What fictional planet represents Mars in C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy?

Malacandra represents Mars in C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy. It is the name used for Mars in Out of the Silent Planet, the first novel of the trilogy, published in 1938.

The protagonist, Elwin Ransom, is taken from Earth to Malacandra. The novel presents the planet as inhabited by intelligent species and gives it a complex culture rather than treating Mars as a simple empty wilderness. Lewis drew on contemporary scientific and literary interest in Mars while creating his own imaginative setting.

The other planetary names are easy to confuse. Perelandra is Venus, the setting of the second book, while Thulcandra is Earth. Narnia belongs to a separate fantasy series. The trilogy continues with Perelandra and That Hideous Strength.