Centuries from now, a Martian exploring the planet settled and terraformed by her earthling ancestors may stumble upon the old remains of the Phoenix lander, the spacecraft that touched down there in 2008. On it she will find a DVD called Visions of Mars, made by the Planetary Society, a non-profit promoting space exploration, founded in 1980 by the astronomer and author Carl Sagan and others.
Encoded on this plastic disc she will discover a story written by one Herbert G Wells, and she won’t be flattered. For in the late 19th century, inhabitants of Mars were imagined to be utterly alien, horrific to look at and terrible in intent and deed. She will read The War of the Worlds.
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