Mars is a one of five planets that can be seen from Earth without using a binocular or a telescope. With that, it is well-known in every culture since long time ago. The official name for it "Mars" is adopted by the Roman, in honoring of their god of war; MARS because the reddish color remind everyone of blood and death (Discovery). It is also known as the "Red Planet" due to its reddish appearance from observation on Earth (Mars-Wikipedia).
With the effects of fictions and media like the movie War of the Worlds of H.G Wells that emphasizes on the existence of the Martians, another kind of intelligent creatures other than Earthman (Mars-Wikipedia). That creates more attention to Mars from people more than any other planets.
Living on Earth, an environment which you can find "life" exist everywhere you go, every step you put on the ground, every times you breath, there are millions of micro-living-form. It probably difficult for us to have clear understanding that not every other environment be suitable for life to exist, at least at the definition standards of how we, human, define: life. According to Shostak in his article, there are three requirements for life to exist: there must be raw materials, solvent, (water is considered as a priority choice), energy to drive the whole system to