Mars has excited imaginations at least since the Romans named it — for their god of war, probably because its color reminded them of blood — and people have been thinking and writing about it for centuries, in speeches, fiction, poetry, songs, even cartoons. Here is a sample, compiled by Susan C. Beachy.

BUZZ ALDRIN

“Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration,” 2013

Mars has been flown by, orbited, smacked into, radar-examined, and rocketed onto, as well as bounced upon, rolled over, shoveled, drilled into, baked and even laser-blasted. Still to come: Mars being stepped on.

GEORGE DU MAURIER

“The Martian,” 1897

Man in Mars is, it appears, a very different being from what he is here. He is amphibious, and descends from no monkey, but from a small animal that seems to be something between our seal and our sea-lion.

RAY BRADBURY

“The Martian Chronicles,” 1950

The men of Earth came to Mars.

They came because they were afraid or unafraid, because they were happy or unhappy, because they felt like Pilgrims or did not feel like Pilgrims. There was a reason for each man. They were leaving bad wives or bad towns; they were coming to find something or leave something or get something, to dig up something or bury something or leave something alone. They were coming with small dreams or large dreams or none at all. But a government finger pointed from four-color posters in many towns: THERE’S WORK FOR YOU IN THE SKY: SEE MARS! and the men shuffled forward, only a few at first, a double-score, for most men felt the great illness in them even before the rocket fired into space. And this disease was called The Loneliness .