It was only 60-years-ago when many people still entertained the idea that there could be intelligent life on planet Mars. Ideas such as there being lush jungles on the surface and that tributary-like objects spotted through low-resolution telescopes could be canals made by intelligent beings. Of course today we know that nothing could be further from the truth and that Mars is a largely dead planet.
Despite this mission from NASA and ESA are still on the hunt for life on the Red Planet. What they are looking for is a little less spectacular but never-the-less extremely important; microbial life. This 2018 "The Sky at Night" documentary titled "Mars: Red and Dead" hosted by Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Chris Lintott and Pete Lawrence follows the latest developments and asks - if Mars is a dead planet, could the first life on Mars be humans? Chris talks to Andy Weir, author of The Martian, about whether a manned mission to Mars is just a fantasy.
