Preview: Radio `Red Planet’, Thursday 9pm Radio 4

Is there life on Mars? And if not, might humans one day set foot on it? On Thursday this week, the Red Planet will be closer to Earth than it has been for almost 60,000 years. To mark the event, astronomer Heather Couper presents a new series which explores the age-old fascination with our celestial neighbour.

For ancient civilisations – notably the Egyptians and Romans – this heavenly body was believed to be the home of a god. Following the invention of the telescope, however, astronomers saw Mars as an Earth-like world, lush and full of life. In the 19th century, an eccentric American businessman named Percival Lowell became convinced that the planet’s surface was criss-crossed by canals, made by a sophisticated civilisation desperate to channel water to the cities of their dying world.

Lowell’s picture of Mars influenced the writer HG Wells who, in turn, through War of the Worlds, created an image of Mars as a place of threat – something that remains part of our collective culture.

Today’s scientists are determined to see a manned mission to Mars within their lifetimes. Among them is the microbiologist Charles Cockell, whose passion for the planet led him into a brief career in politics. In the 1992 General Election, he stood against John Major as the sole candidate for the Forward To Mars party – the first political party in history to represent the interests of another planet. n Jenny Gilbert