So what will the fabled life on Mars actually look like? How on earth, if you’ll pardon the expression, will anyone survive on this great freezing ball of basaltic rock as it hurtles through space at an average distance of 142 million miles from the sun (compared to Earth’s 93)? Bear in mind its average temperature is a chilly -81F (or -63C); its gravity is about 38 per cent as strong as Earth’s; and crucially, there is almost no readily available oxygen.