Water On Mars

The solar system, a simple yet complicated universe of planets and life. Earth, the only known home to life may not be the only home to life after all.

Mars the identical, but not quite identical twin of Earth may also be a home. Named after the Ancient Roman God of War, Mars is also covered in ice on both of its poles. An average Martian day is a half an hour longer than an average Earth day. Unlike the Earth, Mars orbits the sun every 687 Earth days. Although Earth and Mars are alike, carbon dioxide makes up almost every bit of Mars’ atmosphere. And while our moon is quite far away, Phobos which is Mars’ moon is predicted to crash into Mars one day! Mars is the second brightest planet behind Venus.

The first sign of microorganisms was found in 1996 when a meteorite from Mars was found in Antarctica! But how exactly do scientists know if Mars even had water or might have water? Picture taken on Mars have shown that the valleys and canyons have streak marks that are signs that water leaves behind. These streaks are called slope lineae and are signs of recent flowing water. Furthermore, there is evidence that if there was water on Mars, that even then the temperatures keep water a liquid but it also prevents water from boiling into the thin atmosphere. Of course since Mars’ poles are covered in ice, the water could have been derived from there. Considering the fact that satellites are catching tiny water puddles these days, these theories would make sense. The rover Curiosity that is stationed on Mars, has also detected methane along with a string of other chemicals.

This makes life on Mars or even existing water on Mars possible. Where does this leave us as human beings? If there is actually water on Mars this could mean that the conditions are somewhat habitable for humans. NASA has plans for astronauts to land on Mars when they are feeling a bit homesick. All of these plans for a planet that might be. Researchers and scientists are still deciding on whether or not there is still water on Mars and if there might be life due to that…