Man has always been fascinated by the glittering stars and the boundless dimensions of the universe.The need for a safer habitable planet for mankind led him to focus the attention on the red planet Mars, slightly larger than half the size of the earth with about 1/3 of gravity of that of the earth.It is the fourth planet from the sun and second closest planet to the Earth. The average distance between the two planets is 140 million miles (225 million km). If a space craft probe travelling at 58000 kmph travels in straight line to Mars, it can reach it in an average 162 days.
Mars takes longer than Earth to complete one trip round the sun.But it rotates about its axis at almost the same speed as that of Earth.Thus one year on Mars is equal to 687 Earth days and one day on Mars is just 40 minutes longer than on Earth.Studies have helped to assess that the planet was once a place for ecosystems.It is still believed to be an incubator for microbial life.The conditions such as its soil containing water to extract, being not too cool or too hot, having an atmosphere though thin, gravity humans can adapt to, enough sunlight to use solar panels, day-night rhythm same as those on Earth, create hopes for future habitability.
.Only uncrewed spacecraft have made trip to the planet so far but NASA plans to land the first humans on Mars by the 2030s. Several new missions in plans before then may push the exploration forward. Presence of methane observed in the atmosphere of Mars is of importance as methane may indicate the presence of microbial life on Mars. Water, Iocked into the icy polar caps and buried, is believed to be abundant and lying beneath the Martian surface.Further studies help unravelling the mysteries of life in the past and also if any at present too.Four space agencies-NASA, Russia’s Roscosmos, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the ISRO of India have so far put spacecraft in Martian orbit.
A special window that occurs once every twenty six months ( because of specific alignment of Earth and Mars ) enables the spacecraft to make its interplanetary journey in about half a year.Space agencies prefer to launch probes during this window !
By developing suitable technology maybe man can even build a home on the sun also someday in the future. But is this all worth is a question of prudence. Unless man cannot live naturally in any environs it's only to destruction which is already evident in case of mother earth. Maybe mankind will be successful in building a trisanku swarga on Mars.
ReplyDeletePrabhakar Govindaraju.
The fact is that in the event of an inevitable alternative of a need for a shift, Mars is an alternative mankind is hoping for but not that it is sought after ! There is every possibility that the planet Earth may be restored with its great glory by protecting the ecology etc through a heightened awareness and participation of masses before it is too late.As regards the sun, possibility is ruled out with surface temperature itself more than 5000 degree Celsius and the core running in to an incredible and alarmingly high temperatures ! Even with so many somewhat favourable features, life on Mars too is not possible without the technological aid.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your interaction !