Category: Mars

Going to Mars would be fun and all, but how would you feel leaving your whole entire life behind, and everyone you love. We are trying to populate Mars with humans by the year 2023 and a lot of people seem excited about it. But there’s a lot more to it. We’re talking a whole different planet in which we don’t even 100% understand yet. Yes, in the future it might be the only key to human survival, but would it be ideal to populate a completely different planet with our kind? Especially with this little time?

Doing something this grand shouldn’t just be done for fun. It requires lots of thinking and planning. In other words. We need a really good reason to put humans on Mars. I was reading about how MarsOne wanted to take part in the human settlement and they seemed really eager and excited. They had a section in which you can donate up to $200 a month going towards research meaning they’re not even that advanced, so why should we trust a company so small with something so big? We’ll, a good reason, but… Their main reason was because it’s “the realization of a dream” and how it will be a moment to remember. They are missing the point of how dangerous and extreme this is, and to me this looks like a whole inexperienced group of people we cannot trust.

The thing most important that nobody is talking about is how different Earth is from Mars. We have these big plans and everyone is getting hyped up, but there are so many ways for us to die on Mars within seconds. The air we breathe is an essential to living. Earth’s atmosphere is 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. Mars on the other hand, has an atmosphere made up of 95% carbon dioxide. But, that’s no surprise, as there are no trees on Mars. If we breathe the air on Mars, we would die of hypoxia in minutes (lack of oxygen reaching our tissues) and from the toxic red dust which makes up the whole planet. Because it is very dry and fine, we would be inhaling it, causing it to get into our lungs. But, that’s just two reasons to why we can’t live there. Another would be it’s deadly temperature. A regular summer day on Mars is about 21 degrees. But by night, it goes all the way down to -60 degrees. People here are dying because of how cold it is in winter. Imagine a winter 54.6 million more kilometers farther. First the atmosphere, then the dust, and now the temperature. All things we cannot control/change.

Let’s say everything goes right and Mars is habitable. Humans land, astronomers are cheering, the world is celebrating, but… now what? There is now money to make or to buy things, there’s no technology yet, no structures/buildings, nowhere to go to work, nothing to entertain you, all you probably have is hundreds of people living in this metal block building with canned beans and bottled water. People would go crazy out of their minds from how bored they are. Plus, you can’t rebuild a whole entire planet. It took 200 000 years for planet earth to become what it is today. From houses, to stores, to landmarks, to amusement parks, no matter how advanced we are, it is going to take us much, much longer than four years to start from scratch again.

Gathering people to go to the red planet might be harder than we think. Children would be most excited, but it is the adults who are making the decision as to the fact that it is too much of a big decision for them to make. To many people, they don’t want to leave because their whole life is here. Their family, their friends, their job, basically everything they been working towards since the day they were born. To go to Mars, you need to be 100% certain that it is what you want to do, because it’s a one way trip, meaning there is not enough fuel to take you back to earth if you wanted too.

When thinking of human settlement on Mars, most people see the future, but what I see, and hopefully you now do too, is our planets neighbour which we are better off sending rovers too. It’s now obvious that the planet isn’t anywhere near habitable for humans so we need to accept our destiny that once times up, times up and we should make use of the 1.7 billion years we have left because for now, Earth is our only home.

Can life really exist anywhere else in the universe other than Earth? Does this presence of life prove the existence of aliens? Till now, Mars is the only planet which has shown some kind of signs of possibility of the existence of life on it. The research on this very topic has been going on for many years. Many found signs of life and many others disregarded those studies. But now, after countless studies on the topic, it is largely believed that might really be some kind of life that exists on the red planet.

Emeritus William Romoser, a professor at Ohio University, has been doing detailed research and study on this very topic. He claims that the planet Mars has always had some kind of life on it. Romoser supports his claim by showing internet images taken of the planet where he highlights what looks like an insect on Mars!

There are still many researches going on about the topic. The studies which have already been completed conclude that there is apparent diversity among the Martian insect-like fauna which show many similarities which the insects found on Earth. The images taken of the Red Planet show the existence of life-forms which look somewhat similar to reptiles and bee like insects. The pictures which show the existence of Martian insects, even though are blurry, show different body parts of the insect. On Earth an insect is identified by the presence of three regions of its body, presence of a single pair of antennae, and around six legs. These characteristics should likewise be valid enough to identify any organism as an insect, even if found on another planet. The insect-like forms which can be seen in the photos taken of the Mars surface somewhat match these characteristics and hence, labelling them as insects should not be incorrect.

Some researchers though do not agree with Romoser on his findings. They say that the proof which the professor is providing with is not authentic enough. The ‘insects’ which he has highlighted can just merely be rocks or blops on the image. There is no proper believable image proof for the discovery which he claims to have made. They also say that one cannot simply believe such a big claim just because of something which is just a guess and was found in a blurry picture. They refuse to come in terms with the fact that the insect like forms which he discovered in the pictures really are insects on Mars, they can even be shadows if one wants to call it that.

Although it has not yet been proved whether or not life really exists on Mars, but the results which have come from all these researches should not spark the interest of other researchers and organizations to study this topic in more detail. This way we can possibly get an answer of the question ‘Is the existence of life on another planet possible?’

Abstract

20th century, our life on other planets has drastically changed we see ourselves to proceed towards reaching different planets and hold the key to discovery life outside of earth. This research paper comprises the technologies that we ever imagined it comprise of rover that is main technology of gaining the resources as images or the type of surface. There are more to discover through these technologies but till now what we have discovered is that there are organic molecules in sedimentary rocks dating to three million old.

Introduction

NASA: The National Aeronautics Space administration of the United States they work for the space programs, for the aerospace and aeronautics research it was established in 1958 [1]. If we look at past, we would see that there is a large advancement in the technologies for the exploration of the space, the decision that we took long ago is now showing its results through these technologies [2-3]. These technologies are very useful in the sustainability development, economic feasibility and NASA has now has the potential that they could solve the global problems [4]. It could be clearly seen that each and every time NASA HAS made records through their remarkable technologies that could get images of the space or working for the existence of the life on other plants all of these truly shows the hard work, knowledge and the efficacy of the NASA space Program. The whole credit of the team of the development of these technologies as it requires a tank loaded brain to solve the problems of the Space and research development [5]. NASA is always looking forward to new concept that includes telescopic swarms and the technologies which include mapping of the surfaces.

Technologies that were used for Mars Mission

The main object of NASA is to push its boundary and lead their innovations give the contribution towards the development of the future. NASA has proven time and time again how intrinsic it is in developing space technologies that then are innovated into consumer products which further sustainable development. One of the major parts of sustainable development is fixing environmental disasters which NASA has proven to excel at. These balls absorb the oil that would otherwise decimate unique ecosystems and even serve as a kind of fish food when they decompose (US Space Program Benefits). In addition, NASA protected people using a technology originally developed to protect space technology [6].

Rovers:

Rovers are created as a mechanical equipment that could move from one place to another as shown in Fig. 2. There are different type of maste mounted which gives 360 degree view with two eyed like humans which could help in exploring the images could include microscopic imager for taking close shots of the rocks and soil. These are also used for determining minerology and different types of land [7].

Propulsion:

Modifying a Rocket

The most powerful vehicle that uses large amount of energy that is in more development in the vehicle is delta || “heavy” rocket. On august 2004, the seventh mission of mercury was launched. NASA has more than 40 successful launches.

Reason for Differences

As the distance between earth, mars and sun changed in between two rovers launch periods. So, it took different amount of energy [Fig. 3].

ower innovation for Mars Mission

The source of power taken into work for running the mission is of solar power type solar arrays are setup on panels which were specially design to maximize the area of solar cells that derived energy from sun. The solar cells collect energy from sunlight.

Later on, NASA added up triple junction. And this was implemented on space 1 mission, these cells are able to absorb more sunlight and can supply more to the rover’s re-chargeable lithium batteries [8].

These rovers were able to produce about 900watt hours of energy per day, which provides sufficient time for the exploration as shown in Fig 4.

Telecommunication innovation for Mars Exploration

The ROVERS “talk” to Mars Odyssey, which is constantly orbiting the red planet. It takes the orbiter to go from horizon to horizon for about 10 minutes. There is rover’s UHF antenna which communicate s with odyssey which is only come due to the increase of technology from the vast majority of science data [5].

Another spacecraft, returned about eight percent of all data before the spacecraft stopped communication with earth in November 2006, following 10 years of operation [Fig. 5]. A small amount of data has been returned directly to earth via the X – band link. Orbiter with more capable X- band communication system can transmit data to earth at a faster rate. The antenna is built to receive data and they built on spacecraft and is limited given all of it that rely on them [2].

Engineering in Space

It is built by path finder autonomy developed by Camegie Mellon University. Two other embedded applications combine software and hardware performance [Fig 6]. It stabilizes motor control fist. The rover wheels and the brushes on the rock abrasion tools. The time flight component is a battery-controlled board that balances the charge on batteries, control the clock. A total of twenty cameras aid and the twin rovers are there in search for the past presence of water on mars. The mission provides the highest resolution pictures of mars. These are the advancement of cameras that work on other planets [3-4].

For the new exploration by computing and commanding the technologies that operates the spacecraft. It also helps in operating the rovers and for monitoring the robotic missions and for navigation and to avoid accidents software. Engineers on Earth are sent sequence of details of the different tests that are done by the rovers to explore the conditions of the Mars.

Result of these technologies searching the Signs of Water and life conditions

The Mars exploration done by NASA which could be seen through the researches that the microbial life with the normal conditions. The rovers that shows us the more information of the surface conditions of the MARS planet [Fig 7].

Soaked in Salty Waters Long Ago

As far the Mars is seen to be as planet that a place where life could be possible but we have highly seen the presence of the Acidic soaked areas where the presence of water could be more acidic which could be a more research could be done in the conditions of water.

Conclusion

Currently, NASA focuses on the search of life and water, as the main part for Mars research, and has created huge amount of success in missions the space agency is now at a position where they could answer the questions about life and existence of living on Mars. But it’s not the end there is still investigation for their chemical and fossil.

References

1. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/nlab/ref_pubs.htm
2. https://history.nasa.gov/refcoll.html
3. https://www.hq.nasa.gov/oss/docs/LibSer_SOP_Ref.pd
4. www.informationvine.com/NASA+Research
5. The case for mars – Robert Zubrin
6. Mars Direct – Robert Zubrin
7. Hoffman, S. J., & Kaplan, D. I. (1997). Human exploration of Mars: the reference mission of the NASA Mars exploration study team.
8. Swanson, T. D., & Birur, G. C. (2003). NASA thermal control technologies for robotic spacecraft. Applied thermal sengineering, 23(9), 1055-1065.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed a spacecraft Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and launched on November 7, 1996 for studying Mars’s surface. It accomplished its primary mission on January 2001 and was continuing its third mission after extension. It was working perfect for 9 years, 52 days until a problem in the software caused it to come to a halt. [1] The Mars Global Surveyor orbiter transmit its last signal with Earth on November 2, 2006. [1]

For redundancy and error checking, the spacecraft was supposed to hold system software’s two copies. Later updates to the software unexpectedly experienced a human error when two independent operators updated separate copies with dissimilar parameters. So, they made few corrective updates that unintentionally involved a memory which resulted into the loss of the spacecraft. Formerly, on November 2005, two operators had unknowingly changed the same parameter on two different copies of the system software. Each operator had used somewhat distinct precision while inputting a parameter and that resulted in a compact but noteworthy difference in the both the copies. The succeeding memory display output disclosed this instability to the mission’s team. To correct this error, a software update was made in June 2006 which was prompting data for being written to the wrong computer memory address on the spacecraft because of which NASA lost the contact with it. So, the bug was the update that they tried in June 2006 in which two memory addresses were handled mistakenly which could enable values to be written into the wrong memory addresses.

“Five months later, in November, the troublesome memory addresses were called but the bug caused the solar panels to get stuck as MGS was unable to correctly reposition its solar panels and went into contingency mode. While doing that, fallacious data led it to position itself so that one out of two batteries were disclosed to direct sunlight.” [2] The power management program of the MGS elucidated the battery overheating as an overcharge. The recharging of the battery was also blocked. The remaining battery was unable to recharge to a satisfactory extent and then both were evacuated out of power. [2] An antenna was repositioned by another software error and the contact with the Earth was cut off which left ground control human resources in the dark about the spacecraft’s problems related to thermal and power.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft tried to image MGS to make sure that the position of the spacecraft is accurate on November 20, 2006 but the attempt was failed. [3] Within 11 hours of that transmission, NASA presumed that the drained batteries had left the craft without adjusting its direction in the Mars orbit and NASA officially terminated to recontact the MGS without resolving the problem and ceased the mission on January 28, 2007. [2] On April 13, 2007, NASA declared that the MGS was lost because of a fault in a parameter update to its system software.

References

1. R. Gawel, ‘NASA Blames Software Glitch For Mars Global Surveyor Failure,’ 23 APRIL 2007.
2. M. L. Songini, ‘Computer glitch led to Mars Global Surveyor’s demise,’ 27 APRIL 2007.
3. E. Howell, ‘Mars Global Surveyor: A New Generation of Space Probes,’ 11 APRIL 2016.

Introduction

For many years now, people have theorized how and when all life on Earth can no longer be sustained. Whether it is the theory that Earth itself will explode or that the conditions on Earth will become too extreme to support life or any other of the many theories, it is uncertain when this inevitable event will occur. This is one of the reasons why Mars exploration is so important today. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, neighbouring Earth and Jupiter. It is approximately 229 million km from the Sun and 55 million km from Earth. Mars is 6790 km in diameter which is around half the size of Earth. It is also called the “Red Plant” because of its bright rusty colour from oxidized iron minerals in the soil that cover its surface1**. The ultimate goal of Mars exploration programs is to be able to compare its qualities to the qualities of Earth that has made it possible for Earth to sustain life. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) defines ‘life’ as “a self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution”. Darwinian evolution suggests that all organisms develop through natural selection to increase their overall fitness in their specific environment2. Scientists are interested in exploring Mars rather than other planets because it is believed that it used to have the potential to host life. Today, Mars is cold and dry, but there is compelling evidence that is used to be much warmer and wetter. An example of this is the finding of sedimentary and volcanic rock on Mars. The formation of sedimentary usually requires water and volcanic rock is the solidification and cooling of molten rock3. Mars is also close to Earth in comparison to the other planets so it is less expensive to get rovers there and it is also much easier and has a higher success rate of landing because of the shorter distance. Currently, there is no solid evidence of any life forms, past or present,

on Mars. However, there have been previous mission that have found promising observations. Some pieces of evidence include; small quantities of methane have been found in Mars atmosphere that can be an indicator for microscopic life, the Viking lander found positive results for chemical reactions in organisms, the Curiosity rover that found compounds necessary if microscopic life was present, and meteorites that contain bacteria-resembling structures on them4. However, these findings are not significant enough to indefinitely prove that Mars has ever been or currently has potential to be populated by microbial life.

Statement of Aim:

The objective of this report is to determine whether life has ever been present on Mars or whether Mars has the potential to support any life forms.

The Potential for Life on Mars

There are many different factors that contribute to making a planet habitable. These factors must also be proportionate with each other because the slightest imbalance can result in a volatile environment that is ultimately unlivable. In order for a planet to be habitable, the surface must have an average temperature of minus 15˚C to 115˚C as liquid water can still exist under those conditions, it must have water readily available, it must have a sufficient-sized atmosphere to protect itself from radiation and/or meteorites, it must have a steady source of energy, and it must have nutrients present. Many studies have determined that Mars has potential to become habitable but would require certain technologies and advancements. In order to maintain long-term habitation on Mars, we would have to learn how to convert the abundance of raw Martian materials into other essential resources.

Many of the gases most prevalent in Mars atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, nitrogen gas and argon, which takes low power to separate and has been taking place on Earth for over a century now. Nitrogen is compulsory for life. It is found in all proteins and in organic materials, foods and many other Earth components5. Nitrogen makes up 78% of the Earth’s composition. Nitrogen also makes for a thick enough atmosphere to stabilize liquid water on the planet’s surface. When the atmosphere is not thick enough, water will vaporize. There is proof that billion of years ago, on Mars, the atmosphere was thick enough to hold liquid water on its’ surface. The Viking Orbiter, which was sent to Mars in 1975, brought back images with evidence of surface water6.Today, Mars’ atmosphere is too thin for water. The reason for Mars’ thinning is believed to be because of it’s light gravity and it’s lack of global magnetic field, making Mars vulnerable to solar winds from continuous pressure from the sun.

This would strip the lighter molecules, thinning out the overall atmosphere of Mars, which also lead to the cooling and drying out of Mars7. Carbon dioxide is needed in the planet’s atmosphere to sustain life because it protects the planet’s surface from radiation and keeps the planet warm8. Argon can also be separated with technologies and used for converting to resources necessary for maintaining life. Now, Mars is very dry compared to Earth. It has polar caps with water-ice and carbon dioxide dry ice. The water has potential to be purified and consumed or electrolyzed in order to make oxygen and/or hydrogen. This possible supply of water and other natural gases provide optimism that there is potential for life on Mars with some modifications. The third piece of evidence that Mars meets living requirements is the amount of available energy. Surface abundance measurements of hydrogen and carbon monoxide were taken of Mars. The measurements were taken during a study in 1988 by Lellouch et al. that mapped out the wave observations of carbon monoxide isotopes using a radiotelescope9.These observations displayed that only a small fraction of the available gases were actually being consumed and used for energy. This means that there is a large percentage of unused energy available for organisms to use10. More research needs to be conducted in order to get specific answers to the question of whether or not Mars has the potential to sustain life. However, there is also the possibility that we have already come across life on Mars but are just unable to recognize this life form because of its unique qualities11.

Analogue Studies of Life on Mars

Since recent Mars missions have concluded that there used to be a presence of water on its surface, it has increased people’s inclinations that Mars was housing some form of life or still currently is. As Mars thinned out, it lost it’s moisture and became cold. The water pockets dried into saline brine pockets within the permafrost. These pockets could potentially be a home for extant Martian microbes or the last refuge of an extinct organism. Deposits that come from the evaporation of salt-water are called evaporites. On Earth, some evaporites have bacterial and algal accumulations. Those organisms are most likely halophiles, which are organisms that survive best in salty conditions. A study was done to determine the survival potential of microbes in frozen evaporites. Different types of halophiles were subjected to a freeze-thaw cycle under dry conditions by washing them in high concentrations of sodium chloride.

Each of the different halophiles used in this experiment survived at different conditions, whether it was being exposed to a higher sodium chloride concentration for a longer period of time, or they were incubated at a lower temperature. The survival rates were specific to the needs of the individual halophiles from their environment. However, E. Coli and P. Fluorescens did not survive the drying or freezing process. The data recorded from this experiment proposes that certain halophilic microbes can survive extremely dry and/or coldconditions, similar to the environment on Mars. There may be evidence of extinct halophiles in brine pockets within the permafrost or even possibly evidence of extant Martian microbes currently thriving in extreme conditions12. Another analogous study using Mars-like conditions investigated the effect of fatigue and long working hours on cognitive performance. 30 astronauts were selected to perform an experimental simulation in the MDRS (Mars Desert Research Station in Utah), which is an analog Mars surface habitat13. 10 of the members selected were commanders and the other 20 members had positions that required lower amounts of leadership.

The experiment spanned over 14 days. The groups were tested on day 1, 7 and 14. They had to complete salivary cortisol level testing, heart rate variability testing , muscular fatigue testing and their sleeping patterns were also observed. They were also asked to fill out a subjective questionnaire, rating their sleepiness, as well as completing neuro-behavioural tests. The average working hours of the leadership group over the course of this simulation was significantly higher than the normal group. The leadership group also reported to be more fatigued. There were no other significant differences in the results and most importantly, the overall cognitive functioning and developmental performance score was not significantly different between the two groups14. Based on the results of this study, one can assume trained individuals can perform adequately under extreme conditions, increasing the chances of a successful mission, potentially for discovering life forms on Mars.

Conclusion

The search for life on Mars, or previous life forms on Mars, is ongoing. While there have some pieces of evidence proving that Mars is capable of sustaining life, it is not significant enough. If information can continuously be gathered about the qualities of Mars, it can provide more answers as to why Earth can sustain life and what next steps humans can take in order to make Mars a habitable planet.

The Role of IP Laws in aiding Colonization of Mars

The Intellectual Property Rights, as defined by the World Trade Organisation, means rights that a person has over “creations of his mind”. Thus, IP Laws ensure the protection of enforcement of these rights over one’s ideas, inventions, designs and other technological developments.

From one perspective, the scope of IP Laws may be believed to be restricted to promoting individual self-interest for financial gains. However, another way of looking at the IP system depicts the role it plays in expanding the reach of new innovations and discoveries. In light of the latter view, IP system can have a huge part in assisting the mission to Mars.

The following sections delve deeper into how intellectual property can find a place in operation of settlement on the Red Planet.

Financing the Mission

One of the biggest challenges that the expeditions faces is the financial expenses.

While the technology required to reach Mars in itself would cost billions, the amount and resources required for settlement in itself would be humongous. According to Pascal Lee , the operation for sending a single person to Mars could reach up to $1 trillion, spread over the next 25 years.

The colonization would require several resources for making the planet liveable. Huge strides in technology and infrastructure would be essential for this. For example, a great volume of fuel would be required that must be protected against the temperature variabilities regularly, so as to prevent any explosions. Another major challenge is the colony sustainability in itself. Lack of basic resources such as water, oxygen, gravity and other resources make the task of settling tougher.

Thus, we can conclude that the dream of reaching Mars is not simple, and definitely not cheap. Following this realisation, the question arises how the government or the private institutions can accumulate such a sum?

A solution to this issue can be found in two concepts: crowdfunding and brand-funding.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding refers to the process by which people finance a particular operation by accumulating money through various modes such as online websites, fundraisers etc. This machinery aids the founders of various ventures to finance their efforts by drawing small payments from a large number of people, without the involvement and intervention of financial intermediaries. According to Freeman and Nutting, the concept of crowdfunding is nothing new and has been used for several years in exchange for equities in the company or venture for which the contributions are being raised.

Mars exploration and eventual, colonization would result in great technological advancements and discoveries. These developments would not only result in scientific benefits, but also yield commercial profits for the people on Earth in form IP rights. Thus, the citizens can be encouraged to contribute to the operation as an investment opportunity for ensuring financial backing to the whole mission.

Brand-funding

Brand-funding is another mode of raising revenue. It could be considered an indirect method of crowdfunding. This involves owners of certain brands sponsoring a particular venture in return of visibility of their brand on the final produce.

The idea of brand-funding could really help in collection of massive amounts of revenue. The kind of exposure that the mission would help the products gain is incomparable. For example, a product could find place on the spaceship en route to the Red Planet. This level of advertisement is any product and brand owner could ask for.

This mechanism is not only limited to taking off but also to actual settlement on Mars. We must realize that the whole idea of the expedition has been to ensure another planet for human settlement. Thus, Mars is a new territory altogether and must be treated as such for various commercial enterprises and commodities. Licensing agreements on lone usage and shipment of goods and products to Mars would ensure a “planet-wide exclusivity” for the brands and protection of other IP rights and privileges for decades.

The idea of being the first soap/shoes/or any other product to be used on Mars would tempt many huge corporations to back the endeavour. Hence, it is a rational and realistic assumption that product owners would compete to participate in the mission. Brand auctioning can also be used to increase the money raised., where different corporate houses could bid for the top position. This idea is very much in line with patent auctions as well.

Both the mechanisms of crowd and brand-funding, as powerful marketing and publicity tools, would not only bring enormous sums of monies, but also help in ultimately sharing the risk of what is probably the biggest project undertaken in the scientific history of mankind.

The study of the various forms of biological evidence of past life on Mars, one of the smallest planets found in the Solar System, is an issue of controversy. Mars represents a dry desert-like environment with cold weather conditions which are not habitable for any of living organisms originated on Earth. The average temperature on the surface of Mars is defined as −60°C, while “the atmospheric pressure is near the triple point of water: 120 times lower than sea level pressure on Earth” (McKay, 2010, p. a003509). According to the experts engaged in space exploration, there is a hypothesis that “prokaryotes and eukaryotes may have colonized Mars” (Rhawn et al., 2019. p. 40). Today, scientists and researchers are interested in the exploration of the unique soils of Mars in order to find the the real signs of human life on the so-called Red Planet. Their motivation depends on their efforts to evaluate the availability of habitable conditions on Mars. It is known that the soil on Mars contains iron minerals most of which have red colour because of the influence of the intensive processes of oxidation and rusting. The signs of water activity on the surface of Mars support the idea of the need for seeking scientific evidence of previous lives. If scientists succeed in determining the nature of biochemistry and genetics-related processes of past life on this planet, there will be a chance to evaluate the biological remains found in the soil.

To start with, in recent study, a group of researchers from India and Italy, including Rhawn Gabriel Joseph, Regina S. Dass, V. Rizzo, N. Cantasano, and G. Bianciardi (2019), collected sufficient amount of evidence that showed the basis for supporting the universal hypothesis that “Mars was and is a living planet” (p. 41). The living conditions on this planet are appropriate for such organisms as prokaryotic species, lichens, and fungi. The survival of these primitive species in the environment similar to the Martian one can prove the fact that past life on the Red Planet was a reality. Moreover, NASA’s scientists used their Mars Viking Labeled Release experiments to demonstrate the evidence which supported biological activity of organisms in the Martian environment consisted of an atmosphere, a hydrosphere, a cryosphere and a lithosphere. These four systems are found on Earth too.

However, there are some groups of scientists and researchers who have already conducted the study that proves certain difficulties in finding true evidence of human life on Mars. The results of their study point out to the fact that acidic fluids found on the surface of Mars may have led to the loss of the biological evidence of iron-rich clays of the planet’s soil. The key goal of the study was to assess the negative effects of exposure of the Red Planet to radiation, as mentioned by researchers in their article. They performed the proper scientific analyses which incorporated several techniques that “showed higher photodegradation of glycine in the acid-treated nontronite, triggered by decarboxylation and deamination processes” (Gil-Lozano et al., 2020, p. 1). This fact means that the focus on the experimental approach allows scientists and researchers learning more about the Martian harsh environmental conditions. The use of clay and amino acids in the scientific experiments places emphasis on the full degradation of any biological material on the Red Planet because of the negative impact of amino acids found on the surface of Mars on the clay’s ability to protect biological evidence of existence of living organisms (Gil-Lozano et al., 2020). Anyway, recent observations aimed at searching for life on Mars demonstrated the usefulness of the clay surface soils found on this planet because the clay, as the natural material, can provide protection to any form of the molecular organic substance if placed inside.

Furthermore, the various forms of observations of the current environment of Mars and the species’ adaptability to the possible conditions on the surface have negative outcomes in supporting another hypothesis that transferring human life from Earth to Red Planet is possible. Some groups of scientists involved in Martian exploration studies predict that many airborne microbes, fungi, lichens, and algae may have reached Mars after being “repeatedly lofted into the upper atmosphere” in order to multiply in this environment (Joseph et al., 2019, p. 43). The survival of these species can show their physical and biological abilities to overcome the multiple challenges, such as the adverse impact of violent hyperactivity, high level of acceleration of the process of ejection into open space, extremely low temperatures, and other harsh surface conditions. To put it another way, the existence of biological evidence of past life on Mars can help scientists to conduct more comprehensive research studies which are important for drawing relevant conclusions on life on Mars.

Thus, it is necessary to conclude that scientists should continue their studies aimed at identifying the key biochemistry and genetics-related processes of past life on Mars because the obtained results could help to evaluate the biological remains in the soil, as well as determine if the evidence of life on this planet was sufficient for new experiments to transfer life from Earth to the Red Planet. There is a need for considering the fact that numerous primitive species, such as microbes, bacteria, algae, fungi, and lichens, survived in the environment similar to the Martian one could multiply on Mars and bring life on this planet. However, this evidence is still vague.

The weather here on Earth is ideal for life because this is where it evolved. Choosing the right planet in our Solar System to terraform in order for it to sustain is going to be a difficult task no matter the circumstances as there are so many limits as well as possible things that can go wrong and act as pushbacks. One of these limits is the weather, this includes the overall climate on a given planet and also the range of temperature. Temperature is arguably the most important factor when we consider the weather conditions for a planet that could be colonised as it would be very difficult for a very cold planet to be terraformed successfully. For example, cooling down Venus would require advanced technology which we do not possess at the moment but which we could be in the next twenty years.

Warming up Mars on the other hand could be done with our current technology. Earth’s average temperature is around 14°C, whereas in Mars the mean temperature is -63°C, which is far below freezing.This is partly because Mars has a much thinner atmosphere, which is in fact only 1% the thickness of Earth’s atmosphere. If we want life to survive sustainably on Mars we will have to make it thicker and change its composition. One strategy that could do this is triggering a greenhouse effect, meaning any heat from the Sun’s radiation is trapped, heating Mars all over. There are multiple ways to do this, like using methane mined from the rocks on Mars, carbon dioxide depending on if there is enough or ammonia. Using ammonia is the most likely way to do this. We can get the amount of ammonia needed by smashing ice-rich comets from the outer Solar System.

Ammonia is mostly nitrogen by weight, once we get to the point of releasing oxygen on Mars through plantlife, an atmosphere similar to Earth’s could be formed like it was millions of years ago. This would result in a thicker overall atmosphere, meaning a higher atmospheric pressure that would allow humans to possibly live there. As a result, the atmosphere will warm the planet and allow for a colony to be built. This can sound like quite an insane plan but, warming up Mars will be the hardest part of terraforming it and so far it is the best one scientists have come up with. After warming up Mars, the next step of terraforming it would be to melt its polar ice caps. By melting them we will have a large liquid water supply. Therefore, by having water on Mars, the source of life, we can have the environment for all life. We can for example, make changes to the Martian soil and make it suitable and fertile which will allow us to grow plants and produce abundant crops and vegetation. This will not only biologically terraform Mars, but also visually as all sorts of life will be able to live there.

However, it is a known scientific fact that Mars does not have a magnetosphere, it was a major factor of why Mars lost its Earth-like atmosphere. Mars’ global magnetic field shut down around 4.2 billion years ago. This meant that it had no protection from solar wind and powerful Sun explosions. These events resulted in Mars’ losing most of its atmosphere.This is a big disadvantage as it means there isn’t an abundance of carbon dioxide in Mars’ rocks to be released. Carbon dioxide is a vital substance in order for us to trigger a greenhouse effect on Mars. Unfortunately, this means that any atmosphere we do manage to kickstart will have a limited lifetime. Eventually, it will be stripped away exactly like it did billions of years ago.