What news from the planet Mars?

By: Caroline Lachowsky

What news from Mars? As rovers and other robots continue their exploration of the red planet, new private actors dream of sending men there. How far will the Martian dream take us?

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Let’s take a look today at the planet Mars that Rover and other robots successfully explore after discovering traces of liquid water, looking for life form, present or past. We are even waiting, very first, for the return of Martian samples.

Why want to send humans there at all costs and especially how? Why is this Martian dream, the Promethean dream of putting the foot of man (or woman) on Mars still, see more than ever, current? There is reason to wonder about this spatial ambition, given the colossal challenge (at the same time technological, scientific and financial, but also ethical and human) that this mission of the century raises. How to manage to send men to Mars and especially how to make them return?

With  Francis Rocard , astrophysicist. Since 1989, he has been responsible for the solar system exploration program at the National Center for Space Studies (CNES). His new book Latest News from Mar s has just been published by Flammarion.

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