Aerospace

Steve Squyres on Why Humans Should Go to Mars

The principal scientist in charge of Spirit and Opportunity explains how he fell in love with Mars and why humans need to go

American astronomer and planetary scientist Steve Squyres, the principal scientist in charge of Mars exploration rovers Spirit and Opportunity, explains how he fell in love with Mars and why humans need to go there.

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Under the Red Spell
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Martian sunrise at Phoenix landing site on Mars
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Martian sunrise at Phoenix landing site on Mars
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Martian sunrise at Phoenix landing site on Mars
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Martian sunrise at Phoenix landing site on Mars
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Martian sunrise at Phoenix landing site on Mars
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Martian sunrise at Phoenix landing site on Mars
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Martian sunrise at Phoenix landing site on Mars
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Martian sunrise at Phoenix landing site on Mars
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
An image of the Spirit rover is supperimposed on a view of the sunset at Gusev crater on Mars.
Photo: NASA/ Jet Propulsion Laboratory
An approximate true-color picture of one of the walls of Victoria Crater in Mars, taken by the Opportunity rover.
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech/Cornell
Simulated image of Opportunity inside Endurance Crater
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
A 360-degree panorama taken by Opportunity on its 12-km trek to Endeavor crater.
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
A false-color panorama taken by Opportunity on its 12-km trek to Endeavor crater.
Photo:NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech, Cornell
Synthetic image of Spirit on "Husban Hill" on Mars
Photo: NASA/Glenn Research Center
Planet Mars
Photo: NASA/Kennedy Space Center
Apollo 11 liftoff
Photo: NASA/ Glenn Research Center
Apollo astronat on the moon
Photo: NASA/ Johnson Space Center
Astronaut John Glenn poses in Mercury Spacesuit in 1962.
Photo: Matt Hintsa
Ho Plaza, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Photo: NASA
Viking Orbiter 1 spacecraft
Photo:NASA/Kennedy Space Center
Artist drawing of the Viking spacecraft
Photo: NASA/ Langley Research Center
This Viking Orbiter 1 image shows a sunrise over one of Mars high plateau regions. The white areas are bright clouds of water ice.
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Viking Orbiter 2 captures a large dust storm over Mars.
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Three Viking images make up this image of the Memnonia Fossae region of Mars.
Photo: NASA/ Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Earth and Mars comparison
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA, M.Wolff, J.Bell, S.Lee
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured these sharp views of Mars during the planet's close approach to Earth in 1999.
Photo: NASA and G.Bacon
An artist's conception of an acient gas-giant planet surrounded by a sea of stars
Photo:NASA, ESA and G.Bacon
An artist illustration of three extrasolar planets
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Artist conception of a distant hypothetical solar system
Photo: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team
One of the few planetary nebula in our galaxy that's nested inside an open start cluster

Photo: NASA/P.DiMare
Artist concept of astronauts walking on Mars
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Artist illustration of a NASA Mars rover
Photo: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Spirit uses its robotic arm to examine a Martian rock.
Photo:NASA
Gemini VI in orbit above Earth in 1965
Photo:NASA/Johnson Space Center
Astronaut John Glenn photographed this orbital sunset during a Mercury-Atlas 6 flight.
Photo: NASA/Johnson Space Center
Apollo captures Earth rise from the Moon.
Photo:NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
A mosiac of Mars composed with Viking Orbiter 1 images
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