Humans have been trying to learn as much as they can about Planet
Mars since 1965, ever since the first Mars flyby was done by NASA. Since
then, various international space agencies have contributed to what we
know about the Red Planet so far.
Today, most scientists have a
pretty good idea of Mars’ geological and atmospheric makeup. First,
Earth’s cousin is a very dry, dusty and cold planet. Next, the Red
Planet’s atmosphere only has one percent of the Earth’s density and the
air is 95 percent composed of carbon dioxide.
Mars also has no magnetic field like the ones on Earth that protect
us which means that the planet can’t deflect dangerous radiation from
space. This is one of the major hurdles that humans have to face should
the time comes for human colonies to be set up on the alien planet. Mars
is also known for its extreme temperatures and brutal storms so not
only would it be difficult for humans to survive but it’s also difficult
to fathom how any life could still be existing there at the moment.
Alluding to this, NASA astronaut and physiologist Dr. James Pawelczyk said in a report
that understanding the planet’s geological and atmospheric components
is the best way to understand what kind of living organisms to look for
in Mars.
“Once we move outside the Van Allen belts - the magnetic field around
our earth - then we're exposed to a much higher energy radiation forms.
We also have the solar wind galactic cosmic radiation. And those really
wreak havoc on the biology. When a high energy event hits DNA it pretty
much shatters, and we don't have DNA repair mechanisms that can deal
with that. So that's one of our big concerns for planetary exploration
is how we shield from cosmic radiation.”
Despite this, Pawelczyk
said that some sort of protection would make it possible to survive on
the Red Planet. “You can certainly use exotic forms of shielding like
magnetic shielding that really would be the best way. (But) the idea of
terraforming Mars is - at least with current technology - kind of
unrealistic,” he said in a video interview.
But putting this argument in place, the NASA scientist said that this
is already a clue on knowing what to look for when searching for life
on Mars - and scientists should start looking from beneath its surface.
“Survival
on Mars really means going underground,” the scientist said. Taking
this into consideration, life on Mars could mean aliens with tough
shells or protection that could shield life not only from radiation but
also from the extreme heat underground. This is also another way of
seeing what life would be like for humans who are starting a colony on
the Red Planet. “Possibly identifying lava tubes of creating our own thick-walled
structures but using the Martian surface. Normally, we take everything
with us when we go explore a planet. But now we'll be using the
resources of that planet to help us stay there. So that's why one of the
big efforts for looking for water. We know there's a lot of water on
Mars…but what we want to do is get to those points to study that water
see what it's all about but also understand how to use that in the
fractional gravity environment so that we can make oxygen. We can
combine it with CO2 and we can make other fuels so that we don't have to
take it with us from Earth,” he said.
Lorraine Lorenzo
Source News
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