Since the beginning of man kind we have been obsessed with what we don’t know, what we can’t understand. Thousands of years ago the stars were studied as a way to communicate to gods, thousands of years later they are studied to understand the creation of our universe and a way to gain more knowledge of the solar system around us.
One planet has caught our attention more than most though. That planet is mars. Known as the red planet this barren piece of rock circling the sun is no place for the faint hearted. It lays boast to the largest volcano in the solar system and more extreme weather and terrain than that could be found anywhere else on earth. It’s average temperature is -81 Fahrenheit. No wonder we haven’t successfully landed humans on this planet yet.
Because of the brightness of the Red Planet it is impossible to determine when exactly Mars was “discovered”. But the main events that led to our knowledge of what Mars is today happened in the early 1970’s. (That’s not that long ago). In 1971 Mariner 9 discovered the largest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons, and also discovered the fact that water once existed on mars. 
This major discovery made by mariner 9 is a huge reason why humans are so interested in Mars. At one time this barren planet was able to sustain life. So what happened to that life?
Well that’s the big question isn’t it?
The martians of hollywood’s imagination are most likely fiction, researchers only believe that microorganisms lived on mars years past. But this isn’t proven yet and were not done searching for what we believe could be intelligent life.
The mars rover landing represents the 40th attempt to study the Red Planet. As of now we only have little bits and pieces of information but we are building every day. At one time Mars was a Goldilocks planet, one able to sustain life, and that is why we are so interested.
All the time the Mars rover sends back a photo that sparks controversy in pro martian circles. Examples of these would be a footprint that would later be declared as a tread of the mars rover, an elongated human skull (this one is still a mystery), a ball, and some people actually claim to see aliens in some photos.
As of now there is no known active life on mars but that does not mean that is the final word. In the deep chasms of Mars and the tallest mountain ranges in our solar system we have no way to explore it all thoroughly. And that is why we are so fascinated with mars. Anything could be living there in a neighboring planet that we would have no idea about. Maybe there are Aliens, the type in the movies, or maybe there are just microorganisms waiting to be discovered.