Will it be possible to live on Mars?

Alexis

· 22 Jul 2021

Will it be possible to live on Mars?

#science The Perseverance robot will collect the most interesting minerals and rocks. Two years from now, when Mars and Earth are close again, these samples can be recovered

Mars was like Earth, it had atmosphere, water, rivers, lakes and one day it suffered a greenhouse effect and desertified. Thousands of years later, just February 18, 2021, humanity took the robot Perseverance to the surface of the red planet to find out what happened.

Julieta Fierro Gossman, researcher at the UNAM Institute of Astronomy, explained that this feat is very important for science. “So we can understand about this misfortune, learn and care for our planet”.

13,000 years ago a meteorite crashed on Mars and Perseverance landed very close. The aim is to study this area, which could be the same as the Coahuila desert, which was once a large lake and is now full of fossils.

Exploring this site is very relevant. On the shores of the crater there are limestone deposits and on Earth this is the product of animals that were alive, had shells and shells. “Imagine what we could find”.

Although other sites will also be analyzed to search for fossils or micro-fossils, in total it will cover 28 kilometers.

The collection

Millions of years ago a meteorite crashed into Earth, dumped material into space and some fragments fell on the moon. In 1969 when mankind made its first moon landing, astronauts collected stones and among them brought one from Earth.

On our planet we have samples of Mars because some meteorites have hit the red planet and fragments have reached us, particularly at the South Pole. “These are very well distinguished on ice by their colour, so they were able to recover very well”.

However, in order not to make the same mistake as on the moon, Perseverance is ready. Within its mechanism there is a “little” helicopter that is capable of flying and taking photos and with them geologists on Earth will decide which rocks should be collected.

This robot carries a carousel with many “jars” and will collect the most interesting minerals and rocks. In two years, when Mars and Earth are close again, these samples can be recovered and analyzed. “This is a long-term project”.

What would happen if Mars were the same as Earth?

This would be very interesting because it would mean that one day there was a great effect on the sidereal space that distributed life in the Universe, but what if Martian life were totally different from ours? It would be fascinating, added Julieta Fierro.

“If in two worlds of the Solar System there were two different forms of life, let's imagine what the Universe would be like”.

The Perseverance also has a gold-covered box that aims to take samples of CO2, i.e. the air from Mars, to transform it into oxygen.

“If we ever decide to go live there, we'd better learn how to get oxygen”. Not only to breathe, but to have the first crops of plants and fuel that will allow us to return.

On this road, the first thing is to send missions to the moon which will be the next 2024. We will learn how to build modules that are also underground, because due to the cosmic rays of the Sun humans may suffer mutations.

This was proven with some Russian twins, one year lived in space and the other on Earth. When the first one returned home, doctors detected a series of mutations in his body.

Cosmic rays don't fall directly on Earth, because the Earth's magnetic field diverts them, but on the Moon and Mars does. For this reason, “we must build tunnels or shells for people to live”.

Once we can live on the Moon, the next step will be Mars, transforming it into a planet just like Earth and that our descendants can live there. This process could take more or less 300 years.

Links:
https://unamglobal.unam.mx/podriamos-vivir-en-marte-en-300-anos/
https://www.lavanguardia.com/magazine/personalidades/20210118/6181579/vivir-marte-proxima-frontera-ciencia-ficcion.html
https://www.assegur.com/totmagazine/vivir-en-marte/
https://elpais.com/retina/2018/11/22/innovacion/1542885033_677726.html