Session 3, 2 p.m.:

Abstract: NASA’s plans for Mars exploration include a human landing expedition slated for the 2030s, presuming all the technology development and intermediate stage planning goes well.  As a recent NASA publication states, “There are challenges to pioneering Mars, but we know they are solvable. We are developing the capabilities necessary to get there, land there, and live there.” (“Journey to Mars: Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration”, NASA 2015, p. 1) 

But we have been thinking and writing about traveling to and living on Mars for more than a century.  Many of the classic works of early science fiction, like H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds or Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles, dealt with Mars as both a destination and as a source of unknown wonders—or horrors.  Mars was a frequent setting in many of the early short stories in the “pulp” magazines of the 1930s and 40s; one of the most fascinating is a story called “Shambleau” by C.L. Moore, an often-overlooked early female science fiction author.  This presentation will explore and compare these classic literary representations of Mars to the way it is depicted in today’s popular culture, most specifically in the recent novel (and subsequent film) The Martian by Andy Weir. While our scientific knowledge has increased significantly, the danger and allure of the Red Planet has not stopped engaging our cultural imagination.