The fashionable idea that Mars was populated by intelligent Martians exploded in the late 19th century. Schiaparelli's "canali" observations combined with Percival Lowell's books on the subject put forward the standard notion of a planet that was a drying, cooling, dying world with ancient civilizations constructing irrigation works. Many other observations and proclamations by notable personalities added to what has been termed "Mars Fever". In 1899, while investigating atmospheric radio noise using his receivers in his Colorado Springs lab, inventor Nikola Tesla observed repetitive signals that he later surmised might have been radio communications coming from another planet, possibly Mars.
Intelligent "Martians"
Mars
Mars | Intelligent "Martians"
Yes, fashionable idea of intelligent Martians Nikola Tesla observed repetitive signals that he later surmised might have been radio communications coming from another planet, possibly Mars. Yes, Schiaparelli's "canali" observations combined with Percival Lowell's books on the subject put forward the standard notion of a planet that was a drying, cooling, dying world with ancient civilizations constructing irrigation works. The Viking probes of the mid-1970s carried experiments designed to detect microorganisms in Martian soil at their respective landing sites and had positive results.
what is the location of mars in the solar system
user
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun
assistant
is it known by any other names?
user
Yes, "Red Planet" in English
assistant
are there any volcanoes there?
user
Yes, Olympus Mons
assistant
who named it?
user
Named after observations made by Mariner 9
assistant
what was that?
user
From Nix Olympica; a volcano. Astronomers adopted the name "Olympus Mons" for the albedo feature known as Nix Olympica
assistant
was that a spaceship that made the observations?
user
It was a robotic space probe
assistant
have any other space probes landed on the planet discussed above?
user
Yes, "Mariner 4", "Viking 1", etc
assistant
did the first one land on the planet or was it just a fly by?
user
A flyby mode
assistant
how did it meet its end?
user
The gas supply in the attitude control system was exhausted, and between December 10 and 11, a total of 83 micrometeoroid hits perturbation of the spacecraft's attitude and degradation of the signal strength
assistant
what is found at the polar regions of the planet?
user
The caps at both poles consist primarily (70%) of water ice; frozen carbon dioxide layer is in northern cap and south cap has a permanent dry ice cover
assistant
are there any features resulting from impacts?
user
Yes, impact craters
assistant
are they named?
user
Yes, Hellas impact basin
assistant
is there any discussion about the intelligent lifeform on the planet?
user
(See Criticism). In addition, while it appears that life developed soon after the formation of Earth, the Cambrian explosion, in which a large variety of multicellular life forms came into being, occurred a considerable amount of time after the formation of Earth, which suggests the possibility that special conditions were necessary. Some scenarios such as the snowball Earth or research into the extinction events have raised the possibility that life on Earth is relatively fragile. Research on any past life on Mars is relevant since a discovery that life did form on Mars but ceased to exist might raise our estimate of but would indicate that in half the known cases, intelligent life did not develop.
Drake equation | Fraction of the above that develops intelligent life,
There they find a humanoid race of Martians who are the offspring of both an elder Martian species and of humans from Atlantis. The Martians live in a class society; the workers rise up against the ruling class, but the revolution fails. All the while, Mars is entering a phase of climate change that threatens disaster for the population. "Red Planet" (1932), a play cowritten by John L. Balderston and John Hoare, also deals with radical environmental change on Mars, except in this case it occurs through terraforming. Balderston was one of the few playwrights of the 20th century to adopt Mars or Martians as a subject for the stage.
Martian | Martians as civilized humanoids
For example, a 130 km large crater could sustain an active hydrothermal system for up to 2 million years, that is, long enough for microscopic life to emerge, but unlikely to have progressed any further down the evolutionary path.
Life on Mars | Past
Estimates of have been affected by discoveries that the Solar System's orbit is circular in the galaxy, at such a distance that it remains out of the spiral arms for tens of millions of years (evading radiation from novae). Also, Earth's large moon may aid the evolution of life by stabilizing the planet's axis of rotation.
Drake equation | Fraction of the above that develops intelligent life,
The Martians are primitive but intelligent humanoids who lived beneath the sands. Martians burst into flames when brought in contact with water. Martians killed many of the early human explorers on Mars, principally because they concealed their existence, and they weren't suspected. In the novel "Protector", the Martians were wiped out when Jack Brennan caused an ice asteroid to crash into the surface of Mars, raising the average humidity of the atmosphere. Some Martians still exist on the "Map of Mars" on the Ringworld.
List of Known Space characters | Martians
In 2020, a paper by scholars at the University of Nottingham proposed an "Astrobiological Copernican" principle, based on the Principle of Mediocrity, and speculated that "intelligent life would form on other [Earth-like] planets like it has on Earth, so within a few billion years life would automatically form as a natural part of evolution". In the authors' framework, , , and are all set to a probability of 1 (certainty). Their resultant calculation concludes there are more than thirty current technological civilizations in the galaxy (disregarding error bars).
Drake equation | Fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life,
"The Martians" was a term used to refer to a group of prominent Hungarian scientists (mostly, but not exclusively, physicists and mathematicians) who emigrated to the United States in the early half of the 20th century. Leó Szilárd, who jokingly suggested that Hungary was a front for aliens from Mars, used this term. In an answer to the question of why there is no evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth despite the high probability of it existing, Szilárd responded: "They are already here among us they just call themselves Hungarians." This account is featured in György Marx's book "The Voice of the Martians." Paul Erdős, Paul Halmos, Theodore von Kármán, John G.
The Martians (scientists) | Introduction
It is possible that even if complex life is common, intelligence (and consequently civilizations) is not. While there are remote sensing techniques that could perhaps detect life-bearing planets without relying on the signs of technology, none of them has any ability to tell if any detected life is intelligent. This is sometimes referred to as the "algae vs. alumnae" problem. Charles Lineweaver states that when considering any extreme trait in an animal, intermediate stages do not necessarily produce "inevitable" outcomes. For example, large brains are no more "inevitable," or convergent, than are the long noses of animals such as aardvarks and elephants.
Fermi paradox | Extraterrestrial intelligence is rare or non-existent
All Barsoomian races resemble Homo sapiens in most respects, except for being oviparous and having lifespans in excess of 1,000 years (though actual life expectancy is far shorter.) However, the Green Martians are much taller, have four arms, tusks, and antennae like ears. The traditional Martian lifespan of 1,000 is based on the customary pilgrimage down the River Iss, which is taken by virtually all Martians by that age, or those who feel tired of their long lives and expect to find a paradise at the end of their journey. None return from this pilgrimage, because it leads to almost certain death at the hands of ferocious creatures.
Barsoom | Peoples and culture
In addition, the plants "Rhizocarpon geographicum" and "Xanthoria elegans" have been found to survive in an environment where the atmospheric pressure is far too low for surface liquid water and where the radiant energy is also much lower than that which most plants require to photosynthesize. The fungi "Cryomyces antarcticus" and "Cryomyces minteri" are also able to survive and reproduce in Mars-like conditions. Species, including humans, known to possess animal cognition require large amounts of energy, and have adapted to specific conditions, including an abundance of atmospheric oxygen and the availability of large quantities of chemical energy synthesized from radiant energy.
Circumstellar habitable zone | Significance for complex and intelligent life
An American astronomer obtains images of Mars suggesting large-scale environmental changes are occurring at a pace that can only be accomplished by intelligent beings with advanced technology. Scientist Chris Cronyn (Peter Graves) and his wife, Linda (Andrea King) have been contacting Mars by a hydrogen powered radio transmitter, using technology based on the work of Nazi scientist Franz Calder. They communicate first through an exchange of mathematical concepts, like the value of pi, and then through answers to specific questions about Martian life. The transmissions claim that Mars is a utopia, which has led to great technological advancement and the elimination of scarcity, but that there is no fear of nuclear war.
Red Planet Mars | Plot
The fashionable idea that Mars was populated by intelligent Martians exploded in the late 19th century. Schiaparelli's "canali" observations combined with Percival Lowell's books on the subject put forward the standard notion of a planet that was a drying, cooling, dying world with ancient civilizations constructing irrigation works. Many other observations and proclamations by notable personalities added to what has been termed "Mars Fever". In 1899, while investigating atmospheric radio noise using his receivers in his Colorado Springs lab, inventor Nikola Tesla observed repetitive signals that he later surmised might have been radio communications coming from another planet, possibly Mars.
Mars | Intelligent "Martians"
For his Known Space series of novels, Larry Niven conceived humanoid Martians with a primitive material culture who inhabit an environment of red dust and nitric acid, and for whom water is lethal. In the 1973 novel "Protector", a man named Jack Brennan allies himself with a ruthless, xenophobic humanoid species called the Pak. To preclude the possibility future competition for Pak offspring, Brennan engineers a Martian genocide by sending an ice-covered asteroid to collide with Mars. In Dennis Feltham Jones' 1977 novel "Colossus and the Crab", Martian life predated life on Earth, but faced a process of devolution as conditions on the planet worsened.
Martian | Martians as an extinct race
The popular idea that Mars was populated by intelligent Martians exploded in the late 19th century. Schiaparelli's "canali" observations combined with Percival Lowell's books on the subject put forward the standard notion of a planet that was a drying, cooling, dying world with ancient civilizations constructing irrigation works. Many other observations and proclamations by notable personalities added to what has been termed "Mars Fever". In 1899 while investigating atmospheric radio noise using his receivers in his Colorado Springs lab, inventor Nikola Tesla observed repetitive signals that he later surmised might have been radio communications coming from another planet, possibly Mars.
Mars in culture | Intelligent "Martians"
Given a planet in a stable orbit, not too hot and not too cold, and given a few billion years of chance chemical reactions created by the interaction of a sun's energy on the planet's chemicals, it's fairly certain that life in one form or another will eventually emerge. It's reasonable to assume that there must be, in fact, countless billions of such planets where biological life has arisen, and the odds of some proportion of such life developing intelligence are high. Now, the sun is by no means an old star, and its planets are mere children in cosmic age, so it seems likely that there are billions of planets in the universe not only where intelligent life is on a lower scale than man but other billions where it is approximately equal and others still where it is hundreds of thousands of millions of years in advance of us.
Political and religious beliefs of Stanley Kubrick | Religion
Tweel is a very intelligent creature, despite the fact that he thinks very differently from humans. When Jarvis, the story's protagonist, draws the first four inner planets and the sun in the sand, Tweel successfully identifies Mars as the fourth planet, and the Earth as the third. He therefore is civilized, but he thinks differently from humans, for he jumps directly into the circle in the sand that represents the sun on his beak, which he does not consider unusual at all. The Thoth communicate in distinct forms of whistles, clicks, and shrills, and also have a system of writing for which they use a mysterious kind of leathery paper.
Tweel (A Martian Odyssey) | Psychology and intelligence
H. G. Wells' novel "The War of the Worlds" (1898) and its various adaptations have been an extraordinary influence on science fiction writers for more than 100 years. Wells' Martians are a technologically advanced species with an ancient civilization. They somewhat resemble cephalopods, with large, bulky brown bodies and sixteen snake-like tentacles, in two groups of eight, around a quivering V-shaped mouth; they move around in 100 feet tall tripod fighting-machines they assemble upon landing, killing everything in their path. They invade Earth because Mars is dying, and they need a warmer planet to live. They attack cities in southern England, including London, with a deadly heat-ray they fire from a camera-like device on an articulated arm attached to their tripods; they also employ chemical warfare, using a poisonous "black smoke" launched from gun-like tubes.
Martian | Martians as invaders of Earth
In a 1901 interview, Tesla said: It was some time afterward when the thought flashed upon my mind that the disturbances I had observed might be due to an intelligent control. Although I could not decipher their meaning, it was impossible for me to think of them as having been entirely accidental. The feeling is constantly growing on me that I had been the first to hear the greeting of one planet to another.
Mars | Intelligent "Martians"
Not all of the antagonistic invaders are from Mars. Because science has revealed that the red planet is devoid of intelligent life, the concept of using Martians is sometimes dropped from some adaptations as it is no longer deemed realistic.
Martian (The War of the Worlds) | Non-Martians
The evolution of human intelligence may have required yet further events, which are extremely unlikely to have happened were it not for the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago removing dinosaurs as the dominant terrestrial vertebrates. In order for a small rocky planet to support complex life, Ward and Brownlee argue, the values of several variables must fall within narrow ranges. The universe is so vast that it could contain many Earth-like planets. But if such planets exist, they are likely to be separated from each other by many thousands of light years. Such distances may preclude communication among any intelligent species evolving on such planets, which would solve the Fermi paradox: "If extraterrestrial aliens are common, why aren't they obvious?"
Rare Earth hypothesis | Requirements for complex life
In the distant future, the human race has made Earth all but uninhabitable due to pollution, the eruption of the Yellowstone volcano, and misuse of the planet's resources. Now mankind lives on Mars, in cities that resemble those once found on Earth, and are protected from the alien environment by dome-like force-fields. When a sandstorm of record intensity breaks through the dome and destroys Mars New York, those in Mars Los Angeles must figure out how to stop the storm before it wipes them out next. The sandstorm's power was heightened due to the terra-forming efforts on Mars reactivating long dormant volcanoes.
Martian Land | Plot
Others concluded that a search for life on Earth at kilometer resolution, using several thousand photographs, did not reveal a sign of life on the vast majority of these photographs; thus, based on the 22 photographs taken by Mariner 4, one could not conclude there was no intelligent life on Mars. The solar wind was measured, and compared with simultaneous records from Mariner 5 which went to Venus.
Mariner 4 | Results
Primitive organisms may have developed in such lakes; hence, some craters may be prime targets for the search for evidence of life on the Red Planet.
Spallanzani (Martian crater) | Description
Conselice working with student Tom Westby developed a new methodology for calculating the number of possible communicating intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations there could be in our galaxy. This method was a major update to the Drake equation using the assumption that life and intelligent life form on other planets in the same way as it did on earth. This idea expands on the principles of Convergent evolution. Specifically, five billion years of uninterrupted evolution is needed. If these Communicating Extraterreestial Intelligent (CETI) civilizations can survive as such for on average of 100 years without destruction, similar to the current life-span of earth's communicating intelligence, then there should be formula_1 actively communicating civilizations within our Galaxy.
Christopher Conselice | Intelligent Life in the Galaxy
They have the ability to "possess" human bodies through a process of cell-phase matching, which allows them to carry out their guerrilla war with Humanity undetected. They are incredibly intelligent, able to communicate in seconds over light-years of space, create effective booby traps, and even adapt seemingly normal human objects for their own purposes. However, their intelligence lends itself to their one true weakness: their hubris, as it is established that they often claim victory before it is accomplished, do not admit to their mistakes, and with the exception of the Advocacy, those who fail are executed.
Martian (The War of the Worlds) | TV series
A Martian is an inhabitant of the planet Mars or a human colonist on Mars. Although the search for evidence of life on Mars continues, many science fiction writers have imagined what extraterrestrial life on Mars might be like.
Martian | Introduction
The prime concern of hardware contaminating Mars derives from incomplete spacecraft sterilization of some hardy terrestrial bacteria (extremophiles) despite best efforts. Hardware includes landers, crashed probes, end-of-mission disposal of hardware, and the hard landing of entry, descent, and landing systems. This has prompted research on survival rates of radiation-resistant microorganisms including the species "Deinococcus radiodurans" and genera "Brevundimonas", "Rhodococcus", and "Pseudomonas" under simulated Martian conditions. Results from one of these experimental irradiation experiments, combined with previous radiation modeling, indicate that "Brevundimonas" sp. MV.7 emplaced only 30 cm deep in Martian dust could survive the cosmic radiation for up to 100,000 years before suffering 10⁶ population reduction.
Life on Mars | Forward contamination
Thus, only highly refractory and/or well-protected (sub-surface) organics or life forms are likely to survive.
Mars | Habitability and search for life
It's reasonable to assume that there must be, in fact, countless billions of such planets where biological life has arisen, and the odds of some proportion of such life developing intelligence are high. Now, the Sun is by no means an old star, and its planets are mere children in cosmic age, so it seems likely that there are billions of planets in the universe not only where intelligent life is on a lower scale than man but other billions where it is approximately equal and others still where it is hundreds of thousands of millions of years in advance of us.
Interpretations of 2001: A Space Odyssey | Religious interpretations
Extraterrestrial intelligence (often abbreviated ETI) refers to hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrial life. The question of whether other inhabited worlds might exist has been debated since ancient times. The modern form of the concept emerged when the Copernican Revolution demonstrated that the Earth was a planet revolving around the Sun, and other planets were conversely, other worlds. The question of whether other inhabited planets or moons exist was a natural consequence of this new understanding. It has become one of the most speculative questions in science and is a central theme of science fiction and popular culture. In June 2020, astronomers from the University of Nottingham reported the possible existence of over 30 "active communicating intelligent civilizations", or Communicating Extra-Terrestrial Intelligent (CETI) civilizations (none within our current ability to detect due to various reasons including distance or size) in our own Milky Way galaxy, based on the latest astrophysical information.
Extraterrestrial intelligence | Introduction
As of 2018, there are 224 known Martian meteorites (some of which were found in several fragments). These are valuable because they are the only physical samples of Mars available to Earth-bound laboratories. Some researchers have argued that microscopic morphological features found in ALH84001 are biomorphs, however this interpretation has been highly controversial and is not supported by the majority of researchers in the field. Seven criteria have been established for the recognition of past life within terrestrial geologic samples. Those criteria are: For general acceptance of past life in a geologic sample, essentially most or all of these criteria must be met.
Life on Mars | Meteorites
All seven criteria have not yet been met for any of the Martian samples.
Life on Mars | Meteorites
The three races of Ma'aleca'andra (the Martian name for the planet Mars in the DCU) are directly responsible for the H'ronmeerca's (Saturnians). The Saturnians are genetically modified descendants from the underclass Martian worker clones created by their ancient Martian explorers as they ran Martian colonies on the moons of Saturn. The Martians cloned the original Saturnians from themselves; the Red Saturnians were created by the Green Martians while the White Saturnians were created by the White Martians. Both races of clones were created and bred to survive and live on the planet Saturn. The Green Martians treated their clones as equals while the White Martians treated their clones as slaves.
Jemm | H'ronmeerca'andra
The story is lightly plotted, and most of the text is devoted to setting the scene. In the distant future, man has colonized Mars and lives an apparently easy life, supported by efficient and intelligent robots. Intelligent Martians co-exist with the humans on that planet. The trend to suburbanization, first manifest in the mid-20th century, has continued, such that many (most?) humans on Earth live in isolated enclaves. Jerome Webster, the main character, is a human with expertise in Martian physiology, especially that of the brain. Like many other human adults, he suffers from progressive agoraphobia, which becomes extreme after his only son departs to spend time on Mars.
Huddling Place | Plot summary
The Green Martians are 15 feet tall, Burroughs wrote, adding from John Carter's observation of newly hatched children, They are nomadic, warlike, and barbaric; do not form families; have discarded concepts of friendship and affection (presumably in the name of survival); and enjoy torture. Their social structure is communal and rigidly hierarchical, with various levels of chiefs. The highest rank is the all-powerful Jeddak, who reaches this position through combat. They are tribal, and war among one another. They are primitive, intellectually backwards, and have no art or written language. Any advanced technology they possess is stolen from the Red Martians.
A Princess of Mars | Green Martians
Conceivably, if life exists (or existed) on Mars, evidence of life could be found, or is best preserved, in the subsurface, away from present-day harsh surface conditions. Present-day life on Mars, or its biosignatures, could occur kilometers below the surface, or in subsurface geothermal hot spots, or it could occur a few meters below the surface. The permafrost layer on Mars is only a couple of centimeters below the surface, and salty brines can be liquid a few centimeters below that but not far down. Water is close to its boiling point even at the deepest points in the Hellas basin, and so cannot remain liquid for long on the surface of Mars in its present state, except after a sudden release of underground water.
Life on Mars | Present
The novel also suggests a potential future for human evolution and perhaps a warning against overvaluing intelligence against more human qualities. The Narrator describes the Martians as having evolved an overdeveloped brain, which has left them with cumbersome bodies, with increased intelligence, but a diminished ability to use their emotions, something Wells attributes to bodily function. The Narrator refers to an 1893 publication suggesting that the evolution of the human brain might outstrip the development of the body, and organs such as the stomach, nose, teeth, and hair would wither, leaving humans as thinking machines, needing mechanical devices much like the Tripod fighting machines, to be able to interact with their environment.
The War of the Worlds | Human evolution
In 1964, James Lovelock was among a group of scientists requested by NASA to make a theoretical life-detection system to look for life on Mars during the upcoming space mission. When thinking about this problem, Lovelock wondered “how can we be sure that Martian life, if any, will reveal itself to tests based on Earth’s lifestyle?” To Lovelock, the basic question was “What is life, and how should it be recognized?” When speaking about this issue with some of his colleagues at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he was asked what he would do to look for life on Mars. To this, Lovelock replied "I’d look for an entropy reduction, since this must be a general characteristic of life." In 2013, Azua-Bustos and Vega argued that, disregarding the types of lifeforms that might be envisioned both on Earth and elsewhere in the Universe, all should share in common the attribute of decreasing their internal entropy at the expense of free energy obtained from their surroundings.
Entropy and life | Entropy and the search for extraterrestrial life
Haloarchaea have been proposed as a kind of life that could live on Mars; since the Martian atmosphere has a pressure below the triple point of water, freshwater species would have no habitat on the Martian surface. The presence of high salt concentrations in water lowers its freezing point, in theory allowing for halophiles to exist in saltwater on Mars.
Haloarchaea | As exophiles
The line of intelligent species doesn't have to be humans (e.g. "Australopithecus", "Homo habilis", "Homo sapiens"). The player can also evolve other intelligent species who are fictional or highly speculative. For example, if a player evolves one of the creatures into an elephant, one can access the elephant line, and gradually evolve that elephant into "Elephantosapiens" which is a species of intelligent life, thus winning the game. "Elephantosapiens" of course, is fictional and speculative. Other species of intelligent life within the game are parrot men, wombat men, and dino men.
Evolution: The Game of Intelligent Life | Gameplay
During their travels, they encounter hostile aliens. Russell's Martians can survive in Earth-normal air pressures, but are more comfortable wearing low-pressure helmets and tease their shipmates about the soupy conditions on board. As a writer for "Doctor Who", Brian Hayles created a Martian species of reptilian humanoids called the Ice Warriors, who move stiffly and speak in a husky whisper. Most of the Ice Warriors that the Doctor encounters are brutish and belligerent. As Mars' climate becomes less favorable to sustaining them, the Ice Warriors seek a new planet. These reptilians debuted in "The Ice Warriors" (1967), a "Doctor Who" television serial about an impending ice age in Earth's future.
Martian | Martians as anthropomorphic animals
Planetary scientist Alan Stern put forward the idea that there could be a number of worlds with subsurface oceans (such as Jupiter's Europa or Saturn's Enceladus). The surface would provide a large degree of protection from such things as cometary impacts and nearby supernovae, as well as creating a situation in which a much broader range of orbits are acceptable. Life, and potentially intelligence and civilization, could evolve. Stern states, "If they have technology, and let's say they're broadcasting, or they have city lights or whatever — we can't see it in any part of the spectrum, except maybe very-low-frequency [radio]."
Fermi paradox | Intelligent life may exist hidden from view
The human protagonist explains this system of writing merely looks like circles and spirals, but yet is too complicated for humans to translate, and is far too "alien" for humans to grasp. The language of the Thoth is also exceptionally complex, with no one word for anything—every time something is described, it will never be described in the same way any two times. The human protagonist, Jarvis, cannot grasp even a faint light of this language. The central alien, Tweel, is able to grasp various words in the human's language, English, such as "breet" (supposed to be "breathe") to designate living creatures, "no breet" for inanimate objects, "rock" to indicate silicon-based life forms, "one one two" to indicate a rudimentary level of intelligence, and "two two four" for a higher level of intelligence.
Tweel (A Martian Odyssey) | Psychology and intelligence
In Isaac's universe, there are several highly intelligent species of aliens, all of whom are capable of learning from each other, and appropriating devices and inventions for their own purpose. Not counting humans as intelligent beings, there are also intelligent snakes as big as pythons, winged arthropodic human-sized insect beings, whale-like beings confined to a liquid environment, and saurian reptilian creatures. There is also an indistinct massive being without any arms or legs or mouths, but obtains its nutrition by dissolving its food through its hide, and although it does not move fast, it thinks very long and deeply.
Fossil (novel) | Universe
There are three type of aliens in the book. The Martians in this version are not like the squid-like Martians described in H.G. Wells's story. These Martians are more humanoid with arms, legs and an enormous head with projector-like eyes and bad looking faces. When they rise, they are high. However this is only the male, for the species exhibits sexual dimorphism. To Earthlings, they appear unpleasant. The Martian women, however, are graceful and beautiful. The residents of Ceres are at war with the Martians. However, they are only mentioned, except for a female slave who is 40 feet tall.
Edison's Conquest of Mars | Aliens
Another possibility invokes the "tragedy of the commons" and the anthropic principle: the first lifeform to achieve interstellar travel will necessarily (even if unintentionally) prevent competitors from arising, and humans simply happen to be first.
Fermi paradox | It is the nature of intelligent life to destroy others
There is no reliable evidence aliens have visited Earth and we have observed no intelligent extraterrestrial life with current technology nor has SETI found any transmissions from other civilizations. The Universe, apart from the Earth, seems "dead"; Hanson states: Our planet and solar system, however, don't look substantially colonized by advanced competitive life from the stars, and neither does anything else we see. To the contrary, we have had great success at explaining the behavior of our planet and solar system, nearby stars, our galaxy, and even other galaxies, via simple "dead" physical processes, rather than the complex purposeful processes of advanced life.
Great Filter | Fermi paradox
The book is divided into four sections: "Why Are We Here? Will We Survive? Will Technology Save Us or Destroy Us? How Can We Thrive?". The ten big questions that are considered include: Is there a God? How did it all begin? What is inside a black hole? Can we predict the future? Is time travel possible? Will we survive on Earth? Is there other intelligent life in the universe? Should we colonise space? Will artificial intelligence outsmart us? How do we shape the future? The book discusses many of today's challenges, including the biggest threat to the planet (an "asteroid collision", like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago ...
Brief Answers to the Big Questions | Contents
As a race of shapeshifters, physical appearance has little meaning for Martians. The underlying psychological differences are what separated the peaceful Green Martians from the war-like Whites. White Martians have configured their physiology to reflect their philosophy, becoming a separate race from the Green and Yellow Martians. In the current DC continuity, their preferred form is that of angular, hairless humanoids with chalky white skin which often forms bony ridges or plates, giving them the appearance of armor. They have sometimes been seen to have a gaping mouth on their thorax and a horn on the same level on each side.
White Martian | History
Life on Mars has been long speculated. Liquid water is widely thought to have existed on Mars in the past, and now can occasionally be found as low-volume liquid brines in shallow Martian soil. The origin of the potential biosignature of methane observed in Mars' atmosphere is unexplained, although hypotheses not involving life have also been proposed. There is evidence that Mars had a warmer and wetter past: dried-up river beds, polar ice caps, volcanoes, and minerals that form in the presence of water have all been found. Nevertheless, present conditions on Mars' subsurface may support life. Evidence obtained by the "Curiosity" rover studying Aeolis Palus, Gale Crater in 2013 strongly suggests an ancient freshwater lake that could have been a hospitable environment for microbial life.
Extraterrestrial life | Mars
A debate took place at the 37th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in March 2006 in Houston, Texas over the postulate that carbon-rich content within the pores of the rocks consisted of the remains of living matter. Because carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe (after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen), the presence of shapes resembling living organisms was considered insufficient by most attendees to prove that bacteria once lived on Mars. A team concluded in 2014 that although the abiotic scenario is considered to be the most reasonable explanation for the shapes in this meteorite, it is evident that the Martian subsurface contains niche environments where life could develop.
Nakhla meteorite | Signs of life
The diurnal Mars-like cycles in temperature and relative humidity affected the viability of "Deinococcus radiodurans" cells quite severely. In other simulations, "Deinococcus radiodurans" also failed to grow under low atmospheric pressure, under 0 °C, or in the absence of oxygen.
Life on Mars | Forward contamination
Current studies on Mars by the "Curiosity" and "Opportunity" rovers are searching for evidence of ancient life, including a biosphere based on autotrophic, chemotrophic and/or chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms, as well as ancient water, including fluvio-lacustrine environments (plains related to ancient rivers or lakes) that may have been habitable. The search for evidence of habitability, taphonomy (related to fossils), and organic carbon on Mars is now a primary NASA objective.
Extraterrestrial life | Mars
In an attempt to colonize Mars, 21st century scientists are tasked with terraforming the planet. Their goal is to seed the planet with a modified algae to absorb sunlight and purify the atmosphere, and cockroaches, whose corpses spread the algae across the planet as they feed. Five hundred years later, the first manned ship to Mars lands and its six crew members are attacked by giant mutated humanoid cockroaches with incredible physical strength, later labeled "Terraformars"; the crew is wiped out after sending a warning back to Earth. Two years later, BUGS II, a multinational expedition of genetically modified humans, is sent to collect 10 samples of both sexes of roaches, and exterminate the mutated bugs to take control of the red planet.
Terra Formars | Plot
They are, like all the humanoid races of Mars, oviparous, i.e., their newborn hatch from eggs. The Red Martians are highly civilized, respect the idea of private property, adhere to a code of honor and have a strong sense of fairness. Their culture is governed by law and is technologically advanced. They are capable of love and have families.
Barsoom | Red Martians
VES Awards 2013 nominees
Intelligent Creatures | References
After millions of people revolt against their governments, it seems the Martian communiques may have been a hoax.
Martian | Martians as civilized humanoids
The ability to survive in an environment is not the same as the ability to thrive, reproduce, and evolve in that same environment, necessitating further study. Although numerous studies point to resistance to some of Mars conditions, they do so separately, and none has considered the full range of Martian surface conditions, including temperature, pressure, atmospheric composition, radiation, humidity, oxidizing regolith, and others, all at the same time and in combination. Laboratory simulations show that whenever multiple lethal factors are combined, the survival rates plummet quickly.
Life on Mars | Survival under simulated Martian conditions
In 2057, the first humans are finally able to land on Mars. However, one of the crew members reports observing "anomalies" in the ice samples he had brought with him. The "anomalies" turn out to be from a grey goo frozen in the ice, which is subatomic in size. The goo begins to eat quarks, hadrons, atoms, before growing in size to eat the crew members, their robotic canines, and their settlements on Mars. After consuming all of the human bases, the goo consumes the surface features of Mars (such as the planet's ice caps) before consuming the entire planet and the seven other planets in the Solar System (including Earth and excluding Pluto).
Tasty Planet | Martian Grey Goo
In 1996, the Martian meteorite ALH84001, a specimen that is much older than the majority of Martian meteorites that have been recovered so far, received considerable attention when a group of NASA scientists led by David S. McKay reported microscopic features and geochemical anomalies that they considered to be best explained by the rock having hosted Martian bacteria in the distant past. Some of these features resembled terrestrial bacteria, aside from their being much smaller than any known form of life. Much controversy arose over this claim, and ultimately all of the evidence McKay's team cited as evidence of life was found to be explainable by non-biological processes.
Life on Mars | ALH84001
Scientists search for biosignatures within the Solar System by studying planetary surfaces and examining meteorites. Some claim to have identified evidence that microbial life has existed on Mars. An experiment on the two Viking Mars landers reported gas emissions from heated Martian soil samples that some scientists argue are consistent with the presence of living microorganisms. Lack of corroborating evidence from other experiments on the same samples suggests that a non-biological reaction is a more likely hypothesis. In 1996, a controversial report stated that structures resembling nanobacteria were discovered in a meteorite, ALH84001, formed of rock ejected from Mars. In February 2005 NASA scientists reported they may have found some evidence of present life on Mars.
Extraterrestrial life | Direct search
Kurzweil states that humans will be a hybrid of biological and non-biological intelligence that becomes increasingly dominated by its non-biological component. He stresses that "AI is not an intelligent invasion from Mars. These are brain extenders that we have created to expand our own mental reach. They are part of our civilization. They are part of who we are. So over the next few decades our human-machine civilization will become increasingly dominated by its non-biological component. In "Transcendent Man" Kurzweil states "We humans are going to start linking with each other and become a metaconnection we will all be connected and all be omnipresent, plugged into this global network that is connected to billions of people, and filled with data." Kurzweil states in a press conference that we are the only species that goes beyond our limitations — "we didn't stay in the caves, we didn't stay on the planet, and we're not going to stay with the limitations of our biology".
Ray Kurzweil | Future predictions
At the end of "Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds", Professor Challenger indicates that the "Martians" (not really from Mars in the story) from "The War of the Worlds" are the same Martians from "Star Begotten", and hints at the start of the Martian alteration-program. In Nigel Kneale's 1958-59 BBC television serial "Quatermass and the Pit" and its 1967 movie adaptation, a discovery of strange fossils reveals that human evolution was altered by a dying race of Martians, in order to leave a legacy behind. This may have been inspired by the tale of HG Wells.
Star Begotten | In other works
C. S. Lewis wrote, in "Out of the Silent Planet" (1938), about three humans who visit Mars and meet three different kinds of intelligent native creatures: The hrossa (bipedal "otter" men), the sorns/séroni (lean white giants), and the pfifltriggi (dwarves). They are dying out, but are resigned to their fate. The books also describe a prey animal called hnakra, which is hunted. The planet is ruled by the Oyarsa, an "eldil" (supernatural beings/spirits) whose job is to be the guardian of the planet and ruler of its peoples. In four stories by Eric Frank Russell published between the early 1940s and mid-1950s—and collected in "Men, Martians and Machines" (1955)—a crew of humans and octopoid Martians are shipmates and compatriots on an interstellar voyage.
Martian | Martians as anthropomorphic animals
So far, NASA has pursued a "follow the water" strategy on Mars and has not searched for biosignatures for life there directly since the "Viking" missions. The consensus by astrobiologists is that it may be necessary to access the Martian subsurface to find currently habitable environments.
Life on Mars | Present
In which case, when we do build starships and head out there, perhaps we’ll find lots and lots of life worlds, but they’re all like Polynesia. We’ll find lots and lots of intelligent lifeforms out there, but they’re all dolphins, whales, squids, who could never build their own starships. What a perfect universe for us to be in, because nobody would be able to boss us around, and we’d get to be the voyagers, the "Star Trek" people, the starship builders, the policemen, and so on."
Fermi paradox | Intelligent alien species haven't developed advanced technologies
In the Doctor Who universe, the planet Mars is home to two known forms of sentient life: the Ice Warriors, a race of reptilian humanoids, and The Flood, a sentient, water-borne virus encountered by the first human base on Mars in the episode "The Waters of Mars" (2009). The Tenth Doctor was incorrectly identified as a Martian by Donna Noble during their meeting in, "The Runaway Bride" (2006), with the Empress of the Racnoss.
List of Doctor Who universe creatures and aliens (H–P) | Martian
Planet Mars was once a paradise, until a nuclear war made the surface uninhabitable. The Martians moved underground, only coming to the surface to use the "Transit Tubes" (which Earth scientists mistook for Martian canals). Under the surface, Martian technology flourished, and continues to do so underneath the planet.
Mr. Martian | Mars
The "nerplex" comes in a selection that will turn the person ingesting it into assorted life forms, including Martian, Venusian and one to "never use" (Venox 7).
My Favorite Martian | Feature film
Little about the Martians is definitive, the story being told by a first-person narrator. The Martians are described as octopus-like creatures: the "body" consisting of a disembodied head nearly across, having two eyes; a V-shaped, beak-like mouth; and two branches each of eight 'almost whip-like' tentacles, grouped around the mouth, referred to as the 'hands'. They reproduce asexually, by "budding" off from a parent. Internally, the Martians consist of a brain, lungs, heart, and blood vessels; they have no organs for digestion, and therefore sustain themselves on Earth by mechanically transfusing blood via pipettes from other animals, notably humans. The ear, a single timpanic membrane located on the back of the head, is believed "useless" in Earth's denser atmosphere.
Martian (The War of the Worlds) | In the novel
After Mariner 4, the search for life on Mars changed to a search for bacteria-like living organisms rather than for multicellular organisms, as the environment was clearly too harsh for these.
Life on Mars | Mariner 4
Some of the extremophiles from these two sites have been cultured in simulated Martian environment, and it is thought that they may be able to survive in a Martian cold saline spring, if such exist.
Mars habitability analogue environments on Earth | Axel Heiberg Island (Canada)
Although there are some extremophile organisms that survive in hostile conditions on Earth, including simulations that approximate Mars, plants and animals generally cannot survive the ambient conditions present on the surface of Mars.
Colonization of Mars | Survivability
There are many intelligent extraterrestrial races as well. Curiously, a large number of them are humanoid, even human-like, in form (such as Kryptonians, who outwardly appear identical to Earth-born humans); some can even interbreed with Terrans. Some of these races have natural superpowers, but they are usually the same for all individuals of the same race, unlike Earth's metahumans. This was explained by the fact that in Earth's distant past Martians experimented on humanity, severely culling the metahuman potential; this means that a species that was meant to have a wide range of powers, like Tamaranians or Kryptonians, ended up "just...human".
DC Universe | Aliens
Mars has long been the subject of human interest. Early telescopic observations revealed color changes on the surface that were attributed to seasonal vegetation and apparent linear features were ascribed to intelligent design. Further telescopic observations found two moons, Phobos and Deimos, polar ice caps and the feature now known as Olympus Mons, the Solar System's second tallest mountain. The discoveries piqued further interest in the study and exploration of the red planet. Mars is a rocky planet, like Earth, that formed around the same time, yet with only half the diameter of Earth, and a far thinner atmosphere; it has a cold and desert-like surface.
Exploration of Mars | Martian system
In the second story in the series, "Valley of Dreams", Tweel's species is revealed to be known as the Thoth: Tweel shows his human companions an ancient Martian mural portraying his species surrounded by what are recognizably ancient Egyptians. When one human describes the mural as resembling the Egyptian god Thoth, Tweel's response is "Yes! Yes! Yes! Thoth! Yes!"; the humans then realize that Martians - collectively known as "Thoth" - visited ancient Egypt, where they gave humans the gift of writing and were perceived as gods. The Thoth are neither animal nor plant, but something else altogether, which humans could consider to be in-between a plant and an animal judging by the standards set by life which has evolved on planet Earth.
Tweel (A Martian Odyssey) | Species
The Hydree are a native Martian race. They developed intelligence and discovered early in history, that Mars loses most of its water reserves. The Hydree are an aquatic race, so they decided to evacuate to another planet with sufficient water: Earth. For the emigration the Hydree installed a kind of permanent interplanetary transporter beam, causing not only changes in space but also in time. Because nobody stayed on Mars to use the off – switch, millions of years later this invention caused the aircraft of Commander Drax final mission to jump into future instead of being destroyed by the shockwave of a comet-impact.
Maddrax | Hydree
In "JLA" series 2 #4, Hyperclan leader Protex tells Superman how his people first came to Earth ""long before there was human life"" - and performed genetic experiments on terrestrial animals which, on their unfortune, crippled the evolutionary potential of the human race. The result: ""the creatures which could have been gods ended up just...humans"". The implication is that humans should have been, literally, a race of supermen, instead of such frail, limited creatures when compared to Martians. This was another reason for the war between the White and Green Martians, who were outraged by such biological vandalism. According to the storylines in "Martian Manhunter" (#25 - 27) by John Ostrander, and "Son of Vulcan" (#5), the genetic potential for a future metagene was discovered in ancient human DNA by the White Martian race.
White Martian | Sabotage of Evolution
Isaac Asimov's "David Starr, Space Ranger", the first novel in the Lucky Starr series, features a race of Martians who have retreated into vast artificial caverns half a million years ago. These Martians are incorporeal, telepathic beings, peaceful yet curious about humanity. They have access to advanced technologies completely incomprehensible to human beings, like personal energy shield generators the size of a fabric mask. In Robert Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land" (1961), a man raised by native Martians emigrates to Earth, where he must reacclimate. In the novel he functions as a Christ figure. Soon he demonstrates psychic powers, superhuman intelligence, and an ability to manipulate higher dimensions.
Martian | Martians as superbeings
So by this argument, finding multicellular life on Mars (provided it evolved independently) would be bad news, since it would imply steps 2–6 are easy, and hence only 1, 7, 8 or 9 (or some unknown step) could be the big problem. Although steps 1–8 have occurred on Earth, any one of these may be unlikely. If the first seven steps are necessary preconditions to calculating the likelihood (using the local environment) then an anthropically biased observer can infer nothing about the general probabilities from its (pre-determined) surroundings.
Great Filter | The Great Filter
The "Amazonian" System and Period is named after Amazonis Planitia, which has a sparse crater density over a wide area. Such densities are representative of many Amazonian-aged surfaces. The type area of the Amazonian System is in the Amazonis quadrangle (MC-8) around .
Amazonian (Mars) | Description and name origin
Ironically it is microscopic Earth lifeforms that finally prove deadly to the Martian invasion force. In 1894 a French astronomer observed a 'strange light' on Mars, and published his findings in the scientific journal "Nature" on the second of August that year. Wells used this observation to open the novel, imagining these lights to be the launching of the Martian cylinders toward Earth. American astronomer Percival Lowell published the book "Mars" in 1895 suggesting features of the planet's surface observed through telescopes might be canals. He speculated that these might be irrigation channels constructed by a sentient life form to support existence on an arid, dying world, similar to that which Wells suggests the Martians have left behind.
The War of the Worlds | Scientific setting
A British team also considers the possibility that organic matter, microbes, or even simple plants might co-exist with these inorganic formations, especially if the mechanism includes liquid water and a geothermal energy source. They also remark that the majority of geological structures may be accounted for without invoking any organic "life on Mars" hypothesis. It has been proposed to develop the Mars Geyser Hopper lander to study the geysers up close.
Life on Mars | Geysers
Several sample-return missions to asteroids and comets are currently in the works. More samples from asteroids and comets will help determine whether life formed in space and was carried to Earth by meteorites. Another question under investigation is whether extraterrestrial life formed on other Solar System bodies like Mars or on the moons of the gas giants, and whether life might even exist there. The result of NASA's last "Decadal Survey" was to prioritize a Mars sample-return mission, as Mars has a special importance: it is comparatively "nearby", might have harbored life in the past, and might even continue to sustain life.
Sample-return mission | Scientific use
Humanity was introduced to the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life with the discovery of an alien statue on Iapetus, a moon of Saturn, which depicted an alien life form. Then, after the advent of faster-than-light travel, when humanity began to explore neighboring star systems, a number of other mysterious Monuments were quickly discovered. Despite these discoveries, details about the "Monument-Makers" themselves remained elusive. In fact, even after decades of exploring, humanity had found disappointingly few habitable worlds, and even fewer signs of intelligent alien life. At the time, only three examples had been identified: (a) The planet Pinnacle, which had evidently been home to an intelligent society that became extinct nearly a million years earlier, and had left very little trace of themselves on their now-inhospitable planet;
The Engines of God | Background
In his book, Rex Gordon describes Mars as a planet inhabited by different kinds of life forms.
No Man Friday | Martian creatures
Thinkers are artificial intelligences given human traits that allow them to have conversations with people. The most advanced are Quantum Logic Thinkers, or QL Thinkers, which are hugely intelligent. Thinkers are used in many disciplines, although almost all Thinkers are manufactured on Earth, giving Earth leverage over Mars.
Moving Mars | Thinkers
Humanity's ability to detect intelligent extraterrestrial life has existed for only a very brief period—from 1937 onwards, if the invention of the radio telescope is taken as the dividing line—and "Homo sapiens" is a geologically recent species. The whole period of modern human existence to date is a very brief period on a cosmological scale, and radio transmissions have only been propagated since 1895. Thus, it remains possible that human beings have neither existed long enough nor made themselves sufficiently detectable to be found by extraterrestrial intelligence.
Fermi paradox | We haven't listened for long enough
Beings from another dimension have sent a living plastic "robot" to Earth to find the "greatest mathematical mind in the Solar System," and get that person to open a vault on Mars, containing one of the race of its creators. It is able to imitate any form of matter, and to tap the thoughts of the being it duplicates. The creature kills its way to one man, Jim Brender, who it believes is the man. The creature, in the form of another man, reveals that the Martian vault was built by the Ancient Martians, made up of an 'ultimate metal'.
Vault of the Beast | Plot summary
A group of scientists held a lunch-time discussion concerning the evolution and extinction of lifeforms on Earth, including the dinosaurs. One of them concludes that the present civilization may be coming to an end, that no one can tell what or who comes next, and if it is a part of the divine purpose. Furthermore, he strongly hints that in creating both robots and nuclear weapons, humanity has created its own doom and successors.
Darwinian Pool Room | Plot summary
They treat an aboriginal race, whom they call "Bleekmen", with casual racism. In "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" (1965), Mars has no indigenous life. To cope with the sterile habitat, the human colonists abuse drugs such as "Can-D" and "Chew-Z".
Martian | Human colonists as Martians
The hypothesis that there was life on mars originated from seasonal changes observed in surface features, which began to be interpreted as due to seasonal growth of plants (in fact, Martian dust storms are responsible for some of this). During the 1894 opposition, the idea that Schiaparelli's "canali" were really irrigation canals made by intelligent beings was first hinted at, and then adopted as the only intelligible explanation, by American astronomer Percival Lowell and a few others. The visible seasonal melting of Mars polar icecaps fueled speculation that an advanced alien race indigenous to Mars built canals to transport the water to drier equatorial regions.
Martian canal | Interpretation as engineering works
Although there are no known humanoid species outside the genus "Homo", the theory of convergent evolution speculates that different species may evolve similar traits, and in the case of a humanoid these traits may include intelligence and bipedalism and other humanoid skeletal changes, as a result of similar evolutionary pressures. American psychologist and Dinosaur intelligence theorist Harry Jerison suggested the possibility of sapient dinosaurs. In a 1978 presentation at the American Psychological Association, he speculated that dromiceiomimus could have evolved into a highly intelligent species like human beings. In his book, "Wonderful Life", Stephen Jay Gould argues if the tape of life were re-wound and played back, life would have taken a very different course.
Humanoid | In theoretical convergent evolution
Past life is likely to be degraded by cosmic radiation over geological time periods if exposed in the top few meters of the Mars surface. Also, only certain special deposits of salts or clays on Mars would have the capability to preserve organics for billions of years. So, they argue, there is a high risk that a Mars sample-return at our current stage of understanding would return samples that are no more conclusive about the origins of life on Mars or present day life than the Martian meteorite samples we already have.
Interplanetary contamination | Alternatives to sample-returns
Dave then encounters his body double in the mansion's main house. The duplicate Dave informs him that Mars is inhabited and that all Martians are beings without any physical bodies, an energy-like intelligence. They traveled to Earth via the Martian probe's high-gain, two-way radio transmitter, destroying the robotic rover in the process. Now on Earth, the Martians plan to replace key humans with duplicates to quash any further Earth missions to Mars. Since Dave's wife and children would likely recognize a duplicate, they had to be replaced, too. Family friend Web (William Mims) comes by later and finally gets the main gate open, but on his way back, the Martian-Dave reduces Web to ash.
The Day Mars Invaded Earth | Plot
Future studies have been planned to investigate the effects of keeping plants on the mental well-being of humans in confined environments. More recent research has been focused on extrapolating these life support systems to other planets, primarily Martian bases. Interlocking closed systems called "modular biospheres" have been prototyped to support four- to five-person crews on the Martian surface. These encampments are designed as inflatable greenhouses and bases. They are anticipated to use Martian soils for growth substrate and wastewater treatment, and crop cultivars developed specifically for extraplanetary life. There has also been discussion of using the Martian moon Phobos as a resources base, potentially mining frozen water and carbon dioxide from the surface and eventually using hollowed craters for autonomous growth chambers that can be harvested during mining missions.
Astrobotany | Plants for life support in space
This assumption is called the Astrobiological Copernican Principle.
Christopher Conselice | Intelligent Life in the Galaxy
When space probes have landed on Mars, individual small features such as rocks, dunes, and hollows have often been given informal names. Many of these are frivolous: features have been named after ice cream (such as Cookies N Cream); cartoon characters (such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick); and '70s music acts (such as ABBA and the Bee Gees).
Planetary nomenclature | <a href="Mars">Mars</a>
With these smatterings of human language, Tweel puts forward advanced ideas and concepts, thus proving he is intelligent. Tweel does however find it incredibly strange and even funny that humans use the same words for the same purpose more than once, whereas he does not.
Tweel (A Martian Odyssey) | Psychology and intelligence
In this miniseries, several beings that appeared to be Green Martians were found alive on Earth. They were eventually revealed to be White Martians, under mind control and disguised as Greens; a Green Martian named "Cay'An" had brainwashed them to believe they were Green Martians. All of the White Martians had been killed in one way or another before the series' end, except for a juvenile named Till'All. Till'All became friends with J'onn J'onzz, and was introduced to the Justice League at the end of the story.
White Martian | Martian Manhunter miniseries