Mars: The Red Planet | Abdullah Al Moinee
Abdullah Al Moinee
[ www.daily-sun.com/arcprint/details/94262/Mars:-The-Red-Planet/2015-11-27 ]
Cosmos is beyond measure of elegant truths; of exquisite interrelationships; of the awesome machinery of nature because the cosmos is within us. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself and approaching the greatest mysteries. Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to know which opens the threshold of curiosities. Every aspect of nature reveals a deep mystery and touches our sense of wonder and so Mars does. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second smallest planet after Mercury in the solar system.
Mars was formed about 4.5 billion years ago and is about 4,000 miles wide (half the diameter of Earth). Mars is much lighter than Earth, with only 1/10 of its mass. It is the last terrestrial (rocky) planet (the outer planets are all gaseous) in solar system. Galileo Galilee was the first person to observe Mars through a telescope, in 1609. Most researchers believe that Mars’ surface was shaped by catastrophic floods billions of years ago. Large quantities of water, in either ice or liquid form, are thought to be still trapped underneath its surface.
The Egyptians gave Mars its first recorded name: Har dècher (“The red one”). The Babylonians called it Nergal (“Star of death”). Many ancient people believed the reddish colour came from actual blood on the planet. Egyptians called Mars the “the backward traveler” because Mars appeared to move backwards through the zodiac in every 25.7 months. The ancient Greeks thought that Earth was the center of the universe and that Mars was one of the five traveling stars that revolved around it. The Romans were great soldiers and thought Mars, the god of war, was very important. Mars, the red planet, was named after this god of war. The symbol for Mars looks like a shield and a spear from the war god Mars/Ares. It is mentionable that the month of March is named after Mars.
Mars’ red colour is due to iron oxide, also known as rust, and has the consistency of talcum powder. Literally, the metallic rocks on Mars are rusting. The Phoenix lander returned data showing Martian soil to be slightly alkaline and containing elements such as magnesium, sodium, potassium and chlorine. These nutrients are found in gardens on Earth, and they are necessary for growth of plants. Experiments performed by the lander showed that the Martian soil has a basic pH of 7.7. Until recently, it was thought that Mars’ polar caps were made from carbon dioxide (dry ice) with only a small amount of water. Later observations indicated that the polar caps were mostly frozen water with a thin layer of carbon dioxide.
A Mars solar day has a mean period of 24 hours 39 minutes 35.244 seconds, and is customarily referred to as a "sol" in order to distinguish this from the roughly 3% shorter solar day on Earth. Mars has the largest and most violent dust storms in our entire solar system. These storms often have winds topping 125 mph, can last for weeks, and can cover the entire planet. They usually occur when Mars is closest to the sun. No human could survive the low pressure of Mars. If you go to Mars without an appropriate space suit, the oxygen in your blood would literally turn into bubbles, causing immediate death.
Mars has no magnetic field, indicating that it does not have a molten metal core, like Earth does. However, there is evidence that Mars once had a magnetic field and that the field experienced reversals, much like Earth’s magnetic field which reverses in every few thousand years. Mars has 37.5% of the gravity that Earth has. This means that a 100-pound person on Earth would weigh only 38 pounds on Mars and could jump three times as high. And if you drive 60 mph in a car, it will take 271 years and 221 days to get to Mars from Earth. Mars is home to the highest peak in the solar system: Olympus Mons. This towering peak is 15 miles high (three times higher than Mt. Everest) and has a diameter of 375 miles (the size of Arizona). Mars has an enormous canyon named Valles Marineris (Mariner Valley) which is an astounding 2,500 miles long and four miles deep.
Mars’ seasons are twice as long as those on Earth because it takes Mars 687 days to orbit the sun, twice as long as Earth’s 365-day journey. During a Mars winter, almost 20% of the air freezes. The average temperature on Mars is –81° and can range from –205° in the winter to 72° Fahrenheit in the summer. Mars’ moon Phobos (“fear”) rises in the west and sets in the east—twice a day. Deimos (“panic”), on the other hand, takes 2.7 days to rise in the east and set in the west. According to Roman myth, Mars rode on a chariot pulled by two horses named Phobos and Deimos (meaning fear and panic). Phobos orbits remarkably close to Mars and is gradually sinking into the Red Planet. In about 50 million years it will either crash into Mars or break up and form a small ring around the planet.
In 1965, the United States spacecraft Mariner 4 made the first successful flyby of Mars. It took 228 days to reach Mars and sent 22 images to Earth. On August 27, 2003, Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years. The next time it will be that close again will be in 2287. Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral on November 26, 2011, at 15:02 UTC aboard the MSL spacecraft and landed on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater on Mars on August 6, 2012. The rover's goals include: investigation of the Martian climate and geology; assessment of whether the selected field site inside Gale Crater has ever offered environmental conditions favourable for microbial life, including investigation of the role of water; and planetary habitability studies in preparation for future human exploration.
Well, Mars One is a nonprofit organization based in the Netherlands that has proposed to land the first humans on Mars and establish a permanent human colony there by 2027. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and ESA (European Space Agency) hope to collaborate on future missions to Mars, including sample-return missions as well as eventually landing humans on Mars by 2035.
Moinee, A. Al. “Mars: The Red Planet” The Daily Sun. 6(34). 27 Nov. 2015. Morning Tea. 5(48).
