NASA Mars announcement: Evidence of liquid water discovered on MarsIn 1902, an Australian eccentric proposed a bizarre method of communicating with Mars
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on   July 28, 1939

 With the planet Mars now closer to earth than it has been for 30 years, astronomers throughout the Southern Hemisphere are making observations which may help to solve one of the great mysteries of the universe - whether life, other than vegetable life, can exist on another planet. 
The special aspects of the surface of Mars under observation are the dark patches, which are now believed to be vegetarian, and the network of streaks or lines, which some authorities have suggested are canals made under some kind of intelligent direction.
In an interview yesterday, the Government Astronomer, Mr. James Nangle, said there was certainly vegetable life on the planet Mars, but whether it was of a low form of vegetable life, such as mosses or lichens, or whether the dark patches were great forests of trees, had not yet been proved.
Mr Nangle said that there were notable observers, such as Dr Percival Lowell, who were convinced that the canals were waterways, and that they were not natural because they were so straight.
Signs of vegetation
Mr. Nangle himself believes that great forests exist on Mars, and that the canals were made by intelligent direction.
"One of these canals extends in a straight line for 3,000 miles," he said. "That certainly does not seem natural to me. However, up to the present, there is no direct evidence whatever that there is life on this planet, with the exception of vegetable life.
"In many respects," Mr. Nangle said, "the planet Mars is similar to our earth. Its day is nearly the same length as ours, and it has the same sequence of seasons.
"Mars also has an atmosphere, but of a very low density, in which we could not breathe. Its force of gravity is much less, so that a man who weighs 12 stone on would only weigh four stone on Mars.
"Observations show there is sufficient atmosphere to contain water vapour and to provide for the circulation of the vapour from the Equator to the Poles, and its deposition at the Poles in the form of snow. The water is then returned to the Equator either by natural or artificial means.
Water scarce
"Water, however, must be very scarce on the on the planet, and it would seem that there is not sufficient to enable life as we know it to be maintained there. In addition the mean temperature on Mars is much lower than that of earth, because it is so much farther than the sun."
Mars at present is only 36,000,000 miles away from earth. At its maximum distance it is about 60,000,000 miles away.
First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on   July 28, 1939
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