19th april 09
my home
pratap nagar
Article no.3
series - " unrevealing the secrets of universe"
Topic-Mars
my today's discussion includes a general discussion about the planet mars.since decades,mars is considered to be a dead planet. it is believed that earlier mars had a life. seeing the physical characteristic of mars,it is almost clear that mars is dead planet.
since last decade,human beings have started to explore the surface of mars,by sending rovers and spacecrafts on its surface.mars has a surface temperature of about -46 degree C
the highest temperature recorded on mars is about 20 degree C. mars' atmosphere has 96% of CO2. while it has 3% of Nitrogen. as there is carbon-di-oxide,in the previous discussion i stated that venus is hot because of CO2.but surprisingly mars has almost same condition,it is colder than venus. the main reason is the atmosphere of mars is not sufficient to trap the heat that is reflected. so the rays of sun falls and get reflected.so the temperature remains less.
Marsian soil is slightly alkaline with vital nutrients.Mars lost its magnetosphere 4 billion years ago, so the solar wind interacts directly with the Martian ionosphere, keeping the atmosphere thinner than it would otherwise be by stripping away atoms from the outer layer. Both Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Express have detected these ionised atmospheric particles trailing off into space behind Mars.During a pole's winter, it lies in continuous darkness, chilling the surface and causing 25–30% of the atmosphere to condense out into thick slabs ofCO2 ice (dry ice).When the poles are again exposed to sunlight, the frozen CO2 sublimes, creating enormous winds that sweep off the poles as fast as 400 km/h.The polar caps at both poles consist primarily of water ice.
But the defination of life changes. life in space doesnt mean that the creature can breathe only oxygen,or drink water.they can drink sulphur as well. so if we find a cell that is thousand times smaller than 1 micrometer then by evolution it can become a cell of 2cms and like that. so that means life.
chance is everywhere in universe,even on mars!!
LIFE ON TERRESTRIAL PLANET INVESTIGATOR
Akshay Deoras
