For decade , humanity has been launching mission to Mars , in hopes of making sense of the mystery that is our solar system ’s most Earth - like planet . And as with all good mysteries , many of our investigations have merely lead to more question .
Among the most pressing of these question is whether Mars is , or ever has been , an environment hospitable to life — andon Saturday , NASA ’s Curiosity bird of passage embarked for the Red Planetto set on the button that . But the question of whether life ever thrived on Mars is just one of the Red Planet ’s many mystery story . Here are ten more that we count forward to finding answers to in the years onwards .
10 . The Martian Dichotomy
Also known as the hemispheric dichotomy , the Martian dichotomy is the conspicuous geological contrast between the planet ’s northern and southerly hemispheres . Simply put : the satellite ’s Southern cerebral hemisphere has a furrowed , crusty airfoil , while much of the satellite ’s Northern hemisphere stay relatively smooth . The northerly cerebral hemisphere is also , on average , about 1 - 3 kilometer lower in aggrandisement than the southerly hemisphere . The satellite ’s legato Northern Lowlands of Scotland and craggy Southern Highlands of Scotland are instance in the image featured here .
Scientists are unsure what give rise to the hemispheric duality , though the relative want of impact craters to the North has lead many of them to conclude that the mostly unblemished terrain of the Northern hemisphere is significantly younger than that of the pockmarked Southern highlands . potential explanations for a young - looking Northern cerebral hemisphere include plate tectonic cognitive operation and impingement — either in the signifier of multiple , smaller meteorologic bumps , or a single “ mega ” collision with a pluto - sized body that would have effectively move around Mars ’ Northern hemisphere into a gargantuan impact crater .
9 . What is the source of Mars ’ methane ?
Back in 2005 , the European Space Agency ’s Mars Express spacecraft detectedmethane in Mars ’ air . ( The figure feature here shows concentrations of Methane discovered on Mars . ) Here on Earth , much of our atmospheric methane is think to be produced by animation . But scientists do n’t intend methane could have cling around in Mars ’ atmosphere for very long ; whatever produced ( or is still produce ) the gas in all probability did so within the last 300 years . subterraneous methane - bring on microorganisms ? It ’s one of the lead hypotheses , one we ’d be happy to see substantiated , either by Curiosity when it starts rove in August , or byESA ’s ExoMars space vehicle , designed specifically to analyze Mars ’ methane , and schedule to establish in 2016 .
https://gizmodo.com/is-biological-life-the-source-of-martian-methane-5421778
8 . What ’s up with Phobos and Deimos ?
Phobos and Deimos are Mars ’ two lumpy little spud - form lunation , and how they come to be is a uncouth topic of debate among astronomers and astrophysicists ( pictured here is Phobos ) . The two most rough-cut hypothesis are that the two formed either by seizure ( that is to say they were once asteroids and were wrangled into Mars ’ orbital cavity by its gravity ) or by accumulation ( i.e. formed in the satellite ’s orbit following a monolithic hit , much like our own moon may have spring . )
https://gizmodo.com/the-moon-is-200-million-years-younger-than-expected-5832027
Russian scientists had hop that soil samples recovered by its Phobos - Grunt investigation might help moult visible radiation on this debate , but the space vehicle , unfortunately , failed to bequeath Earth orbit .
https://gizmodo.com/russias-mission-to-martian-moon-phobos-has-suffered-a-m-5857853
7 . So , NASA , are there phyllosilicates or not ?
Earlier this month , NASA foretell that their chance bird of passage had discoveredsomething completely young on the Red Planet ’s surface : a line of calorie-free - colored rock referred to by government agency scientists as “ Homestake . ” At the time , some scientists speculated that Homestake could provide hard grounds of the being of phyllosilicates — a class of mineral that form in the bearing of a watery ( and presumably life - well-disposed ) environment .
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-weve-discovered-something-completely-new-on-the-s-5857422
It ’s been a little over three calendar week since the find of Homestake was herald , and , as these effigy show , NASA has done quite a routine on the rummy rock outcrop in the process of canvas it . But the agency has yet to herald the results of its investigations ; did they get along up empty handed , are they still expect for more conclusive grounds , or are NASA scientist hold onto some game - changing word ?
6 . What lines the wall of Mars ’ juiceless chalk pits ?
Mars ’ poles are for good covered by large slabs of frozen carbon dioxide ( which you may lie with best as dry ice-skating rink ) , but near the end of every Martian summer , some of the wry ice at the planet ’s South Pole in reality defrosts , sublimate from its solid variant straight into flatulency . When it does , pitfall start out to form , and gradually expand in diam ( as a compass point of reference , the perdition featured in the centre of this simulacrum is about 200 foot across ) . The edges of these pits appear at first glance to be lined with gold — butthe true composition of the junk represent the walls of these pits stay a closed book .
https://gizmodo.com/the-beautiful-and-bizarre-dry-ice-pits-of-mars-5843745
5 . Was Mars ever home to liquid sea ?
Mars is presently colder and dryer than Antarctica , but several previous Mars missions have returned evidence that the Red Planet may have once been warm enough to host expansive oceans and winding stream . The question , then , is what happened ?
NASA ’s latest Mars rover , Curiosity , is the sizing of a Mini Cooper and has the wheelbase of a Hummer , making it bad enough to lug around the most sophisticated scientific payload of any bird of passage we ’ve ever send to space . Using its suite of scientific legal document , Curiosity will be able to analyze Mars ’ geology and place high-pitched resolve impression back to Earth that will help us make sense of its shifting mood conditions .
4 . Valles Marineris : The Grand Canyon of Mars
At over 3,000 km long , up to 600 kilometers across , and as much as 8 kilometers mystifying , Valles Marineris is the largest canyon in the entire Solar System . ( The canyon is clearly seeable slicing across the expression of Mars in the image boast here . Just imagine : you could fit over three Grand Canyons end - to - end across Valles Merineris ’ length ) .
How Valles Marineris formed has been a point of contention among scientists for decades , though one of today ’s leading hypotheses harbor that the geologic gash originated as a crack billions of years ago as the satellite cooled , and has constitute over the ages by rupture defect . Whether or not the mordant military unit of flowing swimming water represent a office in the canon ’s organization early in Mars ’ history is a possibility that stand to be sustain by investigating by NASA ’s Curiosity rover .
3 . Is the Martian open home to melted water , even to this Clarence Day ?
Mars ’ atmospherical pressure is too humbled and its climate far too dry to host liquid H2O on its open for any drawn-out menses of time , but there is evidence that streams ( at least little unity ) could very well run on the face of the Red Planet even today .
The trope featured here was put out by NASA back in August , and reveals clusters of sullen , narrow-minded product line that appear on the sloping control surface of Mars ’ Newton crater in the satellite ’s leaping and summertime month . Analyses conducted by planetal scientists at the University of Arizona have led researchers to conclude that these geological formation could be forming every twelvemonth due to ephemeral streams of liquid salt water .
2 . The Solar System ’s Largest detritus storm
Mars is in effect a global desert . That mean there ’s passel of dust to kick up when aviation gets to whipping around the planet ’s surface . In fact , Mars is habitation to what are widely see asthe large dust storm in the solar system . ( The serial of images featured here evince a junk storm chop-chop enfold the entire satellite . )
Scientists believe all Martian dust ramp to be driven by sunshine ; how they grow to be so declamatory , however , is something of a mystery story . According to Phil Christensen , a geophysicist who studies the Red Planet ’s bizarre storms , the answer could rest in planetary - scale , atmospherical feedback loops :
One theory holds that airborne rubble particle soak up sunshine and warm the Martian atmosphere in their vicinity . fond pockets of melodic line charge toward colder regions and generate air current . solid wind lift more dust off the ground , which further heats the atmosphere .
1 . Did life on Earth come from Mars ?
It sounds like an dreadfully big parachuting , especially when we ’ve yet to show that life ever existed on Mars in the first place , but it ’s an intriguing theory . The young Mars was potential the most Earth - like of all our solar system ’s satellite , and late experiments have shown that primitive microbes may have in reality been subject of enduring the interplanetary trip from Mars to Earth ( following , say , a major shock event ) . Could it be that thelast cosmopolitan common ancestororiginated not on Earth , but in outer space ?
https://gizmodo.com/the-ancestor-of-all-life-on-earth-might-have-been-a-gig-5862894
Top imagevia ; Valles Marineris viaViking Project / USGS / NASA ; Martian dry meth pits viaHiRISE / MRO / LPL / NASA ; Homestake before / after by NASA / JPLvia ; Martian dust storm viaNASA ; Phobos viaNASA / JPL / University of Arizona ; Martian dichotomy viaNASA / JPL ; Martian methane viaNASA ; Martian sea by Michael Carrollvia ; spring / summer geology via NASA / JPL / University of Arizona
Daily Newsletter
Get the best technical school , scientific discipline , and civilisation word in your inbox daily .
news show from the future , cede to your present .
You May Also Like
