Can Mars Sustain Life?
By Radhakrishna Rao For sometime now, Mars is being viewed as a possible futuristic outpost for human civilization. After earth, Mars is considered to have a climate that could be favourable to life forms. However, there is still no clarity on whether the planet harboured life forms and throbbed with abundance of water at some points of its evolution. As such there is a renewed interest in further probing Mars with a focus on studying its environment in depth and assess its suitability for human settlements. The Indian Space Research Organisation has hinted at plans to build and launch a 500-kg orbiter to the Red Planet. The mission objective of this Mars mission would be to gain a deeper insight into the various features of the planet. The US has decided to send a manned expedition to Mars. The biggest problem for this mission will be to insulate the spaceship from searing radiation during its journey across a mind boggling distance. There is as yet no clarity on the extent and nature
