Mars: The red planet

             MARS: The red Planet

Information about me:

I'm a 15 years old boy. I like to learn about astronomy and technology. I enjoy learning new things. I fascinated with universe and their mysteries.

About the blog:

This blog will be about Mars characteristics, information, facts and Mars colonization.

Mars:

Characteristic:

 Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and last of the terrestrial planets. Like the rest of the planets in the solar system (except Earth), Mars is named after a mythological figure - the Roman god of war. In addition to its official name, Mars is sometimes called the Red Planet because of the brownish-red color of its surface. Mars is the second smallest planet in the solar system behind Mercury.

Facts: 

·         Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and last of the terrestrial planets and is around 227,940,000 km from the Sun.

·         The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It was known to the ancient Greeks as Ares, their god of war. This is thought to be because of the blood-red color of the planet which was also used by other ancient cultures. Chinese astronomers call Mars the “fire star” while ancient Egyptian priests called it “Her Desher” meaning “the red one”.

·         The landmass of Mars and Earth is very similar. Despite Mars being just 15% the volume and 10% the mass of Earth, it actually has a similar landmass because water covers about 70% of Earth’s surface. The surface gravity of Mars is about 37% the gravity found on Earth. This means that on Mars you could in theory jump 3x higher than you could on Earth.yy

·         Only 16 of the 39 Mars missions have been successful. Beginning with the USSR’s Marsnik 1 which was launched in 1960, 39 orbiters, landers and rovers have been to Mars but only 16 of those missions were a success. In 2016, Europe’s Exobiology on Mars program will search the planet for signs of Martian life as well as study the surface and terrain of the planet and map potential environmental hazards to future manned missions to Mars.

·         Pieces of Mars have been found on Earth. It is believed that trace amounts of the Martian atmosphere were within meteorites that the planet ejected. These meteorites then orbited the solar system for millions of years amongst the other objects and solar debris before eventually entering the Earth’s atmosphere and crashing to the ground. The study of this material has allowed scientists to discover more about Mars before launching space missions.

·         The tallest mountain known in the solar system is on Mars. Olympus Mons is a 21 km high and 600 km diameter shield volcano that was formed billions of years ago. Scientists have found a lot of recent evidence of volcanic lava which suggests Olympus Mons may still be active. It is the second highest mountain in the entire solar system, topped only by the Rheasilvia central peak on the asteroid Vesta, which is 22 km high.

Extra information:

 It was believed life existed on Mars for much of the nineteenth century. The reason behind this belief was part mistake and part imagination. In 1877, the astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelliobserved what he believed to be straight lines on Mars’ surface. As others noticed these lines, some suggested that they were too straight and could only be the work of intelligent life. The popular conclusion as to the nature of these lines was that they were canals constructed for irrigation purposes. However, with the development of more powerful telescopes in the early twentieth century, astronomers were able to view the Martian surface more clearly and determine that these straight lines were merely an optical illusion. As a result, the earlier claims of life on Mars were without evidence and, therefore, discarded.

The large amount of science fiction written during the twentieth century was a direct outgrowth of the belief that Mars possessed life. From little green men to death rays, Martians were the focus of many television and radio programs, comic books, movies, and novels.

Although the discovery of Martian life in the eighteenth century eventually proved to be false, Mars is nonetheless the planet most hospitable for life other than the Earth. As such, recent planetary missions have tried to determine if even the most basic of life exists on the planet’s surface. The Viking mission in the 1970s conducted experiments on the Martian soil in hopes of detecting microorganisms. While it was initially believed that the formation of compounds during the experiments were a result of biological agents, it has since been determined that these compounds can be created without biological mechanisms.

Even though the results lean toward the absence of life on Mars, scientists have speculated that conditions are right for life to exist beneath the planet’s surface. Future planetary missions scheduled to test the possibility of past and present life include the Mars Science Laboratoryand ExoMars missions.

https://theplanets.org/mars/

MARS COLONIZATION

Mars is the focus of much scientific study about possible human colonization. The surface conditions of Mars and past presence of water icemake it arguably a feasible endeavor.

Permanent human habitation on other planets, including Mars, is one of most prevalent themes in science fiction. As technology advances, and concerns about humanity's future on Earth increase, arguments favoring space colonization gain momentum. Other reasons for colonizing space include economic interests, long-term scientific research best carried out by humans as opposed to robotic probes, and sheer curiosity.

Both private and public organizations have made commitments to researching the viability of long-term colonization efforts and to taking steps toward a permanent human presence on Mars. Space agencies engaged in research or mission planning include NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, Indian Space Research Organisation and the China National Space Administration, as well as private organizations such as SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_Mars  

More information click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iKrn_CNZpo

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