We explain everything about the planet Mars, its temperature, structure and other characteristics. Also, the different missions that explored it.
What is Mars?
Mars It is the second smallest planet in the Solar System and the fourth in order of distance from the Sun. It presents a solid, dusty, cold and desert surface. Its name comes from Roman mythology, in homage to the god of war (the reddish color of its surface represented the blood spilled in battles). It is also known as “the red planet” and can be seen from Earth.
NASA has evidence of 57 meteorites that could come from Mars and that impacted Earth at various times in history. Samples obtained from space missions are constantly compared with materials found in Earth's soil.
The following three meteorites are considered the largest that contain evidence of natural organic molecules from Mars: ALH84001 (meteorite found in 1984 in Antarctica), Nakhla (meteorite found in 1911 in Egypt) and Shergotty (meteorite found in 1865 in India ).
Characteristics of Mars
Mars has an elliptical orbit like the Earth, that is why the position and distance between both planets is not always the same. On average, Mars It is 230 million kilometers away from Earth. The furthest it was, according to scientific calculations, was 402 million kilometers and the closest it was 57 million kilometers away.
The red planet takes 2 Earth years to make the translation movement and 24 hours and 37 minutes to make the rotation movement. Another similarity with the terrestrial planet is the degree of inclination of its axis, 25 degrees (compared to 23.4 degrees on Earth).
It has a diameter of 6,780 kilometers (almost half that of Earth) and is located 228 million kilometers away from the luminous star.
Mars is characterized because It has well-differentiated climatic seasons, polar caps, valleys, canyons and volcanoes such as the Valles Marineris (a canyon system that extends across a vast surface territory).
In addition, on Mars there is Mount Olympus, the largest volcano in the Solar System so far detected, which is three times higher than Everest, the largest mountain on Earth.
It has two small satellites, Phobos and Deimos, which were discovered in 1877. They are characterized by having little mass and a poorly defined ellipsis shape due to the slight force of gravity they possess, which does not allow them to acquire a spherical shape like most of the moons in the Solar System.
Phobos is the largest satellite and scientific calculations estimate that it will crash into the red planet in about 50 million years.
Mars temperature
The temperature of Mars ranges between 20º C and -140º C. These large temperature differences are due to the fact that the atmosphere is too light to maintain the heat it receives from the Sun.
This contrast between the day and night weather causes very intense winds that can trigger dust storms. Once the storms have stopped, it can take months for all the dust to settle.
Structure of Mars
Mars It is a rocky planet with a crust that ranges between 10 and 50 kilometers deep in which minerals, such as silicate, and nutrients such as magnesium, sodium, potassium and chlorine abound (characteristics of terrestrial soils that allow plant growth).
The reddish color is due to iron oxide that abounds on the surface. At greater depths, iron predominates and in its dense core there are various metals such as iron, nickel and sulfur.
Its surface on Mars has many similarities with the Earth's relief such as volcanoes, impact craters, crustal movements and atmospheric conditions (such as dust storms), which characterize the Martian landscape.
It does not have a global magnetic field, but areas of the crust in the southern hemisphere are highly magnetized and they could be traces of a larger magnetic field, which would date back about 4 million years.
Based on the results of various explorations, scientists maintain that Mars may have had a watery past with ancient river networks, deltas and lakes and that the planet may even have experienced major floods about 3.5 billion years ago.
Currently it has been confirmed that water exists on the red planet, but The atmosphere is too thin for water to remain liquid on the surface.
Mars atmosphere
Mars' atmosphere is thin and tenuous, so it doesn't offer much protection against impacts from meteorites, asteroids, or comets. It is composed of 90% carbon dioxide and to a lesser extent by nitrogen and argon.
Water vapor is scarce although enough to form some clouds and fogs of light consistency, similar to those on Earth. However, precipitation does not form due to the pressure and temperature conditions.
Life on Mars
Scientists maintain that In order for life to be found on a celestial body, there must be the availability of water in a liquid state. Evidence obtained from space missions shows that Mars had an extensive ocean in the northern hemisphere, about 4.3 billion years ago (which could have existed for 1.5 billion years).
That watery past together with a denser and more consistent atmosphere could have been favorable conditions for the development of life. Currently we are not searching for the presence of living beings, but rather Signs of past life are being investigated in times when the red planet was warmer was covered with water and presented conditions conducive to the development of life.
Space exploration on Mars
Mars is one of the most explored celestial bodies in our Solar System, due to its proximity to Earth. There are records (dating back more than 4,000 years) that the Egyptians captured the route and movements of the red planet.
The first spacecraft sent to Mars was Mars 1 which managed to fly over a distance of 193,000 kilometers without obtaining information from the planet. In 1965, the Mariner 4 space probe was launched, which managed to make the first data transmission.
In 1969, the Mariner 6 and 7 missions made it possible to observe the craters of Mars, which had similarities with the Earth's satellite. Finally, In 1971, Mariner 9 was the first probe that could be placed in Martian orbit and that it was able to monitor an immense dust storm, among other relevant data.
Currently, NASA has two landers on the Martian surface and three spacecraft in orbit:
- Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
- Mars Odyssey
- MAVEN
ESA also has a lander on a flat plain area and two space probes in Mars orbit:
- ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter
- Mars Express
Both NASA and ESA have plans to send new missions during 2020 to learn more about the planet and especially corroborate scientists' suspicions that billions of years ago Mars was much wetter and warmer, with a thicker atmosphere.
Continue with: The Moon
References
- “Mars” at SolarSystem.nasa.gov.
- “Mars is at its closest point to Earth” in NYTimes.
- «Exploration of Mars» Wikipedia.
- “How long does a day last on each planet in the Solar System” in Astroandalus.
- «Extraterrestrial climatology» in Aemetblog.
