[오늘은] Is there life on the red planet Mars?

(Seoul = Yonhap News) One of the expedition members goes missing from a sand storm on Mars. The crew leaves Mars saying the missing man is dead, but the crew survives dramatically and uses ingenious wit to find a way to survive and make it known that he’s alive.

This is the content of Ridley Scott’s film ‘The Martian’ (2015), which depicts the story of surviving alone on Mars. This is a movie that makes you think that Mars, the planet right next to Earth, is really far away.

Today in 2012 is the day NASA’s Mars Rover ‘Curiosity’ successfully landed on the surface of Mars.

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◇ What kind of planet is Mars?

Mars, the fourth planet in the solar system, is called ‘Mars’ in English. The name comes from the Roman god of war (Greek god Ares). It is interpreted that the red color of Mars was named after war or blood.

In the East, planets are named according to the five elements (water, wood, fire, earth, and iron) that make up everything in the universe. Mars is derived from fire. Mars is also called 熒惑星 (熒惑星), which means a star that shows signs of disaster or war.

The average distance from Earth to Mars is 225 million km, which is farther than the average distance to the Sun (150 million km). It currently takes about seven months to reach Mars.

It is about half the diameter of the Earth, and its orbital period is 687 days, and its rotation period is 40 minutes longer than that of the Earth. Gravity is only one-third, so a person who weighs 100 kg on Earth weighs 38 kg on Mars.

Mars looks red because particles of iron oxide cover its surface.

The atmosphere is made up of 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, and 1.6% argon, making it impossible for humans to breathe in nature.

◇ Is there life on Mars or is there no life?

Mars has consistently attracted the attention of Earthlings because of the belief that there will be water and life there.

Scientists in the 1950s and 1960s speculated that there were plants and aliens there because the color of Mars in the near-infrared spectrum was similar to that of plants.

Human exploration of Mars began in 1964 with the US Mariner 4. Closer to Mars, 21 photos of the Martian surface were sent to Earth.

In 1969, Mariner 6 and 7 sent data such as atmosphere and temperature, and in 1971, Mariner 9 photographed about 70% of the surface of Mars, confirming the presence of water vapor and the possibility that a significant amount of water was present in Antarctica.

In 1971, the Soviet Mars 3 was the first to land on Mars. As soon as it landed, it was engulfed in flames and communication was cut off.

Then, in 1975, the US Vikings 1 and 2 successfully landed on Mars. And they sent me pictures of the red sky, meteorite craters, and canyons. However, it did not lead to a definitive conclusion about the existence of life.

◇ Why do you keep sending rovers?

Beginning in the 1990s, the United States began sending rovers to explore Mars.

Existing methods of taking pictures over Mars and collecting data when a probe arrives have limitations in finding traces of life.

In 1997, the Sojourner arrived on Mars for the first time as a rover, and in 2003, Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars side by side, finding geological evidence that Mars had liquid water in the past.

‘Curiosity’, which arrived on Mars in 2012, also found traces of what is believed to be a lake and organic molecules containing carbon, a component of life.

Spirit and Opportunity have ceased operations, but Curiosity is still exploring.

◇ Who will win the Mars exploration competition?

Last year, three spacecraft arrived on Mars side by side, drawing attention from people around the world.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) probe ‘Al-Amal’ (Hope) entered Mars orbit on February 10 last year, and the US rover ‘Perseverance’ on February 19, China’s Tianwen問) 1 landed on the surface of Mars on May 15th.

In particular, China, with its ‘Space Exploration’, challenged the space exploration sector, which the United States has dominated, through the Ten One-1 spacecraft. We succeeded in orbiting Mars, landing, and deploying a rover at the same time.

U.S. Perseverance has successfully tested rock samples and extract oxygen from carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere, which can be used to respire astronauts or fuel rockets.

In addition, the ‘Insanity’ carried on Perseverance opened a new horizon of planetary helicopter exploration by flying a total of 19 times.

Recently, the United States, China, and Japan are competing for Mars samples.

Japan plans to bring soil or rock samples from Mars to Earth in 2029, China in 2031, and the United States in 2033 to check for the existence of life.

By Lim Dong-geun, by Jang Jin-ah, intern reporter

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