Life on Mars: humanity and the red planet

The human race has a long, and complicated, history with our neighbouring planets, specifically, the red planet, Mars. Named after the Roman god of war due to the red appearance in the sky, there has been a great deal of fascination with our nearest world for many centuries. It’s not clear when we first discovered Mars, but it was first identified as a planet like Earth by Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543.

This revolutionary revelation helped Copernicus blow apart the established wisdom about the universe, and was a central part of his heliocentric theory – the idea that it was the Sun, and not the Earth, that the stars and planets revolve around. This was a deeply heretical suggestion, usurping the teachings of the Catholic church that humanity was, as devised by god, at the centre of all things.

It is, thus, that Mars has been at the centre of global attention, public fascination, and human culture for centuries, with its position first accurately mapped in 1576 by Tycho Brahe – before the invention of the telescope – and its surface first drawn by Christiaan Huygens in 1659, using a telescope of his own invention. Being so close, within viewing distance, and yet so far away, and so exotic, Mars is an entity that even non-astronomers can comprehend and marvel at.

And it is this fascination, and yet lack of detailed knowledge, that has made the red planet a mainstay of science fiction, from H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds to the Ice Warriors from Doctor Who. But it has also sparked a very real quest to learn more, to see what of the stories is actually borne out by reality, to learn the true tales of our close companion, and to discover if it could become a part of our future.

From Mariner 4 giving us our very first photographic glimpse of the familiar red, barren surface in 1965, to Curiosity’s ongoing quest to find out whether Mars could have supported alien life in the past, and whether it could support human life in the future, ever since we have had the capabilities to do so, we have transformed our centuries long obsession in to a quest for truth and answers. And it appears we are starting to get some.

The rover has found organic matter on the planet’s surface – a vital building block of life. Although this doesn’t necessarily mean that there ever was life on Mars, it is a huge step towards proving the theoretical possibility of such life. Satellites above the planet have, even more recently, discovered a giant lake under the southern polar ice cap. This is yet another vital clue in unlocking the many mysteries that this planet is hiding. It’s red surface, as iconic as anything on Earth, is littered with clues, like a tapestry, filled with possibilities and maybes. And beyond those uncertainties lies a simple truth. This is a truth that humanity has wanted to find for centuries, and one at the centre of which Mars has laid for a very long time: are we alone? We are closer than ever to finding out.

But our interest in the hidden life of Mars, and the untapped potential it may hold, is not just one of curiosity. It is one of aspiration, of ambition, and of survival. Mars One and NASA are both looking to take the next leap by sending humans to the planet for the very first time – an event that will, doubtlessly, go down in history alongside the Moon landing. There is fevered speculation about the potential for human colonisation. But all of that is off in the future. Whilst we still know little, and whilst there is much still to do, the relationship between the human race and Mars is a complex, poetic, and enthralling one, and it is only yet beginning.