From the days of the ‘Martian canals’, once thought by many to have been made by an intelligent civilization but
later proved to be an optical illusion, to our current preoccupation with gathering data in the hope of providing us with more information, our fascination with the Red Planet continues.
later proved to be an optical illusion, to our current preoccupation with gathering data in the hope of providing us with more information, our fascination with the Red Planet continues.
In the early days of space exploration, visits were restricted to ‘fly-bys’, such as those by the Mariner probes, whereby craft would simply pass the planet, taking pictures and obtaining data as they went. The Viking ‘orbiters’ were next, and later craft in the Viking series, known as ‘Landers’, began to probe the mysteries of its surface, equipped with instruments which continued to relay data about the environment until they stopped working.
The more recent ‘Rovers’move around the planet’s surface as they gather information. Current proposals include missions to study terrain, climate, and soil components, in order to determine, amongst other things, whether the planet can ever have supported carbon-based life forms. Scientists now believe that at some stage the planet cooled dramatically, resulting in the near-loss of its atmosphere and, thanks to erosion features, mineral deposits and other factors, it is also believed that liquid water once flowed there.
One of the most recent craft is Phoenix, a Rover which landed in November 2008. Named after the mythological bird, Phoenix’s mission was to obtain samples from beneath the surface by digging into the arctic ice, while its high-resolution camera provided geological data and other equipment scanned the atmosphere, measuring temperature and pressure in a bid to discover whether the chemicals necessary for life might exist beneath the surface. The craft was expected to send back data for three months, but managed to hold out for a further two.
An especially important part of the project was the need to maintain sterility of the equipment, in order to ensure that any organic material collected was not contaminated by ‘hitchhiking’ terrestrial microbes.
In the future manned landings may be possible – and though it may seem an outrageously difficult undertaking, plans have already been discussed for the ‘terraforming’ of the planet - giving it an atmosphere, oceans and a terrain similar to earth, with the possibility of human colonisation.
In the future manned landings may be possible – and though it may seem an outrageously difficult undertaking, plans have already been discussed for the ‘terraforming’ of the planet - giving it an atmosphere, oceans and a terrain similar to earth, with the possibility of human colonisation.
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