Mars and the Cultural Quest for Life: Three Centuries of Imagination and Science

To the point

Mars has been understood through a tension between imagination and science for centuries, shaped by culture and evidence, with Kant and Herschel sparking early ideas of life, Schiaparelli and Lowell turning canals into symbols, Bradbury and Wells keeping the myth alive, and missions from Mariner 4 to Perseverance uncovering past habitability and fueling debates about terraforming and colonization, with voices like Elon Musk shaping ambitious visions.