Red's Planet: Book 1

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Mars’ atmosphere is composed primarily of carbon dioxide (about 96 percent), with minor amounts of other gases such as argon and nitrogen. The atmosphere is very thin, however, and the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Mars is only about 0.6 percent of Earth’s (101,000 pascals). In the 19th century, Mars was investigated by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelliand American astronomer Percival Lowell, who believed they saw long canals on the planet's surface indicating civilizations and life. Their claims were dismissed by others in their time and ultimately turned out to be incorrect.

Why we explore Mars—and what decades of missions have revealed

Though there was a lull in missions afterward, space agencies around the world continued to make attempts at robotic exploration of Mars during the 1980s and 1990s. On July 4, 1997, NASA landed its first probe on Mars in two decades — the Pathfinder lander and its adorable tiny rover, Sojourner, according to The Planetary Society. These were followed by many orbiters and landers, including the twin rovers Opportunity and Spirit, which conducted investigations from 2004 to 2018 and 2019, respectively. NASA's Curiosity rover detected methane— a potential indicator of microbial activity — expelled from the ground in the region known as Gale Crater. The probe also spotted intriguing evidence of organic compounds in the Martian soil, though what that means isn't entirely clear. Is there water on Mars? Over the subsequent decades, orbiters returned far more detailed data on the planet's atmosphere and surface, and finally dispelled the notion, widely held by scientists since the late 1800s, that Martian canals were built by an alien civilization. They also revealed some truly dramatic features: the small world boasts the largest volcanoes in the solar system, and one of the largest canyons yet discovered—a chasm as long as the continental United States. Dust storms regularly sweep over its plains, and winds whip up localized dust devils. OK, Neil let’s recap the vocabulary from this programme on the Red Planet, Mars, starting with astronomer– someone who studies the stars, planets and moons in our universe.

The possibility that there were once oceans and rivers on Mars is fairly well established. Observations suggest that there could have been water on the surface as recently as 2 billion years ago. This February 3, 2013, image provided by NASA shows a self portrait of the Mars rover, Curiosity. NASA's Curiosity rover has uncovered signs of an ancient freshwater lake on Mars that may have teemed with microbes for tens of millions of years, far longer than scientists had imagined, new research suggests. Photograph by NASA, AP Mars orbits at an average distance of 142 million miles (228 million km) from the sun, according to NASA. Its orbit is about 1.5 times the size of Earth's. Sunlight takes roughly 13 minutes to get to Mars, while it takes around 8 minutes to reach our planet. The largest, most advanced rover NASA has sent to another world touched down on Mars Thursday, after a 203-day journey traversing 293 million miles (472 million kilometers). Confirmation of the successful touchdown was announced in mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California at 3:55p.m. EST (12:55p.m. PST).

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Dive into this stunning map of different regions on the Red Planet, courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey. Astrobiology is a relatively new field of study, where scientists from a variety of disciplines (astronomy, biology, geology, physics, etc.) work together to understand the potential for life to exist beyond Earth. However, the exploration of Mars has been intertwined with NASA’s search for life from the beginning. The twin Viking landers of 1976 were NASA’s first life detection mission, and although the results from the experiments failed to detect life in the Martian regolith, and resulted in a long period with fewer Mars missions, it was not the end of the fascination that the Astrobiology science community had for the red planet. In 1976, NASA’s Viking 1 and 2 became the first spacecraft to successfully operate on the planet’s surface, returning photos until 1982. They also conducted biological experiments on Martian soil that were designed to uncover signs of life in space—but their results were inconclusive, and scientists still disagree over how to interpret the data.

Landing on Mars is always an incredibly difficult task and we are proud to continue building on our past success,” said JPL Director MichaelWatkins. “But, while Perseverance advances that success, this rover is also blazing its own path and daring new challenges in the surface mission. We built the rover not just to land but to find and collect the best scientific samples for return to Earth, and its incredibly complex sampling system and autonomy not only enable that mission, they set the stage for future robotic and crewed missions.” Ah yes, in your quiz question you asked what Mars was the Roman god of. I guessed b) the Roman God of Fire. Like Earth, Mars has seasons, polar ice caps, volcanoes, canyons, and weather. It has a very thin atmosphere made of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and argon.

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Mars is very cold. The average temperature on Mars is minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit — way below freezing! NASA’s Mars Pathfinder mission, launched in 1996, put the first free-moving rover—called Sojourner—on the planet. Its successors include the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which explored the planet for far longer than expected and returned more than 100,000 images before dust storms obliterated their solar panels in the 2010s.NASA scientists believe that life may have once thrived on Mars, as there is ample evidence that the planet used to be much warmer and wetter billions of years ago. Whether there is anything alive today on Mars is an open question. Well, that all depends on finding water. Water is life, and as Dr Meyer told BBC World Service’s, The Forum, with water anything is possible. Together, these missions have shown scientists that Mars is an active planet that is rich in the ingredients needed for life as we know it—water, organic carbon, and an energy source. Now, the question is: Did life ever evolve on Mars, and is it still around? Future of Mars exploration NASA explores the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through discovery. Listen to Dr Meyer in conversation with BBC World Service programme, The Forum. Try to hear the explanation he gives for Mars’s unusual colour.

How Does NASA Name Things on Mars? (Mars Report - June 2023)

You get the same kind of orbital and planetary issues as you would expect, nothing too original, it all looks very nice though, the space suits and ships are cool and well designed and Mars is well presented. The plot is fun and makes you think but overall the film is highly unrealistic (much more than 'MTM' despite that films alien inclusion) but does give a more grounded line of thinking with alien life and how it could work. The problem I had with the film was the sub plot revolving around the man made robot 'AMEE', it just felt disappointing that one of the main risks to the crew would be a 'Terminator' style man made robot.NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took this picture of Mars as it was making its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years! Currently attached to the belly of Perseverance, the diminutive Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is a technology demonstration that will attempt the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.