Yesterday we were in a packed house at the Pavilion Theatre to listen to Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest talk about The Red Planet.
The talk was a kind of summary of their book,
Mars: The Inside Story of the Red Planet, and it was entertaining and interesting, as I’m sure the book is. Three things stood out: 1. Heather Couper’s praise of Brighton, and the North Laine in particular, as cool place and a cross of San Francisco and Sydney; 2. Heather’s feelings for why people need to go to Mars (lots of emotions there); 3. They believe life has already been found on Mars.
Regarding life, the interesting question becomes: is the life on Earth and Mars based on the same kind of carbon? If it is, then maybe there’s a common origin. But if it’s not, then life developed independently so maybe there’s life everywhere out there.