Since elementary school, we have often received lessons about the planets in outer space, including Planet Mars. The planet Mars was famous and became the talk of scientists when the discovery of an atmosphere and rocks that were almost similar to rocks on earth.
In fact, there are many articles circulating on the internet that write that life has been found on the Planet Mars. Unfortunately, the articles that claim that life has been found on the Planet Mars do not yet have accurate evidence. Even today, no scientist has actually found evidence that there is life on Mars.
Planet Mars is the planet with the fourth order and is between Planet Earth and Planet Venus. The reddish color of the surface of Mars has earned it the nickname "Red Planet". The reddish-red color that causes Mars to be called the Red Planet is due to the very high content of oxides or iron found on the surface of Mars.
The planet Mars is much smaller than Earth. The radius of the Planet Mars is only half of the radius of the Earth. Just as Planet Earth has the Moon as its natural satellite, Planet Mars also has natural satellites. However, the number of natural satellites on Planet Mars is more than the natural satellites of Planet Earth.
The natural satellites belonging to the Planet Mars are called Phobos and Deimos. The Deimos satellite rose from the east in a very slow manner and it took almost three days for the Deimos satellite to finally set in the west.
Meanwhile, the Phobos Satellite is the opposite of the Moon which is a satellite of Planet Earth. The Phobos satellite rises in the west and sets in the east. The time between the first issue and the next issue is eleven hours.
The revolution that occurs on the Planet Mars when the planet revolves around the sun is six hundred and eighty-seven days. Meanwhile, the rotation of Planet Mars is twenty-five point sixty-two hours. With an axial tilt that is almost similar to Earth, Planet Mars has many similarities with Planet Earth.
Similarities of Planet Mars with Planet Earth
Planet Mars has the same atmospheric layer as Planet Earth. However, the atmosphere on Mars is much thinner than the atmosphere on Earth. Even though they both have an atmosphere, Mars is still uninhabitable by humans because the carbon dioxide content on Mars is very high.
Planet Mars has rock types that are almost the same as rocks on Planet Earth. Just like the surface of Planet Earth, the surface of Mars contains volcanoes, valleys, deserts, ice sheets and craters. The soil content on Mars also contains many elements of sodium, potassium, chloride, and magnesium.
These four elements are also found on Planet Earth because they are very important for plant growth. However, although Mars has these four important soil elements, there is still no known evidence that many plants live on Mars.
Planet Mars has two polar ice sheets just like the ice sheet on Planet Earth. The ice sheets at the two poles of Mars are as permanent as those at the north and south poles of Earth.
Just as Planet Earth has many caves in various places on its surface, so are those found on Planet Mars. The caves found on Mars are so deep and dark that the bottom is never visible.
On Planet Mars, you will find summer and winter the same as the seasons that occur on Planet Earth, but the length of the seasons that occur on Planet Mars is approximately twice the length of the seasons on Planet Earth. This is due to the distance of Planet Mars which is farther from Planet Earth when measured from the Sun.
The axial tilt of Planet Mars is very similar to the tilt of the axis of Planet Earth. Therefore, Planet Mars has a season that is almost the same as Planet Earth even though the duration is twice the length of the season that occurs on Planet Earth.
Research Never Do on Mars
Since 1965, Mars has been studied using an unmanned space probe called Mariner 4. This first study was carried out precisely about 14 or July 15, 1965.
Scientists have also been successfully sending the unmanned research aircraft that can be found on the surface of Mars. The two drones are an aircraft named Mars 2 which successfully landed on the surface of Mars on November 27, 1971.
Meanwhile, the second aircraft that successfully landed on the surface of Mars was Mars 3 on December 2, 1971. But unfortunately, the success achieved on the two drones only managed to land on Planet Mars and after that lost contact.
There are many more studies being carried out by scientists to investigate and look for more data from the Planet Mars. There are two more spacecraft belonging to the Soviet State, namely Phobos 1 and Phobos 2. Phobos 1 did not have time to reach the surface of Planet Mars.
Phobos 1 lost contact with the research center on Planet Earth while on its way to Mars. In contrast to Phobos 2, which succeeded in making imaging photos of Planet Mars and its Phobos Satellite, it failed when the Phobos 2 space satellite could not let go of its landing on the surface of Mars.
The space satellite that has survived for a long time in subsequent research is a satellite named Phoenix. This Phoenix satellite landed at the north pole of the Planet Mars on May 25, 2008. This Phoenix space satellite succeeded in conducting excavations in the soil on the Planet Mars and found the presence of ice sheets on the Planet Mars. The Phoenix satellite can last for about six years before it finally loses contact.
Scientists and space research centers belonging to NASA are never tired and bored to continue their research on Mars. Therefore, in 2001, NASA's space research center re-launched a space satellite called Odyssey. This Odyssey satellite has successfully entered the orbit of Planet Mars. However, again when landing on the surface of Planet Mars, this Odyssey satellite failed.
The space satellites that finally managed to land on Mars were the space satellites named Spirit and Opportunity. Both of these satellites successfully landed on the surface of Mars. In fact, both of them managed to find evidence of the existence of water in the past at the landing site of this satellite.
The two space satellites that successfully landed on the surface of Mars were launched in January 2004 and lasted a long time because the dust and wind storms that occurred around the two satellites actually helped clean the solar panels owned by the Spirit and Opportunity Satellites.