Astronomy Essay - Life on Mars PDF

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Life on Mars...

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Kalscheur 1 Lucas Kalscheur Astronomy Professor Istephan 11/7/20

Life on Mars Earth supports living things through providing proper climate and weather which makes it such a beautiful place. As time goes on, people are increasingly concerned with the Earth being able to maintain a steady climate to support all the many species of life with the rising population of humans and rising levels of greenhouse gases that may be uninhabitable at a certain point. Solutions for this predicament are limited as no planets close enough to reach have shown any signs of potential environment for a living species except for one planet, Mars, which has shown signs of water on the northern part of the planet. This recent discovery gives hope for the future, and more and more people have been working and organizing to reach this magnificent goal, like Elon Musk and SpaceX. This topic is fascinating as it could lead to something historically our entire existence. Opening new opportunities for future technology fueled by the imagination of commercial flight to another planet, Mars, to contribute to a new uncharted land that could once possibly support life. The moon landing is just a steppingstone compared to the possible gains and achievement of the journey to Mars. My knowledge on this topic is limited to my previous exposure to social media about Mars and Elon Musk’s SpaceX about his goal to achieve humanity’s journey to Mars with his use and ideas of amazing technological mechanisms. I know that at the bottom of a large crater on Mars consists of a possible environment capable of supporting the beginning stages of some sort of thin

Kalscheur 2 atmosphere from the photographed ice caps and vapors that developed from being deep below in the crater. I am looking forward to researching and learning more about this planet that poses a possible solution for the possible problem of climate change on Earth. Mars caught attention for the first time in 1870, when an Italian astronomer named Giovanni Schiaparelli used a telescope and observed a series of channels on the planet’s surface. People hoped Mars had sufficient water or even some sort of irrigation channels of water, which is why it has always been more thoroughly looked at, also because of its similar seasonal cycles. Mars’ rotational period and axis is very similar to Earth’s which is why the seasons are so similar. The difference is the rotational period around the sun for Mars is larger, therefore making the seasonal cycles twice as long. In 1965, the first robotic spacecraft was sent to Mars, sent back about twenty-one photos to Earth, and revealed a world that was unique with similar craters to the moon. This then led to the Viking mission in 1975, in which this mission sent two of both orbiters and landers. The advanced landers were able to perform experiments that included a chemical test for anything that is living. Most of the scientists concluded the test results to be negative, which unmotivated scientists on Earth and slowed any further research on Mars until developments in new studies happened. Not until 1996, an announcement by a group from Stanford University and NASA’s Johnson Space Center, stated that a meteorite believed to originate on Mars contained what might be fossils from an ancient microbe. This rock along with other meteorites were discovered on different continents on Earth. They are thought to be broken away from meteorite impacts on Mars’ surface. They believe this because gases are trapped in some of the rocks and match the composition of Mars’ atmosphere. Despite only a few scientists agreeing with the theories and studies from the groups, the investigation on Mars was back in business.

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With our condition of needing water to live, did Mars ever have life of its own? In the 90s, scientists were able to discover more about microbial life having the ability to survive under seemingly uninhabitable conditions, such as areas with extreme cold, hot, or dry climate, and even withstanding intense pressure. In 2000, NASA made an announcement of finding evidence of water on Mars, which throttled the investigation to find microbiological life on Mars. Scientists started to theorize water being on Mars for billions of years in underground springs that could still exist under the surface. Mars is a cold planet with a thin atmosphere and would not be able to support water on its surface. Evidence of water on Mars is an extraordinary discovery that acts as a base point for all previous and future findings. A finding of multiple minerals such as hematite and goethite which are minerals that only form with water. Dr. Goestar Klingelhoefer of the University of Mainz talks of Goethite having properties that only form in water in any state, and how Hematite is similar, but less likely to always form in presence of water. Only one form of water is on Mars and that is in the form of ice. The water is frozen due to it being so cold on Mars, ice caps are located near the poles and mostly in the northern pole. The northern polar cap diameter is approximately 1,000 kilometers while the southern cap only has a diameter of 350 kilometers. Ice caps vary in size depending on the seasons throughout the year.

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As you can see in the figure above, the diameter fluctuates dramatically when the temperature changes. During winter, the constant darkness causes the surface to get cold enough for 30% of the atmosphere, which starts to form into thick slabs of dry ice. When the surface becomes exposed to light again, the ice reduces. This creates intense winds that can travel up to 250 mph, and large amounts of water vapor and dust come with it, creating large clouds like Earth, but much more extreme. Theories of living organisms on Mars with some evidence shows that the planet was more habitable than versus today. Despite having little evidence of living organisms on Mars, the Viking mission in the 1970s had a small success of finding living results, but most of the probe experiments came back with negative results. Mars does have some positive viewings but also has a lot of downfalls that lead towards an unlivable planet. Since Mars is half of an astronomical unit behind the sun's habitable zone, the water will remain frozen on its surface. There is little heat transfer going across the surface and has very poor insulation against the wind, so the planet also lacks a magnetosphere, and the atmospheric pressure is not thick enough

Kalscheur 5 to sustain liquid water. Mars consists of many mysteries that scientists have been unable to figure out because of the drastic changes of the climate on Mars. Over time, these mysteries will be solved with advancing technology and will hopefully lead to more scientific breakthroughs. The science community in the United States have been developing a lifespan blueprint that can help in understanding how long liquid water was sustained on Mars. Based on the green rock, olivine or known as gemstone peridot, which is a silicate mineral that is rich in magnesium and iron, found in volcanic rock on Earth. Life requires liquid water and olivine dissolves in water this can help scientist figure out if there was liquid water on Mars for a duration that could support life long enough to develop. Olivine has recently been discovered on Mars from NASA’s Mars Odyssey Spacecraft. Olsen used information and studies to build a model that introduced us to controlling the factors of pH and temperature on Mars, stating, "the amount of acidity or alkalinity is a highly controlling factor, and a more precise estimate awaits information concerning the chemical conditions on the Mars surface.". NASA has sent probes to Mars to search for microscopic life. Olsen’s conclusion is olivine could take about a million years to dissolve in water. Researchers believe Mars did sustain some aspect of a liquid water environment, but still unclear on whether or not these conditions could sustain some sort of life. Through my own research I was able to discover a plethora of information about the planet Mars. Going into this search, I did not think about some of the different basic or complex aspects that go into something being able to inhabit life the same way Earth does to us. Seasons on Mars are twice as long compared to Earth caused by the rotation period around the sun, which also leads to why it is so cold on the surface of Mars. The atmosphere is thin, being made up of 95% carbon dioxide, it is about 100 times less dense than Earth's atmosphere. I found the

Kalscheur 6 scientific discoveries with the probes and rovers without being on Mars to be amazing. Future discoveries are on the rise with all the progress made in both information and technology, and I am excited to see what the future brings with more and more people on board the mission to Mars.

Kalscheur 7 Work Cited Bennett, Jeffrey O. The Cosmic Perspective. San Francisco, CA: Pearson Addison-Wesley, 2008. Dunbar, Brian. “Mars Rovers Spot Water-Clue Mineral, Frost, Clouds.” NASA, NASA, www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/mer-121304b.html. “Evidence of Life on Mars...” WeirdSciences, 29 Oct. 2009, bruceleeeowe.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/evidence-of-life-on-mars/. Kaufmen, Marc. “Mars Up Close: Inside the Curiosity Mission” Astronomy, 2011. "Olivine May Hold Clues About Water on Mars." October 19, 2006. http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1212666.php/Olivine_may_hold_clue s_about_water_on_Mars...