It is December 1971 and Soviet scientists are bracing themselves for an encounter with Mars at twenty-five thousand kilometres an hour. Mars 2 and 3 are their most advanced probes to date, and if all goes well they will steal for the Soviet Union the first ever pictures from the surface of another planet. But things look bleak for these robotics pioneers. Reports from telescopes across the country are pouring in to the Crimean control centre, all bearing the grim news of a giant storm on Mars. The planet is covered from pole to pole in a thick blanket of dust. But there is no reprogramming the probes – they are going in, storm or no storm. Despite the huddle of scientists around the receiving screens willing it to work, that glorious first picture is nothing more than a fuzzy mess of squiggles. The probe is dead. Mankind’s first contact with the atmosphere of Mars is over, and the welcome was anything but warm.
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