the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli inflamed the world's imagination with his claim to have seen long, straight channels (mistranslated as "canals" in English) on the surface of Mars.

In the 19th century, the idea of men on Mars ... Schiaparelli observed straight lines on Mars, which he called canali. This means channels, but it was wrongly translated into English as canals ...

"The ExoMars/TGO orbiter is in great shape and ready to swing into orbit around Mars, while the Schiaparelli lander is programmed to wake up at about 15:37 CEST for its landing demonstration ...