Plans for Mars

Hello readers!

Recent reports on Mars have been discussing the speculation of possible form of life on the red planet due to Nasa's rover, Curiosity's detection of fluctuating wafts of methane. These unexplained spikes of methane levels detected, unable to be easily correlated by geology or transportation of organic material by comets or asteroids, has resulted in a few hypotheses including the suggestion that these spikes offer evidence of life on Mars.

Only last year the US space agency reported that Gale Crater, located on the Martian equator when a meteor hit the planet, contained the remains of an ancient freshwater lake that may have once been a hospitable environment for life in the past. The latest discovery adds to the possibility of gathered evidence of life on Mars. Curiosity recorded a 10-fold increase in methane in the atmosphere, additionally detecting other organic molecules in powdered rock that was obtained by the rover's drill, becoming the first definitive detection of organics in surface materials on Mars. These could have formed either on Mars or landed on Mars by meteorites. The spikes in methane are provoked interest as life is the main producer of methane on Earth, however, many non-biological processes can also generate the gas. Speculation on the methane fluctuations have included the idea of the Sun's rays degrading organic material deposited by meteors and methane being formed by microbial bugs that are known as methanogens.   

Named after the Roman god of war and dubbed the red planet due to its iron-rich minerals that cover the surface that give it a rusty red color, Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun that has the largest volcanoes in the solar system as well as the highest mountain and deepest valley. It has a cold, thin atmosphere which means that liquid water cannot currently exist on the Martian surface for any length of time, resulting in the desert planet having the same amount of dry land as Earth despite being half in diameter. With channels, valleys and gullies discovered across Mars, this suggests that liquid water may have flowed across the planet's surface in recent times and may still lie in cracks and pores in underground rock. Cooler than Earth, its average temperature is roughly minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit, however, it can vary depending on time and season. Its carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere means that it is dense enough to support weather, clouds and winds. NASA's detection of carbon-dioxide snow clouds makes Mars the only body in the solar system known to host winter weather. However, dust storms also occupy the planet, capable of lasting for months resulting in blanketing the entire planet.   

The possibility of life on Mars was first considered in 1996 when Geologist David McKay and his colleagues discovered in the rocks blasted from the surface of Mars grains of a mineral called magnetite that can form within certain kinds of bacteria and tiny structures that resembled fossilized microbes. The hypothesis that Mars may have once possessed oceans on its surface offer the opinion that it provided an environment where life can develop, a hypothesis further established with the discovery of the lake when beforehand establishing the planet had key ingredients present for life to evolve.   

Currently in process is an important development in space exploration; the Mars One Mission that aims to establish a human settlement on Mars. This project involves firstly building Earth-based simulation outposts for training, technology, try-outs and evaluation and the construction of rocket launches that would take payloads into Earth orbit and then onto Mars that include satellites, rovers, cargo or humans. Other necessities would include the Mars Transit Vehicle that would ensure the travel of human crew in space and a landing capsule that would carry life support unites, living units, rovers and mars suits. People are currently going through a vigorous process to be one of the chosen humans to be a part of the Mars One crew, who would have to go through eight years of training isolated from the world for several months every two years before being considered to settle permanently on Mars. So it seems that while we have yet to know whether life was or is on Mars for certain, the future ahead is dedicated to the emigration of humans to live on the red planet.

Thank you for reading!

Sources

http://www.space.com/47-mars-the-red-planet-fourth-planet-from-the-sun.html
http://www.mars-one.com/mission/humankind-on-mars
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/16/methane-spikes-mars-fuel-speculation-life-nasa-curiosity