Mars Space Discoveries

 

mars  is where the future is mars is the  closest planet to the earth  that has honored all the resources  needed to support life and therefore  technological civilization  the red planet our mysterious celestial  neighbor and ambitious destination of  spacex  and the international space community  every day  we learn more and more about mars as the  race to unlock its secrets ramps up does  it just look like a  cold dry dead planet  but the more we study it the more we  learn that it's actually dynamic  alive but for every answer we discover  a million more questions arise so what  do we know  welcome to  today we're  uncovering the latest scientific  breakthroughs on the infamous red  planet in mars space discoveries 2020  number 10 build an ark  data collected by the little engine that  could nasa's curiosity rover  has discovered evidence that a flood of  biblical proportions happened near the  equator of mars around 4 billion years  ago  it's likely that the heat from a huge  meteoric impact was so great that it  melted eyes stored on the martian  surface  sediment samples showed geological  features called mega ripples  indicating that the landscape was  drastically changed by wind  and water these take the form of  anti-dunes that are 30 feet high and  repeated every 450 feet or so  this phenomenon is incredibly similar to  features formed on earth by melting ice  2 million years ago  the meteor would have also released  carbon dioxide and methane trapped  within the ice  forming a warm wet atmosphere for a  short period  rain clouds would have dumped  precipitation across the planet  creating the gigantic flash flood in the  gale crater  number 9 hidden gem  here on earth mineral zircon containing  trace amounts of uranium  is fairly common in the continental  crust of the surface  it provides important information about  the age and origin of large geological  features like canyons mountain ranges  and extinct volcanoes  mars crust is fairly unevolved and  better resembles the surface of earth's  sea floor which is relatively rare in  zircon  close analysis of an ancient meteorite  originating from the martian surface has  been found to be surprisingly high in  zircon furthermore the uranium isotopes  used to determine the age of the  meteorite show that while most were  formed at the planet's birth four and a  half billion years ago  others are much younger only 300 million  years old  the newly formed zircon brought to the  surface by volcanic activity on mars  gives scientists a rare insight in the  composition of the planet's core  and its structure number eight  martian lakes two years ago scientists  confirmed the existence of a large  saltwater lake under the ice cap  located on the south pole of mars now  they've found  three more subsurface lakes with a  surface area of 29 000 square miles or  one-fifth the size of germany  the largest of the bunch measures 18  miles across  the lack of a dense atmosphere makes  liquid water impossible on the martian  surface  the pressure just isn't great enough to  change state from a vapor  the presence of underwater reservoirs  points to the fact that at one time  billions of years ago  mars had seas and lakes all across the  planet  the salty subterranean lakes are  potential habitats for life  as even here on earth sub-glacial lakes  in antarctica are still able to support  quite complex organisms the only problem  is the water may be too  salty to sustain life number seven  interplanetary seas there are two  theories of how  water arrives on a planet one is that  it's deposited when asteroids containing  frozen water crash into the surface  the other is that water is formed from  oxygen and hydrogen during the birth of  a planet  results from the analysis of the black  beauty martian meteorite  shows that high levels of oxygen were  released during impact  with the only explanation being that  water was already present  what this means is that potentially  every rocky planet could have hidden  stores of water by very definition  hypothetically the possibility of life  existing on a planet other than our own  has just skyrocketed  it's clear now that there was water on  mars for the first 90 million years of  its lifetime  a long time before the water-rich  asteroids pelted inner solar system  planets  life could have had tens of millions of  years to develop on other planets as  well  number six and poof it's gone  so if mars once had a great expanse of  seas and oceans then where did it all go  scientists have found that the upper  atmosphere of mars contains a large  percentage of water  courtesy of the maven orbiter which dips  into the planet's atmosphere to take  samples every four and a half hours  at the time water was present on mars  the atmosphere was much  thicker indicating that much of this  atmosphere has now been lost into space  in summer mars is closer to the sun  water stored in ice evaporates into the  air where dust storms funnel it into the  upper atmosphere and eventually outwards  from the planet  solar radiation then breaks down the  water molecule into its base  parts oxygen and hydrogen this didn't  happen on earth thanks to the hydropons  a layer in the atmosphere that's cold  enough to condense water vapor into  droplets storing it in clouds  number five the other rover  the european space agency is developing  their own rover and it may be saying  hello to the curiosity and perseverance  sooner rather than later  the exomars rosalind franklin will land  on mars a little differently than its  cousins  relying on deploying two massive  parachutes to rapidly slow its rate of  descent  the exomars rover will continue the  search for life on the red planet and is  due to be launched in 2022  before arriving at the oxia planium  region of mars  number 4 robo poop nasa's perseverance  rover is set to land in mars jazeera  crater mid february 2021  one of its many tasks is periodically  taking core samples before laying  them in its wake in protective  containers the idea is that the manned  mission to mars recover these samples  before analyzing them in orbit and  maintaining a quarantined zone  the sediment samples are vital for  assessing the likelihood  that a human settlement could be  established on mars  if the lack of sunlight could be  overcome the next question is  can we grow food in the soil and if so  can we grow enough to sustain a  population large enough to not only  inhabit  the planet but also colonize it and  raise second and third generations of  children  there may even be signs of life in the  samples in the form of microscopic  fossils and organic molecules essential  for metabolism  number three fingers crossed  on board nasa's perseverance rover is a  peculiar device called the mars  oxygen in situ resource utilization  experiment or moxie for short  the aim is to convert the martian air  into oxygen though there's no certainty  that the machine will work  oxygen is essential for respiration and  for complex life to thrive  if we're ever to colonize mars then  there needs to be ways to effectively  generate enough oxygen to form an  atmosphere inside the colony to support  the number of humans inside  mars atmosphere is 95 percent carbon  dioxide and only one percent thick as it  is here on earth  demoxie uses an electrochemical process  to separate two  oxygen atoms from each co2 molecule if  enough oxygen can be extracted it may  eventually be used to power rockets  launched from mars to earth  a crew of four would need around 55 000  pounds of thrust  generated from fifteen thousand pounds  of oxygen rocket fuel  number two no more bumpy landings  terrain relative navigation will be  trialled on the nasa perseverance rover  for the first time in an attempt  to land the buggy closer to its  destination preventing months and  potentially years of wasted travel time  on the surface  the previous mission to land the  curiosity rover needed a car park-sized  space  clear of debris land formations and  difficult terrain in order to  successfully deploy  now a combination of stored  topographical maps with the aid of  real-time visual analysis  allows the lander to identify craters  cliffs and rocky debris  and adjust the landing zone accordingly  the system provides a safer landing  alternative while avoiding hazards  if successful it would be a feature on  the spaceship that takes mankind to mars  number one new tricks the perseverance  will also have a few tricks up its  sleeve to do things the older curiosity  rover only dreamt of  the mars environmental dynamics analyzer  or meta is a combination  sensor array on the rover that will  record weather conditions on the surface  more accurately than ever before  wind dust temperature pressure and  radiation levels will be tracked in  order to form  patterns and how they change over the  seasons on mars little known fact  the temperature on mars can fluctuate by  90 degrees celsius over the course of  just one  day the rover will also pack a rimfax  essentially a top of the line ground  penetrating radar  it can scan deep underground and  differentiates between  dust sediment rock boulder and ice  layers  the geological structure of the gizero  crater may uncover  mars watery past the data collected  helps prepare the equipment  needed to land humans on mars as well as  give a valuable insight into how the  planet turned from warm and habitable  into a lifeless dust ball