The history and origin of Mars is widely debated, mostly between evolutionists and creationists, though the debate is mainly focused on the origin of the Universe, and not Mars specifically. Nevertheless, since Mars is part of the Universe, its origin must have been included in the origin of the Universe (McGuire). Evolutionists hold the belief that the Universe was formed by various gases combining and creating a "big bang" which, in turn, formed the planets. Creationists argue that this is too random an event, and on to great a scale to form all the microscopic complexities of organisms, and the great expanses of the Universe. Creationists believe that God (or some form of deity)

Created the Universe by divine power, and that the above mentioned complexities could only be achieved by a Supreme Being.

The age of Mars has been reported to be between 3.6 billion and 1.3 billion years old, "depending on who you ask" (Erjavec, 1). These ages come from the estimated ages of meteorites found on Earth that are believed to have originated on Mars (Meteorites from Mars, 1). The meteorites wer

The possibility of humans on Mars within our lifetime is very slim. (Newcott, 23). The cost of the equipment would be immense, and the effect of the journey on a human would be unknown (McGuire).

The possibility of future life on Mars is debatable. While unmanned missions have already started as many as 20 years ago with the Viking mission, and the recent Pathfinder mission, many more are in the works. Mars Climate Orbiter was recently released into space enroute to Mars. Its mission is to study the surface and atmosphere of Mars. Mars Polar Lander will settle near Mars's southern ice cap - thought to be frozen water and carbon dioxide - and take samples with a robotic arm. Two small probes will be dropped into the ground to search for water. No rover will be included. More missions with landers and more rovers are scheduled around every 26 months starting March 1999. We could see a round trip by 2005. A lander will head for a promising landing site from earlier missions. Its rover will collect the rocks and soil samples cached by an old rover. Samples will be brought back to Earth by 2008.

e dated using radiometric dating methods (Erjavec, 1).

proximity - within a few hundred thousands of an inch of one another (Release: 96-160). Another theory of ancient life on Mars is that a civilized race existed on Mars eons ago. The percentage of the populace that says this i

Some common words found in the essay are:
Meteorites Mars, Polar Lander, Stanford University, Neil Armstrong's, Created Universe, McGuire Evolutionists, Red Planet's, , Climate Orbiter, George Bush, life mars, originated mars, existed mars, civilized race, life existed mars, 1 meteorites, meteorites mars, origin universe, mars 1, believed originated, humans mars, believed originated mars, meteorites mars 1,
Approximate Word count = 941
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)