The Red Planet

Many robotic spacecraft have been sent to explore the cold, dry and dusty surface of Mars.

They reveal a world not so dissimilar to Earth, shaped by meteor impacts, volcanic activity, weather and flash flooding. In addition, recent discoveries inform us about the possibilities for life on Mars – both in the past and the present.

Red Mars is one of the four rocky planets in orbit around the Sun. At about half the size of the Earth, it is larger than both Mercury and the Moon, although it contains only one-tenth the Earth’s mass. It is our most accessible planet, and the member of the Solar system that most resembles Earth – and for these reasons it has long captured the human imagination, and been a focus for space exploration.

Speaker: Professor Carolin Crawford

Price: Free