Mars - 1

Mars has been the subject of intense study for centuries. Its exploration has been wrought with success and failure, and has witnessed a dramatic evolution in knowledge. Speculations about the famous “irrigation canals” on Mars in the late 1800s were finally put to rest by images returned from NASA’s Mariner 4 mission in 1965. Revealing icy deserts, impact craters and a barren landscape, they dispelled thoughts of thriving, agricultural civilizations. In the 1970s NASA’s Viking mission carried out life-detection experiments on the surface. The results, suggesting a lifeless planet, raised more questions than answers.