The NASA announcement on August 6, 1996, that a group of scientists think they have found evidence that Mars once had living organisms, sparked a new wave of articles about the Red Planet. As of this writing, these articles are still appearing-- we will list more in our next issue of TES News.
An excellent review of what scientists were thinking about the issue of Life on Mars before this story broke was presented by John Kross in the July-August 1996 issue of Ad Astra, a magazine published by the National Space Society (1-800-376-ORBIT). This particular issue of Ad Astra is a special issue celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Viking Mars landings.
Also of note here is the long awaited Blue Mars, the final in a series of Mars colonization novels by Kim Stanley Robinson. The series began with Red Mars (1993), then Green Mars (1994). These novels have actually been used in some U.S. classrooms as a framework for exploring the issue of terraforming and living on Mars.
Another new science ficition piece related to Mars listed below takes advantage of the coming centennial of H.G. Wells' famous War of the Worlds (1898) to present a series of short stories by contemporary authors-- these stories are told from the perspective of famous people who might have seen H.G. Wells' Martian invasion if it had really taken place. The book, War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches, tells the story through the eyes of Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson, and many others.
Finally, why didn't the United States send humans to Mars after the successful 1969 - 1972 Apollo Moon landings? An article in Spaceflight, the magazine of the British Interplanetary Society, explores this topic in "How NASA Lost the Case for Mars in 1969." The British Interplanetary Society can be contacted at: 27/29 S. Lambeth Rd., London SW8 1SZ, England.
Back to Contents of TES News September 1996