Red flag on the red planet

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32779, 2 December 1971, Page 14

Red flag on the red planet

A relatively close approach of Mars to the earth in 1672 helped European astronomers to calculate the size of the solar system. The answers were surprisingly accurate and so daunting in their magnitude that serious speculation about space travel was all but killed for two centuries. The fascination of Mars, the planet .which seemed most to resemble the earth, did not die. Almost 300 years later, during another “close approach”, the Russians report that their Mars 2 spacecraft has landed a capsule and flag on the surface of the planet Whether instruments have been landed and will function remains to be seen; the landing alone is a major triumph for Russian space research.

Mars 2 has opened the way for more intensive research into the Martian environment Knowledge about the Martian atmosphere and soil may help to answer some of the most profound questions of astronomy. Is the solar system gradually running down? Are new life cycles or forms beginning? Is man a unique product of conditions on earth or is life possible elsewhere? On earth interest in Mars has led the United States and Russia to set up facilities for the rapid exchange of information from their expeditions—a small enough beginning to co-operation, but one of great significance if it prevents the excesses of terrestrial rivalry from being transplanted to the planet which was once known as the abode of the God of War.