Mars, nicknamed ‘Red Planet’, has always captured the imagination of man. The fourth planet from our Sun, it gets its dull red tint from the presence of Iron Oxide on its surface. Perhaps its colour evoked fear in the human mind so much so the ancient Romans adopted Mars as their God of Wars.
Giovanni Schiaparelli, an Italian astronomer, sighted shapes resembling canals on the surface of Mars in 1877. Soon there came stories that these canals were constructed by Martians who were preparing to attack us. When a radio rendering of the novel, “The War of the Worlds” by H.G. Wells, was broadcast in USA in 1938, the listeners were driven into such a panic as to flee from their homes to safe hiding places. So realistic was the audio accompaniment of the radio program! Mars is about 50% farther away than the Earth from the Sun.
This makes it a cold planet; even at the peak of summer, its temperature is lower than -500....
