The Search for Life on Mars: From Mars Mania to NASA’s Rovers

Mars has long intrigued humans — from the days when we perceived it as little more than a reddish dot in the night sky, to the invention of early telescopes that allowed us to survey its rutted surface, to our more recent ventures exploring the planet with landing rovers. The big question has been: Who or what is on Mars?

On this episode, our longtime search for life on Mars: audacious missions, complicated machinery, and “conversations” with Martians. We hear about the Viking mission to Mars — the first time a spacecraft landed on the Red Planet — and the controversy over its scientific findings; hear about how the idea that Mars was home to an advanced civilization swept the nation in the early 1900s; and learn about how NASA repairs Mars Rovers from afar.

SHOW NOTES:

• Back in the early 1900s, a strange phenomenon was sweeping the nation — “Mars Mania,” a belief shared by scientists and the public alike that Mars was home to a sophisticated civilization poised to guide us into the future. We talk with science writer David Baron about what was behind these beliefs, why it became a nationwide obsession, and what happened when scientists discovered the truth. Baron’s book is “The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America.”