Viking 1 lander launched by NASA took the first picture of Mars on July 20, 1976. The picture has shown a strangely familiar, yet different enough to challenge scientists to figure out more about this planet. Mars, the Red Planet, attracts people since ancient times, the Greeks call it Ares. Mars has stayed in the human imagination until the rise of science and technology has discovered it. Mars appears in orange visually, and it is slightly more than half the size of Earth. Mars has about 15% of Earth’s volume and about 71% as dense as Earth. (NASA) The inner four planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars – are made up mostly of iron and rock. Mars is composed of mostly iron-rich basaltic rock similar to Earth’s thin crust. (NASA) However, …show more content…
Finding signs of life on Mars is not easy. Some scientists believe that signs of life on Mars were found by the Viking 1 lander, which set down on Mars in July, 1976. Other Scientists do not think the Viking 1 lander found life on Mars. The Surface of Mars is too zapped by radiation to preserve organics, one scientist Mckay said. (Kramer) The only convincing evidence for life on Mars will be when scientists have a microbe in the lab from a sample return mission. The Curiosity rover would be able to grab rocks and bring them inside the rover for …show more content…
With the announcement in 1996 by a team of scientists that a meteorite from Mars contained what might be the residue of ancient microbes, public interest became regalvanized by the possibility of past or present life there. The climate of Mars changes over time. “Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission will determine Mars' climate change over time for the lower and upper atmosphere. The mission will allow scientists to determine more precisely the composition of the Martian atmosphere. Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission will investigate the composition of rocks, soils, and land forms that might be linked with changes in the planet's atmosphere over time. (NASA) The key to understanding whether life could have evolved on Mars, many scientists believe, is water. (NASA) Other than water, there are many elements required to support life. For example, suitable climate, temperature, atmosphere and more, are conditions necessary for life on Mars, as important as water. After Earth, Mars has the most habitable climate for living in the solar system. Geologic features of Mars are collected by the Curiosity rover and studied by scientists. For instance, to find out has liquid water ever flowed on the surface of Mars and what caused the climate change on Mars. Of course, there are more environmental conditions affect Mars that lead scientists to further explore the natural environment of
A question that has been asked for many reasons in the space world: Is there life on other planets? A mission called Curiosity launched in 2011. Curiosity has been on Mars since August.Curiosity’s goal was to find signs of water and see if Mars was suitable for life. The surprising fact on Mars is there is presence of water. One key element was Mars once had habitable conditions and there looks to be ice on the planet. Curiosity has been using a camera to take photos of Mars. It is much like the panoramic camera we have on Earth. Both cameras have the same material incorporated in them and are used for the same purpose.
In overcoming the challenges along the way of the mission from launching to impact to egress, it has allowed scientists and organisations such as NASA to gather more information about the nature of the Mars, from the climate to the geology of the planet. The outcome and findings of this mission has been a success and influential in the way we explore other planets to find the possibility of past and/or present life on that planet. The rovers had discovered fluid and other deposits on the surface of the planet, which may indicate that life can survive on this planet. The uncovering of these physical environments has shaped the method and processes undertaken on other missions in order to succeed and deliver the necessary answers to the questions of the possibility of life
Before the sailor flybys in the 1960s, scientist thought Mars had water and life, even if it was just some sort of plantlike lichen. Mars has water, frozen underground and at the polar caps. There is (event(s) or object(s) that prove something) that this water has, in the past and present, flooded the surface in liquid from. Signs of wearing away can be
The Mars One Company, is scamming its supporters millions of dollars into a fake mission! The Mars One project has remained for awhile as a legitimate company, but experts and scammed donors have found majour flaws in the Mars One Mission. Many of the experts have found several errors and discrepancies when they more closely examined the Company. This in turn has led many to conclude that Mars One is not a legitimate space agency, and people should not be investing time, resources, and money into this untrustworthy company.
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
“I think humans will reach Mars, and I would like to see it happen in my lifetime” was said by Buzz Aldrin, a NASA astronaut. The former American aeronaut from Montclair, New Jersey believes that since Mars does exist, it is waiting to be reached by humans. When this would happen, he says that the human race would “evolve into a two-planet species.” Present day Mars has a lot of canyons, mountains and volcanoes. Even though the surface is Mars is very old, scientists learned about different younger rift valleys, plains, hills and ridges. According to recent reports, there were lakes and rivers, along with an ocean billions of years ago. The low temperatures on the planet cause there to be polar ice caps and frozen water present.
The topic of Mars has long been of interest to astronomers and science fiction enthusiast alike. The premise of another planet supporting life excites people like no other. In 2004, The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, began preliminary science experiments and instrument proposals for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and a robotic space probe mission to Mars. After long testing and development stages, the mission birthed a rover, Curiosity, which was launched in November 2011 and subsequently landed August 6th 2012. As we speak Curiosity is collecting invaluable data for our understanding of mars including: habitability, climate and geology, and possibly setting up a manned mission to mars in the
They have found that there might have been life on Mars at one point and there might still be little bits of life. All they have found so far is evidence of little tiny organisms and bacteria that were once on the surface.
In last couple year’s evidence of water on mars has grown exponentially. The geography of Mars suggests that water was once there. This is because they have found runoff channels in the southern highlands and outflow channels that are almost exact to how they are on Earth, which obviously does have water. The Mars Reconnaissance Observer and Mars Express found deposits of clay in the southern highlands that some researchers say is a strong sign that water was there. Some others argue that the clay could be formed by other elements on Mars, such as wind. Also, the Mars Express detected hydrated’ chemical compounds in the surface of rocks over large areas, which means it
Spirit stumbled across rocks that pointed to an earlier, unrulier Mars that was marked by impacts, explosive volcanism and subsurface water [source: NASA Mars]. "Water is key because almost everywhere we find water on Earth we find life," NASA's Web site. However, we are still unsure life existed on Mars.
Currently NASA is working on exploring Mars. They send rovers to collect samples of the Mars terrain. NASA has found some sort of plant life on Mars which leads them to believe that there is water on Mars or previously was. This
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
In 1996, NASA landed robotic space craft named viking 1 and 2 on Mars. Viking 1 was there for 4 years, and Viking 2 was there 6 years (2). The purpose of the space crafts was to discover a living things such as bacteria in the soil. Even though there was not found anything telling about the life or living things on Mars, it was exciting to know whether there used to be a life. Later on Mars science laboratory created new curiosity rover in November 26, 2011. Curiosity rover landed in Mars August 6, 2012. This rover was specifically design with hand lens imager, which take extreme close up pictures revealing the details. Also, Alpha particle X-Ray Spectrometer which determines different elements in rock and soil. The most important that was built in the rover is Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons. It is an instrument which measures the surface hydrogen. If there is a detection of the hydrogen, it indicates the presence of water. (3) rover discovered small spheres made of hematite. Hematite can be formed by aqueous process which is a mineral form of iron III oxide ,Fe3O2. It believed that it formed billions of years ago under the watery
The Mars Science Laboratory mission and its Curiosity rover mark a transition between the themes of "Follow the Water" and "Seek Signs of Life." In addition to landing in a place with past evidence of water, Curiosity is seeking evidence of organics, the chemical building blocks of life. Places with water and the chemistry needed for life potentially provide habitable conditions. Future Mars missions under the science theme "Seek Signs of Life" would likely be designed to search for life itself in places identified as potential past or present
Attention-getter: Have you ever just gazed at the night sky and looked at the stars and thought to yourself “Is there life on other planets such as, Mars?” Then, you begin to think if NASA will hire you after you applied 20 years ago.