It’s no secret that there are satellites probably hovering several kilometres above your head right now. A select few are scanning the universe for exoplanets that could hold living organisms like Mars had, or even more intelligent than mankind. The prime necessity for life to take its course is liquid water. For this, an exoplanet would have to be in a Goldilock’s zone- a temperature not too hot that water vaporizes, but not too cold that it solidifies- which is dependent on an ideal distance from its host star. Our red neighbouring planet is known, well, for its redness, but what most people don’t seem to know about it though is that Mars could have harboured life once upon a time, millions of years ago.
Evidence of flowing water is literally carved all over Mars, with sediments discovered that would only be found at the bottom of oceans, the same water cycle eventuating that we all learned as kids and a molten core just like Earth’s. This powered Mars’ magnetic field that in turn created a suitable atmosphere on the planet. However, due to its compactness, Mars’ core cooled off, magnetic field shut down, its atmosphere gradually stripped and made it prone to solarwinds, and air pressure dropped to almost zero. But that’s not all, its water bodies all evaporated and the exposed iron, that’s oh so abundant on the surface of the planet, all rusted- which is the cause for the planet’s red colour.
The European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) recently snapped a photo of Mars with an emerald-green halo, which confirms an oxygen-present atmosphere. Although this phenomenon was initially predicted to be on Mars, the picture finally confirms it and makes Mars the only other planet- apart from Earth- with this green emission captured. And for all our unanswered questions- yes, the atmosphere could in-fact be breathable soon.
( MARS IMPRESSION)
(EARTH)
Writer: Ariya Gupta
19/06/2020
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