Mars - Everything you need to know about the Red Planet

“Someday people will travel to Mars. It will be a long trip, but fun. This will be a big step for mankind. We would be able to find out if there was life on this planet. It probably will look like a red desert.”- J. Stephen Hartsfield.

 

We address Mars as the “Red Planet” owing to its distinct color. Now, why do we need to discuss the fourth nearest planet that’s near to the sun? As we are all aware, the numerous missions taking place by ISRO, NASA, even SpaceX, have made Mars quite a hot topic. People have been talking about creating colonies on Mars. The question is why?  

 

In this blog, we will learn about the red planet and its features, while also discussing why people are actually considering shifting from Earth to Mars at some point in the future.  

 

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About Mars

 

Mars is the fourth planet in the solar system. The Romans dubbed the Red Planet after their god of battle, which suited the planet's red hue. In reality, mainly the following the Athenians, who called the planet Ares after their lord of battle. 

 

Mars has recently piqued people's interest for reasons other than its ominous aspect. The planet is the second closest to Earth after Venus, and because its orbit is outside of Earth's, it is normally easy to see in the night sky. It is the sole planet's atmospheric feature that can be viewed using Earth-based telescopes. 

 

Centuries of painstaking research by earthbound observers, supplemented by satellite observations since the 1960s, have revealed that Mars is comparable to Earth in many respects

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The solar system

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What makes it a Red Planet?

 

Mars' striking red hue is attributable to iron-rich minerals in its regolith, which is the loose dust and rock that covers its surface. Earth's soil is also a kind of regolith, but one with high organic content. The iron minerals oxidize, or rust, causing the soil to appear red, according to NASA. Hence, we also call it the Red Planet.

 

Interesting Features of Mars

 

Because of the planet's chilly, thin atmosphere, water is unlikely to persist on the surface of the planet for an extended period of time. Recurring slope visual may contain saline water bursts on the surface, although the factual evidence of water on the is debatable on a high level. 

 

Moreover, other scientists suggest that the hydrogen that is visible in a certain location may just be briny salt. This indicates that it may be half the size of earth but it has the same amount of dry land similar to earth. This desert planet has the same amount of residual land.

 

It is 142 million miles away from the sun, whereas Earth is 93 million miles away. It has a diameter of 4220 miles and the duration of a year is about double that of the Earth, i.e. 687 Earth Days. And the length of a single day is 24 hours and 37 minutes. The average temperature of the planet is -62.78 degrees Celsius. We only have one moon, but Mars has two. Don't you think that's fascinating?

 

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Interesting Facts about the Red Planet

 

Did you know Mars actually has two moons, Deimos and Phobos? They are called after the two horses that pull the chariot of the Roman god of battle, Mars. They might be asteroids that have been caught by Mars' gravity. We’ve listed some more such interesting facts below:

 

• Mars has extremely low gravity. The gravity on Mars is 37% lower than on Earth. This indicates that you could jump three times higher on Mars than you could on Earth.

 

• Mars is classified as a terrestrial planet due to its rough and rocky surface. It features flat plains on its northern side and hills and craters on its southern side.

 

• Mars is subjected to powerful dust storms that are fueled by the sun and may linger for months.

 

• Borealis Basin is Mars' largest crater. It is 5300 miles long and covers 40% of the planet's surface.

 

• The Valles Marineris canyon on Mars is the biggest among the 8 planets. It is four miles deep and thousands of kilometers long.

 

• Mars will most likely be the first planet humanity visits and investigates because it is so close to Earth.

 

• On Mars, there is no sign of life. It is, nonetheless, the planet with the finest circumstances for life.

 

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Mars Expeditions

 

NASA is actively studying the surface of Mars using two rovers (Curiosity and Perseverance), one lander (InSight), and one helicopter (Ingenuity).

 

The Perseverance rover — the largest and most sophisticated rover NASA has deployed to another planet – landed on Mars on February 18, 2021, after a 203-day trip of 293 million miles (472 million kilometers). The Ingenuity helicopter was mounted to the belly of Perseverance and flew to Mars.

 

“You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great - and that’s what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.” - Elon Musk

 

The Starship spacecraft will be used for Mars Expedition by SpaceX, the private Elon Musk headed an aerospace company that puts satellites into orbit and delivers cargo.

 

CEO Elon Musk is a very inspirational figure among the youth, and his mindset to explore Mars and create a colony has made an exceptional topic of discussion in the fields of science.

 

SpaceX is developing Starship, a totally reusable and extremely heavy-lift launch vehicle. Both of its stages, the Super Heavy booster, and the Starship spaceship, are propelled by liquid oxygen and liquid methane. The major characteristics of a starship are its extremely high payload mass capabilities and low prospective operational cost.

 

 

Why may humans live on Mars?

 

Because of its closeness and similarities to Earth, the prospect of life on Mars has piqued the curiosity of astrobiologists. Scientific searches for signs of life began in the nineteenth century and are still ongoing today through telescopic observations and deployed probes. 

 

Because of its resemblance to the early Earth, Mars is of great importance for the study of life's origins. This is especially true given Mars' frigid temperature and absence of plate tectonics or continental drift, resulting in a planet that has stayed largely unaltered since the end of the Hesperian epoch, a period characterized by sizeable lava plains.

 

Organic molecules discovered inside sedimentary rocks and boron discovered on Mars are of importance since they are antecedents for prebiotic chemistry. These findings, together with prior discoveries indicating liquid water was obviously present on ancient Mars, lend credence to Gale Crater's putative early habitability on Mars. 

 

After safely landing on Mars, NASA's Mars 2020 rover Perseverance will store hundreds of drill samples for possible transmission to Earth laboratories in the late 2020s or 2030s. An update on the status of investigations involving the probable discovery of lifeforms on Mars (through methane) was provided on February 8, 2021.

 

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Future of Mars Missions

 

Not only are robots getting a ticket to Mars but also a group of scientists from government agencies, academia, and business concluded that a NASA-led manned trip to Mars should be feasible by the 2030s. 

 

NASA isn't the only organization with crewed Mars missions in the works. Other countries, like China and Russia, have stated their intentions to send humans to Mars.

 

Let’s just wait and see what science has to unfold in the coming years. We are eager to see where we land in the future. So, what’s your perception? Will we continue living on Earth or will we end up shifting to Mars?