The Red Planet
Iron oxide chemicals reassemble the color of blood in Mars' soil that looks like rust. In ancient Roman religion and myth, Mars was the god of war. For the bloody reddish color, Mars is named by the ancient Romans after their god of war. Mars is a dusty desert planet with a freezing temperature and a thin atmosphere.
The beginning of Mars' discovery becomes a little blurry here. As Mars was documented 4000 years ago, it is hard to say who documented it initially because of the extensive period. However, Galileo Galilei observed Mars in 1610. Due to its proximity to the planet Earth (33.9 million miles), Mars was documented early. It is the fourth planet of the solar system, a dusty desert planet with an extremely freezing temperature and a fragile atmosphere. The planet is 250.67 million km away from the Sun, with two of its small-sized planetoids, Phobos and Deimos, discovered by American astronomer Asaph Hall in 1877. These planetoids resemble asteroids more than the moon. The bigger Phobos is barely 14 miles (22 km) wide, while the smaller Deimos is only 8 miles (13 km) wide, making them some of the solar system's tiniest moons.
In the time frame of Mars, a Martian year is almost two times longer than a year on the Earth which is 686.98 Earth days. The appearance of the Sun on Mars is approximately half the size it does on Earth. On Martian day, the sky is pinkish-red, which is the exact opposite of the Earth's sky. The distance between Mars and the Sun is responsible for creating the four seasons: autumn, summer, spring, and winter.
In the case of Martian soil, there are no organic matters in it. Technically, the soil on Mars is not of its own. The surface is covered with regolith, mainly lost materials from different planets or astronomical objects. NASA detected chlorine-based compounds such as calcium perchlorate in Martian soil at around 0.5%, making the surface toxic to humans and plants. The region of Mars is 144.8 million km, which is about 53% of the size of Earth.
Most people think that the temperature of Mars is warm due to its warm reddish color, but it is a wrong concept. The global temperature of Mars is around -80˚ F, and it has a much thinner atmosphere that cannot preserve heat very long. This planet is the home of our solar system's highest mountain. Moreover, the Olympus Mons, a volcano of Mars, which is roughly three times the height of Mount Everest, stands a whopping 24 km high! Due to the significantly weaker gravity of the Red Planet, we can jump on Mars three times higher than on Earth. NASA discovered a small amount of water on Mars. However, it was in the form of ice, which is poisonous because of Mars' toxic surface composition. Mars had a considerable amount of water 4 billion years ago, but now most of the amount is sucked by this red planet.
On 14–15 July 1965, NASA's Mariner 4 was the first successful flyby of Mars. On 14 November 1971, when it entered orbit around Mars, Mariner 9 became the first space-sonde to orbit another planet. As a part of NASA's Viking program, Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft to land on 20 July 1976. It was Mars' first successful landing in history. For 2245 sols, Viking 1 was operative on Mars.
Alyssa Carson is the first person ever to land on Mars at 20. She will be the youngest person ever in space and one of the first people on Mars. Alyssa graduated from the Advanced Space Academy at 16, becoming the youngest person. More than that, the first Mars mission crewed by SpaceX could start in 2024. Elon Musk says, "If we are getting fortunate, SpaceX could only be four years away from the first crewed mission on Mars."
In the context of Agriculture, some circumstances might stop plants from growing on Mars. However, Mars' soil has some nutrients to grow plants. Mars receives less sunlight and heat than the Earth from the Sun because the distance of Mars from the Sun is roughly 50 million miles. However, due to the high cold, planting may be difficult, but it is still possible in a controlled environment.
Mars' atmosphere contains 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, and other elements, but an unnoticeable amount of oxygen and water makes the atmosphere very thin and unbreathable to humans. These are the signs of hypoxia that can cause death to any human being on the surface of Mars.
However, one man has a different vision for Mars. Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, plans to turn Mars into a human colony. In a recent interview, Musk stated that he believes Mars could support a population of one million by 2050. His company plans to transport people to Mars using 1000 Starships, with up to three rocket launches daily. While Musk's plan may seem ambitious, it is not impossible.
With the right technology and enough resources, Mars could one day be home to humans. Who knows? Maybe, Mars is the key to finally discovering whether or not we are alone in the universe.
