MARS

MARS

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and ranks as the seventh largest:

Planet Profile

orbit: 227,940,000 km (1.52 AU) from the Sun

diameter: 6,794 km

mass: 6.4219e23 kg

History of Mars

Mars (Greek: Ares) represents the god of War. The planet likely received this designation due to its reddish hue; Mars is often called the Red Planet. (An intriguing aside: the Roman deity Mars was initially a god of agriculture before being linked to the Greek Ares; advocates for colonizing and terraforming Mars might favor this connotation.) The name of the month March is derived from Mars.

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Mars has been recognized since prehistoric eras. Naturally, it has been thoroughly examined using ground-based observatories. However, even the largest telescopes find Mars a challenging target, as it is simply too small. It remains a popular subject among science fiction authors as the most suitable location in the Solar System (besides Earth!) for human settlement. Unfortunately, the renowned "canals" that were "observed" by Lowell and others were merely as fictitious as Barsoomian princesses.

  

The inaugural spacecraft to reach Mars was Mariner 4 in 1965. Numerous others followed, including Mars 2, the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars, and the two Viking landers in 1976. After a lengthy 20-year gap, Mars Pathfinder successfully landed on Mars on July 4, 1997. In 2004, the Mars Exploration Rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" landed on Mars, transmitting geological data and numerous images; they continue to operate after more than three years on the Martian surface. In 2008, Phoenix landed in the northern plains to investigate the presence of water. Three Mars orbiters (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Express) are also presently operational.

Mars' orbit is significantly elliptical. One result of this is a temperature variation of about 30 C at the subsolar point between aphelion and perihelion. This has a major influence on Mars' climate. While the average temperature on Mars is about 218 K (-55 C, -67 F), Martian surface temperatures range widely from as little as 140 K (-133 C, -207 F) at the winter pole to almost 300 K (27 C, 80 F) on the day side during summer.

Though Mars is much smaller than Earth, its surface area is about the same as the land surface area of Earth. Olympus Moons

Mars features some of the most diverse and captivating terrain among the terrestrial planets, with certain aspects being truly remarkable:

Olympus Mons: the tallest mountain in the Solar System, soaring 24 km (78,000 ft.) above the adjacent plain. Its base spans over 500 km in diameter and is encircled by a cliff that rises 6 km (20,000 ft) high.

Tharsis: a massive bulge on the Martian surface measuring approximately 4000 km across and 10 km in height.

Valles Marineris: a network of canyons extending 4000 km in length and ranging from 2 to 7 km in depth.

Hellas Planitia: an impact crater located in the southern hemisphere, exceeding 6 km in depth and 2000 km in diameter.

While much of the Martian surface is ancient and heavily cratered, there are also significantly younger rift valleys, ridges, hills, and plains.

The southern hemisphere of Mars is primarily characterized by ancient, cratered highlands that bear some resemblance to the Moon. In contrast, the majority of the northern hemisphere is composed of plains that are considerably younger, lower in elevation, and possess a more intricate geological history. A sudden elevation change of several kilometers appears to exist at the boundary. The reasons behind this global dichotomy and the abrupt boundary remain unclear (some theorize that they may be the result of a substantial impact shortly after Mars' formation). The Mars Global Surveyor has created an impressive 3D map of Mars that distinctly illustrates these features.

The internal structure of Mars is understood primarily through inferences drawn from surface data and the planet's bulk statistics. The most plausible scenario suggests a dense core with a radius of about 1700 km, a molten rocky mantle that is somewhat denser than that of Earth, and a thin crust. Data from the Mars Global Surveyor indicates that the crust of Mars is approximately 80 km thick in the southern hemisphere, while in the north, it is only about 35 km thick. Mars' relatively low density in comparison to other terrestrial planets implies that its core likely contains a significant proportion of sulfur in addition to iron (iron and iron sulfide).

Similar to Mercury and the Moon, Mars currently appears to require dynamic plate tectonics; there is no evidence of recent flat movement of the surface, such as the collapsed mountains that are common on Earth. In the absence of lateral plate movement, problem areas beneath the surface remain in a stable position relative to the surface. This, combined with the lower surface gravity, may account for the Tharsis rise and its enormous volcanoes. There is no evidence of current volcanic activity. However, data from the Mars Global Surveyor indicates that Mars likely experienced tectonic activity at some point in the past. Martian valley formation.

There is very clear evidence of erosion in many locations on Mars, including large floods and small stream systems. In the past, there was evidently some form of liquid on the surface. Liquid water is the most obvious liquid, but other possibilities exist. There may have been large lakes or even seas; the evidence for this is supported by several striking images of layered terrain captured by the Mars Global Surveyor and the mineralogical results from the MER Opportunity.

Most of these suggest wet episodes that occurred only briefly and a very long time ago; the age of the erosion channels is estimated to be nearly 4 billion years. However, images from Mars Express released in early 2005 show what appears to be a frozen ocean that was liquid relatively recently (possibly 5 million years ago). Confirmation of this interpretation would indeed be a significant development!

Right off the bat in its set of experiences, Mars was considerably more like Earth. Likewise with Earth practically all of its carbon dioxide was utilized something like structure carbonate rocks. In any case, coming up short on the Earth's plate tectonics, Mars can't reuse any of this carbon dioxide back into its climate thus can't support a critical nursery impact. The outer layer of Mars is accordingly a lot colder than the Earth would be at that distance from the Sun.

Mars has an exceptionally slender air made for the most part out of the minuscule measure of residual carbon dioxide (95.3%) in addition to nitrogen (2.7%), argon (1.6%) and hints of oxygen (0.15%) and water (0.03%). The normal tension on the outer layer of Mars is somewhere around 7 millibars (under 1% of Earth's), yet it fluctuates enormously with elevation from very nearly 9 millibars in the most profound bowls to around 1 millibar at the highest point of Olympus Mons.

Nevertheless, it possesses sufficient thickness to endure exceptionally strong winds and significant residual storms that can occasionally flood the entire planet for extended durations. The thin atmosphere of Mars creates a nursery effect, which is adequate to elevate the surface temperature by 5 degrees Kelvin; this is considerably less than what is observed on Venus and Earth. Early observations of Mars indicated the presence of superpermanent ice caps on two axes, which can even be detected with a small telescope.

Currently, we understand that these caps are composed of water ice and dense carbon dioxide, commonly referred to as "dry ice." The ice sheets display a stratified structure, featuring rotating ice layers with varying convergences of the faint remnants. During the summer months, the carbon dioxide completely sublimates in the northern region, leaving behind a layer of water ice. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe has revealed that there is also a layer of water ice beneath the southern ice cap. The factor responsible for this stratification remains uncertain, but it may be linked to climate changes associated with long-term trends from Mars' equator to the plane of its orbit.

With lower-powered telescopes, there may also be water ice located beneath the surface. Occasional variations in the extent of polar coverage can alter global atmospheric pressure by approximately 25%, as estimated from the positions of the Viking landers. Subsequent observations using the Hubble Space Telescope have indicated that the conditions surrounding the Viking missions may not have been straightforward.

The atmosphere on Mars is now, in every respect, cooler and drier than what the Viking landers had predicted, according to other subtleties from the Space Telescope Science Institute. The Viking landers conducted scans to assess the potential for life on Mars. The findings were largely inconclusive; however, the majority of researchers now concede that there is no evidence of life on Mars, although some debate persists. Optimists highlight that the two small samples were appreciated, albeit not in the most favorable locations. Further analysis will enhance future missions to Mars.

Few shooting stars (the SNC shooting stars) are accepted to have started on Mars.

On 1996 Aug 6, David McKay et al declared their thought process may be proof of antiquated Martian microorganisms in the shooting star ALH84001. However there is still some debate, most of established researchers has not acknowledged this end. Assuming that there is or alternately was life on Mars, we actually haven't tracked down it.

Huge, however not worldwide, powerless attractive fields exist in different areas of Mars. This unforeseen finding was made by Mars Global Surveyor only days after it entered Mars circle. They are presumably remainders of a prior worldwide field that has since vanished. This might have significant ramifications for the design of Mars' inside and for the previous history of its air and consequently for the chance of old life.

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Whenever it is in the evening time sky, Mars is effectively noticeable with the independent eye. Mars is a troublesome yet compensating objective for a novice telescope however just for the three or four months every martian year when it is nearest to Earth. Its obvious size and brilliance changes extraordinarily as indicated by its general situation to the Earth. There are a few Web locales that show the current place of Mars (and different planets) overhead. More nitty gritty and redid graphs can be made with a planetarium program. Cool.

MARS VIDEO