Mars - Fourth planet from the Sun, and the only planet in the Solar System whose surface we can see.  A planet of beauty, mystery and intrigue.  The beckoning finger that has drawn us irresistibly into space.  A world our children might reasonably call home.

We believe that we should start the human exploration of Mars now.  We believe this because it can be done with the technology available to us today, because it can be done cheaply, and because the potential benefits are enormous.  To explore and settle Mars is to show that the human race has achieved a degree of maturity, that we are capable of stepping beyond our cradle of Earth and safeguard our future.  As we stand on the brink of a new millennium, Mars is a shining beacon of all we can become; all we can achieve.

And there is no better time for us to reach for it.

"I remember being transfixed by the first lander image to show the horizon of Mars.   This was not an alien world, I thought.  I knew places like it in Colorado and Arizona and Nevada.  There were rocks and a distant eminence, as natural and unselfconscious as any landscape on Earth.  Mars was a place."

The Late Carl Sagan, describing his thoughts on seeing the first Viking images from Mars