NASA and JPL post regularly updated news about the ongoing Mars program, so the public can stay up to date.
The NASA/JPL Mars site gives us one reason why it should interest us:
“Mars today is a hostile world, blanketed in toxic soil and zapped with radiation. And yet, we are on a quest to conquer our fears and make peace with this planet. We begin to brave the hardships because Mars is the only planet on which humans could one day settle, making it a place of hope as well as trepidation.”
Because frontiers are fun.