Mars is currently a dry and irradiated planet according to our robot friends, Perseverance and Curiosity. Evidence suggests that Mars was once a wet planet, however, there is substantial debate regarding Mars' origins and the life span of its long-lost bodies of water. 
Some theory suggests that it might have been because of active volcanoes that melted the Martian permafrost, while others suggest that it was because of a cataclysmic asteroid impact.

What Mars Is Like

<ul>
<li>Scientists believe that as long as there is a consistent source of water, life forms will be able to flourish. However, Mars' surface has been exposed to damaging solar and cosmic radiation, so the chances of life ever forming are largely reduced.</li>
<li>Unlike Earth, Mars did not have a relatively thick atmosphere nor did it have a strong magnetic field for it to end up like Earth.</li>
<li>With the lack of a magnetic sheath to protect it from the solar wind, Mars' atmosphere has been stripped away.</li>
</ul>

Inhabitable Mars

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<li>The question we have right now is that "can Mars host life now?" </li>
<li>We're still not sure yet. However, if we're not speaking about humanoids inhabiting Mars, then there might be a possible chance that there are already existing life forms already in Mars' subterranean reservoirs due to some evidence that there is liquid water locked away in it.</li>
<li>But for now, the red planet remains as an eerie time capsule of the era when Earth formed into what we know of it today.</li>
</ul>

Mars Hosting Life

How habitable was early Mars? Why did it become less hospitable? And could there be life there now?

Mars Hosting Life

3 Great Mysteries About Life on Mars

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For All Mankind: What’s stopping us from going to Mars? | BBC Science Focus Magazine