Terraforming is “the purposeful alteration of the physical environment to increase its habitability for humans.” (David, Leonard). The planet Mars could be terraformed more easily than other planets because it is believed to be the planet most like Earth. Hundreds of millions of years ago, Mars had an environment more like Earth’s, with a thicker atmosphere and more water. (Terraforming of Mars). Additionally, other similarities between the two planets are found in their temperature ranges, the presence of water, and the length of their days.
Scientists believed that about 3.5 million years ago, “Earth and Mars may even have had similar ecological environments.” (Exploring Space). Mars has the tallest mountain in the Solar System, the Olympus Mons, which is 27 kilometers high. (Interesting Facts About Planet Mars). It is also one of the largest volcanoes in the Solar System with a diameter 370 miles, “wide enough to cover the state of New Mexico.” (Facts and Info about Red Planet). Like Earth, Mars also has canyons, including the Valles Marineris which was formed mostly by the pulling of Mars’ crust. Some canyons in the System are as wide as 60 miles. (Mars: Facts and Info about Red Planet).
We have also learned a lot about Mars’ make up from information gathered on missions. The United States launched Mariner 4 in 1964 and Mariners 6 and 7 in 1969, and these missions did not find life on Mars. All three of these missions were fly-bys. Mariner 4 took the first close
Freedman 2 up shots of Mars. Mariners 6 and 7 analyzed the surface and atmosphere of Mars. From pictures that it took, scientists realized that the dark features on Mars were not canals. In 1976 NASA’s Viking 1 was the first successful landing on Mars’ surface. Clo...
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Many important themes can be drawn from reading Roving Mars that share important lessons about the scientific process. This personal account by the author, Steven Squyres, shares his story of passion toward being able to play a hand in the exploration of mars. The account shares many valuable lessons that we can learn for the scientific process and trend that appear in most scientific discovery. The greatest theme that can be gathered from Squyres story is that Science is never easy and it may come with many failures but the most important thing to do is persevere through these challenges. Another important thing to gather from the book is that not all discovery involves proving everything right or testing everything then and there to see if
INTRODUCTION In the year 1999, NASA lost its two major missions to Mars. Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) and Mars Polar Lander (MPL) were part of a bigger project Mars Surveyor Program (MSP) that began in 1994. Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was the first part of this project, launched in 1996 and ended in January 2007. This report discusses the Mars Polar Lander with two Deep Space 2 probes, on board with MPL, and the most probable causes that may have led to MPL failure.
Miraculously, the spacecraft landed right side up, and fully functional. “The Rover unstowed and exited the Lander petal via the rear ramp on the Second Martian day (sol).” (9) The Mars Pathfinder had three main instruments.
Scientists have dreamt over the possibility that it may be possible to live on another planet. Some think that Mars has that potential to support life, if it's hidden resources are uncovered and exploited to their full potential. There is even evidence that it once contained enough water that it had been possible to hold life. Think about it, what if we could transform it into such a place, even if only our children's children get to see any result? The following will describe Mars, present evidence of ice and water, give possible ideas for the future exploration of Mars, and give reasons for why it is important.
Few scientists believed it was a alien artifact. The face on Mars has become a pop icon. Alien artifact, face is a natural landform, and natural landform vs alien artifact.
General Description: Earth may be the most unique of all planets because of the life forms we know exist here and the way they utilize the Suns energy. The Earth is composed of a great amount of water, mostly in the form of oceans, which make up most of its surface. It also contains various gases, of which make it possible for us humans to exist and is a system that exists between plants and animals here.
Mars, the beautiful red planet, is the most similar planet to earth. The terrain in general is very close to what we are used to on earth, minus the vegetation. Earth and Mars both contain polar ice caps. Mars also has water throughout the planet, but it is mostly subsoil.
47 million km of the sun. (1) The Luna II and III space probes landed on the surface of the moon and took the first photos of the far side of the moon in 1959. Another space probe called the Pathfinder was launched on December 4, 1996 and made a successful landing on Mars in July of 1997. Other space probes to reach Mars include the Mars Pathfinder and the Mars Global Surveyor. A few other past space probes include the Voyager II, which is the only space probe to reach Uranus, The Venera VII, which was the first space probe to
On May 24 2001, NASA’s viking spacecraft 1 was circling the planet snapping as much photos as it could. Surprisingly scientists spotted a face shaped object on the ground. It brought thousands of people wanting to know what it was. Many people believed it was an aliens artifact. But scientists just thought it was a landform with shadows that made a look like an actual humans head. I believe it is just a natural landform because there has been no sign of aliens on Mars, scientists saw that it was just shadows giving it a mouth, nose, and eyes but it was just a monument, and many people tend to say aliens just because they don’t have the right evidence but now we do.
The scenes on Mars are accurate in terms of their location. The place where Mark had landed on Mars is actually a real place on Mars today. That place is known as Acidalia Planitia. According to the Science vs. Cinema video, the space rovers were very accurate as well. NASA has rovers like the ones seen in the film today.
1.0 Introduction Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, and considering the vast expanse of the universe, Mars is only a mere 49 million miles from Earth (All About Mars). Mars has been the object of many speculative questions and hypotheses, such as the possibility of life ever existing on Mars. Over the years, many have wondered if Mars ever sustained life, or if not, if it were possible to one day sustain life, i.e. Humans. There have been many missions to Mars in an attempt to answer those and other questions, such as the three separate rover craft missions, the ‘Spirit’ Rover, the ‘Opportunity’ Rover and the ‘Curiosity’ Rover that will be discussed in this paper. Most recently, the idea to put humans on Mars has gained traction and
If humans are going to live on Mars during the terraforming process, there must be water for consumption and a place to live. In the place where humans are going to live permanent there is has to be a plant growing station, or room. In this room there will be LED lights that only put off the most efficient light used by the plants. The CO2 is already on the planet; all we need now is water. To grow plants and to live, we must have fresh distilled water. Our rovers have discovered water in the soil of mars. Using an extraction technique that involves a repetition of evaporation and condensing to produce stored water. We will have plenty of water to use for consumption and growth of food. Over the 1000-year time process we will have to start changing the atmosphere of mars to make it breathable for humans. Mars’ atmosphere contains 0.15 percent oxygen, which is...
With a field as large as space is, metaphorically and literally, there is no end to all the advantages that can come of exploring the magnificent cosmos. One of the major questions we face currently is the possibility of life on other planets. “NASA's biggest ambition is the hunt for life and a habitat that can support life. Several planned or prepared missions will specifically explore the question of whether or not life exists, or once existed, elsewhere in out solar system” (Folger 3). That's exactly what we plan on using the Curiosity rover for. The MSL (Mars Space Laboratory) Curiosity rover was launched November 26th, 2011 and landed on Mars on August 6th, 2012 (Launch 2). “MSL Curiosity's mission is to analyze the climate, geology, and habitability of Mars to see if there is or has ever been life on Mars. Then, after gathering enough data, it will see if it's feasible to send a manned mission to Mars” (Anthony 2). We are already searching ...
Atmospheric scientists first used the term “Greenhouse-Effect” in the early 1800’s. It was used to describe the naturally occurring functions of trace gases in the atmosphere and did not have any negative connotations. In the recent decades, we often hear about the term greenhouse effect in somewhat negative terms. It is important to know that without the greenhouse effect life on earth as we know it would be impossible. In the atmospheric greenhouse effect, the type of surface that sunlight first encounters is the most important factor. Forests, grasslands, oceans’ surface, ice caps, deserts, and cities all absorb, reflect, and radiate radiation differently. Sunlight falling on a white glacier surface strongly reflects back into space, resulting in minimal heating of the surface. Sunlight falling on a dark desert soil is strongly absorbed and contributes to significant heating of the surface and lower atmosphere. Cloud covers also affect greenhouse warming by both reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface and reducing the amount of radiation energy emitted into space. Although the greenhouse effect is a naturally- occurring process, humans have recently ampl...
The fourth planet from the sun is Mars. “Mars is named after a mythological figure-the Roman God of War. Due to Mars color it is also known as the red planet. Mercury is the tiniest planet then Mars. Scientist have found that mars has the largest mountain compared to the other planets. Furthermore, this mountain is named Olympus Mons, it is a shield volcano, it is 21 km high and 600 km in diameter. Scientist have discovered recent lava on the planet, therefore the volcano may still be active.