Mars in fiction from red-colored vegetation, and Schiaparelli observed what he took to be linear features on the face of Mars, which he thought might be water channels. Because the Italian for channels is "canali", English translations tended to render the word as "canals", implying artificial construction. Lowell's books on Mars expanded on this notion of Martian canals, and a standard model of Mars as a drying, cooling, dying world was established. It was frequently speculated that ancient Martian civilizations had constructed irrigation works that spanned the planet in an attempt at saving their dying world. This concept spawned a large number of
Aurora (fictional planet) Aurora (fictional planet) Aurora is a fictional planet in Isaac Asimov's "Robot" series. It was the first world settled by the Spacers, originally named 'New Earth'; it was located 3.7 parsecs (12 light years) from Earth. In Asimov's fictional universe, the innermost planet orbiting Tau Ceti was mankind's very first extrasolar planetary settlement, established in 2065. Originally named "New Earth", in later millennia the planet would be renamed "Aurora", which means "dawn", to signify the dawning of a new age for the Spacer culture. It was also considered the strongest of the Spacer worlds, and was their "de facto" leader.