Astronomer leaves cryptic message for the first humans on Mars shortly before his own death

An astronomer left a cryptic message for the first humans on Mars shortly before his death in 1996.

In the late 1990s, having an individual on Mars was a pretty distant goal, and to be honest we're still in the early stages of planning missions to Mars with actual manned vessels.

Astronomer and science communicator Carl Sagan was a big advocate for exploration of the Red Planet.

After co-founding The Planetary Society, Sagan believed we should go all out in trying to get to Mars and study it as an analogy for our own planet.

The astronomer was charmed by the pull of Mars and the potential signs of life.

However, Sagan died suddenly of pneumonia on 20 December, 1996.

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But shortly before his passing, Sagan recorded a message for future astronauts who have made it to Mars.

In the cryptic recording, Sagan said: "I'm Carl Sagan. This is a place where I often work in Ithaca, New York, near Cornell University. Maybe you can hear, in the background, a 200-foot waterfall, right nearby, which is probably – I would guess – a rarity on Mars, even in times of high technology.

"Science and science fiction have done a kind of dance over the last century, particularly with respect to Mars. The scientists make a finding, it inspires science fiction writers to write about it, and a host of young people read the science fiction and are excited and inspired to become scientists to find out more about Mars, which they do, which then feeds again into another generation of science fiction and science."

He continued: "I don't know why you're on Mars. Maybe you're there because we've recognized we have to carefully move small asteroids around to avert the possibility of one impacting the Earth with catastrophic consequences, and, while we're up in near-Earth space, it's only a hop, skip, and a jump to Mars.

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"Or, maybe we're on Mars because we recognize that if there are human communities on many worlds, the chances of us being rendered extinct by some catastrophe on one world is much less. Or maybe we're on Mars because of the magnificent science that can be done there, the gates of the wonder world are opening in our time."

Thanks to The Planetary Society, the recording was sent to Mars after hitching a ride onboard NASA's Phoenix lander.

It arrived on Mars in May 2008.