Mars



Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and thus can also be called Sol IV. It is a world having roughly the same area as Earth's continents and an orbit inside the Goldilocks zone of the Sun. Given a higher atmospheric pressure, liquid water can exist on the surface of Mars. Unfortunately, Mars's atmosphere is far too thin to support liquid water over most of its surface for most of its year. Only in the Hellas Basin does a combination of high enough temperature and high enough pressure, occur to support liquid fresh water and then only 70 days out of the entire Martian year. This means that, if liquid water is necessary to allow for the natural evolution of complex life, then only through genetic engineering can complex Life capable of surviving on the surface of Mars be brought into existence.