Hopes fade for Mars Global Surveyor

NASA is not giving up just yet, but after 10 days of increasingly ominous silence from the 10 year old Mars orbiting space probe, it looks like curtains. Launched on November 7, 1996, the mission was intended to last two years, but like the incredible longevity of the Spirit and Opporunity rovers, the probe surprised mission controllers by lasting long past its warranty. In the process, it took a staggering 240,000 pictures of the surface, but aftern receiving a signal indicating there were problems with a solar panel, the probe fell silent. NASA had hoped to catch a glimpse of the surveyor on Monday might from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, but nothing was seen. Hopes are now being pinned on an effort to instruct Mars Global Surveyor to send a single to one of the rovers below, asking it to switch on a beacon. If the beacon switches on, then this will provide a chance for mission controllers to pinpoint the location of the wayward probe.

Mars Flyer gets wind tunnel test

One of the most exciting prospects for exploration of Mars is the idea of sending an automated aircraft, which could clearly cover great distances and return unprecedented detail of the surface. The newest design to enter the testing stage rejoices in the wonderful name of the Mars Advanced Technology Airplane for Deployment, Operations, and Recovery, or to shorten it to its acronym, MATADOR. Not surprisingly given that brain bender of a name, this is a military funded project; don't the military just love their acronyms? However, don't be disappointed to learn that it is apparently unarmed, unless of course they know something we don't and we're preparing to declare war on Mars. The project is run out of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, a name synonymous with murky stories of crashed UFOs and stored alien bodies. Tests of the winged design were conduced recently in a vertical wind tunnel. The plane has a folded wing design, which means it would deploy with the wings folded, and then unfurl them deep in the atmosphere. There are plans to do more testing in the future, including the possibility of sending the plane aloft with a balloon. You can find more at the AFRL (there's another acronyn) web site.

Excellent new science fiction documentary debuts on BBC4

Produced as the centrepiece of a week long stream of programs celebrating the importance of British science fiction, part one of this ambitious documentary series lends the subject all the gravitas you would expect of a BBC production, delving deep into the origins of modern science fiction and specifically the vital role played by H.G. Wells in the creation of several key tropes of the genre. Contributions come from a galaxy of star names; many of them revered as royalty in science fiction circles. Brian Aldis, Arthur C Clarke and Nigel Kneale (who we tragically lost just a few weeks ago) lend weighty and authoritative opinion as representatives of the generation of writers closest to Wells, while up and coming talents like China Melville, Stephen Baxter and Brian Stableford signal their own debt to a writer whose ideas are still being liberally borrowed from today.

The core focus of "From Apes To Aliens" is the vexed question of evolution; an idea that the program argues persuasively has always been a key component of British science fiction. Of course Wells himself returned to the theme several times in his novels, first in The Time Machine and again in The War Of The Worlds, though surprisingly the program makes no mention of the fact that he was tutored by T H Huxley, the greatest evolutionary proponent of the day (he was known as Darwin’s Bulldog) and surely therefore a huge and important influence.

The program makes use of archive footage and modern day interviews with writers and scientists, as well as occasional dramatic sequences. These recount key moments in Wells’ life and scenes from his books, though interestingly and quite effectively, the writer and his characters are here presented as essentially one and the same, thus Wells is seen not only writing his books, but constructing his Time Machine and exploring the underground caverns of the Morlocs. This seems a perfectly reasonable dramatic device given that Wells certainly interjected some autobiographical material into his novels. As an interesting aside, it’s not the first time this has been done, most successfully in the superb Nicholas Meyer directed movie Time After Time.

Given that this program is part of a retrospective season of British science fiction, it not unnaturally plunders the BBC archives for causal connections with Wells, and so there is no great surprise that Doctor Who is presented as an important antecedent. The insightful point is made that the time travelling doctor (as first presented to the British public by William Hartnell) was played very much as if he were a Victorian or Edwardian gentleman, and his Tardis was full of the sort of old clutter and bric-a-brac that you might find in an English home of those periods. As critic Kim Newman observes, the Time Traveller of H.G. Wells was dressed in the attire of his time, so it made sense for the Doctor to be dressed in the same way, rather than the modern uniforms of Star Trek. It is also worth remembering that the very first voyage of the Doctor was to the far past and a meeting with cavemen that evoked memories of Wells’ bestial Morlocs.

Readers of this site will be pleased to learn that The War Of The Worlds is also afforded due deference, though an error is made in crediting Wells with the inspiration for the story. It is certainly true to say that the idea for the War Of The Worlds was suggested during a walk by Wells and his brother Frank, as attested to by H.G himself in his autobiography. Along the way, they were discussing the plight of the Tasmanian natives who were then facing the genocidal attentions of colonial invaders, but Brian Stableford suggests erroneously that it was H.G. Wells who offered the observation, “suppose some beings from another planet were to drop out of the sky suddenly?” It was in fact his brother who made this hugely salient observation, though of course H.G developed the idea and made such capital of it, using his story to smash the smug assumption that the British Empire was an unassailable power in the world.

It would have been nice to see a few more references to the incredible legacy of The War Of The Worlds, such as the Orson Welles radio broadcast, and you can’t help but smile when Doctor Who is once again trotted out for comparison, with the slightly more tenuous connection offered up between Wells’ Martians and the Daleks. The program leaves direct discussion of Wells at this point to look at the equally worthy work of Olaf Stapleton and then briefly touches on American influences. There is a quaint bit of Yank bashing here from Kim Newman, who gently chides the primitive early American television science fiction shows such as Captain Video, contrasting these with the much more polished and grown up BBC series Quatermass. Of course this is not to say that Quatermass does not deserve our wholehearted praise. The series had the British viewing public glued to their sofas every week and had palpable connections with The War Of The Worlds. The third series even focused on the discovery of a long buried Martian spacecraft beneath London.

The rest of the program works through several more of the greats of British science fiction, with welcome discussion of the work of Arthur C Clarke, with Clarke himself providing much in the way of comment. Of course pride of place is given to his magnum opus 2001 A Space Odyssey, but it is nice to see his less well-known (though I think equally good) Childhood’s End acknowledged as the prototype for that archetypal science fiction vision; as giant spacecraft hover over our cities in mute testimony to their overwhelming technological superiority. It is an idea since revisited many times on television and film, most notably in the excellent mini series V and of course, Independence Day, which (though not mentioned in the program) was of course an unacknowledged remake of The War Of The Worlds.

This first episode is an excellent series opener, full of detail and respect for the genre and I think one of the few times it has been treated with anything approaching the respect it deserves. The program does however end on a sad note, with a visibly upset Clarke lamenting the failure of science to emulate the great ideas of science fiction, notably in the lost promise of the Apollo moon program. Alas, as will be covered by the second program in the series, science fiction, and British science fiction in particular, has had far more predictive success with matters of an unsettling and depressing nature.

Martians And Us, From Apes to Aliens can be seen on BBC4 on Monday 13 November 2006 9pm-10pm; rpt Wednesday 15 November midnight-1am; rpt Sunday 19 November 12.50am-1.50am (Saturday night)

Science Fiction Britannia on the BBC

Starting this coming Monday (November 13th) on BBC 4 is a fasinating new season exploring the history of British science fiction. There promises to be a wide ranging selection of programming, including original documentaries and plenty of classic BBC science fiction. Highlights for readers of this site will be two documentaries. The three part The Martians And Us is the centrepiece of the season, the first part of which will be looking at how HG Wells captured man's fascination with evolution to father a new form of fiction. HG Wells And Me is a more general look at his life and work. There is also a welcome repeat for the excellent drama HG Wells: War With The World, which adapts his own autobiography. Plenty more details and clips at the Science Fiction Britannia website.

Orson Welles going to Mars and so can you!

The Orson Welles War Of The Worlds broadcast is going to Mars aboard the Phoenix spacecraft, due for landing in May 2007. A special DVD will contain the broadcast as well as a fantastic collection of material spanning centuries of human thought about the red planet. Works by top science fiction authors such as Ray Bradbury (The Martian Chronicles) and Issac Asimov (I'm in Marsport Without Hilda) will be included on the DVD, as well as fantasy images of Mars. Not only this, but you too can have your name encoded on the disc, which may well be found by far future explorers (human, or otherwise.) It's a great idea, and the full list of material which can be found on the Planetary Society website (who are sponsoring the endeavour) reads like a veritable who’s who of science fiction, but includes some less well known material. I particularly love that H Beam Piper's superb Omnilingual is included, surely one of the best stories ever written about Mars.

I suspect Orson Welles would have been thoroughly amused to know his broadcast would one day make the trip to Mars, but what would H.G. Wells have made of the idea? I think he would have been a little bemused but rather pleased. In my opinion, it is no exaggeration to say that if not for the fascination Wells created in fictional mars-scapes, mission likes Phoenix would simply not be happening, so you can say that things have finally come full circle. That Wells' War Of The Worlds (though perplexingly, only an excerpt of the text) is to rest on Mars, is a truly inspiring thought.

Facing Facts

On the 25th of July 1976 the Viking One orbiter took what should have been another routine image of the surface, but in fact set in motion one of the best-loved and most intriguing conspiracy theories yet developed. The image was of the so-called "face on Mars", a feature that looked distinctly man (or should that be Martian) made. NASA scientists were in fact the first to make the light hearted observation that it looked like a face, but also were quick to point out that the "face" was simply the result of random chance. The orbiter was looking down on that particular spot in such a way that the sun caught a natural feature and amplified the rock formations into the now iconic features. But the image was just too darn alluring, and set in motion an enduring myth and a mini industry of believers who have since spent considerable energy searching the surface for new features, even after the face was pretty well debunked by subsequent images.

There are now entire websites devoted to finding new anomalies on both the surface of Mars and the Moon, and as the images flood in from Mars, there are rich pickings to be had and plenty of scope to accuse both NASA and the ESA of covering up (doctoring) images to hide what the amateur investigators say is plain and obvious evidence of a alien construction on our neighbouring worlds. It all sounds a little desperate and certainly I think they are seeing what they want to see, (I’ve looked at dozens of these images and just can’t see anything untoward) but I have a little private bet with myself that it might yet be one of these amateurs who spots something that the more strait laced scientific community might overlook or even dismiss.

I certainly don't think they've found anything yet, but look at how web communities (and especially Bloggers) have worked together in recent years to investigate where the media fear (or are too incompetent) to tread - the case in point being the fake documents purporting to show Bush in a bad light during his National Service days. That same energy is being applied to the search for proof of live out there, and it would be just wonderful if some guy (or gal) in their spare room made the big discovery. There are just so many images coming in from Mars at the moment that something might easily slip past the scientists, so watch this space. In the meantime, the ESA have re-imaged the face and produced a lovely and pretty damning 3D movie of the rock formation that started the whole thing off. You can see it on the ESA site.

1938 Radio Broadcast celebrated

Many groups and origansations have been celebrating the Orson Welles broadcast of The War Of The Worlds, which terrified many thousands of listeners on the Halloween night of October 30th, 1938. Two events of note come from West Windsor, where can of course be found the unassuming little hamlet of Grover's Mill, the original Martian beachhead as selected by Howard Koch, the writer of the 1938 broadcast. On Saturday the 8th, the David Sarnoff Library in Princeton NJ hosted a live re-enactment of the infamous radio broadcast. Rather brilliantly, the broadcast used original vintage radio microphones provided by the New Jersey Antique Radio Club. Tonight, the 30th of October, local artist Donna Clovis and students from High School North will present "Powers From Pluto", which is an updated version of the broadcast which features television and the internet as the conduit for terror. Anyone interested in tickets can find contact details here.

Other celebrations of note:

WTBQ 1110 AM hosted a live open to the public recording on the 28th.
Los Alamos Little Theater is presenting a stage version of the broadcast tonight (Oct 30th) and several other performances in the coming week.
Pauls Valley Arts Council is doing what sounds like a very interesting stage play, that not only re-enacts the broadcast, but tells the behind the scenes story as well. You can catch a performance tonight (the 30th) at the Pauls Valley High School, Oklahoma.

Mission To Mars

The Mars Society, an organisation whose stated aim is to further the goal of the exploration and settlement of the Red Planet, is soon to announce the crew of seven that will depart in May 2007 for a simulated mission to Mars. The project, known as the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, is located in the high artic, on Devon Island, Nunavut. It was chosen because the inhospitable environment is as close to Mars as you are likely to find on Earth. The project, which will run between May 1 through August 31, 2007, will allow scientists and engineers to study the Mars-like climate and conditions of the polar desert and to explore the human impact of long-term isolation in a harsh, cold environment. More information can be found at the Mars Society website.

Biggest every panarama from Mars

In celebration of over 1000 days of successful operation on Mars, the Spirit rover (the original mission plan called for an effective life of just 3 months) has completed a huge new 360-degree panoramic view from its winter resting place, a small hill known as "Low Ridge, which has been home since April. The stop was required as the reduced sunlight of the winter months on Mars precluded any significant activity. The panorama was compiled several pictures at a time every few sols (a Martian day) over a total of 119 sols. The McMurdo panorama (as it has been dubbed) shows volcanic rocks around the rover, Husband Hill on the right, the El Dorado sand dunes near the hill and Home Plate below the dunes. Two rocks, right of center, are believed to be meteorites. The total volume of data transmitted back to Earth exceeded 500 megabytes. A variety of mages are available at the NASA Spirit homepage in both regular and 3D formats.

Mars rover revolts

Satirical webzine The Onion is reporting on some odd and worrying behaviour on Mars by the Spirit rover. After 3 years on the red planet, The Onion reports that the rover may be getting tired of the repetition of its daily routine. Dead give aways include up to 1000 messages a day saying simply "no water" and for 3 days running, the rover has transmitted images of the same rock with the accompanying message, "Happy Now". "Spirit has been displaying some anomalous behaviour," said Project Manager John Callas, though this is to underplay some of the more worrying quirks now plaguing the multi million dollar project, such as using its robotic sample collection arm to make obscene gestures back to mission control. The full story can be found at The Onion. (Warning, contains some expletives.)

Simpsons to fight War Of The Worlds

The November 5th episode of The Simpsons will be celebrating Halloween with another of their now annual "Treehouse Of Horror" anthologies. The Simpsons has a laudable tradition of spoofing famous (and not so famous) science fiction ideas (perhaps the best was the Treehouse Of Horror story that remade The Twilight Zone episode "It's a good life") and this newest episode (Treehouse of Horror XVII) promises to be the best yet. "The Day the Earth Was Stupid" is going to be a Simpson take on the Orson Welles radio broadcast of 1938, but this time it will regular aliens Kang and Kodos take advantage of a similar radio panic to invade Springfield. The story is also intended to be a comment on the situation in Iraq, with Kang and Kodos expressing surprise that they have not been welcomed with opened arms by the residents of Springfield. "Don't worry says Kodos, "we still have the people's hearts and minds," and holds up a brain and a heart. Look for a full review here after the episode has aired.

I Spy Opportunity

Extraordinary images are once again coming in from Mars. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has managed to snap an image of the Victoria Crater, on the rim of which can be seen the Opportunity Rover. You can see a large size labeled image from the orbiter by following this link. It is also fasinating to be able to see images taken on the ground by the rover of the Victoria crater rim. The images give an amazing perspective on the situation. The Victoria crater is by far the biggest feature to be explored by the rover and scientists are already getting excited by the layering (upwards of 50 feet) seen in the crater walls which are sure to provide new insights into the geological past of Mars. After traversing the rim of the crater, it is hoped to be able to find a relatively easy route down into the crater itself.

Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds DVD

Fresh from a highly sucessful run of performances across the UK, the stage version of the Jeff Wayne musical version of The War Of The Worlds is to be released on DVD. There will be two versions made available, a single disc and a double disc special. There are going to be a significant number of extra features on the double disc edition, including features on Making A Martian Fighting Machine, ehearsing "Thunder Child" and "Bringing Back Burton", which refers to the way in which the production brought back to life the much missed Richard Burton in the form of a stage projection. The double disc set will also include a 12 page booklet with exclusive photos from the show. The release date for both discs is November 6th.

H.G. Wells to get BBC treatment

The BBC is to broadcast an ambitious drama starring Michael Sheen as H.G. Wells. The BBC press release says of the 90 minute "A Life In Pictures", "Every word spoken by HG Wells in the film is his own, taken from his autobiography and other writings. The film mixes futuristic animation with drama to tell the story of this visionary writer." I'm particularly intrigued by the reference to animation. Does this mean we are going to get a fresh look at The War Of The Worlds with the correct period setting? Broadcast is scheduled for Winter 2006. Sally Hawkins (Fingersmith, Vera Drake, Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky) plays Wells'lover Rebecca West.

Clouds riding high on Mars

The European Space Agency's orbiting Mars Express spacecraft has discovered the highest clouds yet detected above the surface of a planet. The Earth has clouds that top out at about 52 miles, but clouds on Mars reach up to 62 miles. (100 kilometers) The clouds on Mars are thought to be made of Carbon Dioxide. There are no pictures available as the detection was made by the means of ultraviolet and infrared instruments on the orbiter. The orbiter looked at stars just before they were eclipsed by Mars and saw them dim, the telltale sign of clouds in the atmosphere. Says Franck Montmessin, a French researcher on the camera team, "If you wanted to see these clouds from the surface of Mars, you would probably have to wait until after sunset."

Has life on Mars been blown away?

Sushil Atreya, a University of Michigan professor in the Department of Atmospheric Oceanic and Space Sciences thinks so. His paper "Oxidant Enhancement in Martian Dust Devils and Storms: Implications for Life and Habitability" suggests that storms and dust devils would produce oxidants that would destroy any chance for life to get to grips on the surface, since any organic material would be scavenged efficiently by the surface oxidants. Of course this is not the end of the story by any means. This blog has reported numerous arguments for and against life on Mars, and until a human being gets there to conduct indepth exploration, I think we can still cling to the idea that Earth is not the only home to life in our solar system. For a detailed report on Professor Atreya's findings, go to spaceref.

Did Dark Horse Comics Rip Off Pendragon's WAR OF THE WORLDS?

No. But that's what Pendragon Pictures are alleging. Apparently there are numerous similarities between their 2005 film and the recently released Dark Horse comic, which also attempts a Victorian period reproduction of the story. I can't see it myself, though Pendragon are trying hard, having set up a website to promote the case and ask people to vote if they agree that they have been ripped off. Without a doubt, there are a couple of inadvertent matches, but consider, both versions are working from the same source material and there is only so many ways you can present the material. If you go through the website set up by Pendragon, the similarities become ever more tenuous and desperate as you scroll down the page. Lets take their assertion regarding a scene between the narrator and curate beneath the Martian Cylinder. Says Pendragon of their production: "Writer on the right, curate on the left as the house collapses”, while Dark Horse has "Writer on the right, curate on the left as the house collapses." Well wow! That clinches it. I'm reluctant to give this silly case the oxygen of publicity, but here's the link, if only so you can make your own judgement and if you agree with me, vote a big fat no.

Fantastic concept art for War Of The Worlds

One of the most frustrating things about the recent Spielberg version of The War Of The Worlds was the drought of background material on the making of the film. Even the DVD did little to redress this, with a bunch of fairly awful making of featurettes that were long on back patting, but short on content. We've not even had a making of book, which is frankly incredible, so kudos to Iceblink studios, one of the companies that did pre-production art for the film. They have posted a ton of fantastic images at their site. Access direct it here.

War Of Words between Cruise and Spielberg

You might recall that during the media campaign last year to promote a little film called The War Of The Worlds, there were signs that all was not well between Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise. The somewhat vocal Mr Cruise made a bit of an ass of himself on Opera declaring his love for Katie Holmes and then rumours surfaced (well, pretty much true by all accounts) that his beloved Church Of Scientology had a rather conspicuous presence on set, with a tented facility on hand to dispense wisdom to the cast and crew. But it appears that the New York Post has uncovered the truth. It was not his love for Holmes or the Scientologists on set, but Cruise's bizarre outbursts against the use of Ritalin to treat children, and specifically, the apparent outing of a Doctor known to Spielberg, who was subsequently picketed by Scientologists. The question is, did Cruise pass on the name?

Mapping the invasion

I've only been able to get this to work on the Firefox browser and its not the most pretty looking page I have ever seen, but its a great concept. Go to the gutenkarte website and select War Of The Worlds. Then you can browse a map of locations from the book. It would be great if they extended this to the Orson Welles broadcast set in New Jerseym but for those people (especially those outside the UK) who want to get a flavour of the locations used by H.G. Wells, this is a fantastic resource.