The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to send humans to Mars by 2035 and will build a laboratory on the planet to study its potential to evolve life forms.

"Mars is the other body in the solar system that we're very likely to find that life evolved. Mars is the logical choice," according to Dr. Ellen Stofan, NASA's new chief scientist.

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"To have a laboratory on Mars, being able to have some sort of sustained human presence on Mars in the future is critically important for science," Stofan added.

NASA says the space voyage to Mars will take eight months. This part of the trip is a huge obstacle for researchers and astronauts that will have to endure a journey of tens of millions of miles cooped-up in a small spacecraft, CNN reported.

Scientists have to figure out ways to protect the inter-planetary travelers in the face of limited provisions, high levels of solar radiation, and unstable climates on the Red Planet.

Stofan said "Mars has a very thin atmosphere" and the team is now working on a technology that can slow down a landing craft so it lands safely on the planet's surface.

Sending people to live on Mars and conduct extensive research there will teach scientists a great deal about the Red Planet and the Earth.

"Being able to compare the Earth to Venus, to Mars, and studying these same processes all around the solar system - all of a sudden you get smarter about your own planet," Stofan explained.

TagsMars, NASA, red planet, space exploration, mars exploration, solar system