Schiaparelli’s namesakes

ESA Space in Images Title On the rim of Schiaparelli crater Released 23/11/2015 10:13 am Copyright ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3. IGO Description - A 42 km-wide impact crater and numerous smaller craters straddle the northwestern rim of the 460 km-diameter Schiaparelli basin in this image taken by ESA's Mars Express on 15 July 2010. The large basin is named for Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli (1835-1910). The entry, descent and landing demonstrator module of the joint ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars 2016 mission also honours the astronomer with the name Schiaparelli. Giovanni Schiaparelli is famous for observing straight-line features on Mars that he called 'canali'. This term was mistakenly translated into English as 'canal' instead of 'channel', conjuring up images of vast irrigation networks constructed by intelligent beings. We now know that Schiaparelli's canali were illusions created by the comparatively poor telescopes of the time and that there are no water-filled channels on Mars today - but there is plenty of evidence that water was once present in Mars' past.