Fishing on the Net

By Bonnie Nelson

Mars—the Red Planet

Will people go to Mars?  Since we started gaining pictures of Mars in 1965, we have been working on ways to see if our life can survive there.  Mars is familiar to earth in some respects, but it also has many differences.   Mars has polar ice caps and clouds in its atmosphere, seasonal weather patterns, volcanoes, canyons and other recognizable features. But there are many other conditions on Mars that are different from earth.

Mars is arid, rocky, cold and apparently lifeless. It is home to the largest volcano
in the solar system, the deepest canyon and crazy weather and temperature patterns,
Mars looms as the ultimate lonely planet destination (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/
extreme/).

The Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) is an international field research project centered
on the scientific study of Mars.  The expedition is located on Devon Island is
located in the Territory of Nunavut in Canada. The expedition base camp will be
located just outside the northwest area of the Haughton impact crater.  The rocky
polar desert, geologic features and biological attributes of the site offer insights
into the possibility of living on Mars (http://www.marsonearth.org/).  This will
give us a little “sneak peak” as to how we may be able to live on Mars.

I remember watching the Rover on Mars a few years back.  In May the Phoenix landed
on Mars.  Its mission is to search for water. Phoenix landed farther north than any
previous mission.  Over the next three months the Phoenix will dig down to an
ice-rich layer that scientists calculate lies within inches of the surface. It will
check samples of soil and ice for evidence about whether the site was ever
hospitable to life.  On July 10th the Phoenix touched Martian soil with a fork-like
probe for the first time and began using a microscope that examines shapes of tiny
particles by touching them.

The first spacecraft to visit Mars was Mariner 4 in 1965. Several others followed
including Marc 2, the first spacecraft to land on Mars and the two Viking landers in
1976.In 1997 the Mars Pathfinder successfully landed on July 4th.  Then the
excitement of the Rovers  “Spirit and “Opportunity”  landed in 2004 and sent back
geologic data and many pictures (http://www.nineplanets.org/mars.html). 

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the seventh largest.  It was named after
the god of War. The planet probably got this name due to its red color; Mars is
sometimes referred to as the Red Planet.

Bonnie Nelson is a freelance writer living in Fountain, CO. If you have any comments or questions, email her at waltbon@comcast.net

CONTACT THE WRITER • WALTBON@COMCAST.nET

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