More on Mars Mars is still a mysterious planet which even though it is constantly being explored has still come up with some surprises. We know there are glaciers on Mars and the glaciers at the South Pole were hiding an important secret. The secret was there were lakes under them. The lakes are said to be very salty. Scientists think there is a chance of finding microbial life in these lakes. It seems Mars is somewhat dynamic with its dust devils and dunes and one has to wonder if microbial life does exist is it being spread by dust and gusts which travel all over the planet from time to time. It also makes one wonder if we spread any microbes on Mars and they have multiplied. If microbes are discovered and look the same as some on earth, this will present an important question. Will the microbes be from us or do these microbes exist throughout the solar system and maybe the galaxy and others? The caves on Mars are very important because they seem to be the source for methane. When methane was found on the Red Planet scientists thought it might be coming from the caves on the planet. Why is this important? It is important because methane is produced by organic material and this could indicate life is in the caves. There are mounds on Mars which are similar to the collapsed centers of volcanoes on Earth and scientists think they may contain methane. Over the years there has been a theory of a tiny atmosphere which only extends a little over one foot from the surface. This atmosphere is thought to be about what the earth would have at 25,000 feet at best, but this idea seems to be unproven. The best chance for finding any non-microbial life would be underground at this point, unless there is some form of life we are not familiar with which can live without an atmosphere. We may be too limited in our idea of life when we search the planet. If one is to believe the Soviet cosmonauts who claimed to see a type of aliens which seemed not to be solid and a second team of Soviet cosmonauts which were then sent up who also saw the same thing, may be proof an unexpected type of alien race exists. If there is life which is not biological perhaps Mars might be just fine for them. Some people will think I am going too far with this, but I wouldn’t have mentioned it if there was no witnesses to it who had no reason to lie and indeed had everything to lose. Mars has some relatively fresh craters and could be a target again at any time. With such a thin atmosphere there is not much chance of a meteor burning up before hitting the planet. There are also avalanches on the surface of Mars. I think scientists would be interested in examining the snow and glaciers. One never knows what they might find preserved in them. Scientists are not always correct in their estimations of things. They could be wrong on their estimate of when Mars lost its atmosphere and therefore if they are, we might come across incredible archaeological finds when we finally make it to Mars and do some real science on it by humans. Of all the planets in our solar system there is a chance Mars might be the most interesting. The dust storms are so vicious on Mars and move around so much sand and dust who knows what could be buried under it? Think about Earth for a second. As we dig on Earth, we find all sorts of structures. Sometimes we are doing a dig and find another older structure under the one we are digging out and even older ones under that. If we dig on Mars, we might find a treasure trove of ancient structures proving Mars had an atmosphere a lot later that science suspected and a thriving society. If you think we don’t have to dig because the rovers we sent to Mars have been digging, they only dug down a few inches, which is not enough to tell us anything. Every ten years or so a storm is so violent it covers the entire planet blowing sand and dirt everywhere, we have nothing on Earth like that in most places. There is another problem with Mars exploration. There are many people and even scientists who think data about Mars is being hidden from us such as data from the Moon. The data might indicate prior life. You might say why would the government hide data from us, and I can think of a couple of reasons. The first reason is the same as for UFOs. If they admit alien life exists, they are afraid it will destroy religion and society. The second reason might be they have found advanced weapons and don’t want any other countries to know about that. On the other hand, there could be nothing on Mars to indicate any intelligent life or even animal life ever existed there. Elon Musk the CEO of SpaceX is getting ready to send a ship with people to Mars in 2025. Will he be stopped, change his mind, or will his schedule fall behind? Any of these things can happen but he has a plan which is more than one can say for any agency or company yet. I remember when he talked about sending cargo rockets to Mars with supplies which would land and await a ship with colonists on it. This was his answer to not having enough room on the manned ship to set up a base. It makes a lot of sense and now that he can land a rocket standing up the supplies would be protected from the damage of a harsh landing. Sending a robot to Mars is the dream of a lot of countries, and we have sent quite a few. The Chinese have sent a probe containing three robots. The UAE launched a probe to Mars which is the first for an Arab country. Mars has been notoriously hard to land on and while the United States has pretty much gotten it down, it is hard to do. We will have to see if the two probes all make it to a landing and then function. The UAE probe is an orbiter and will not land. One of the geological mysteries on Mars is an area known as the brain terrain. The entire area looks like the ridges and ripples in a brain, thus the name. Scientists have no idea as of yet, how it formed. It can be found throughout the mid-latitudes of Mars.
|
