Visits from Mankind
Mankind has not visited Mars in person yet. Scientists are very keen on doing this though. Scientists guess that a human will have set foot on Mars by about 2020-2030. Earth is also crossing its fingers for we hope that one day humans will live and work on Mars. In the future, scientists are planning to create a "modern" Mars. This modern Mars will be a productive, living, and amazing planet. Mankind will transform Mars into the most efficient community and hopefully a pleasing home for millions of people who might inhabit the planet in the future. Below is a picture of a modern Mars:
President Bush proposed on January 14, 2004 that Mars was a goal to be reached by 2030.
On August 27,2003 Mars came closer to Earth than it has been in the past 60,000 years giving the most favorable time for humans to launch a rocket to get to Mars because less fuel would be used. Unfortunately this opportunity was missed. It would have only taken a few months to get to the Red Planet but the project would be extremely expensive.
First humans will visit and explore Mars and then humans will settle and colonize. Like I stated before, Mars bec will become modernized. Hopefully in the future Mars will have bodies of water, very tall trees(because of the low gravity), and blue skies.
Since Mars' atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide plant life from Earth can be grown there because the plantlife can convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. Therefore, there will be more oxygen for us to breathe. Although it could take tens of thousands of years for plants to produce enough oxygen for mankind to be able to walk around without spacesuits. This process of photosynthesis would cause a ecological warming effect on the atmosphere of Mars. This process will also result in melting surface and sub-surface ice so that there will be liquid water. The moderation in temperature will allow microbial life to eventually develop.
Therefore, although mankind has yet to colonize Mars, we will turn it into a modernized Mars and make it similar to Earth so that future inhabitants will be able to live on it. Our first step, actually going to Mars, will not happen until 2020-2030.