Mars, Here We Come!

1. The History of Earth-Based Exploration of Mars

Mars is one of the seven objects visible to the naked eye which move relative to the (apparently) fixed stars (the other six being Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, the Moon, and the Sun). Mars appears as a deep red "star" to the naked eye. This blood red color led the ancients to name this wandering star after the Roman god of war, Mars.

The first in-depth telesopic study of Mars came in the late 1800's. In 1877 the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli announced that he had seen canali (the Italian word for "grooves") on Mars. This was translated into English as "canals" and caught the attention of the New England aristocrat Percival Lowell.

He established the Lowell Observatory with a 24 inch refracting telescope in Flagstaff, Arizona specifically for the study of Mars. Lowell studied Mars for over a decade. During this time, he developed maps of Mars with great networks of canals. Unfortunately, the existence of these canals seem to have been more in Lowell's mind than in reality. More detailed studies revealed no such collection of canals.

Plate VII from Lowell's book Mars, 1895.

Telescopic studies of Mars continue even today. Unfortunately, the motions of the Earth and Mars around the Sun are such that Mars is close to Earth only once every two years or so. Fortunately, we will be in such a situation (called an opposition of Mars) this April.


The orbits of Earth and Mars, with positions indicated for early March 1999. The arc represents the trajectory of the Mars Global Surveyor.

Goto Section 2 - Space Based Exploration Before Viking.