Mars, the mysterious red planet named after the Roman God of War has occupied the extraterrestrial fantasies of the humans inhabiting the earth since ancient times. Seeking life on Mars or chances of colonizing Mars, or the contrary, anticipating Martian attacks on earth, has always inspired astronomers, film makers and storytellers. Among the sky watchers, the pioneer was the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli (1835-1910) who geared his telescope ceaselessly to observe Mars. He chalked out the red planet’s surface, demonstrating its seas and continents on the map.

His most ground breaking observation was the dense network of linear structures which he called “canali”, the presence of which signified an artificial construction not made by nature. Based on a lifetime of diligent observations, he ultimately proclaimed that there are signs of an intelligent life on Mars. In sum, he believed in the existence of advanced Martians. Some accepted it, some did not. As the renown American astrophysicist Carl Sagan (1934-1996)  said : “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”  Nevertheless NASA  used them and kept updates of the original maps of Schiaparelli.

When NASA’s Perseverance Rover successfully landed on Mars on February 22, 2021, the first audio record captured the sound of the wind on Mars.

You can listen to the original recording of the wind below :

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/participate/sounds/?playlist=mars&item=wind-on-mars-01&type=mars

Here is the snapshot of facts the roaming rovers amassed about the mythical planet :

• Gravity on Mars is 60 % lower than gravity on earth.
• A day on Mars lasts 24 hours 40  minutes.
• One year in Mars is about 2 years on earth.
• It’s half  the size of the earth.
• Its atmosphere is very thin, the sky is red during the day and blue in the evening and in the morning.
• It has the largest volcano of the solar system 27km (16.7 miles) in height, which is 18km (11 miles) higher than Mount Everest.
• The weather is cold out there, average temperature is around  —50 Celsius ( —58 Fahrenheit)
• It has a 4000km (2485 miles) long and 7km (4 miles) deep canyon which indicates that there were/ are river beds and that proves there once was or still is life.
• As of today, there are 7 robots roaming on its surface.  NASA’s InSight lander aims at going beyond the magnetic field down to its interior to unravel the mysteries of Mars.

Meanwhile a number of entrepreneurial  terrestrials are planning to “colonize” Mars, to establish habitable space,  cultivate plantations and install stations for accommodating visitors travelling from the Earth to try life on Mars.

And what about you ? Do you think Martians are living there ? Will the humans succeed to establish life there one day ?

If you want to watch more of Mars before possibly taking a ride, here is a short informative video :

Duygu Bruce