The Pittsburgh Press (February 2, 1946)
Love: Flirting with Mars
By Gilbert Love
If the Army Signal Corps succeeds in bouncing radar impulses off Mars, as it apparently is trying to do, and if the impulses tell us more about the planet, which some scientists say is possible, the results should be very interesting.
We might eventually get the answer to the age-old question, “Is there life on Mars?”
In preparation for that possibility, let’s see what our neighbors in planetary space would be like. Sort of get acquainted in advance.
Scientists have worked out a theory on the matter. Mars, they point out, is smaller than the earth. Therefore, it probably developed more rapidly. Therefore, again, any intelligent creatures on the planet would be far ahead of human beings.
They would have big brains and small bodies, according to the theory. In fact, they might be almost all brain. If they had ears, the ears would be huge, to catch sounds in the thin air of the planet.
Think you’d like them?
White areas appear in winter
If not, don’t worry too much. The great majority of experts hold that there’s no intelligent life on Mars. It’s too cold, for one thing. The temperature goes far below zero in winter and even in summer there are frequent frosts.
How Mars’ temperature is taken isn’t clear to me, but science has been able to learn or guess considerable about the planet’s physical characteristics.
The terrain is practically level. At least there are no high mountains. The soil is light and powdery. Oxygen and water aren’t nearly as plentiful as they are here on earth.
The pull of gravity is only about a third as much as ours. Air pressure is only one-twelfth as much. During the planet’s winter, white areas that might be ice and snow appear at its poles. These disappear in summer.
During the summer, a greenish-blue color appears, covering about three-eighths of the planet. In winter this turns brown. Many of the experts, even those who hold that there’s no intelligent life on Mars, say this may be vegetation,
Theories have been advanced on the character of this vegetation. Because of the cold weather, leaves probably would be like pine needles. Roots would be long, to reach underground water.
Venus in state of development?
A plant might shoot its seeds into the surrounding territory, because the air is too thin to float them away. Pollen couldn’t be carried by insects, because the thin air wouldn’t support them.
Powerful telescopes have revealed a crisscross pattern on Mars. For years, many persons have contended that the lines represent the work of creatures. Possibly they are canals, built to carry water from the melting ice caps to the vegetation belt.
Modern science doubts this, however, pointing out that the markings could very well be natural features of the landscape.
Despite the doubts, Mars offers the best chance of finding life on neighboring spheres. Venus is about as close to the earth, but when it is nearest to us its illuminated hemisphere is turned away.
Anyway, Venus is thought to be in a state of development far behind ours, so that if life did exist there, it might be just getting started in the form of simple, one-cell animals. Not very interesting.
The other planets are either too hot or too cold.
The moon has practically no atmosphere. Other heavenly bodies might be inhabited, but they’re too far away for any sort of study.
So it’s Mars or nothing. Big-headed, big-eared Martians, or no neighbors at all.