Since the first telescope siting of Mars in the 1600s, the Red Planet has been a primary focus of space exploration due to the planet’s suspected similarities to Earth and possibility of being habitable (Mason, 2005). Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, is a terrestrial planet with a desert like atmosphere, strong winds, reoccurring dust storms, and a thin atmosphere composted mostly of carbon dioxide. With temperatures fluctuating from 140 K-300 K, Mars’ climate is almost habitable, and is expected to have previously been much warmer and wetter than it is today (Spohn et al., 1998). Over the past fifty years, explorations to Mars have provided evidence that an abundance of liquid water existed on the Red Planet in it’s past. Mars is therefore a specific target of interest, as the presence of water may indicate that the planet can, or has, sustained life, therefore resulting in NASA’S mantra to, “follow the water” (Naderi et al., 2006). NASA first began exploring Mars in the 1960s with the successful launch of Mariner 4, a flyby spacecraft that obtained the first close up …show more content…
Since its arrival on the Red Planet, Curiosity has made several discoveries and advancements to NASA’S Mars Exploration Program. First, an analysis of a rock sample collected by the rover in 2013 indicates that Mars has the right chemical disposition to support living microbes. Sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon, ingredients essential for life to exist, were discovered in the “Sheepbed” mudstone in Yellowknife Bay (NASA Website: Curiosity News). The sample also depicted clay deposits made of 20-30% smectite, a mineral which is produced by the presence of fresh water. The pH of the identified water is neutral and not too salty, making it favorable for supporting life (New Scientist
The story of The Martian focuses on the obstacles botanist and astronaut Mark Watney must overcome to survive on the planet Mars. His adventure is filled with fictional and non-fictional elements that are most likely difficult for the normal individual to identify what is actually realistic and what is simply fantasy. After taking a closer look, this film contains a lot more realism to actual science and space travel today. This paper will closely analyze and discuss three accuracies and inaccuracies of the film in relation to the content discussed in ESS 102 lectures, labs, and assignments.
The objectives of the Mariner 10 spacecraft were the foundations to influence a great scientific change in history. The primary objectives were the main reasons Mariner 10 lifted off. Measurements of environments, atmospheres, surfaces, and body characteristics were to take place (“Mariner 10” Mariner 1). Mercury’s core needed to be studied. Venus’s interaction with the solar wind and the way sun particles affected the planet needed to be explored (Howell 2). Secondary objectives included experiments being performed and the process of using the gravitational pull of one planet to reach another (“Mariner 10” Mariner 1).
I believe that it is possible for Mars to have the ability to support life because of the possibility of there being water increases the probability of organisms being able to exist on Mars’ ecosystem, therefore the chance of Mars being able to sustain life. Furthermore, even if water never did or will, as a matter of fact, exist on Mars there is a chance that an organism is able to survive without it.
Humans have been fascinated with the night sky for thousands of years, and not surprisingly, this fascination has grown into contemplation for the existence of life elsewhere in our universe. In our solar system there has been no other planet more fascinating to us than our closest neighbor, Mars. This fascination is reasonable, because Mars seems to be one of the very few places in our solar system that holds the capabilities to support current or ancient life forms. With the launch of The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s [NASA] Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity on July 7, 2003 mankind had taken a major step forward for the exploration of the surface of Mars. Not only have the two rovers greatly surpassed their 90-day missions by a significant margin, with Spirit lasting 2695, and Opportunity still going strong at 3741 days, but they have also made some significant discoveries along the way. Following in the footsteps of these rovers, NASA has also recently accomplished another step forward for new discoveries on the Martian landscape with the Curiosity mobile science laboratory. This new rover made its debut on Mars on August 6, 2012, and since it’s landing it has made multiple groundbreaking discoveries in only a year and a half’s time. This paper is going to illustrate the most important discoveries of all the Mars rovers, what these discoveries mean for the Martian planet, and what these discoveries mean for mankind. (Missions to Mars)
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
Mars is most likely planet that has the ingredients of life that is need for a living organism in the solar system other than the known planet Earth. These ingredients of life are the following. The planet in question must be at the correct distance from a host star. Mars is a planet that is on the outer edge of being correct distance of its host star. Next item is that the planet must have water. Mars has water but its water is frozen in the planet ice caps or under the soil. Last is that the planet must have an atmosphere that is suitable for living organisms. Mars’s atmosphere is weak and it is being blown away by the solar winds form the host star. (""Life" on Mars") With Mars’s weak atmosphere the surface temperature of the planet is every cold and the water on the surface of plane...
“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. Scientists continue to notice several discoveries on the planet that lead them to think there was once life on the planet. Different clues have scientists wanting to find out about even more. Many scientists in the past few centuries have been curious if life on Mars is possible or if it has ever been before.
Findings on Earth and other planets suggest extraterrestrial life could live in outer space, further encouraging scientists to proceed with their research. Discovering water is a great step for finding habitable planets. According to new studies, “Mars had a shallow pool of briny water on its surface long ago, NASA said in announcing what could be the strongest evidence yet that the now-dry Red Planet was once hospitable to life. ‘If we are correct in our interpretation, this was a habitable environment,’ Mr. Squyres said. These are the kinds of environments that are very suitable for life” (Bridges). Little evidence proves beings live on Mars now, but this dried up water source provides strong proof that Mars could have inhabited life in the past. Water is a key element of survival, and can also house marine life. Marine life could have simply died out when the water dried up. If Mars was truly inhabited by extraterrestrials long ago, then scientists cannot rule out living beings on any other planet in the universe, and must continue searching. Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons houses...
Did Mars ever mirror Earth? I would like to start this discussion by defining the term “mirrored,” as being a like or characteristic of a mirror image. So for proposes of this discussion I will use this definition meaning it is in a resemblance and not a direct copy of one another. Now with all the formalities out of the way let’s move on. After spending a small portion of my life reading through papers about Mars Geology I have come to the conclusion that Mars does in fact have supporting evidence that it was once a mirrored planet of Earth. Or better said, Earth is a current mirror image of Mars in the past. In the paragraphs below I will support this claim with evidence from research findings, papers, and photographs. It will also be structured as so, interior, magnetic field, atmosphere, plate tectonics, volcanoes, and water.
I am following up on the book of , "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus." by
Have you ever looked up in the sky and wondered if there is life elsewhere in the universe? Have you ever looked at a photograph of Mars and wondered if there really was ever life on it? People have a wide variety of opinions regarding these questions and with good reason. As far back as the broadcast of H. G. Well's novel, "The War of the Worlds", the world has been fascinated with the possibilities of what Mars may hold. Over time, the majority of people have come to realize that there is no way that life can currently be on Mars. Those who are uncertain think there may be microscopic bacteria underground.
Since 1976, when the Viking Landers took off toward the red planet, people have been wondering if there is life on Mars. There have been questions of pictures taken from Mars and skepticism about why some of the recent landings have failed. Scientists, up till now, have been doubtful about life on Mars.
In his book Political Order and Political Decay, Francis Fukuyama proffers many compelling argument that support his overall push towards a domestic liberalism. One such argument is that the social mobilization of a given nation’s people (especially the middle class) is one of the primary causes for that nation’s development and success. We believe this argument falls short under examination from logical consistency and under evidence from counterexamples. In Saudi Arabia, we see a high amount of development (using the metrics of national wealth increase and foreign trade) but we see low social mobilization. Similarly, in many rural parts of South American countries, we see a vibrant culture and much work towards social betterment but these areas are not very developed. We will first break apart Fukuyama’s idea of social mobilization to see what exact role it has in development, then we will look at these counterexamples in greater detail to extract their application to our thesis, and finally we will examine the applications and
Mars is a very similar planet to earth in relation to size and atmosphere. Therefore it seemed like the most likely place to search for life. At the end of the 19th century, an American named Percival Lowell built himself an observatory so that it was possible for him to study Mars in intimate detail when its orbit was closest to Earth. At this time it had recently been suggested that the planet had a system of channels on the surface, present from the evaporation of flowing water. Looking through his telescope Lowell became convinced he could see a network of artificial canals. This led him to believe that there were intelligent beings on Mars who had built these canals. However, spacecraft have now visited Mars and found that there is no evidence of water at all. It is now thought that the lines he could see were the combination of Lowell's overactive imagination, and scratches on the lens of his telescope. We are now searching one of Jupiter's moons, Europa, as this seems to be the next likely place to hold life.
...ws radiation from the sun to expose the surface of the planet, adding to environment changes. If life exists on Mars today, it is most likely hiding beneath the surface. Over the past four billion years Earth has had many rocks blown from the surface of Mars, after much research, scientists say that of the thirty-four meteorites, three have the potential to carry evidence of past life on Mars (Carey, 2006). Researches have gathered evidence and continue to explore for life outside of Earth. Earth has provided these scientists with enough knowledge to understand the components needed to sustain life, therefore any research found is compared to the knowledge already understood about life on Earth. Earth is home to billions of plants, animals, bacteria and all types of living things, it is where human beings have evolved and adapted making this planet our home.