Signs of life on Mars!

Mars and Venus are our closest neighbors in the solar system. If Mars is in a particularly favorable position, it's only 55.6 million kilometers away from us on its elliptical orbit. Then we see it as bright red with the naked eye standing in the night sky. Astronomers observed strange processes on Mars as early as the 17th century. Due to the change in color and Earth-like surface structures, it was soon assumed that life existed on Mars. If you like our videos, please support us with a thumbs up, subscribe to Simply Space, and look forward to the videos that will be waiting for you in the future. Mars is a rocky planet, just like the Earth, Venus, and Mercury. Only the outer planets that follow Mars are gas giants. With an equatorial diameter of 6,800 kilometers, Mars is only about half the size of Earth, which has a diameter of 12,800 kilometers. In terms of composition, Mars actually resembles Earth. However, the gases on Mars are currently distributed quite differently. The atmosphere of the red planet is very thin and oxygen is only present in small amounts. The thin atmosphere allows a great deal of unfiltered cosmic radiation to reach Mars. Nevertheless, Mars has other amazing similarities to our planet. A Martian day is 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds long, almost the same as an Earth day. On Mars, there are seasons in which the climate and the thickness of the poles change. However, the seasons on Mars last twice as long. This is simply because the Martian year is 687 days, almost twice as long as an Earth year. Mars therefore needs twice as long to complete its orbit around the Sun once. Space Probes That Have Visited Mars Only the Moon has been better explored than Mars. International space projects have already sent about 50 space probes to Mars. The first successful probes were Viking 1 and 2 of NASA. This double probe was launched in 1976. Viking 1 was successfully operated until 1982. Viking 2 transmitted data from Mars to Earth until 1980. The first Mars robot to land on the surface was the Mars Pathfinder in the 1990s. Most recently, the Mars Rover Opportunity from 2004 to 2019 and the Mars Rover Curiosity from 2004 to 2010 were on a research mission to our neighbor. First Indications of Life on Mars Since Mars is very easy to observe when it is close to the Earth, the earliest astrologers noticed the Martian spots. Today, we know that these are seasonal changes in the environment of the Mars poles. When the Sun warms the ice layers of the polar caps with the onset of spring on Mars, geysers of carbon dioxide and dark, coarse-grained dust are formed there. These clouds first shoot up into the sky and soon afterwards settle again on the surface of Mars. This results in altered spots and fan-like structures. When the telescopes were considerably improved in the 19th century, astronomers saw the phenomenon even more clearly. At that time, the color structures were thought to be signs of changing vegetation zones. In people's minds, the growing idea arose that life on Mars was Earth-like. In 1854, the astronomer William Huell published theories according to which there were oceans, land, and possible life forms on Mars. In 1877, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli recognized the Martian troughs, or cannelli, Italian for trough. Schiaparelli assumed that these were structures formed by water. Due to a translation error, the gullies became the Martian channels. As a result, the idea of humans on Mars continued to grow among the population. Some people were also inspired by the idea of living on Mars. Others became afraid of so-called Martians. The hysteria increased when the British author H.G. Wells published the world bestseller The War of the Worlds in 1897. The story tells of an invasion of Martians invading the Earth. Since then, the beliefs and superstitions surrounding life on Mars and the Martians themselves have become engraved in our minds. Reconnaissance Through Space Probes About 80 years later, mankind was already able to send the first unknown space probes to Mars. Of course, the people on Earth were curious if any of the ideas about the living Mars would come true. Before that, scientists had already tried to establish radio contact with possible relatives on Mars. However, no answer ever came. Finally, in July 1976, the Viking 1 mission transmitted the first images from the orbit of Mars. Over the course of the exploration, the image of a dry, desert planet became more apparent than a world full of water and life. However, the probe also sent pictures back to Earth, which provided food for thought. Highlight number one was the face of Mars. The rock structure in the Cydonia region of Mars actually resembled a human face. Other bizarre shapes that the orbiter was able to photograph were pyramids and rectangular structures that scientists compared to the appearance of an Inca city. The evidence of artificially created buildings and monuments on Mars was reason enough for NASA to send the Mars Global Surveyor to Mars for closer examination in 1996. Almost two years later came the big disillusionment for all ufologists and alien friends. The new high-resolution photographs showed the Mars face from different perspectives. It was clearly recognizable that the face is in reality a shapeless rock formation. Only the angle of the view and the incidence of light created the optical illusion of a face in the first images. The other phenomena could also be explained by similar effects and the consequences of natural erosion. Nevertheless, the Mars Global Surveyor was the first space probe ever sent into space to investigate extraterrestrial life. The search for the Martian continues. Although images such as the face of Mars have repeatedly proved to be optical illusions, ufologists never tire of trying to detect signs of aliens on Mars. The internet is full of images that also come from the newer space probes. Sometimes paraforcers claim to have recognized the bones of a giant on Mars. And from time to time, new Martians and Martian faces appear. Is there water on Mars? But let's get back to results from renowned science. The question of whether or not there is water on Mars occupied researchers, as did the question of clarifying the apparent structures. It seemed to be clear that the Martian atmosphere is too thin to allow surface water to form. The air pressure is too low, but it was suspected that water could exist in deeper layers of rock in the form of underground lakes or oceans. In 2010, a student accidentally found evidence of seasonally occurring trickles of liquid saltwater in the Hale crater of Mars. Where this came from and why it only appears at certain times remains a mystery. It's possible that Mars pushes liquid from the interior upwards when its surface is heated. So you could also say that Mars is sweating. Thanks to the European Mars mission Mars Express, the existence of liquid water on Mars could finally be proven in 2018. Using geo-radar, a lake of about 20 kilometers wide at the south pole of Mars was discovered. The liquid and probably salty water is hidden under a 0.5 kilometer thick layer of ice. Using the data provided by Mars Express, astronomers constructed a completely new picture of Mars' past. At least 3.6 billion years ago, the red planet is said to have had a warm and humid climate with numerous lakes and waterways. This could explain the leaching of the Martian troughs and other surface structures. Only later did the atmosphere disappear and Mars finally dried up. Indications of Organic Life Already, Viking 1 delivered pictures in the 1970s that pointed to residues of organic structures. However, laboratory tests showed that such structures can also be produced purely chemically. Of course, it has long been clear that neither humanoid beings nor other more complex life forms can exist on Mars. Currently, researchers are looking for microorganisms, such as unicellular organisms, primitive algae, or bacteria. After all, these life forms once formed the basis for life we know today on Earth. New hope was provided by a rock from Mars. This reached the Earth in the form of a Mars meteorite. The rock with the name ALH84001 was found in Antarctica in 1984. It was not until 1996 that US researchers thought they had found traces of fossil bacteria on the boulder. Later, however, it could be proven that similar structures can also be created chemically. During its six-year mission, the Mars rover Curiosity proved the existence of so-called thiophenes on Mars. These are complex organic hydrocarbons, which are almost always of organic origin, at least on Earth. On Earth, the ring-shaped compounds are found in coal tar and petroleum. Both are clearly degradation products of organic substances. A team from the Technical University of Berlin worked for years on researching possible pathways for the formation of thiophenes. To date, the researchers can still only make assumptions. The organic formation is admittedly more probable because it's much more frequent and easier. So the traces could really have been remnants of the earlier, more life-friendly conditions on Mars. However, a single chemical path of origin is also conceivable. Thiophenes are also formed when substances containing sulfate are heated to over 120 degrees. Another possibility would be the contamination of the Martian surface with thiophenes by a meteorite impact. So in the end, we can only proclaim again, we don't know anything specific. However, there is growing evidence that Mars may once have been an overgrown and inhabited planet. It is conceivable that several million years later, nothing more than rock, sand, and deserts have remained on the surface. If we look at the forecast for our Earth, scientists draw a very similar picture in the distant future. Apart from stones and desert, not much will be left of our former culture. Will we by then have moved to another planet? Who knows? If the sun has heated up the Earth so much that it becomes uninhabitable, Mars or another planet could be an alternative for us. What do you think about this? Can you imagine people living on Mars at some point in time or being able to fly out into space? Tell us your views in the comments.