Larry S. Crumpler - Missions to Mars: A New Era of Rover and Spacecraft Discovery on the Red Planet

Sol (day) 63 image of the morning sky taken by Spirit rover one hour before sunrise. This is the first image of Earth taken by a spacecraft from the surface of Mars.

NASA/JPL/Cornell/Texas A&M

Across the distance that it takes light to travel in twenty minutes between Earth and Mars and forty-five years earlier I was one of those on that small, blue-white morning star viewing Mars from afar. It was during the twilight of telescopic Mars observation and the beginning of the space age that I began setting up my small telescope in the backyard. And whenever Mars was in the evening sky I attempted to look at it. I recall that on one particularly clear night I could see what I suspected was one of the polar caps, but not much else. All those dark markings and such were the province of observers with larger and professional telescopes. Mars was always a somewhat frustrating object in this respect. One was aware that there would probably be a lot of interesting things to see if you could just find a way to see them. Now, after all those years and all that wondering what it was like on that planet, I was one of those on the other end of that gulf between two planets, not only looking back at Earth, but looking at the surface of Mars up close and personal.

SEEING RED: MARS MANIA, THE EARLY YEARS

Maybe the interest in Mars is simply a consequence of popular culture. Or who can say, maybe there is something else going on. There is the speculation among some people that life on Earth might easily have originated on Mars and was transferred here in the first few hundred million years of our planets existence. That could explain the interest we humans have had in Mars; our interest has been the vague desire buried in our DNA to see the home world again. For now, that is only unsatisfying speculation and does nothing to solve the riddle of lifes ultimate origin. Yet the search for the answer to that questionthat is, whether there was ever life on Mars or whether it is present even todayis one that we have been pursuing for many decades. It is one of many stories that we will come to examine. But for now, there is no single explanation backed up by evidence or careful social analysis regarding why Mars has been such a focus of attention through the centuries.

Some of the attention on Mars from the beginning of recorded history undoubtedly reflected an interest traceable to the appeal that the color red has for most humans. Red sunsets, red deserts, red sports carsyou name it and if it is red it is probably visually more arresting for most people. Early cultures have had a fascination with Marss perceived magical properties as a celestial object in its astrological role and in interactions with other celestial bodies, or its mythical origins and associations with war or other fiery events of mayhem that loom large in the human condition. And then there is a more modern obsession born of Marss rich history in fictional and imaginative depictions as an abode of interesting events, creatures, or societies. And finally, the fascination that the lay public may have favors Mars as a new destination that is colorful, far away, and a sort of new Southwest with all manner of exotic and richly colored scenery to be explored and seen by someone bold enough to do so.

Some of the attention on Mars from the beginning of recorded history undoubtedly reflected an interest traceable to the appeal that the color red has for most humans.