Next Planet for civilization “MARS”
- Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and the seventh biggest planet after the earth.
- The name of Mars carries the name of the Roman god of War.
- Mars takes 687 days for orbiting the sun (revolution). It is the outermost planet in the list of inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth,).
- Due to the high presence of iron oxide in the soil of Mars, it seems red in space that why it is also the Red planet of the solar system. (Solar System: A General Introduction)
- The atmosphere of the mars is very thin. The presence of gases in Mars’s atmosphere is Co2, N2, Ar, and CO, etc.
- The tilt and rotational time of the earth are very much similar that why the days and seasons are similar on both planets.
- The largest volcano of the solar system found on mars named Olympus Mons in the Tharsis region known as the highest mountain body in our solar system with Its summit (arrow) height of about 21 km above datum.
- Phobos and demos are the two-natural moons of the red planet.
Phobos is believed by the scientist that is made up of carbonaceous chondrites. The violent phase that Phobos has encountered is seen in the large section gouged out from a past collision (Stickney crater) and bouncing ejecta.
Image Credit – ISRO (Indian space research agency) https://www.isro.gov.in/pslv-c25-mars-orbiter-mission/phobos-imaged-mom-1st-july
- Deimos is the smallest moon of mars. The shape of the Deimos is irregular. The largest crater on Deimos is approximately 2.3 km in diameter, 1/5 the size of the largest crater on Phobos.
Image Credit – NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) https://mars.nasa.gov/all-aboutmars/moons/deimos/#:~:text=Deimos%20is%20the%20smaller%20of,of%20some%20of%20its%20craters.
Space Agencies reached on Mars
Nasa is the first space agency reached on the red planet. Mariner 4 was the first space mission explored mars which was launched on 28th of November 1964, made its closest view of mars on 15th of July 1965.
The second space agency for exploring mars was the late Soviet space agency. The second mars mission also includes a lander that achieved a soft landing in December 1971 but unfortunately lost the connection second after touchdown.
The third space agency is a European space agency visited on space on 25th of December 2003.
On the date of 24 September, 2014 Indian space agency ISRO (Indian space research organization) successfully researched entered in mars orbit the mission called mom (Mars Orbiter Mission).
Comparison of Mars with Earth
| Fact | Earth | Mars |
| Distance From sun | 93 million miles | 142 million miles |
| Diameter | 7926 miles | 4220 miles |
| Tilt of Axis | 23.5 ° | 25 ° |
| Year length | 356.25 days | 687 as per earth days |
| Day length | 23 h 56 m | 24 h 37m |
| Temperature | Average 57 ° F | Average -81 ° F |
| Most gases presence in atmosphere | Nitrogen, Oxygen | Carbon dioxide, Nitrogen and Argon |
| Moons | 1 | 2 |
Why the Study Mars
Some of the previous researches show that there is a possibility to develop civilization on the red planet. Following are the scientific researches which show the possibilities to it.
- The researchers at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands also suggests that it is also possible to obtain viable seed from crops grown on Mars and the Moon.
- “Mars’s primary crust formation — which is the end product of planet formation — happened much faster than previously thought,” said Martin Bizzarro, a scientist at Denmark’s Centre for Star and Planet Formation and senior author of a study published in Nature. “Our results indicate that Mars could have had an environment with oceans, and potentially life, much earlier than Earth,” he told AFP.
- Water is considered to be an essential precursor for life, at least as we know it. Mars was once much more Earth-like, with a thick atmosphere, abundant water, and global oceans.
- Some new studies tackle that question by examining a chunk of Mars that streaked into the Saharan Desert and was discovered in 2011.