We move now to Mars.

At his inauguration, when laying out his plans for his next four years in office, President Donald Trump said astronauts will plant the American flag on the Red Planet, but is that enough time to properly prepare?

It's a question we asked UNLV Professor Libby Hausrath, a past guest here on "State of Nevada," and now a guest on Nevada Week.

She's also the lead author of a new research article that shares what scientists have learned from the rock samples that the Perseverance rover has been collecting ever since it landed on Mars in 2021.

These are the rock samples that NASA's Perseverance Mars rover team selected to bring to Earth.

(Libby Hausrath) It's a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen.

-UNLV Astrobiologist Libby Hausrath is a member of that team.

-From the data that the rover has already collected, it does seem like these could be habitable environments.

Of course, we won't really know until they come back, but it's really exciting that that could be the case.

-Despite the rover's state-of-the-art science instruments, which reportedly helped scientists find phosphate in the rock samples... -Phosphate is a really important nutrient for life, and so the fact that it has been found in these interesting samples is really exciting for possible ancient life on Mars.

- ...Hausrath says scientists can only truly answer whether life existed on Mars by studying the rock samples in person.

In a January teleconference call with the media, NASA said it aims to bring those samples to Earth in the mid-2030s, but we'll need immediate funding of about $300 million to stay on track.

(male voice) A good reason of why it could get extended out is if the Congress and the new administration do not respond.

We're talking about this fiscal year getting the money to get this thing going.

-But with federal spending under Elon Musk's microscope, the Department of Government Efficiency leader may propose that the US spend this money on his passion project, getting humans to Mars.

It's a goal President Trump himself said he plans to accomplish in his next four years.

(President Donald Trump) And we will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars.

[cheers and applause] -Does that make sense to you, to get humans there before you even get these samples back?

-You know, I think that we can learn so much from the samples that will help with humans, and particularly the samples that we just published the paper on are of regolith or soil.

And this is particularly important because Mars is covered with dust, and right now we don't know the particle size or the composition or the shape of the dust.

And so getting that information will really help with, you know, how that might interact with, you know, equipment, machinery on Mars.

It also has material that seems to be very representative of large areas of Mars, so the fine grained soil or sediment.

And that's really important, because that's what most of the surface of Mars is covered in.

So that's what astronauts will be walking on.

It'll likely, you know, it's a potential resource for use in, you know, potentially building materials.

And, you know, these are potential resources.

The soil is a potential resource.

And there's also, you know, potential hazards.

So on the moon, for example, the lunar regolith, actually, the lunar soil, turned out to be much sharper than anybody had anticipated.

So it was actually cutting holes in people's space suits.

So, you know, we don't-- that's probably, it's probably sharper on the moon than on Mars, but it would be really helpful to have these samples back to know more about Mars before humans go there.

I'm very prohumans on Mars.

I think the samples are a really important step in that direction.

-And Hausrath has a head start, should humans go to Mars.

Hausrath is already researching how to make human exploration of Mars possible, and she thinks one answer may be algae.

-We've been growing algae in the lab and under low pressure conditions, and this is relevant to human exploration of Mars, because the atmospheric pressure on Mars is very much lower than on Earth.

And we were able to see that the algae can grow under these pressures that are relevant to potential flexible greenhouses.

So they can produce oxygen, and some algae are edible.

-So potentially, people may be eating algae on Mars?

-That's possible.

So yeah, well, yeah, that could potentially be possible in the future, yeah.

-As a potential food source?

-Yeah.

Yeah, and oxygen source, and taking up of CO2 from the atmosphere.

-The atmosphere at UNLV, one of awe and excitement, as even graduate students are taking part in the out-of-this-world work.

-Being able to have been accepted to a program and work under people who are, you know, principal investigators in these missions is really something that I find impressive and motivating and, yeah, and I love it.

-And so does Hausrath, who says, if given the chance, she'd go to Mars herself... -You know, there's so much more to be learned from future exploration.

- ...but hopes the rock samples she helped choose will make their way to Earth as well.

If these rock samples do reach Earth, they will be the only hand-picked samples from Mars to physically be on Earth.

Right now, the only objects from Mars here for scientists to work with in person are meteorites that crash landed here.

Meanwhile, in response to President Trump's request that federal agencies prepare for mass layoffs, NASA is reportedly closing three of its offices and laying off its chief scientist.

It's unknown how these actions will impact NASA's missions.