Mars is the fourth planet in our solar system. Its name comes from the Roman god of war. Mars is also known as the Red Planet because of its color, due to the presence of rusty iron in the ground. It is a terrestrial planet, small and rocky. The planet gravity is 38% of Earth’s. Mars has big volcanoes; Olympus Mons is the highest volcano in the Solar System. But all of them are dead. It also has lot of impact craters. Mars has two moons: Phobos and Deimos.
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| Mars (https://mars.nasa.gov/system/resources/detail_files/7808_global-color-views-mars-PIA00407-full2.jpg) |
Mars has a thin atmosphere; it is made of carbón dioxide, nitrogen and argon. It hasn’t got oxygen. So, human beings cannot breath there. The temperature is very cold; it ranges from -125 ºC to 15 ºC. In the past, it was warmer. Huge dust storms occur on Mars.
Mars had lots of liquid water in the past. Now water exists as ice in the poles and, perhaps, beneath the surface. On some martian places, there is evidence of liquid salty water in the ground, but these salts may be toxic for living beings.
One day on Mars lasts 24.6 hours. It is just a little longer than a day on Earth. One year on Mars is 687 Earth days. It is almost twice as long as one year on Earth. Like our planet, Mars has seasons.
Scientists want to know if Mars may have had living things in the past. They also want to know if Mars could support life now or in the future. Some of them think that colonizing the Red Planet is essential for the future of humanity.
But if we want to live in Mars, we have to make the planet habitable. We have to terraform Mars. Terraforming is the use of technology to transform an inhospitable planet into a habitable one, with the Earth qualities needed to sustain human life.
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| Terraforming Mars (Wikipedia) |
References
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-mars/en/
https://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-mars/
https://schooledbyscience.com/terraform-mars-possible/
The other day we where talking about mars in class. And the teacher told us to find out how could we make an atmosphere to live in Mars. So I thought that it is possible to make an atmosphere made of energy… I don't know how, but if an atmosphere is made of energy it can prevent meteorites from falling in Mars because the energy Will expel it back to space. This may not be true because I thought it my self… And I'm not a biologist so...Teacher Antonio can this be true?
ResponderEliminarCarmen Baltar 1º eso A 10/10/2019
Hi Carmen, thank you very much for your comment.
ResponderEliminarIn my opinion an atmosphere made of energy is an interesting idea. But if our proposal is to develop an atmosphere that can let us to survive in Mars we need gases. Mars has its own atmosphere but it is very thin and mainly composed by carbon dioxide. So, we would not be able to breathe there. Could plants or microorganisms change the atmosphere?
I like your idea very much, it remembers me energy shields like those we can watch in a science fiction film. And It would be very useful to protect people from meteorites.
The questions are how can we get a thicker atmosphere and how can we change carbon dioxide by oxygen. Think in these possibilities.
I think that we can create an atmosphere on Mars. And various scientists also think this is possible. It really seems very complicated but I think that using materials very similar to those of our atmosphere we could achieve it. But I still don't understand many things.
ResponderEliminarAntonio, what do you think about this?
Julia Caballero Reyes 1ºESO A 13/10/19
Hello Julia,
ResponderEliminarI like your comment very much. I agree with you about changing Mars atmosphere. Your choice is very interesting. We need gasses similar to those present in our atmosphere. The main question is: How can we obtain them in Mars? Should we take them from Earth to Mars? Is there any we can do on Mars to get them from materials present in Mars? You have an answer but many new questions. Think about it and I am willing to read your new ideas. Write down them as comments, please!
Congratulations and thank you very much.