Life on Mars

Recently there has been massive coverage of what life will be like on Mars. This is mainly to the fortunate (or unfortunate depending on your outlook) applications for people to start a colony on Mars. But is it really possible for humans to live on Mars?

Problems:-
– There is no air on Mars. If you were left on Mars you would quickly pass out and die due to the lack of oxygen.
-There is no air pressure which would make breathing very difficult indeed.
-The temperatures are extremely low, it can reach -125°C.
-There is also constant radiation coming from space which can be dangerous to health, causing mutations and cancers.
-The soil on Mars is also toxic which can be lethal to humans.
-It would cause the colony to become very dependant on human technology, only made on earth.
-Most importantly, this would cost a massive amount of money to space programmes all around the world.
-What effect will a decrease in gravity have on the human body?

Benefits:-
+ It is very similar to earth. Mars has water, frozen underground and at the polar caps. Geological features resembling those on Earth suggest that Mars was once a wet and hospitable planet.
+ With its similarity to Earth, there is a strong possibility that bacterial life (or something more?) exists on the planet. Some people believe that Viking detected it way back in 1976.
+ Mars is relatively close to the Earth. Mars sits between the asteroid belt and us, acting as a kind of stepping stone to what lies beyond.

The only way we can truly see whether Mars is habitable is by investigating which is exact what machines such as the Mars Rover are trying to achieve. Only then will we know if life on Mars will be possible.