The Greeks cryed this planet efter Ares thair god o weir. The Romans equate Ares wi thair ain god o weir Mrti an syne the lave o Europe took this name on. Mair nor ony ither planet in oor Sun Gird, Mairs haes gien us mony legends an tales, whither fae the Auld Greeks or oot the screivings o HG Wells an Ray Bradbury. Abuin aw ithers Mairs is the warld we humans lang jaloused micht’a haen life. Back in 1877 the Italiens astrologue Giovanni Schapiarelli thocht he cuid see canali or natural trochs runnin alang the surface o Mairs an this kittled fowk nae end whan thay mistook canali tae mean ‘canals’ in Soothron.

Mairs is sma tae the Yird. It is aboot hauf the size o oor warld. But it haes twa moons til oor ane. Thay are cryed Deimos (‘dreid’) an Phobos (‘fear’) baith sprung fae Greek legend an said tae tae’a been the sons o Ares. A Mairtian day is a bittie langer nor oors at 24 houres an 37 meenits while the Mairtian year is 780 days lang. It haes a tilt muckle like the Yird giein Mairs seasons like oors. But whauras the Yird gaes roond the Sun bi a weel worn gait Mairs is that bittie agley sae that its length awa fae the Sun is whiles 128 million mile an whiles 156 million mile. For this reason Mairs is a caulder warld nor oors an whan it is at its nearest pynt tae the Sun it steers up stormy rid stour that can smoor hail pairts o the planet. The appearant ridness o Mairs is throu a happing o stour wi the lang-nebbit name o nanophase ferric oxides but mair pyntitly an iron oxide cryed rid hematite is jaloused the heidmaist element. Til human een the lift o Mairs is rid forby, maistly throu pairticles in the atmosphere.  But aneath the rid stour Mairs haes mony ither colours sic as broun an gowd.

This is a warld o sindry kenspeckles that wad tak the breith awa.  Like the Yird, Mairs haes ice at baith poles made maistly fae jeelt carbon dioxide an thay lowse an dwyne as the weather chenges. The cheil that naebody can evite is the Tharsis Bumfle in the sooth o Mairs. This muckle scaur runs for 3,000 mile an is raised in pairts 6 mile in hecht abuin the lave o the landscape. Alang the soothland lip the’r a muckle open scaur o sindry straths cryed Valles Marineris while tae the norland lip is the biggest volcano in oor Sun Gird – the wapper that is Olympus Mons. This unbeast is 300 mile in breidth an rises tae 17 mile in hecht at its peen. Acause the’r nae plates flittin an thrawin on Mairs, Olympus Mons jist sut growin ower the same magma pynt. Olympus Mons isna it lane but neebors three ither smaer volcanoes cryed Arsia, Ascreus Montes an Pavonis. Geologic speirings haes suggestit that the Tharis Bumfle haed kythed bi 3.7 billion year syne an that ootbreks o magna micht’a taen place in the last puckle o million year.

Mairs haes aye been an unchancy warld for human progs wi mony either takkin a tummle or tint atween the 1960’s an noo. For this reason some fowk speaks o the ‘curse o Mairs’. But aiblins ane o the maist orra facts o Mairs is the sae-cryed Face o Cydonia. It aw stertit in 1976 whan the Viking 1 an Viking 2 aff-warld progs birlin roond Mairs airtit thair cameras at the Cydonia region an took a wheen o photies. In ae eemage taen bi Viking 1 the war a braid fell that lookit affa like a human face, gauin bi the wey the licht fell ower it. But in eemages taen no lang syne, wi shairper graithen, it is weel seen that the ‘face’ aw lippens on angle an licht. Still an on, the oreeginal eemage gars us chitter an shaws hoo muckle we want the tae be ither life. In 1997 a sma meteorite (cryed ALH84001) that haed fawen fae Mairs tae the Yird, an wis first fund in 1984, steert a stoushie amang sceintic speirars whan a puckle claimed that cheens o bumfled shapes seen unner an electron microscowp wis lang deid life.

At the present time (2020) the’r sindry ettles in hauns, maistly in Americae, for tae pit humans on Mairs. It wad tak aboot nine month for humans tae traivel atween the Yird an Mairs in ane o the windaes whaur Mairs wis at its nearest til us. Nine month is a lang time for ony body tae be shut awa in an aff-warld craft. Aince on Mairs fowk wad hae tae wait aboot a year an hauf afore traivelin back tae the Yird an anither nine month abuird a craft. Ower the bygane ten year thoosands o fowk haes pit thair names forrit tae list thairsels in ane o the sindry projects.