Considering the Possibility of Life on Mars

Considering the Possibility of Life on Mars PDF Author: Kimberly Wylie
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638544702
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 14

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Book Description
Essay from the year 2003 in the subject Astronomy, University of Phoenix, language: English, abstract: In the early 1900′s, people looked into the night sky and believed there was, or at the very least had been, life on Mars. Intricate canal systems were thought to be seen crisscrossing the planet, and were used as evidence of a wondrous civilization. But, Mars was millions of miles away, and when we got closer to the Red Planet, starting with NASA′s Mariner 10 mission, we learned much more. Although some still believe they have seen "an ancient city the size of Los Angeles with a geometry of streets and cross roads" ("The Cydonia Complex") or have spotted ancient pyramids and a gigantic face in the Cydonia Complex, scientists discount these reports. Rather than an amazing series of agricultural waterways, or buildings that would rival Egypt, Mars is only a giant desert, which could never support life, or could it?

Considering the Possibility of Life on Mars

Considering the Possibility of Life on Mars PDF Author: Kimberly Wylie
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638544702
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 14

Get Book

Book Description
Essay from the year 2003 in the subject Astronomy, University of Phoenix, language: English, abstract: In the early 1900′s, people looked into the night sky and believed there was, or at the very least had been, life on Mars. Intricate canal systems were thought to be seen crisscrossing the planet, and were used as evidence of a wondrous civilization. But, Mars was millions of miles away, and when we got closer to the Red Planet, starting with NASA′s Mariner 10 mission, we learned much more. Although some still believe they have seen "an ancient city the size of Los Angeles with a geometry of streets and cross roads" ("The Cydonia Complex") or have spotted ancient pyramids and a gigantic face in the Cydonia Complex, scientists discount these reports. Rather than an amazing series of agricultural waterways, or buildings that would rival Egypt, Mars is only a giant desert, which could never support life, or could it?

Preventing the Forward Contamination of Mars

Preventing the Forward Contamination of Mars PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030909724X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
Recent spacecraft and robotic probes to Mars have yielded data that are changing our understanding significantly about the possibility of existing or past life on that planet. Coupled with advances in biology and life-detection techniques, these developments place increasing importance on the need to protect Mars from contamination by Earth-borne organisms. To help with this effort, NASA requested that the NRC examine existing planetary protection measures for Mars and recommend changes and further research to improve such measures. This report discusses policies, requirements, and techniques to protect Mars from organisms originating on Earth that could interfere with scientific investigations. It provides recommendations on cleanliness and biological burden levels of Mars-bound spacecraft, methods to reach those levels, and research to reduce uncertainties in preventing forward contamination of Mars.

Life on Mars

Life on Mars PDF Author: David A. Weintraub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691209251
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
"Does life exist on Mars? The question has captivated humans for centuries, but today it has taken on new urgency. NASA plans to send astronauts to Mars orbit by the 2030s. SpaceX wants to go by 2024, while Mars One wants to land a permanent settlement there in 2032. As we gear up for missions like these, we have a responsibility to think deeply about what kinds of life may already inhabit the planet -- and whether we have the right to invite ourselves in. This book tells the complete story of the quest to answer one of the most tantalizing questions in astronomy. But it is more than a history. Life on Mars explains what we need to know before we go."--From Amazon.com.

How We'll Live on Mars

How We'll Live on Mars PDF Author: Stephen Petranek
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476784779
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
Award-winning journalist Stephen Petranek says humans will live on Mars by 2027. Now he makes the case that living on Mars is not just plausible, but inevitable. It sounds like science fiction, but Stephen Petranek considers it fact: Within twenty years, humans will live on Mars. We’ll need to. In this sweeping, provocative book that mixes business, science, and human reporting, Petranek makes the case that living on Mars is an essential back-up plan for humanity and explains in fascinating detail just how it will happen. The race is on. Private companies, driven by iconoclastic entrepreneurs, such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Paul Allen, and Sir Richard Branson; Dutch reality show and space mission Mars One; NASA; and the Chinese government are among the many groups competing to plant the first stake on Mars and open the door for human habitation. Why go to Mars? Life on Mars has potential life-saving possibilities for everyone on earth. Depleting water supplies, overwhelming climate change, and a host of other disasters—from terrorist attacks to meteor strikes—all loom large. We must become a space-faring species to survive. We have the technology not only to get humans to Mars, but to convert Mars into another habitable planet. It will likely take 300 years to “terraform” Mars, as the jargon goes, but we can turn it into a veritable second Garden of Eden. And we can live there, in specially designed habitations, within the next twenty years. In this exciting chronicle, Petranek introduces the circus of lively characters all engaged in a dramatic effort to be the first to settle the Red Planet. How We’ll Live on Mars brings firsthand reporting, interviews with key participants, and extensive research to bear on the question of how we can expect to see life on Mars within the next twenty years.

Forging the Future of Space Science

Forging the Future of Space Science PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309215897
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
From September 2007 to June 2008 the Space Studies Board conducted an international public seminar series, with each monthly talk highlighting a different topic in space and Earth science. The principal lectures from the series are compiled in Forging the Future of Space Science. The topics of these events covered the full spectrum of space and Earth science research, from global climate change, to the cosmic origins of life, to the exploration of the Moon and Mars, to the scientific research required to support human spaceflight. The prevailing messages throughout the seminar series as demonstrated by the lectures in this book are how much we have accomplished over the past 50 years, how profound are our discoveries, how much contributions from the space program affect our daily lives, and yet how much remains to be done. The age of discovery in space and Earth science is just beginning. Opportunities abound that will forever alter our destiny.

Last Day on Mars

Last Day on Mars PDF Author: Kevin Emerson
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062306731
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
“Last Day on Mars is thrillingly ambitious and imaginative. Like a lovechild of Gravity and The Martian, it's a rousing space opera for any age, meticulously researched and relentlessly paced, that balances action, science, humor, and most importantly, two compelling main characters in Liam and Phoebe. A fantastic start to an epic new series.” —Soman Chainani, New York Times bestselling author of the School for Good and Evil series “Emerson's writing explodes off the page in this irresistible space adventure, filled with startling plot twists, diabolical aliens, and (my favorite!) courageous young heroes faced with an impossible task.” —Lisa McMann, New York Times bestselling author of the Unwanteds series It is Earth year 2213—but, of course, there is no Earth anymore. Not since it was burned to a cinder by the sun, which has mysteriously begun the process of going supernova. The human race has fled to Mars, but this was only a temporary solution while we have prepared for a second trip: a one-hundred-fifty-year journey to a distant star, our best guess at where we might find a new home. Liam Saunders-Chang is one of the last humans left on Mars. The son of two scientists who have been racing against time to create technology vital to humanity’s survival, Liam, along with his friend Phoebe, will be on the last starliner to depart before Mars, like Earth before it, is destroyed. Or so he thinks. Because before this day is over, Liam and Phoebe will make a series of profound discoveries about the nature of time and space and find out that the human race is just one of many in our universe locked in a dangerous struggle for survival.

The Cosmic Zoo

The Cosmic Zoo PDF Author: Dirk Schulze-Makuch
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319620452
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Are humans a galactic oddity, or will complex life with human abilities develop on planets with environments that remain habitable for long enough? In a clear, jargon-free style, two leading researchers in the burgeoning field of astrobiology critically examine the major evolutionary steps that led us from the distant origins of life to the technologically advanced species we are today. Are the key events that took life from simple cells to astronauts unique occurrences that would be unlikely to occur on other planets? By focusing on what life does - it's functional abilities - rather than specific biochemistry or anatomy, the authors provide plausible answers to this question. Systematically exploring the various pathways that led to the complex biosphere we experience on planet Earth, they show that most of the steps along that path are likely to occur on any world hosting life, with only two exceptions: One is the origin of life itself – if this is a highly improbable event, then we live in a rather “empty universe”. However, if this isn’t the case, we inevitably live in a universe containing a myriad of planets hosting complex as well as microbial life - a “cosmic zoo”. The other unknown is the rise of technologically advanced beings, as exemplified on Earth by humans. Only one technological species has emerged in the roughly 4 billion years life has existed on Earth, and we don’t know of any other technological species elsewhere. If technological intelligence is a rare, almost unique feature of Earth's history, then there can be no visitors to the cosmic zoo other than ourselves. Schulze-Makuch and Bains take the reader through the history of life on Earth, laying out a consistent and straightforward framework for understanding why we should think that advanced, complex life exists on planets other than Earth. They provide a unique perspective on the question that puzzled the human species for centuries: are we alone?

Safe on Mars

Safe on Mars PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309169593
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 65

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Book Description
This study, commissioned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), examines the role of robotic exploration missions in assessing the risks to the first human missions to Mars. Only those hazards arising from exposure to environmental, chemical, and biological agents on the planet are assessed. To ensure that it was including all previously identified hazards in its study, the Committee on Precursor Measurements Necessary to Support Human Operations on the Surface of Mars referred to the most recent report from NASA's Mars Exploration Program/ Payload Analysis Group (MEPAG) (Greeley, 2001). The committee concluded that the requirements identified in the present NRC report are indeed the only ones essential for NASA to pursue in order to mitigate potential hazards to the first human missions to Mars.

The Wanderers

The Wanderers PDF Author: Meg Howrey
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0399574638
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
"In an age of space exploration, we search to find ourselves. In four years Prime Space will put the first humans on Mars. Helen Kane, Yoshi Tanaka, and Sergei Kuznetsov must prove they're the crew for the job by spending seventeen months in the most realistic simulation ever created. Retired from NASA, Helen had not trained for irrelevance. It is nobody's fault that the best of her exists in space, but her daughter can't help placing blame. The MarsNOW mission is Helen's last chance to return to the only place she's ever truly felt at home. For Yoshi, it's an opportunity to prove himself worthy of the wife he has loved absolutely, if not quite rightly. Sergei is willing to spend seventeen months in a tin can if it means travelling to Mars. He will at least be tested past the point of exhaustion, and this is the example he will set for his sons. As the days turn into months the line between what is real and unreal becomes blurred, and the astronauts learn that the complications of inner space are no less fraught than those of outer space."--

Mars

Mars PDF Author: Hugh H. Kieffer
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 9780816512577
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1532

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Book Description
The planet Mars has been a subject of wonder for millennia, as attested by its place in mythology, by later speculation about its canals, and by the scientific and public excitement over the Viking mission. Although the scientific literature about the planet is voluminous, no comprehensive treatment of the results of modern spacecraft exploration has yet been made available. This volume fills that gap by providing a summary of what is presently known about Mars and identifying many puzzles such as polar cap variance, occurrence of dust storms, and the possible location of water. The introductory chapter cites questions, controversies, and milestones in the study of Mars, and also includes an annotated book list, basic data about the planet, and a guide to Martian seasons. A chapter on telescopic observation credits the contributions made by many amateurs that have advanced our knowledge of variations observed on Mars. A chapter on spacecraft exploration, by an American and a Russian author who have participated in all Mars missions, includes a revelation of an additional Soviet attempt. Twenty-nine technical articles cover geophysics; bedrock geology; surface; atmosphere; exosphere and magnetic field; and climate history. Two chapters address the search for life on Mars; three concluding chapters consider the Martian satellites. An indispensable reference for scientists, Mars will also serve as a complete sourcebook for serious amateur astronomers.