If Mars formed life, then life on Earth could have been seeded by life on Mars, making every life form on Earth descended from Martians. Neil deGrasse Tyson
If the United States commits to the goal of reaching Mars, it will almost certainly do so in reaction to the progress of other nations – as was the case with NASA, the Apollo program, and the project that became the International Space Station. Neil deGrasse Tyson
On Mars, where the air is spare – a hundred times less dense than on Earth – someone could hear you scream. But you'd have to really strain to get anyone’s attention. On the Red Planet, where the wind is high-pitched and faint, even a symphony orchestra will sound as thin as cheap gruel. Seth Shostak
Mars is essentially in the same orbit ... Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe. Dan Quayle, interview CNN November 1989
The peak of Olympus Mons on Mars rises 25 km (15 miles) above its base. Guinness World Records 2005 (50th edition)
Oxygen levels critical. The Martian 2015 starring Matt Damon & Jessica Chastain & Jeff Daniels & Christen Wiig & Michael Pena & Sebastian Stan & Sean Bean & Kate Mara & et al, director Ridley Scott, wakes up alone
Mars will come to fear my botany powers. ibid. Watney
I colonised Mars. ibid.
There’s something big and beautiful and greater than me. ibid.
Mars: the red planet. For millennia an object of mystery, intrigue and fantasy. But now it’s more than that. It’s the next target in the human exploration of space. It’s a thrilling prospect but how likely are we to succeed? And is it a journey we should even be attempting? Dr Kevin Fong, Should We Go to Mars? The Big Think, BBC 2017
The very first spacecraft to reach the red planet was NASA’s Mariner 4 probe. ibid.
Mars is littered with the refuge of failure. ibid.
A three-year mission would be nearly triple the length of anything we’ve done before. And spending that long in space poses some serious risks. The first problem is radiation. ibid.
Mars: perhaps the only other planet that could support human life … Is mankind on the verge of discovering alien life on Mars? Alien Files Unsealed s1e16: Life on Mars, History 2012
By the mid-2030s Nasa plans to send a manned mission to Mars. Alien Files Unsealed s4e17: Mars the Final Frontier
[Percival] Lowell trained his eye on Mars: the conclusions he reached about what he saw made him one of the most controversial scientists of the age … ‘Lowell thought there was intelligent life of some form on Mars.’ In Search of s1e9 … Martians, biographer, History 1977
‘So it’s July of 1965 and we’re about to have this encounter with Mars ’ … 134 million miles from Earth … ‘The flyby itself takes a matter of hours’ … ‘The pictures were everything’ … ‘It represented the first image of Mars taken in any place but the surface of the Earth.’ Secrets of the Solar System s1e4: The Great Red Hope, scientists, Eden 2020
When the Mariner pictures came back, all it showed was craters just like the moon. It was a little bit of a disappointment. ibid.
That whole Martian empire was just smashed to red dust in an instant. This planet died. ibid.
Viking: between the launch and the arrival on Mars was about nine months. ibid.
Landing on Mars is one of the most difficult technological jobs that the human species has ever tried. ibid. Gentry Lee, Viking Science Analysis & Mission Planning Director
Well the pictures from each of the two Viking landers were each moments in human history to be remembered. They were geological snapshots into the workings of another world. ibid.
They are remains of Martian life. ibid. scientists look into rock
A century ago these fields were the bloody arena for the most terrible conflict in human history: in 1913 an alien invasion shook the world and hurled it into an unimaginable future ... The Land of the Vanished. Great Martian War 1913-1917, History 2013
Mars, a glowing red orb in the night sky. A desert planet that can hold signs of extraterrestrial life. A new frontier for the history of humanity. For centuries Mars has been an enigma in the night sky. The UnXplained with William Shatner s3e7: Mysteries of Mars, History 2022
Are there already birds on the red planet? March 2021: After a dramatic landing on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover is looking for signs of life … In the third frame it snaps this: a bizarre object appears suspended over the Martian surface. The Proof is Out There s2e19, History 2022
‘History being made this morning at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. NASA is set to launch a test flight of a brand new spaceship that is designed to carry humans to Mars.’ Voyage to Mars: The Longest Goodbye, BBC 2023
Nasa plans to send astronauts to Mars. The mission is expected to last three years. Prolonged separation from Earth remains one of the biggest threats to a mission to Mars. ibid.
Mars: We have sent almost fifty uncrewed missions there revealing evidence of a wet past. Secrets of the Universe with Tim Peake s1e1: The Planets, Channel 5 2023