point in our lives: is our living world the only one with intelligent beings in our vast universe? Are we alone? If you say that you have never asked yourself these questions I simply don’t believe you!
I am sure you have come across Martian meteorites, very tiny rocks that have made a long interplanetary journey from Mars to Earth, crossed the atmosphere, disintegrated and landed somewhere on Earth where they were found. They may be tiny but we examine these rocks so carefully because they are full of crucial information. We may find tiny bubbles of gas trapped as small volumes of the Martian atmosphere, or perhaps we may see minerals that give us clues about the environmental conditions. On others there have been found amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, the same than we find in our own cells! Even the interstellar space contains organic compounds… So do you believe now that it could be true that we are Martians living on Earth? That life spread and travelled all the way from Mars to Earth? I believe it can be true. What seemed like science fiction decades ago is now our reality, we may need to share our Solar System with other beings. And what will happen if we can prove evidence of life on Mars? The answer is simple: it would change the world. If we happen to find something alive today on Mars, it would knock our world out of his knees. Our lives will never be the same. Everything we know will be affected by it. It would change the way each and every one of us considers his or her place in this universe.
Now that the landing site for Mars 2020 has been decided, we can only speculate at how the rover will advance our knowledge and understanding on Mars both as a planet and as a possible future home for the development of a new world. I assure you, I can hardly wait!
