As space exploration of people more and more intrigued by the idea of detecting alien life. With the development of technology, it became possible to study the planets closest to the Earth. One of them was Mars - the fourth planet in the solar system, surprisingly similar to the Earth, but as if it had long outlived its life and has already cooled down. Permafrost, the atmosphere unsuitable for biological creatures, the strongest dust storms - all this makes it inaccessible to life. However, recently discovered water on Mars gives hope to consider the planet as a second home for people in the distant future.
general information
Mars has almost two times smaller radius than Earth (on average 6,780 km), as well as a much smaller mass (only 10.7 percent of the Earth). The movement of the planet around the sun is carried out in an elliptical orbit. The rotation of the planet around its axis occurs in 24 hours and 39 minutes, approximately the same as on Earth. But Mars moves around the Sun much longer - more than 686.98 days by Earth standards. Phobos and Deimos are small planet satellites of irregular shape.
Before water was found on Mars, scientists began to think about the existence of life there. Theoretically, there could have been life long before it appeared on Earth, but something happened that destroyed the atmosphere and all life on the planet.
Study
The planet, the USSR, USA, India and the European Space Community have been engaged in planetary research since 1960.
Detailed information and sensational discoveries were made thanks to the spacecraft and rovers Mars, Mariner, Curiosity, Opportunity, Spirit working there. It was the Martian probes that managed to take new photos from the surface of the planet, to study soil samples, to fix the presence of fog, ice and water.
The clearest photographs of Mars were taken by Hubble, a powerful space telescope.
Planet surface
Light areas of the surface of Mars are called continents, and darker parts are called seas.
Recent studies have shown that there is seasonality on Mars. The sizes of the polar caps of the poles are variable, in summer they become smaller, and in winter they grow. The surface of the planet is covered by gorges, huge faults, deep craters, indicating seismic and tectonic activity.
The planet has a surprisingly flat terrain. A higher relief in the southern hemisphere suggests that in the distant past the planet experienced a significant collision with an asteroid, a severe blow.
Perhaps this is what becomes the turning point in the period when water flows on Mars. The impact led to an increase in the magnetic field in the Southern Hemisphere due to the redistribution of the nuclear mass of Mars.
Soil survey
The soil discovered by the Curiosity rover for research purposes was subjected to heating, during which evaporated moisture was noticed. After which NASA came to a stunning discovery, finding that in a cubic meter of soil contains about a liter of water. Imagining where there is water on Mars, no one imagined that it was almost everywhere.
Some layers of soil are dry, but most areas are sufficiently moist and contain up to 4% of the water in the composition. Moreover, the upper layers are wetter, and under them are dry layers. It is not clear for what reason the moisture that is on the Earth under the ground on Mars is at the top.
A study of the deeper layers of the soil, obtained by drilling in the area of the caves, revealed compounds of carbonates and other minerals with clay content. This suggests that liquid water on Mars was also in the form of groundwater.
Long branchy depressions on the surface of the planet, photographed from satellites, may well be dried up channels of deep rivers. Permafrost turned all the water into ice, under which streams of water are supposedly still hiding. The thick layer of ice does not allow it to freeze, allowing the streams to continue to deepen the river channels.
Atmosphere and radiation on the planet
The planet Mars cannot boast of an oxygen-rich atmosphere. Water in the form of steam is an insignificant part in it. The atmosphere is rarefied, therefore the radiation level is very high.
Carbon dioxide is contained in the atmosphere most - more than 95%, all diluted with a small amount of nitrogen and argon.
The average temperature on the planet is -50 ° C, but can drop to -140 ° C. Hypothetically, many years ago, the climate on Mars was wetter and warmer, rains occurred.
Hypotheses and their confirmation
The possibility of the presence of fluid on Mars has long worried humanity. Even without special equipment, powerful telescopes, scientists began to hypothesize the existence of water on the planet long before the first satellite was sent into space.
Back in the 19th century, Giovanni Schiaparelli allowed himself to claim that there is water on Mars. Moreover, he argued that there are many channels on the planet artificially created by intelligent beings. He believed that when water flows on Mars, it fills man-made canals, created as irrigation systems to save water resources.
A kind of confirmation of the scientist’s guess was the discovery of liquid on the planet. This is the first condition for having life. The first step on the path to the possible occupation of the planet by people in the distant future.
The discovery of water on Mars was a real breakthrough in the exploration of the planet. The next important find may be a real organic life.
Salt water on Mars
For the first time, the change of seasons on Mars was first discussed after the discovery of white caps at the poles, which either decreased in volume or increased.
In 2011, NASA made a sensational statement: water streams were discovered - perchlorates, which flowed from slopes in the southern hemisphere of the planet along the walls of craters. Spectral images of the Mars Rreconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) left no doubt that the water was moving.
Water flows in the spring, forming hundreds of water streams and a width of about five meters, and disappears in winter.
On the other hand, ordinary water would immediately turn into ice under the influence of low temperatures on the surface of Mars. There is a theory that the liquid is salty, a kind of brine based on perchloric acid, which due to its composition does not freeze. So far, scientists do not know for sure what kind of water it is. But if there is really salt water on Mars, then microorganisms can live in it, which love salt, similar to terrestrial.
Fog over the Red Planet
At sunset, fog gradually appears around the surface of the planet. This is another confirmation that liquid water exists on Mars. The fog rises above the cooled soil. It contains frozen ice particles falling to the ground from the fog under its own weight. They managed to photograph the Phoenix, pointing up the laser. Some ice particles are immersed in the ground, thus ensuring a constant exchange between the atmosphere and the surface of the water.
At night, the fog becomes deeper, rises higher, more ice particles fall out of it. Its intensity and height also depend on the time of year.
Storms and storms on the planet
Even before water was discovered on Mars, scientists suspected dust storms and storms. The climate on the Red Planet has always been dry and cold according to the facts and previously approved theories.
The constructed model depicting Martian conditions about 3.5 billion years ago showed the existence of a previously giant warm lake. The steam rising from its surface formed a cloud, from which snow flakes subsequently poured. This leads to the conclusion that snowstorms can also be observed on the planet.
In 2015, the Opportunity rover took panoramic pictures of a huge dust tornado. His fellow Spirit has repeatedly taken similar pictures before. But this time, the tornado was really incredibly large, it hid the surface of the planet.
Gusts of wind during storms carry sand, dust and reach speeds of up to one hundred meters per second.
Martian ocean
Photographs taken back in the 70s prove that there was previously an ocean on Mars that covered most of the Northern Hemisphere. The presence of recesses in the surface indicates the existence of large lakes and rivers.
Research using powerful radars showed that deep glaciers hidden huge glaciers. MRO allowed us to identify glaciers stretching hundreds of kilometers from the North Pole to the equator. Water on Mars in the form of ice is located deep under the foot of mountain formations, inside the craters of volcanoes.
It was a system of deep channels that could theoretically form the oceans in the distant past. The canals themselves most likely appeared as a result of lava, sand, rock, and glacier erosion. Volcanic activity led to the production of a large volume of gases, which caused the formation of huge caves.
Drinking water on Mars
American scientists hypothesized that there were huge volumes of liquid on Mars that were gradually swallowed by the cave system. After all, the caves have become natural, naturally formed repositories, possibly even drinking water, which is most likely still there.
Minerals were discovered in soil samples from the planet Mars, including carbon, which is necessary for maintaining human life. This suggests that there was previously drinking water on the planet. The presence of a liquid suitable for drinking indicates that on Mars there were conditions for the development of life similar to earthly.
On the other hand, organic trace elements could have come to the planet from space, with asteroids that often collide with its surface, as evidenced by many craters. Therefore, it is safe to say that on Mars found water suitable for drinking, is not yet possible.
The mystery of underground caves has yet to be solved, the best scientists of the world break their minds above it. But the discovery in the photo of dips, holes on the surface of Mars, into which water could once have gone, suggests its presence deep in the caves.
Is colonization of Mars possible?
Research on the Red Planet is ongoing. Surely there are many more places where water, and possibly biological life in the form of bacteria, exists on Mars. To make the searches more effective, it would be nice to send a research expedition to the planet, but so far this idea is at the planning stage.
To reach Mars, it will take a little less than a year. The astronauts will be deprived of amenities, limited in movement, will not be able to wash, and they will have to eat only canned food. A person cannot be in a confined space for a long time. It threatens insomnia, prolonged depression and other nervous disorders.
So far, man has not been in space for so long because of the danger of losing muscle as well as bone tissue under the influence of artificially created gravity. The maximum period the astronaut is on board the ISS is six months.
The first colonizers will not be able to have children, the effect of radiation has a detrimental effect on the composition of sperm. Also, radiation will not allow you to be on the surface without a spacesuit, may become the culprit in the development of diseases unknown to earthly science.
Although theoretically colonization of the planet is possible, but in order to take the first steps towards achieving the goal, long-term studies of the planet, development of the latest equipment for a successful flight to it and effective ways to bypass the destructive effect of Mars on humans are necessary.