Could there be life on Mars? What are the facts that researchers have found and still need to work on?
Scientists’ interest and challenges towards outer-space discoveries are inexhaustible. Humanity reaching towards the moon became a giant leap of space science. Scientists sent satellites for collecting data from outer space and contacting other organisms that might exist far away from Earth. They built a radio wave telescope that has a potential size of an Earth for taking an actual image of a black hole. There are numerous discoveries and efforts apart from those mentioned that significantly contributed to the development of space science.
Scientists continue their discovery towards outer space research, and there are fields that they continue working on for decades. One of the constant interests that scientists continuously pursue is the discovery of organisms or the foundation of them from outer Earth, and Mars is the planet that they have been researching for a long time. Nearly 50 years ago, NASA landed the first probes on Mars, Viking 1 and Viking 2, and started researching, but the majority of the information about the planet remains a mystery. This is because there are no ‘direct’ samples or data from Mars for research. Scientists can send probes on Mars and function them to collect data, but there isn’t a particular method to bring the samples from Mars to Earth. This remains a significant task for scientists. To this day, scientists continue to launch probes from Earth to Mars, but all they can do is to wait for sample analysis data and photos of Mars from the rovers that are currently on a mission. Even though there’s a lack of information, fundamental facts have been discovered, and through this, scientists have made suppositions about life on Mars.
About three or four billion years ago, Mars was once a sister planet of Earth. The planet was warm and wet, with a robust atmosphere. This theory made scientists wonder why Mars has lost its atmosphere and changed to a dry, red planet; it also triggered their curiosity towards life on Mars. They believed that if Mars were like Earth, there would be matter and evidence of organisms remaining.
The scientists were right; organic matter and evidence of the existence of organisms were discovered in 2018, by NASA’s rover, Curiosity. Organic components were found in the soil of Mars, and methane, also known as the simplest organic molecule, was detected in the atmosphere of the planet. Furthermore, evidence of water was discovered in 2018 also, at the southern polar cap of Mars. In 2019, evidence supporting the existence of ancient salty lakes on Mars was found by Curiosity. However, accurate conclusions can’t be made solely with these discoveries. Especially in the case of methane, it can’t be concluded whether it was produced biologically or geologically, or during ancient or modern times.
However, these discoveries are exorbitantly insufficient for unraveling the mystery of life on Mars. These amounts of data give the possibility of the existence of organisms on Mars. So now, scientists are planning for a round-trip mission. Powerful scientific instruments are required for a detailed analysis of the samples from Mars. Still, since it’s nearly impossible to send these instruments to Mars, scientists are planning to bring the samples from Mars to Earth, which will require humankind to be sent on Mars for collecting and bringing those. Nevertheless, they’re facing challenges, since there isn’t sufficient technology and capital to build a strong and safe spaceship that can carry quantities of food and necessities for three years of space traveling. Despite the challenges, scientists are planning to send astronauts to Mars by 2035, for the discovery of mysteries on Mars.
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