Mars-The Red Planet Collection

This two-sided DVD is split into two segments: Destination: Mars and Life on Mars. The second, graced with John Lithgow's narration, discusses the study of a seemingly insignificant rock: meteorite ALH84001. The meteorite, discovered by a team of researchers in the Antarctic, contains indications of primitive life forms that may have lived long, long ago on the red planet. There's copious information about the scientific methods used to analyze the rock, and the meteorite's origins. The rather long-winded breakdown is leavened by a segment on the traditional views of life on Mars, dating back to H.G. Wells. Fans of 1950's science fiction will recognize clips from Red Planet Mars, Plan 9 from Outer Space, Santa Claus Vs. the Martians, Angry Red Planet, and several other movies during a tongue-in-cheek montage. A Jesuit priest who doubles as an astronomer posits some compelling questions about the ways in which the knowledge of life on other planets may affect the way we Earthlings view ourselves and our place in the universe.

Destination: Mars documents efforts to contact the red planet, and goes into the current state of the art of space-travel technology for humans. Things are still in a fairly primitive state when it comes to exploring Mars via robot; the time delays involved in sending or receiving information from the planet's surface make something as simple as examining a rock agonizingly slow. The impetus to put people on Mars has cooled considerably since the end of the Cold War. Without the budgets and public enthusiasm that went into the '60s space race, the Mars effort has been on the back burner. That doesn't mean, however, that it's been shelved; a corps of scientists and researchers are still lobbying to put people on its moon by 20l7. Plants can be used for both food and oxygen; human waste can be distilled and recycled into drinking water (see if you don't cringe when a scientist takes a long drink of a sample).

Though the amount of detail and length of Mars: The Red Planet Collection can be a bit daunting, there's still a wealth of knowledge shared here for science-minded space buffs. --Jerry Renshaw ...

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