Therefore, with such important factors missing, it is clear that Mars cannot support life because of the lack of water and the magnetic field. Life does not exist on Mars because the planet lacks plenty amount of water. Most astrobiologists agree that for life to exist, water is a valuable asset. This is because worldly life, both plants and animals require water to run their cellular processes (Wheeler, 2001). Additionally, there is no evidence that extra-terrestrial life could grow in such harsh conditions. This, therefore, poses the biggest problem for people to believe that Mars can host or already hosts life. Mars is a rather dry and unproductive land, with its water locked up in polar ice caps, and in the sub-surface regions. For this reason, scientists argue that if there is life on Mars, then it must be under the surface, or in a shielded source of water. Furthermore, apart from lacking a convenient water source, Mars in characterized by other unfavourable conditions. For instance, scientists claim that this planet has a thin atmosphere, which allows the sun to bright it with ease; something, which could pose challenges to any possible life. Therefore, with such unfavourable conditions, in addition to the lack of water, it is fair to deduce that life does not exist on planet Mars. (Life on Mars: Exploration & Evidence, n.d.) Furthermore, despite presenting features similar to those of our planet, planet Mars lacks another important specificity to support life, which is a magnetic field. Our earth often acts as a giant magnet by ensuring that the compass needle always points to the north. This is an important asset because with a magnetic field one can get directions using a compass. Unfortunately, Mars lack this specificity, thus presenting problems to astrobiologists in navigating it. Besides this problem of navigation, lack of a magnetic field means that this planet is not able to bounce away dangerous space radiations such as, gamma, and infrared radiations, which are dangerous to any living matter. In short, such an unconducive environment lacking enough water, and a magnetic field, join it up with control of fewer amounts of air, elaborates on the fact that planet Mars does not support terrestrial or extra-terrestrial life. (Is there life on Mars, n.d.) However, despite such arguments against the presence of life on Mars, some scientists claim that there must be life on this planet.
First, this is because our planet has received a number of visitors from Mars for years, almost 34 Martian meteorites. Even though, the first breakthrough indicating that life exists on Mars came in 1996, when a Martian rock found in Antarctica presented structures of fossilized organic material. Similarly, another meteorite Nakhla meteorite, which later landed in Egypt, also indicated structures, which were similar to fossilized Nanobacteria (Eckart, 2013). Finally, there is another meteorite, which also showed signs of leftovers of bacterial groups on it. Therefore, with such evidence these scientists are confident that life must be existing on Mars, and it is a matter of time before creating enough evidence. Despite these arguments, however, it is evident that if indeed there is life on Mars, then it must be at the beginning of evolution, or simply there is no life at all because this meteorite evidence might have resulted from corruption on reaching the earth’s
surface. In conclusion, the proximity and a number of similarities between the planets Earth and Mars often have people considering, on chances of life existing on the end. As a result, many theories and arguments have resulted, some supporting chances of life existing on Mars and others against such ideas. However, personally, I believe that life does not exist on Mars for the reasons such as the lack of ample surface sources of water, the lack of a magnetic field, among other unconducive conditions seen on this planet.