Mars Ever since the beginning of physics and Astronomy man has pondered the question, “Are we alone?” Scientists have studied and collected data from the eight Planets. However, mostly all of them lack the key nutrients needed. Except when we took a closer look at the red planet (Mars), one can see a couple of those nutrients on Mars. The most outstanding features of the red planet are its water, Atmosphere, and extreme storms.
The closest planet in our Solar system to being suitable for life is Mars; containing the most valuable resource, water. On the surface of Mars are large valley networks that can only be created by the disturbance of large bodies of liquid water. In the northern pole (north pole), an ice deposit can be seen; this ice deposit contains frozen ice equivalent to the size of Lake
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In Fact, Mars’ atmosphere is similar to that of the Earth, sharing many resemblances in size, and density. However, centuries ago, Mars lost a majority of its atmosphere due to solar rays. Mars still has an atmosphere, it is just quite thick now. Due to this, Mars’ atmosphere is mostly composed of Carbon Dioxide (95%), and having very little oxygen (0.13), and water levels . Mars’ atmospheric pressure is only one hundred fifteenth that of Earth’s at sea level . Before Mars’ loss, planetary scientists said that its Atmosphere would have been very similar to ours.
Mars is basically a vast frozen wasteland, undergoing varying weather patterns. Mars undergoes more sandstorms and dust devils than all of the deserts on Earth combined . Plus dust clouds on Mars can reach up to three thousand feet. in height and last several weeks. Even its windstorms can be quite violent, reaching up fifty to sixty mph, and having the potential to cover a large majority of the planet itself . With these winds and dust devils in mind it would be very hard to make a civilization or even live on this mysterious red
Its thin atmosphere and most likely a completely waterless surface shows that any life that was to land on the Red Planet would have a hard time trying to survive. At that time, when life was found on Earth, Mars had an ocean, volcanoes and deltas, the difference between Mars and Earth is Mars rapidly lost its hold on habitability. According to scientist Mars lacks the ability to have a protective magnetic field, most of the water left the surface and escaped into space, this was caused by the exposure of the surface to the cosmic rays and ultraviolet light. There were only a few packs of water left on the surface, some remained at the poles whereas others may have remained under the
Mars has more than one moon, unlike Earth. It actually has 2 Phobos and Deimos. As of right now we do not know how these moons were created. The red planet also has a lot of the same features as Earth. Imagine the whole Earth was a massive dessert and it acted how a desert did. Mars has massive dust storms on the surface of the planet, these are the largest in the solar system. Also it can even snow on Mars! This isn’t ordinary snow like what we have on Earth because it is composed of carbon dioxide not water. Scientists believe the snowflakes are about the size of red blood cell so they aren’t very big.
Mars was just like Earth about four billion years ago. Mars used have a very similar atmosphere and magnetic field until something that is disputed happened around 3.7 billion ago whether that be a huge asteroid hit it, solarwinds destroyed it, or Mars lost it due to its low gravity. The first reason Mars is up for colonization is because Mars has frozen water in its soil. Which means a lot for colonization like the ability to grow plants and a drinking source. Another Reason is Mars lack of extremities. Mars average temperature is -284 degrees in the winter and 84 degrees in the summer their days are also only 40 minutes longer than the Earth's. Even those these temperature seem crazy they are relatively modest compared to other planets in the Universe. The final reason is its location. Mars would take between 39 days to 289 days to reach is relatively close in comparison to the size of the universe (Rau). Mars is now the most looked at the planet for human colonization because of those
You may be thinking this is all another alien inspired theory. After all, data from a bunch of hung-over grad students and researchers at the E.T. institute doesn’t sound too solid. However, they may be on to something. NASA recently confirmed that Mars might be recovering from an ice age that ended roughly 400,000 years ago. Data from the NASA Mars Orbiter suggests that the Red Planet poles were once covered in massive amounts of ice. And these ice caps have been thawing since. This makes the Martian planet quite similar to Earth. It also would support the recent research of marshland on the Red Planet as well.
Like said before, Mars is called the Red Planet because of its color and that is because of its iron-rich minerals in the loose dust and rock covering its surface. NASA thinks that the iron minerals oxidize or rust, causing the soil to look red. The atmosphere on Mars is cold and thin which means that liquid water cannot exist (at this time) for any length of time. Mars also has the largest volcano in the solar system including Olympus Mons which is about 370 miles in diameter. Many of the regions on Mars are flat, low-lying plains. There is no exact number of craters on mars and it varies from place to place, depending on how old the surface is. Evidently, Mars is not like Earth.
Both are also made up of material that resembles type one or type 2 carbonaceous chondrites, the substance that makes up asteroids. Moreover, the average temperature of Mars is negative 65 degrees Celsius (negative 85 degrees Fahrenheit). Earth’s average temperature is 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit). In comparison to the ranging temperatures in the solar system Mars wouldn’t be particularly cold nor hot, but to a human being this would be extremely cold .In addition, the planet Mars is named after the Roman God of war being, “The Red Planet.” Also Mars appearance is reddish making that another factor of why Mars is called’ “The Red Planet.” Mars was to believed to have a reddish appearance in color as early as the time of the Ancient Egyptians. Back then, they called it Har Decher, which means “Red One.” The color red is presence is due to the iron oxide dust that covers the surface only a few millimeters thick. Mars atmosphere also contains a variety of other elements, including titanium, chlorine and sulfur. However, only 18 missions to Mars have been
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. Named after the Roman god of war, and often described as the “Red Planet” due to its reddish appearance. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury. Named after the Roman god of war, it is often referred to as the "Red Planet" because the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance.
For whatever reason, the planet Mars has always been synonymous with alien life in popular culture. This makes it very interesting to study. Recent studies have taught us a great deal about Mars’ surface, water content and geography as well as suggesting that it may have been capable of supporting life in the past. Further study of Mars’ ice caps, various impact craters and other sources has helped scientists glean information of the planet’s history and the wealth of information that can be gained from its study. Of course, the most popular topic about Mars is its present habitability and presence of life, both of which are still very possible. Mars will be an excellent planet to analyze due to its proximity to earth and its ability to potentially sustain life.
Mars has water but it is frozen in the planet ice caps and under the soil. The atmosphere on mars is weak due the very high strong winds that occur. The surface temperature of the planet is freezing and the water on the surface of planet evaporates other than the ice caps due to the low atmospheric pressure of the weak atmosphere. According to brightkite.com, “Even with the bad temperature, weak atmosphere and said frozen water there still prove that there is life on Mars because there evidence saying that Mars’s living organisms could be sub surface ("'Strongest evidence yet to there being life on Mars'"). This means that the living organisms do have a chance to live and since there is water, wind, and cold temperature, this allows living organisms to breathe and exist inside the interior of the
Phobos rises in the west, and sets in the east and rises again in just 11 hours. But Deimos has the same orbital period like mars but rises as expected in the east slowly. Since phobos is below synchronous altitude it crash into mars in the next 50 million year. Mars is also known to be a terrestrial planet. There was a rover named spirit which collected chemical compounds containing water molecules. The phoenix lander sampled water ice in shallow Martian soil. Mars was known to have seven spacecraft which were called the Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN and Mars Orbiter Mission and opportunity and the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity. The mars science laboratory has stated a theory that water flow does exist during the warmest temperature in mars. NASA has also found that mars soil has 1.5% and 3% water by mass. Mars also has half the diameter of earth. Mars is also larger and more massive than mercury. The surface of mars is mostly composed of tholeiitic basalt. In mars there is evidence of basin in the northern hemisphere of mars spanning 10,600 km. scientist believe that mars was struck by a Pluto sized body about 4 billion years ago and have caused that basin that covers 40% of
Physical characteristics of the Mars is half the diameter of the Earth, less dense than Earth. Mars' rotational period is similar to the Earth rotation. Another interesting facts about Mars is that, it has two Moons which are Deimos and Phobos. Deimos and Phobos are small and irregular shape. Also, Mars have largest volcano and second highest known mountain and largest canyon in the Solar System. Largest volcano and highest mountain is Olympus Mons, it has a height of 25 km and it is three times as tall as Mount Everest. Largest canyon is Valles Marineris is more than 4000 km long , 200 km wide, and up to 7 km deep. It is located along the equator of the Mars. Second interesting facts about the Mars except the similarities to the Earth, is the findings on the
Last but not least, unlike Earth, Mars does not have a magnetosphere, like a forcefield around Earth that helps protect us from harsh elements of “space weather”. Nasa studies agree that Mars is exposed to solar flares and cosmic rays. Scientists aren’t sure why, but Mars’ internal magnetic Dynamo turned off about 4 billion years ago. After that, the solar wind slowly eroded or worn away the Martian atmosphere until today, it is estimated less than 1% as thick as
Mars is a rocky planet, also known as a terrestrial planet. Mars' solid surface has been altered by volcanoes, impacts, crustal movement and atmospheric effects such as dust storms.
Preview Statement: The possibility of life on mars is an extravagant topic to look at. Before that, we must analyze Mars itself along with its conditions. First, we will talk about the ice caps located on Mars. Second, we will examine the water streaks on Mars. Third we will observe if the red planet is inhabitable for humans to conquer it.
The main weather on Mars is wind. Wind is formed when warm air rises and cool