What is the importance of the planet Earth in the collection, Life on Mars: Poems?

Earth is used as a general setting in several poems as a contrast to the vast setting of outer space featured in other poems. Ironically, the poem “Life on Mars” features the most concentrated exploration of the planet Earth as a setting, specifically in section eight. Here earth is characterized by its natural forces and the physical laws that govern it. In some ways the enormity of the planet as a setting is also used as a means of diminishing the plight of humanity.