Mars – The Next Frontier?

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May 21, 2025

Unravel the age-old allure of Mars as it transitions from ancient god to a modern obsession. Explore humanity’s dreams of colonization and the thin line between fact and fiction. Delve into historical perspectives and literary portrayals that reveal societal themes of imperialism. Discover the cultural implications of Mars as a symbol of masculinity and conflict. Question whether Elon Musk's aspirations are realistic or just ambitious fancy. Join in on the philosophical debates over space exploration that echo through time.

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INSIGHT

Mars as Humanity's Mirror

Mars serves as a mirror reflecting humanity's own hopes and fears over centuries.
Its allure blends scientific reality with mythic imagination, shaping our view of Earth.

INSIGHT

Mistranslated Canali Fueled Mars Mania

The mistranslation of canali as canals sparked widespread Mars mania and fantasies of advanced civilizations.
This error led many to imagine seas, vegetation, and high-level society on Mars.

ANECDOTE

Percival Lowell's Canal Crusade

Percival Lowell passionately promoted the existence of Martian canals, becoming a charismatic but controversial figure.
His persistence led newspapers to credulously report on Martians building vast canal systems.

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The Man Who Fell to Earth

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Walter Tevis

Walter Tevis' "The Man Who Fell to Earth" tells the story of an extraterrestrial who arrives on Earth seeking refuge from his dying planet. The novel explores themes of alienation, isolation, and the destructive consequences of unchecked technological advancement. The protagonist's struggle to adapt to human society and his ultimate disillusionment with humanity create a sense of pathos and despair. The novel's exploration of addiction, mental illness, and the search for meaning in a seemingly meaningless universe has made it a powerful and enduring work of science fiction. Its themes of environmental destruction and the potential for self-destruction remain strikingly relevant today.

Red Planet

Robert A. Heinlein

The War of the World

Niall Ferguson

Princess of Mars

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Published in 1915, 'A Princess of Mars' is the inaugural book of the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The story follows John Carter, a Confederate soldier from Virginia, who is transported to Mars (known as Barsoom) through an unexplained phenomenon. On Mars, Carter's Earth-based muscles give him extraordinary strength and agility due to the planet's lower gravity. He is captured by the Tharks, green-skinned, four-armed Martian warriors, but soon gains their respect and becomes a chieftain. Carter falls in love with Dejah Thoris, a princess of the city-state Helium, and helps her people against their enemies. The novel explores themes of adventure, love, and the clash of different Martian cultures, with Burroughs' characteristic blend of science fiction and swashbuckling action[2][3][4].

La Planète Mars

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Camille Flammarion

The case for Mars

Robert Zubrin

In this book, Robert Zubrin presents a detailed and pragmatic approach to sending humans to Mars and establishing a permanent human settlement. He advocates for a 'travel-light and live-off-the-land' strategy, utilizing Martian resources to generate air, water, and rocket fuel. The book covers various aspects of Martian exploration, including surface transportation, electrical power, navigation, and communication. Zubrin also discusses the long-term goal of terraforming Mars to make it habitable for humans. The book is based on his Mars Direct plan, which emphasizes the use of existing technologies and resources to make human missions to Mars feasible and cost-effective.

A City on Mars

Zach Weinersmith

Kelly Weinersmith

In 'A City on Mars', Kelly and Zach Weinersmith delve into the complexities of space settlement, addressing questions such as the feasibility of having children in space, the governance of space settlements, and the legal implications of space colonization. The book, which includes humorous illustrations and anecdotes, highlights the significant obstacles to becoming a multiplanetary species and challenges the common enthusiasm for space settlement with a realistic and skeptical viewpoint.

Everything Must Go

Dorian Lynskey

How Westminster Works ... and Why It Doesn't

Ian Dunt

Imagining Mars

A Literary History

Robert Crossley

The Martian chronicles

Ray Bradbury

The Martian Chronicles is a seminal work by Ray Bradbury that tells the story of humanity’s repeated attempts to colonize Mars. The book is a fix-up of several short stories that collectively narrate the history of Earthmen’s interactions with Mars, from the initial expeditions to the eventual settlement and the consequences that follow. It explores themes of human ambition, societal changes, and the clash between human and Martian cultures. The stories are set against the backdrop of Earth’s decline and Mars’s transformation into a new home for humanity, highlighting the complexities and moral dilemmas of colonization and the search for a new beginning[1][2][5].

Welcome to the first ever episode of Origin Story dedicated to a planet. We’re taking a long look at the place of Mars in the popular imagination, from ancient civilisations to fin de siècle Mars mania to the current techbro obsession with exploration and colonisation. Is there life on Mars? Let’s find out.

The ancients associated the red planet with gods of war. With the invention of the telescope in the 17th century, astronomers began to understand Mars better and speculate about its inhabitants. Thanks to the amateur astronomer Percival Lowell, the romance of the red planet, and its alleged “canals”, became a craze in the 1890s. H.G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs imagined the Martians as colonisers and colonised respectively, while luminaries like Nikola Tesla and Francis Galton hatched outlandish schemes to contact them.

Science played the killjoy. Even as a new wave of Mars mania swept the post-war world, NASA probes unveiled the reality of a cold, dusty, dead planet. But their findings allowed for a new breed of romance: the possibility of actually reaching and settling on Mars.

Ray Bradbury compared Mars to a mirror. What does humanity’s fascination with it say about our own dreams and fears over the centuries? How did the fictional Martian turn from a friendly pacifist into a ruthless killing machine? Why is there such a thin line between fact and fiction? Is Elon Musk’s obsession with settlement really possible or just another delusion? And why exactly do so many people want to travel to a planet that makes the least hospitable places on earth look like Center Parcs?

It’s a mindboggling tale of scientific discovery and wild fantasy, with an all-star cast including Lord Tennyson, William Herschel, Thomas Edison, David Bowie and Arthur C. Clarke. Plus! Our first ever Origin Story playlist, with 23 songs about Mars. We have lift-off.

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Reading list

• Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles (1950)

• Albert Burneko, ‘Neither Elon Musk nor Anybody Else Will Ever Colonize Mars’ (2025)

• Stuart Clark (ed.), The Book of Mars: An Anthology of Fact and Fiction (2022)

• Robert Crossley, Imagining Mars: A Literary History (2011)

• Marc Hartzman, The Big Book of Mars (2020)

• Robert Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)

• Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk (2023)

• Nicky Jenner, 4 th Rock from the Sun: The Story of Mars (2017)

• Dorian Lynskey, Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World (2024)

• Lord Tennyson, ‘Locksley Hall Sixty Years After’ (1886)

• Walter Tevis, The Man Who Fell to Earth (1963)

• Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? (2023)

• H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds (1898)

• Robert Zubrin, The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must (1996)

Audio and video

• Alternative 3, written by David Ambrose and directed by Christopher Miles (1977)

• The Bunker: Why Elon Musk’s plan for life on Mars is a terrible idea (2025)

• The Martian, written by Drew Goddard and directed by Ridley Scott (2015)

• A Trip to Mars, directed by Ashley Miller for the Edison Company (1910)

• The War of the Worlds, written and directed by Orson Welles (1938)

Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Produced by Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Art by Jim Parrett. Logo by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production

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