Blues for a Red Planet: The Echo of Our Dreams on Mars

“ Exploring Mars is, in a way, trying to understand ourselves better .”

Carl Sagan junto a una réplica del módulo de aterrizaje de la misión Viking

I think we all like maps a little, especially those of places we can't easily visit. One of my favorites was a poster of Mars I had as a child, hanging on my bedroom walls. I remember it was full of exotic names: Syrtis Major, Valles Marineris, Olympus Mons. I spent a lot of time looking at it, and you could almost say it felt like Mars was talking to me.

Something similar happened to me years later, watching that episode of Cosmos , "Blues for a Red Planet," but this time accompanied by someone who explained to me the dreams, disappointments, and wonders contained within each name marked on that arid surface.

But there was one story that took me further than any map: I had never heard the 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds , and I didn't know that Orson Welles had narrated the supposed Martian invasion with such poignancy that thousands believed it was real. Years later, seeing that moment recreated in Cosmos moved me deeply. Not just because of the anecdote itself, but because of what it reveals about us: our willingness to imagine the impossible, to fear it, even to desire it.

Some works, both literary and cinematic, have found an inexhaustible source of inspiration in Mars.

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In this episode, Carl Sagan invites us on a journey not only physical, but also emotional and intellectual, through our relationship with Mars. He shows us how for centuries this planet has been a mirror of our hopes, fears, and fantasies. Mars has been the god of war, home to imaginary civilizations, and a possible refuge for the future. But above all, it has remained a mystery.

Sagan recalls 19th-century astronomers like Percival Lowell, who drew "canals" on Mars, convinced they were the work of a dying civilization. I was moved to see how science is sometimes born of illusion. And how those illusions, however misguided, can lead to true discoveries. It was a reminder that even errors can be fruitful, if they are sustained with curiosity and honesty.

Percival Lowell and his canals on Mars

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As Carl says at one point in the episode:

“ The desire to find life elsewhere is profoundly human. But nature doesn't have to accommodate our hopes .”

That phrase seemed almost a lament to me, but also a lesson in maturity. Because Mars, when we look closely, is a desolate world. The evidence we thought we had of rivers, canals, and vegetation turned out to be dust, an optical illusion, a biased interpretation. Even so, the Martian desert didn't lose its poetic power. On the contrary: in its silence, in its silence, we learned to see better.

I was struck by the way Sagan interweaves the history of astronomical observation with popular culture. From the earliest telescopes to science fiction novels, from Giovanni Schiaparelli to H.G. Wells. There's no mockery of past mistakes, but rather a sympathetic view: they were all part of the journey.

And I think that's what I like most about this episode: that Mars appears as a metaphor. A planet that, even though it's millions of miles away, reflects so much of us. Our desire to find companionship in the universe, to not be alone. Our need to project meaning where there is emptiness. Our stubbornness in searching for life, even where perhaps it never existed.

Interesting Curiosities

• The episode features actual images of Mars taken by the Viking probes in the 1970s, which for the first time gave us a clear and detailed view of the planet.

• Carl Sagan had been actively involved in the Mariner program and the Viking missions, so his connection to Mars was not just theoretical, but also deeply personal.

• The name "Martian canals" was the result of a mistranslation of the Italian "canali," which actually means "natural canals," not artificial ones. That simple mistake fueled decades of myths.

• Sagan points out that Mars, although it lacks civilizations, does have spectacular geography: volcanoes taller than Everest, canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon, and dust storms that envelop the entire planet.

• One of the episode's most moving moments is when Sagan asks, in a soft voice, "Will we ever be alone?" Not as a pessimistic statement, but as a doubt that compels us to continue exploring.

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Since Viking 1 's arrival in 1976, Mars has been visited by a long and valiant caravan of probes. Mars Pathfinder showed us its rocks as if they were sculptures in a deserted gallery. Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey mapped every crevice and every shadow. The Spirit and Opportunity rovers scoured the dust with almost human patience. Curiosity , with its mobile laboratory, showed us that Mars may once have supported life. And Perseverance , with its small helicopter , Ingenuity , reminded us that we still dream big, even on another planet.

Algunas de las sondas más emblemáticas enviadas por la humanidad a Marte, desde Viking 1 en 1976 hasta Perseverance en la actualidad, cada una marcando un hito en la exploración del planeta rojo.

Key themes of the episode:

• The history of Mars observation from Earth

• The influence of imagination on science

• The role of errors and myths in the advancement of knowledge

• The first space missions to Mars (Mariner, Viking)

• The question of life on other planets

• The relationship between science, fiction and hope

As the episode ends, I can't help but be struck by an old question: when will humans ever set foot on Mars? We've done it in literature, in film, in our most persistent dreams... but when will that small step for one man, that this time will be an even bigger leap for all of humanity, come?

We'll see you in Cosmos Episode 6, "Traveler's Tales." Carl Sagan explores the journey of space probes like the Voyagers, which carry messages for humanity beyond the solar system.