Mars

Mars

        Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury. This planet named by the ancient Romans for their bloody god of war, and another name of Mars is "Red Planet". Mars and Earth are different in sizes, masses, and orbits. According to scientist report, Mars has a radius of approximately 3,396 km at its equator (3,376 km at its polar regions), which is the equivalent of roughly 0.53 Earths. Also, the mass of Mars is just 6.4185 x 10²³ kg, which is around 15% that of Earth’s, and one Mars year is equal to 687 Earth days. Mars has a volume of 1.6318 x 10¹¹ km³, which is the equivalent of 0.151 Earths, and Mars’s surface gravity is 3.711 m/s².

        In the past, astronomers and scientists believed that the surface of Mars was similar to the surface of Earth, and the position of Mars in Solar System could become a potential planet for the life of human. These astronomers and scientists thought that Mars was capable of supporting life, and Mars also had a native civilization. However, their theory was wrong since the mission of discovering space of NASA began. The NASA’s satellites and rovers has observed the surface of Mars and exposed the planet to search for another life. The result is the Mars is a cold, desiccated and lifeless world, but some scientists still believe that Mars can be the second house for human. These scientists worked together over the past few decades to learn about the history of Mars. Now, they know that even if Mars may currently be very cold, very dry, and very inhospitable, it wasn’t always the case.

        In order to gain more information about Mars, some scientists think about operating a project, which is letting astronauts to the Martian surface and returning them safely to Earth. However, this project is an extremely difficult engineering challenge. The scientists have to have a comprehensive knowledge of the change of weather conditions in Mars and the understanding of the Martian environment to create the safe operation of equipment and to human health. For this reason, the scientists decide to create Mars Exploration Program to look at these challenges in the coming decade. Also, NASA has announced that they are working to get the agency ready for a human mission to the Red Planet in a few decades.