What useful resources does Mars have?

Spacecraft exploration of Mars has shown that the essential resources necessary for life support are present on the martian surface. The key life-support compounds O2, N2, and H2O are available on Mars. The soil could be used as radiation shielding and could provide many useful industrial and construction materials.

What are good reasons to live on Mars?

The scientific reasons for going to Mars can be summarised by the search for life, understanding the surface and the planet’s evolution, and preparing for future human exploration. Understanding whether life existed elsewhere in the Universe beyond Earth is a fundamental question of humankind.

Does Mars have minerals?

Minerals produced through hydrothermal alteration and weathering of primary basaltic minerals are also present on Mars. Secondary minerals include hematite, phyllosilicates (clay minerals), goethite, jarosite, iron sulfate minerals, opaline silica, and gypsum.

Why is Mars so important?

Exploring Mars helps scientists learn about momentous shifts in climate that can fundamentally alter planets. It also lets us look for biosignatures, signs that might reveal whether life was abundant in the planet’s past—and if it still exists on Mars today.

What can we do with the resources on Mars?

By sending in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) equipment to regions of Mars with subsurface water ice deposits, we could extract the water that is key to producing other materials. Carbon extracted from the atmosphere could then be used to make a wide range of things, from plastics to rocket propellant to habitat-heating fuel.

Could robots help humans get to Mars?

Instead of launching resources such as water and materials to build a habitat to Mars, it could potentially be much more cost effective to send automated robots to harvest resources from the Martian surface and atmosphere in preparation for the arrival of humans.

Is Mars rich enough to support astronauts?

We continue to learn that Mars is rich with resources that could be vital to supporting astronauts on the Red Planet for any extended period of time.

Is there water on Mars?

In recent years, measurements by rovers and satellites at Mars have indicated massive amounts of water in the form of ice beneath and within the regolith. At times, during the Martian year, liquid water is observed on the surface of Mars. If the planet were flat and the ice melted, there would be an ocean many meters deep on the entire planet.