Humanity has eternal questions. Was there life on Mars? And if so, where are the Martians now? And what would life on Mars be like - microbes or lizard-like monsters? Indeed, at present, the surface of Mars is poisoned and not suitable for life, although the data decoded from space stations indicate the presence of water there.
Thanks to new radiometric instruments, scientists have very accurately determined the age of the Red Planet at four and a half billion years. Its diameter is half that of the Earth, and the mass of Mars is ten times lighter than the mass of the Earth. It is on the Red Planet that Mount Olympus, the highest in the solar system, is located, which is a volcano that was extinct a million years ago. A thick layer of dust rises forty kilometers above the surface of Mars, because of this, most of the planet has a reddish tint. Despite the red dust, the sky of the Red Planet turns blue during sunset.
The atmospheric pressure of Mars is only one percent of Earth's pressure. On the arid surface of Mars, temperatures can drop below 140 degrees Celsius. On this planet, there is no rain usual for earthlings, but dry lightning occurs regularly in red dust storms. During such storms, the wind speed can reach two hundred kilometers per hour. As Mars approaches the Sun, the likelihood of dust storms increases significantly. Only such primitive forms of life as microbes and bacteria are capable of living in unbearable conditions and, moreover, only at a certain depth of the Martian surface.
The key element of life is water. To start the life processes of any colony of microbes or viruses, only liquid water is required. Space probes aimed at Mars report that the thin atmosphere of this planet is saturated with carbon dioxide. However, according to data from these probes, there are ice poles on Mars, which indicates the presence of water there.
The surface of the Red Planet is being investigated by two rovers, and in its orbit, five artificial satellites, mounted from Earth, are photographed and take various measurements. Using a highly sensitive spectrometer, NASA's Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter unmanned space research station searched for water-based minerals between 1997 and 2006. It turned out that in the polar caps of Mars there is a hundred times more water than in all the large lakes of North America. Satellite photographs have recorded a trail from an elongated freshwater lake that existed about three and a half billion years ago.
In the course of spectral analysis on Mars, spectrographic placers of the chemical element hematite were discovered. The presence of hematite (a mixture of iron and oxygen) indicates that there could be liquid water on the surface of ancient Mars. In the spring of 2008, on Mars, using the NASA Phoenix space module, during soil sampling at a depth of five centimeters, icy soil with frozen water was discovered, and the station's lasers recorded real snow from water crystals falling from the sky.
Mars has aurora borealis when charged particles strike magnetic field lines from magnetized Cortical rocks. These rocks are scattered all over Mars, most of them received a magnetic field as they solidified during the formation of the planet.
Mars rovers transmit data into orbit to space satellites, and from them information is transmitted further to Earth. The Spirit rover stumbled upon quartz in the soil, the presence of which on the Red Planet speaks of a hydrothermal environment that once existed there. Astronomers immediately wondered if there is subsurface thermal activity on Mars, then the presence of liquid water in the planet's crust is quite possible.
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In 2011, specifically for long-term research work on Mars, scientists developed and launched the Curiosity rover on the Red Planet, which is an autonomous chemical laboratory. The new rover is much larger and heavier than the Spirit and Opportunity rovers already present there. He had to find out if a favorable environment existed here to support the simplest form of life on the planet.
The Curiosity rover recorded emissions of methane, ice and organic molecules on the Red Planet. Methane could have appeared on the surface of Mars due to such simple organisms as microbes and bacteria. And organic molecules could have been brought here by various meteorites. The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM), a portable chemical specialized laboratory attached to the rover, has already discovered six different organic components, their appearance here remains a scientific secret.
The Curiosity rover reached the Glenelg area (Gale Crater), and was engaged in the analysis of samples of the oldest rocks there. The study showed that the rocks contain traces of nitrogen, sulfur, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and phosphorus, and these are important elements of the vital activity of protozoa.
Under the influence of direct solar radiation and galactic rays that freely fall on the Red Planet, the connections for the survival of living organisms are broken by high-energy particles. Using the method of radioactive decay gives scientists the opportunity to find out that for about eighty million years the planet's surface has been exposed to radiation.
When measuring the background radiation on Mars, instruments of the Curiosity RAD (Radiation Assessment Detector) rover were used. Measurements have shown that the values of the average radiation dose of galactic rays correspond to almost two millisieverts (mSv) per day. Such a high radiation level on Mars does not usually allow any chemical reaction to take place, and therefore it is very difficult to detect organic matter there. Such radiation simply kills germs.
Despite all the efforts of scientists, unfortunately, to this day, there is no clear evidence of the existence of any form of life on Mars. If there was life there, it was only in the early stages of the formation and development of the Red Planet, when the magnetic field of Mars was still protecting the surface from harmful radiation.