8 Ways We're Getting Ready To Go To Mars

7. Finding Life

Blowing billions of dollars to stick human boots on the soil of a dead, alien planet for the sake of knowledge might get a small slice of society wetting themselves with excitement but, you have to admit, the discovery of Martian life would definitely drum up significantly more public support for a Mars mission.

Our desperate, and thankfully now fruitful, search for water on Mars is only really scratching the surface of our desire to find any life on it's cold, barren surface.

As well as the search for water, the ESA's "Exobiology on Mars" – or ExoMars – mission, aims to detect gases in the Martian atmosphere that might indicate the existence of life.

Granted, short of an ancient race of mole people coming out of the ground and giving us a wave, the chances are that any Martian life we do discover will most likely be microbial, but life is life and that is exciting enough.