Yesterday , we take care at Wernher von Braun’s1954 visionfor a man mission to Mars . But long before people imagine how we might plausibly put bang on Martian soil , we dreamed how one day we might be able to communicate with the planet .
Thanks to “ duct ” descry on Mars in the late nineteenth hundred , there were some hoi polloi here on Earth who retrieve there were indeed intelligent Martians somewhere out there . American astronomerPercivall Lowell , who wroteMars as the Abode of Lifein 1908 , argued that what looked like canal on Mars were build by intelligent being to bring water from the rooted poles to the teetotal equator . Lowell ’s “ canals ” were first written about in 1877 by Italian astronomerGiovanni Schiaparelli , who in reality translate these transit as “ channels , ” or natural occurring formations that need not have been built by intelligent life to exist .
If there are indeed Martians out there , and no conceivable way to travel there ourselves , how might we communicate with them ? The September 1919 payoff of Popular Science Monthly have a cover with a mammoth mirror mount so that it could get around on an axis vertebra and reflect the sun ’s rays up to Mars . The magazine suppose that Earthlings ’ best bet would be to communicate with the planet in 1924 , the next meter when Mars would be closest to Earth .
The more imaginative modern astronomers are fain to trust , with the late Professor Percival Lowell , that Mars is inhabited . Assume that Mars is inhabited . How can we talk to the Martians ? What a world - wide sensation there would be if we were to welcome from Mars a heartbeat in reply to a sign of ours !
But how will the scientists signal Mars ? At its near , the satellite will be about thirty - five million miles away in 1924 . Various proposals have been made by Professor Pickering , Professor Wood , and the imaginative Professor Flammarion . In fiat to picture and excuse how these distinguished uranologist will pass along with Mars , Mr. Max Fleischer has directed the preparation of a motion - picture film for the Bray Studios . Through the courtesy of Mr. Fleischer and the Bray Studios we are enabled to represent on these two page excerpts from the film .
The first ( and most expensive ) method of contacting Mars that ’s explained in the film / magazine shows how millions of electric lights could be placed somewhere on Earth so that it might be seeable from space .
The well known French astronomer , Professor Camille Flammarion , who has done more than any other adult male in Europe to popularize the notion of Mars ’ habitability , suggest that an enormous area on the Earth should be covered with galvanising igniter . It would be a costly experimentation . A huge piece of ground of acres — a considerable portion of the Desert of Sahara , for instance — would have to be “ planted ” with millions of lamps . The current to light the lamps would have to be generated in a major power star sign boastful enough to run a railroad line . Andrew Carnegie once said that he hated to give way rich . Here is a chance to get disembarrass of several million dollars at one swoop .
The illustration above explains how a strips of cloth sequester to galvanic motors may be set out in the desert so as to “ wink ” at the ruddy planet .
The picture at left wait like a neatly reduce - up farm . It represents Professor R. W. Wood ’s proposed method of communicating with Mars . The Professor would insure some Brobdingnagian snowy space on the earth , a helping of the Desert of Sahara , for instance , with strips of black fabric . These strips he would wind and unwind by means of galvanizing motors . The upshot would be a series of winks . When the shameful flight strip are spite up , the white grit below reflects the Lord’s Day ’s ray ; when the strips are unrolled , the white-hot arena is cut through . This is probably the garish method of optic signaling yet proposed .
Since this clause was published in 1919 , it ’s important to retrieve that the world was still reel from the devastation of WWI . The magazine imagines that not only would we have much to tell Martians , but we would in all likelihood have much to memorize .
To the right we have the world flashing a message to Mars . Who knows but some Clarence Shepard Day Jr. we may tell the Martians all about our great warfare , all about the struggle for democratic ideals , all about the frightful turmoil through which we have just blow over ! Perhaps we will learn from an older and wiser satellite how we ought to move the Earth .
This military post originally appeared atSmithsonian.com .
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