TORONTO -- Don't wait for clanking robots on Mars to do what flesh-and-blood humans do better. The opportunity is now for a new branch of civilization to claim the fourth planet from the sun.

That's the opening call from a "Red Planet platoon" from more than 700 people gathered here for the Third International Mars Society Convention, running through Sunday at Ryerson Polytechnic University.

The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station

While four airdrops of key habitat components and tools went well, a fifth did not.

Delays and the loss of the crane and supplies made it hard to keep around the construction crew members hired to build the Mars habitat.

"No floors, no trailer, no crane and no crew...other than that, things we're looking good," Zubrin said with a laugh.

With a great deal of perseverance, alternative ways to fabricate the Mars habitat proved successful. "The big news is that we did it," Zubrin said.

"There were a lot of strong personalities involved and I would kid you if I told you we were all in agreement about what and how things should be done," Zubrin said.

"We managed to transcend our differences and we pulled together. It's that same spirit of pulling together ... that will get us to Mars."

The Mars Society is now pondering next steps, including an upgrade of the Devon Island habitat.

Creating similar habitat sites in the North American desert, in Australia and Iceland, are under review. Also, the group wants to privately finance its own robotic Mars mission, perhaps a camera-toting balloon to coast high over the Red Planet.

The winds of Mars are its highways, Zubrin told SPACE.com.

"None of this is going to be easy, but it's possible," Zubrin told the audience. "We can use the same spirit that we used to improvise our way out of the box on Devon Island."

Ralph Harvey, a Case Western University geologist, warned the gathering that the search for life on Mars may prove to be a dead end, literally.

Harvey is critical of the NASA-led research that a scientific team claimed in 1996 showed biological signatures preserved in Mars meteorite, ALH 84001. He cautioned that looking for life on Mars may yield a negative result.

"If we try and sell a trip to Mars based on only a search for life, you are selling short this wonderful planet," Harvey said. "Let's make sure that missions to Mars do more than focus on a 'yes or no' question. Let's bring back results that are relevant across science."

While noting that the ALH 84001 studies remain controversial, Zubrin said the exploration of Mars beckons.

"Our civilization is searching for a purpose. It realizes that it has transcended the battles of the 20th century," Zubrin said. "What we have to do is move the soul of this civilization."