Professional Pilot, March 2016
Learning more about Mars from recent fi ndings R andom space fact There are 7 spacecraft working at Mars right now These are 5 orbiters and 2 rovers They have been addressing fundamental scientifi c questions concerning Mars and there have been some big results related to those questions during the last year One big area of study that has seen signifi cant advancements and discoveries recently is the existence of water past and present on Mars including the probable discovery of liquid water currently on the planets surface Another big question that has been addressed is related to the Mars atmosphere Where did it go It used to be thick and now it is thin Those topics tie to each other and also relate to ponderings of whether there could have been life on Mars So lets look at some pretty pictures of Mars and also talk geology and physics to see what has been learned recently concerning Mars atmosphere and its wet past Liquid water on Mars Currently liquid water is not longterm stable on the surface of Mars Because of the planets thin and cold atmosphere water is only long term stable on Mars as a solid or a gas Thus it behaves like carbon dioxide or dry ice does on Earth going straight from solid to gas without ever becoming liquid Mars was wet billions of years ago Much of recent Mars exploration has been focused on following the water primarily because of biological implications but also because of big implications for the surface geology and evolution of Mars From orbit we observe huge outfl ow channels that were cut rapidly by water and we also see valley networks that water cut more slowly Both orbiters and rovers have also been fi nding minerals that form primarily in liquid water and now we have evidence from rovers of subsurface fl ow and standing water And these discoveries have been getting even more varied What are some of the recent fi nd SPACE EXPLORATION Our red planet neighbor was much wetter in the past and some sparse salty water remains A thicker predominantly CO 2 atmosphere has also been reduced to only a remnant By Bruce Betts Dir of Scientifi c and Technology The Planetary Society Growing edible crops through container plant culture in large solariums on Mars will not be diffi cult With sunlight good soil and water continual vegetarian food supplies will be possible for explorers and colonists on the red planet Discoveries from Mars observations continue to be good with some running water found and very probably more easily tapped underground water With plenty of usable elements on site and with needed excavating machines building materials habitats and supplies sent ahead of human explorers life on Mars will be possible and probable 16 PROFESSIONAL PILOT March 2016
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