Editorial Writer
Mars is the god of war in Greek and Roman mythology. He comes from the Roman Mars in English pronunciation and Ares in Greek. One of the 12 gods of Olympus, the son of Zeus, the father of the gods, and Hera, the mother of the gods. While Athena, another god of war and also the god of wisdom, uses resourcefulness to wage war, Mars enjoys indiscriminate destruction and barbaric warfare. He is also famous for having an affair with Venus, the goddess of beauty and wife of Hephaestus, the god of blacksmithing.
Mars is the name of a planet in the solar system derived from this god of war. Unlike the Moon or Venus, which shine brightly and beautifully in the night sky, Mars has a distinctive reddish color. The reason why Mars is red is because there is a lot of iron oxide on the surface of Mars, like blood. So Mars has been accepted as an ominous planet since ancient times. It is in the same context as when the sun dyed red in a total solar eclipse or the blood moon in a total lunar eclipse was considered an ominous omen. When people saw Mars, they thought of the flames of war or disaster. The two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, are also named after the two sons of Mars.
Mars has become a familiar planet to mankind since the exploration of Mars began. Early Mars exploration began with the Soviet Union’s Manix 1 in 1960, and the Soviet and American probes repeatedly failed to land, leading to the term ‘The Curse of Mars’. In 1976, the United States landed the Viking on Mars, and since the 21st century, exploration of Mars has been actively pursued by robots and drones. Following the United States and the EU, China and the United Arab Emirates have also jumped into Mars exploration. Mars is attracting attention because it is the planet most similar to Earth and has the possibility of water and life. Mars is considered to be the planet that will replace Earth in the future. It may not be a dreamy story to pioneer the land of Mars and grow potatoes like in the movie ‘The Martian’.
The Korean government announced a plan to plant the Korean flag on Mars in 2045, the 100th anniversary of liberation. It was at the proclamation ceremony of the ‘Future Space Economy Roadmap’ presided over by President Yoon Seok-yeol on the 28th. It is intended to help Korea grow into a space power by landing a manned probe made with Korean technology on Mars. To this end, the plan is to launch the Korea Aerospace Administration, a Korean version of NASA, next year. It plans to develop its own launch vehicle engine that will head to the moon within five years, land on the moon in 2023, and start mining resources. I hope that the grand dream of ‘gifting future generations with the resources of the moon and the home of Mars’ will come closer.
Reporter Kang Yoon-kyung [email protected]