And they want Australia's help.

Mark McCaughrean is senior science adviser at the European Space Agency and Jason Crusan is director of advanced exploration systems at NASA.

They are in Australia for the Mars Live tour, speaking alongside the second man on the moon, Buzz Aldrin. Joining them will be astrophysicist Katie Mack.

They are serious about getting us to Mars - but not as some flag-planting exercise.

"Who's going to get their first? We both will," Mr Crusan said. "The Apollo missions to the Moon are an antiquated way to look at spaceflight. Instead, we should be thinking about the International Space Station. That's the co-operative model we are operating on."

The two arrive in Australia as NASA and CSIRO announce further co-operation on deep space exploration.

On Thursday, CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall and associate director of NASA Robert Lightfoot opened a second 34-metre dish at Tidbinbilla near Canberra.

It represents a six-year, $120 million investment from NASA as part of its global deep-space network.

These dishes will be critical infrastructure in supporting missions to Mars and beyond, including to Jupiter's moon Europa.

But Dr McCaughrean and Mr Crusan want Australia to play a bigger role.

"Australia's participation in our deep space network has gone on for decades now," Mr Crusan said.

Dr McCaughrean said: "We rely on Australia in terms of infrastructure but you shouldn't just be providing a service. You should be part of the program. It's about time Australia joined in fully.

"Australia is world-leading in space sciences, physics, astronomy. It should be part of the global space program."

NASA, according to Mr Crusan, expects to have a presence on Mars by the late 2030s. With billionaire Elon Musk saying he will be sending a mission to Mars in 2022, why will it take so long?

"We are going to get to Mars very carefully," Mr Crusan said. "It's a huge challenge. We don't yet know how to live off-planet without the logistics chain to Earth. We have to learn first to break that chain."

Where Mr Musk seems to be planning a dash to Mars, NASA and ESA are serious about building a permanent presence.

"Putting all that architecture together, you need something more than standing up and giving a talk about pizza restaurants on Mars," Dr McCaughrean said.

"Everyone focuses on the 'final step' of the journey," Mr Crusan said. "But every step along the way is inspirational and helps us learn to live away from the planet.

"Imagine standing on the moon Phobos, an important step in our journey to Mars. Sixty-five per cent of the sky would be taken up by Mars. How inspirational would that be?"

While Mars seems the next obvious place for humans to go, it shouldn't be confused with being an easy second home.

"We have to understand where our limits are," Dr McCaughrean said. "The Martian [starring Matt Damon] made it look easy - but it's not that easy.

"Mars looks superficially attractive. We see sunsets, landscapes similar to Earth. There is a lot about it which feels like home," Dr McCaughrean said.

"But remember it has 1 per cent the atmosphere of Earth - mostly carbon dioxide. There is just a third the gravity and there is no magnetic field to protect the planet from cosmic rays.

"Astronauts won't be sitting on deckchairs enjoying the sun."

Mr Crusan detailed the many engineering obstacles to overcome:

• "First is life support. How do we produce oxygen and scrub the air of carbon dioxide? How do we recycle water? We can't just take an endless supply with us."
• The second obstacle is developing in-space manufacturing. "We won't be able to rely on spare parts from Earth," he said.
• "Third, we'll need to shield the spacecraft from high-energy particles and specific events from the sun."
• "We'll also need to upgrade our communication systems. There will be a [13-minute] delay because of how far Mars is. We want to improve our communications to that physics limit but also increase the bandwidth so we can share what's going on there with everyone back home."
• Then there is building habitats on Mars that last not just a week with reliability but years.
• The sixth obstacle is building the next-generation engines to get us there.

If it is all so difficult, why not just send robots?

Mr Crusan said: "Why do humans explore? It's because we are curious. It is innate. We want to see ourselves on Mars ... no one wants to grow up to be a robot."

Dr McCaughrean said: "We can't use the mission of gaining a foothold on another planet as the sole justification for our journey.

"But our space missions - Apollo, the Hubble space telescope, Rosetta mission - have a transformative power for people on Earth. They see a bigger picture of humanity beyond the parochial - exploring the universe is a way of bringing people together."

He said the inspiration delivered by space exploration can be used to help solve the huge problems we have on Earth: climate change, resource management, energy production, disease, antibiotic resistance.

"Space doesn't solve those but it can be a tool for bringing people into those areas," Dr McCaughrean said.

"It has that power of inspiration - the ability to see that astronaut, that robot, that mission and say 'I'm part of it' - that's completely transformative. When kids feel part of something like that directly, it can change their lives." 

National Geographic Mars Live

• Melbourne Town Hall - Friday November 4
• Sydney Hordern Pavilion - Sunday November 6
• Canberra Llewellyn Hall - Monday November 7

For tickets and more info on the show visit www.ticketek.com.au/Mars