The time has come for humanity to journey to Mars. We’re ready. 46)Though Mars is distant, we are far better prepared today to send humans to Mars than we were to travel to the Moon at the commencement of the space age. Given the will, we could have our first teams on Mars within a decade. The reasons for going to Mars are powerful.We must go for the knowledge of Mars. Our robotic probes have revealed that Mars was once a warm and wet planet, suitable for hosting life’s origin. But did it A search for fossils on the Martian surface or microbes in groundwater below could provide the answer. If found, they would show that the origin of life is not unique to the Earth, and, by implication, reveal a universe that is filled with life and probably intelligence as well. 47)From the view point of learning our true place in the universe, this would be the most important scientific enlightenment since Copernicus.We must go for knowledge of Earth. As we begin the twenty-first century, we have evidence that we are changing the Earth’s atmosphere and environment in significant ways. It has become a critical matter for us to better understand all aspects of our environment. 48)In this project, comparative planetology is a very powerful tool, a fact already shown by the role that Venusian atmospheric studies played in our discovery of the potential threat of global warming by greenhouse gases. Mars, the planet most like Earth, will have even more to teach us about our home world. The knowledge we gain could be key to our survival.We must go for the future. 49) Mars is not just a scientific curiosity; it is a world with a surface area equal to all the continents of Earth combined; possessing all the elements that are needed to support not only life, but technological society. 50)It is a New World, filled with history waiting to be made by a new and youthful branch of human civilization that is waiting to be born. We must go to Mars to make that potential a reality. We must go, not for us, but for a people who are yet to be. We must do it for the Martians. 47