Mars and the Earthlings: Can we, and should we, go to Mars?

This training school stemmed from the European Astrobiology Institute’s Project Team “Mars and the Earthlings”, whose goal is to provide reliable information and foster healthy, evidence-based discussions on human Mars exploration. This project team gathers space exploration experts including astronauts, astronomers, planetary scientists, geologists, legal experts, biologists, philosophers and economists. The lectures will be given by some of them. The learning contents draw largely from the book « Mars and the Earthlings: A Realistic View on Mars Exploration and Settlement », written by Project Team members and published in January 2025 by Springer. Among the topics to be covered are the Martian geology and climate, robotic missions to Mars, crewed orbital flight, permanent settlements on Mars, and terraforming. On top of technical and scientific challenges, each topic will be looked at from economic, legal, societal, psychological, and medical perspectives.