The goal of sending astronauts to the surface of Mars has been a major point of contention, with the likes of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arguing that we should skip the Moon entirely in favor of the Red Planet — despite NASA already being deeply invested in returning astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in over half a century.

It’s an enormously more complex journey that will require major leaps in technology, from keeping astronauts safe from the harshness of outer space for months at a time to ensuring they have shelter and enough air to breathe once there.

Unperturbed, a consortium of American scientists and engineers filed a report on Tuesday that stridently makes the case for putting boots down on the surface of Mars. Why? To finally figure out whether we’re alone in the uni

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