Mars
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After the success of the toy-sized Sojourner rover, brought to Mars by the Pathfinder lander in 1997, NASA decided that they need ''more'' and ''bigger'' <s>cars</s> rovers. The result was the Mars Exploration Rover program and its two adorable<ref>[http://xkcd.com/695/ Spirit], xkcd</ref> offspring - Spirit and Opportunity. Arriving in 2004, they were still operational as of 2010, greatly exceeding their design expectations. Spirit got stuck in soft soil in 2009. After attempts at extracting it failed, it switched to hibernation mode for the Martian winter in March 2010. Attempts to establish communication with it still fail and its operators fear the worst. NASA is taking the next step with the car-sized, laser-shooting, drill-swinging, nuclear-powered Curiosity<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFEzZarz_TI What it's supposed to look like in action], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1noAqa_Ukc What it looks like in the moment]</ref> (formerly the Mars Science Laboratory), scheduled to launch in November 2011. | After the success of the toy-sized Sojourner rover, brought to Mars by the Pathfinder lander in 1997, NASA decided that they need ''more'' and ''bigger'' <s>cars</s> rovers. The result was the Mars Exploration Rover program and its two adorable<ref>[http://xkcd.com/695/ Spirit], xkcd</ref> offspring - Spirit and Opportunity. Arriving in 2004, they were still operational as of 2010, greatly exceeding their design expectations. Spirit got stuck in soft soil in 2009. After attempts at extracting it failed, it switched to hibernation mode for the Martian winter in March 2010. Attempts to establish communication with it still fail and its operators fear the worst. NASA is taking the next step with the car-sized, laser-shooting, drill-swinging, nuclear-powered Curiosity<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFEzZarz_TI What it's supposed to look like in action], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1noAqa_Ukc What it looks like in the moment]</ref> (formerly the Mars Science Laboratory), scheduled to launch in November 2011. | ||
| − | ==Mars | + | ==Mars pareidolia club== |
| − | A picture made by [[NASA]]'s Viking 1 orbiter in 1976 showing [[Face on Mars|a hill that looks like a face]] started a new hobby - looking closely at images returned by Mars probes and trying to find as much "evidence for [[extraterrestrial]] life" as possible. Contrary to expectations, magnifying images to pixel level and repeatedly applying the "sharpen" tool are not considered cheating. Notable participants in this quaint activity are [[Richard Hoagland]] and the [[Mars Anomaly Research]] team. | + | A picture made by [[NASA]]'s Viking 1 orbiter in 1976 showing [[Face on Mars|a hill that looks like a face]] started a new hobby - looking closely at images returned by Mars probes and trying to find as much "evidence for [[extraterrestrial]] life" as possible. Contrary to expectations, magnifying images to the pixel level and repeatedly applying the "sharpen" tool are not considered cheating. Notable participants in this quaint activity are [[Richard Hoagland]] and the [[Mars Anomaly Research]] team. |
==Mars and the Great Flood== | ==Mars and the Great Flood== | ||
Revision as of 09:56, 27 August 2010
Mars is the name we have given to the fourth planet in our solar system. It is named after the Roman god of war, due to its reddish hue.
Mars has a diameter of 6790 kilometers which is roughly half the size of Earth. The atmosphere on Mars consists mostly of carbon dioxide with only one percent of the gas pressure of Earth's atmosphere. Dust in the Martian atmosphere gives it a light pink color during the day, and at sunset it turns a very lovely teal. It's also cold as hell.[1] The average temperature on Mars is -46° C.
Contents |
Moons
Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos ("Fear" and "Dread", the sons of the war-god Ares in Greek mythology), and both are probably captured asteroids. Phobos has a surprisingly low density, leading some people to speculate that it may be hollow and artificial (and some nutters to believe that it is artificial), but the current understanding is that Phobos is a rubble-pile asteroid, an agglomeration of boulders bound by gravity. Another point of interest is the so-called "Phobos monolith" - a bright rock jutting out of the surface that casts a long shadow, suggesting an unusual height to width ratio.
Jonathan Swift referred to two Martian moons in Gulliver's Travels (published in 1726, more than a century before their discovery in 1877). This has been used as evidence for claims of ancient astronauts and time travel, neglecting the fact that Kepler had speculated about a pair of Martian moons a century before.[2]
Life on Mars?
As a rocky planet similar to Earth, and massive enough to retain a thin atmosphere if gases were present, Mars has been a historical favorite of science fiction writers and others who speculate about extraterrestrial life. The great canyons on Mars were once thought to be canals that an intelligent race had dug in order to channel water from the poles. Serious scientists think life is more likely on the Jovian satellite Europa or Saturn's moon, Enceladus.
Alfred Russel Wallace felt so strongly about the canal nonsense, that he wrote a book, Is Mars Habitable? A critical examination of Professor Percival Lowell's book "Mars and its canals," with an alternative explanation.[3]
Probe-eating monster
A large proportion of (robotic) missions to Mars have failed, earning it the reputation of "the place where probes go to die".[4][5][6] Some have blamed malevolent extraterrestrial intelligence, but a much more probable cause is shoddy terrestrial engineering. The probe-eating monster may have been squashed by a falling spacecraft, because all recent missions have been successful. (The cruelly-named Phoenix lander was not supposed to recover from the ice.)
After the success of the toy-sized Sojourner rover, brought to Mars by the Pathfinder lander in 1997, NASA decided that they need more and bigger cars rovers. The result was the Mars Exploration Rover program and its two adorable[7] offspring - Spirit and Opportunity. Arriving in 2004, they were still operational as of 2010, greatly exceeding their design expectations. Spirit got stuck in soft soil in 2009. After attempts at extracting it failed, it switched to hibernation mode for the Martian winter in March 2010. Attempts to establish communication with it still fail and its operators fear the worst. NASA is taking the next step with the car-sized, laser-shooting, drill-swinging, nuclear-powered Curiosity[8] (formerly the Mars Science Laboratory), scheduled to launch in November 2011.
Mars pareidolia club
A picture made by NASA's Viking 1 orbiter in 1976 showing a hill that looks like a face started a new hobby - looking closely at images returned by Mars probes and trying to find as much "evidence for extraterrestrial life" as possible. Contrary to expectations, magnifying images to the pixel level and repeatedly applying the "sharpen" tool are not considered cheating. Notable participants in this quaint activity are Richard Hoagland and the Mars Anomaly Research team.
Mars and the Great Flood
The Great Flood not only affected Earth, creating all the lakes and canyons. It affected Mars as well. It's true, it's real creation science![9]
Mars in Silly Love Songs
Venus, similarly, was named for the goddess of love, and has a yellowish cast. When the two planets are visible from the Earth in the same area of the sky, it is said that "Venus and Mars are alright tonight". In this case they can be reasonably represented by the 1 and 3 billiards balls, respectively.
Men
Apparently, it has been discovered by scientists, Creation Scientists, some loony nut jobs, that men do not actually come from Earth, but are in fact from Mars. Women, the smarter, wiser, and apparently less inclined to do anything but bake brownies, are themselves from Venus.
Footnotes
- ↑ Shatner "sings" Rocket Man
- ↑ Kepler's logic: the Earth has one moon, Jupiter has four (only the Galilean moons were known at that time), therefore Mars should have two, as 1,2,4 is a progression. Is it possible that Andrew Schlafly is a descendant of Kepler?
- ↑ Is Mars Habitable? (1907), full public domain text at Project Gutenberg
- ↑ Springtime on Mars, a
documentaryre-enactment - ↑ A nice infographic by Bryan Christie
- ↑ The "Mars Curse": Why Have So Many Missions Failed?, Universe Today
- ↑ Spirit, xkcd
- ↑ What it's supposed to look like in action, What it looks like in the moment
- ↑ Charles Creager, Jr, July 23, 2008. "Mars, a Testament to Catastrophe." Answers Research Journal 1 (2008): 89-94.