Space. It is unarguably the final frontier to be explored. Humans took their first steps on this
             frontier with the landing on the moon in 1969. That single monumental step unlocked the mental
             gateway for space colonization. From that point on there was little doubt: outer Earth colonization was
             possible. Now a second step is being taken on the red planet of Mars. Mars being the closest planet to us
             and with atmospheric similarities, it seemes like the obvious step up from the moon.
             I wondered as a child what Mars was like. Television and comic books warped my mind into believing that Mars was a distant planet full of little green men just waiting for their chance to invade Earth, jealous of our beautiful green and blue planet. Movies like "Total Recall" taught me that Mars was a dry and desolate place full of death and despair. After reading H.G. Well's War of the Worlds, I could not sleep well for a week. At one time I believed that humanity had poisoned our Earth beyond repair and that perhaps Mars could be our second chance. Though I thought more pessimistically then, I still believe that Mars could be cultivated into a second Earth. It seems ironic that perhaps it will be the Earthlings invading the Martians; and in light of recent studies that idea does not seem so far fetched.
             In September of 1999 NASA announced that their "Mars Pathfinder", the first Martian spacecraft that would actually touch down on the surface for the purpose of recording data, had successfully landed on the Martian surface. The Pathfinder would analyze soil samples, collect weather data, and, most popularly, take pictures of the Martian landscape. The world stood in awe as the Pathfinder tansmitted its first images of the Martian landscape, the first ever from the surface of the red planet. The landing of the Mars Pathfinder forced us as human beings to seriously consider extra terrianian colonization.
             Interest in...