Could Humans Live on Mars? What Kids Need to Know

Mars has fascinated humans for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians called it "Her Desher," meaning "the red one." Through a telescope, its rusty surface and white polar caps make it look almost Earth-like. Of all the planets in our solar system, Mars is the one scientists talk about most when they discuss where humans might live next. But could we actually survive there? The answer is complicated, exciting, and worth understanding in detail.

Right now, Mars is home to robots but not people. Rovers trundle across its dusty plains, helicopters have flown through its thin air, and orbiting spacecraft map every crater and canyon. Everything these machines discover helps scientists answer a single question: can we turn Mars from a place we visit into a place we live? This guide breaks down the real science behind that question — the challenges, the plans, and the timeline.

Mars vs Earth: A Side-by-Side Comparison

Before we can understand whether humans could survive on Mars, it helps to see exactly how different it is from Earth. Some of these differences are manageable. Others are serious obstacles.

Feature	Earth	Mars
Gravity	9.8 m/s²	3.7 m/s² (38% of Earth)
Average Temperature	15°C (59°F)	-60°C (-76°F)
Atmosphere	78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen	95% carbon dioxide, <1% oxygen
Day Length	24 hours	24 hours 37 minutes (a "sol")
Distance from Sun	150 million km	228 million km
Water	Abundant liquid surface water	Ice at poles and underground; no stable liquid water on surface
Magnetic Field	Strong global field	No global magnetic field
Atmospheric Pressure	1,013 millibars	6 millibars (<1% of Earth)

One piece of good news stands out: a day on Mars is almost exactly the same length as a day on Earth. That means human sleep cycles would barely need to adjust. Almost everything else, however, presents a serious engineering challenge.

The Biggest Challenges of Living on Mars

Mars might look like a desert on Earth, but the similarities end at the colour of the ground. Every aspect of the Martian environment is hostile to human life in ways that are easy to underestimate.

No breathable air

Mars's atmosphere is 95.3% carbon dioxide with only 0.13% oxygen. Humans need roughly 21% oxygen to breathe normally. Step outside on Mars without a pressurised suit and you would lose consciousness in about 15 seconds. The atmosphere is also incredibly thin — less than 1% of Earth's atmospheric pressure — so even if it contained oxygen, your lungs could not function normally. Every breath on Mars must come from manufactured or extracted oxygen, stored and delivered through sealed habitats and spacesuits.

Extreme cold

The average surface temperature on Mars is -60 degrees Celsius. At the poles in winter, temperatures can plunge to -125 degrees Celsius. Even at the equator on a summer afternoon — the warmest Mars ever gets — the temperature might briefly reach 20 degrees Celsius before dropping far below freezing as soon as the Sun sets. Habitats would need constant, reliable heating, and any failure in that system could be life-threatening within hours.

Deadly radiation

Earth's magnetic field deflects most of the charged particles streaming from the Sun (the solar wind) and shields us from much of the cosmic radiation that fills space. Mars lost its global magnetic field roughly 4 billion years ago. Without that shield, the Martian surface receives about 40 to 50 times more radiation than Earth's surface. Over months and years, this level of exposure significantly increases the risk of cancer and can damage the central nervous system. Any long-term habitat on Mars would need thick walls, underground construction, or dedicated radiation shielding.

A seven-month journey just to arrive

At their closest approach, Earth and Mars are about 55 million kilometres apart. At their farthest, the gap stretches to 401 million kilometres. Using current rocket technology, the trip takes approximately seven months each way. But launch windows only open every 26 months, when the two planets are aligned favourably. Miss that window and you wait over two years for the next one. Once on Mars, astronauts would likely need to stay for at least 18 months before the planets realign for a return trip, making the total mission roughly three years.

Planet-wide dust storms

Mars experiences dust storms that can grow to engulf the entire planet. These global dust storms can last for months, blocking sunlight and coating solar panels with fine dust. In 2018, a planet-wide dust storm ended the mission of NASA's Opportunity rover after nearly 15 years of operation — the rover's solar panels could no longer generate enough power. Any human settlement relying on solar energy would need backup power systems and methods to clean dust from critical equipment.

How Scientists Plan to Solve These Problems

The challenges are enormous, but scientists and engineers around the world are already developing real solutions. Some have been tested in laboratories. A few have been tested on Mars itself.

Habitat domes and underground shelters

Most Mars habitat designs call for pressurised structures that maintain Earth-like air pressure and composition inside while keeping the Martian environment out. These could be inflatable modules (similar to the BEAM module tested on the International Space Station), rigid shells, or a combination. Some designs propose building habitats partially or fully underground, using the Martian soil — called regolith — as natural radiation shielding. Even two metres of regolith overhead would block most harmful radiation.

Making oxygen on Mars: the MOXIE experiment

In April 2021, NASA's Perseverance rover carried an experiment called MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) that successfully extracted oxygen from the Martian atmosphere. MOXIE works by pulling in carbon dioxide and splitting it into oxygen and carbon monoxide using high-temperature electrolysis at about 800 degrees Celsius. In its test runs through 2023, MOXIE produced about 12 grams of oxygen per hour — roughly enough for a person to breathe for 20 minutes. A full-scale version would need to be about 200 times larger, but the core technology has been proven to work on another planet.

Growing food in Martian soil

Experiments on Earth using simulated Martian regolith have shown that certain crops — including tomatoes, peas, radishes, and rye — can grow in Mars-like soil when supplemented with nutrients and provided with adequate water and light. The soil itself contains no organic material and includes toxic compounds called perchlorates that would need to be washed out before planting. Research at Wageningen University in the Netherlands has demonstrated that earthworms can survive and reproduce in simulated Martian soil, which is important because worms aerate soil and break down organic matter — essential processes for sustainable farming.

3D-printing shelters from regolith

Transporting building materials from Earth to Mars would be extraordinarily expensive — current estimates place the cost at roughly $2 million per kilogram delivered to the Martian surface. To solve this, NASA and several private companies are developing 3D-printing techniques that use Martian regolith as a construction material. By mixing regolith with binding agents, robotic printers could build habitat shells, landing pads, and radiation barriers before humans even arrive. NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge has already produced working prototypes on Earth.

Terraforming: the far-future idea

Terraforming means transforming an entire planet to be more Earth-like. For Mars, this could theoretically involve thickening the atmosphere, warming the surface, and introducing liquid water. Some proposals suggest releasing carbon dioxide trapped in the polar ice caps and soil to create a greenhouse effect. However, research published in Nature Astronomy estimates that Mars does not contain enough accessible carbon dioxide to raise atmospheric pressure significantly. Terraforming Mars, if it is possible at all, would take centuries or millennia. It remains firmly in the realm of long-term speculation rather than near-term planning.

Mars Missions So Far

Everything we know about living on Mars comes from the robots we have sent there. Each mission has added a critical piece to the puzzle.

Curiosity rover (landed 2012)

NASA's Curiosity rover landed in Gale Crater and has been exploring ever since. Its most important discovery for future human settlement: it found organic molecules — carbon-containing compounds that are the building blocks of life — preserved in 3.5-billion-year-old rocks. Curiosity also measured radiation levels on the Martian surface, providing the first direct data on what human settlers would face. It confirmed that ancient Mars had streams and lakes of liquid water that persisted for millions of years.

Perseverance rover (landed 2021)

Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient river delta, with a specific mission: search for signs of ancient microbial life and collect rock samples for eventual return to Earth. By 2025, the rover had sealed over 20 sample tubes and deposited backup caches on the surface. Its instruments have identified multiple types of organic molecules and minerals that form in the presence of water. Perseverance also carried the MOXIE oxygen experiment and served as the base station for the Ingenuity helicopter.

Ingenuity helicopter

Ingenuity was designed as a technology demonstration — a small, 1.8-kilogram helicopter meant to prove that powered flight is possible in Mars's extremely thin atmosphere (just 1% the density of Earth's). It was expected to make five flights over 30 days. Instead, Ingenuity completed 72 flights over nearly three years, covering a total distance of more than 17 kilometres and reaching altitudes up to 24 metres. It proved that aerial exploration on Mars is not only possible but practical, paving the way for future Mars helicopters that could scout terrain for human explorers.

Key discoveries pointing toward habitability

• Water ice confirmed: Mars has substantial water ice at both poles and just below the surface at many mid-latitude locations. The Mars Express orbiter and Phoenix lander have directly detected and measured these deposits. Some estimates suggest Mars holds enough subsurface ice to cover the entire planet in a layer 35 metres deep.
• Organic molecules found: Both Curiosity and Perseverance have detected organic molecules in Martian rocks, confirming that the chemical ingredients associated with life exist on Mars.
• Ancient habitable environments: Multiple missions have confirmed that Mars once had a thicker atmosphere, warmer temperatures, and standing bodies of liquid water — conditions that could have supported microbial life billions of years ago.

When Could Humans Actually Go?

Sending humans to Mars is no longer a question of whether it is technically possible. It is a question of when the technology, funding, and international will come together.

NASA's Artemis programme: the stepping stone

NASA's Artemis programme is returning humans to the Moon with the explicit goal of using it as a proving ground for Mars. Technologies being tested through Artemis — including the Space Launch System rocket, the Orion crew capsule, and the Gateway lunar space station — are designed with Mars in mind. Living on the Moon for extended periods will teach astronauts how to handle isolation, radiation exposure, and resource extraction in a low-gravity environment only three days from Earth, rather than seven months away.

SpaceX Starship

SpaceX is developing Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, with Mars colonisation as its primary long-term goal. Starship is designed to carry up to 100 tonnes of cargo to Mars and to be fully reusable, which would dramatically reduce the cost of each mission. SpaceX's stated plan involves sending uncrewed Starship vehicles to Mars first to deliver supplies and test landing procedures, followed by crewed missions once the logistics are proven. While SpaceX's timelines have historically been optimistic, the scale and pace of Starship development are unprecedented.

Realistic timeline

Most space agencies and independent analysts estimate that the first human mission to Mars will occur sometime in the late 2030s to mid-2040s. A crewed orbital mission — flying around Mars without landing — could happen first, similar to how Apollo 8 orbited the Moon before Apollo 11 landed. The first landing would likely be a short-stay mission of 30 to 60 days, with a small crew focused on setting up basic infrastructure. Permanent settlement, if it happens, would follow over subsequent decades as each mission builds on the last.

For context: the Apollo programme went from President Kennedy's announcement in 1961 to Neil Armstrong's first step in 1969 — just eight years. With sustained commitment, humans are capable of extraordinary speed when it comes to space exploration. To learn more about the planets and their relationships, explore our guide on how to teach kids about the solar system.

Could humans live on Mars? The honest answer is: not yet, but the science is getting closer every year. The robots exploring Mars right now are laying the groundwork for the humans who will follow. The first person to walk on Mars may already be alive today — perhaps a child reading this article, fascinated by the same red dot in the night sky that has captivated stargazers for millennia.

If Mars has sparked your curiosity, explore our guide to teaching kids about the solar system for a broader tour of the planets, and our beginner's guide to constellations to start finding your way around the night sky.