It is 40 years since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin represented mankind on another world - the Moon. It is 40 years since experts suggested that we would soon have a Moonbase and would be walking on another planet: Mars; perhaps even building a permanent base there. It is now 40 years on and we seem to be no nearer to achieving these goals.

This is getting somewhat frustrating because Homo sapiens is a naturally inquisitive primate who simply has to explore new lands in search of more fertile habitats for the species to multiply and prosper. We can clearly see around the world that things are getting rather congested in places, especially in the developed world, and new lands to discover and explore have now gone. We have mapped the whole surface of the planet - we are even making online street maps! There clearly is not much to explore unless we go underground into subterranean caves. But we can't prosper as a species down there.

To continue as pioneers and to explore new lands where the species can multiply and prosper, we must clearly find a new world. Mars is the obvious choice for now. Thanks to the spacecraft and rovers that have so far successfully taught us so much about Mars, we are much wiser now than we were 40 years ago. Spacecraft like the Viking Landers, the rovers Sprit and Opportunity, and those which mapped the planet from orbit, are in effect our current pioneers. They are Man's creations - conceived by the human brain. They act as out eyes. But there is only so much they can do for us for they cannot think like us and act accordingly. They are just our tools.

Ultimately we must get off this planet and prosper elsewhere, for the Earth cannot give us much more. We can forget about going to the stars and attempting to find Earth-like worlds which we could freely take over; the sheer distances involved prevents that. What we must do is look at the solar system, for that contains all the elements and minerals necessary for life. We know this because we are here!

Since the Earth contains all the 92 life-giving natural elements (thanks to a supernova explosion in the vicinity during times long since gone), it follows that the whole solar system does too, for the whole system was created from the one primordial nebula. The only difference between the Earth and the other planets and satellites in the solar system is the presence of liquid water. It is water in its liquid state that must be present for carbon-based life to flourish.

Mars has water - and we now know it has plenty of it - in the solid state. This needs sorting out. It needs to be melted with a man-made heat source. Now there is a technological challenge for us. Can our scientists and engineers construct a boiler to can melt the water ice on Mars? It doesn't have to be huge, just adequate enough to supply biomes, like those at the Eden Project in Cornwall, England. And when photosynthesis occurs, oxygen will escape into the Martian atmosphere. Yes, the Martian sky can turn blue.

We also know that there is lots of water on the Jovian satellite Europa. It cannot be beyond the means of Man to figure out a way of transporting free water from that moon to Mars, especially with the low escape velocity needed to lift the stuff off Europa.

So now you know why we are still stuck on this planet: we are still at the planning stage. It is great that the Indians, the Chinese, and the Japanese are seriously going into space with their own planned manned Moon landings. We have an evolving International Space Station. The European Space Agency is working well. And now the US via NASA wants to put men back on the Moon with Project Constellation.

There is nothing as good as honest competition. Things, it seems, are going to accelerate from now on, so get ready for a fantastic ride over the decades to come!