The best scientists of the world talked about the existence of life on this planet.
In 1976 the American orbital station The Viking, flying around Mars, sent photographs that scientists are arguing about to this day.
“A clear image of the face of a man with a headdress. It has an unequivocal link with the pyramid complex. The complex of pyramids and the sphinx on Mars and on Earth is built in the same architectural style,” says an expert in the field space research Alexander Semenov.
After that, even serious scientists started talking about the possible existence of life on Mars. One of them was Academician Shklovsky, founder of the school of modern astrophysics, winner of the Lenin Prize for the concept of an artificial comet. Shklovsky is one of the few academic scientists who seriously discussed the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations.
It was Shklovsky who first suggested that the satellite of Mars, Phobos, has anomalous properties. Phobos is the only satellite of the planets in the solar system, whose period of revolution is shorter than that of the planet itself. It makes one revolution in 7 hours 39 minutes 14 seconds, which is about a third faster than the rotation of Mars around its own axis. By all laws Phobos originally behaves "wrongly".
“It rotates around its axis in a strange way. Mathematical calculations were done, and it turned out that if Phobos were a solid object completely, it would have a completely different mass, it would have a different trajectory, ”says the candidate technical sciences Sergei Sukhinov.
Explaining such an anomaly, Academician Shklovsky put forward a truly revolutionary version. The scientist said that Phobos is empty inside, which means that it is a satellite of artificial origin.
According to scientists, 4 billion years ago, a global catastrophe occurred on Mars that destroyed all life. One after another, several asteroids fell on the planet, turning Mars into a cold, lifeless planet. And life, if there was any, perished. On the other hand, no one knows for sure whether there were intelligent living beings on the planet, whether they would have managed to escape or not.
In November 2011, NASA sent the most technically complex and expensive probe in the history of planet Earth, Curiosity, to Mars.
Nine months after launch, the probe landed in Gale Crater on Mars. It is a funnel with a diameter of 150 kilometers, inside which there is a 5-kilometer mound of sedimentary rocks. This mound could have been formed as a result of the flow of one of the ancient Martian rivers.
Thanks to automatic probes, it was found that in the southwestern hemisphere, in the Eberswalde crater, there is an ancient river delta, whose area is 115 square kilometers. And the river itself, which washed the delta, had a length of more than 60 km.
Moreover, there is still water in Gale Crater. Images taken by the Opportunity rover show dark streaks on hillsides.
The fact that there was once life on Mars is confirmed by the study of the Martian meteorite ALH 84 001.
The rock was knocked off the surface of Mars about 17 million years ago by an asteroid impact. For centuries, the meteorite drifted in space until it fell into the Earth's gravity zone. He fell in Antarctica, where he was found 10 years ago. What was the astonishment of scientists when, after a thorough study of the meteorite, they found fossils in it that very much resembled the remains of bacteria and unicellular algae. So, this is proof of the existence of microbial life on Mars.
But most importantly, the analysis of the meteorite showed that about 4 billion years ago, the temperature of Mars was about 18 degrees Celsius, the atmosphere was most likely denser, and the climate was warm and humid. Such conditions were quite suitable for the emergence of highly developed beings.
But if once on Mars was intelligent life then why did she disappear? What happened to the inhabitants of the planet? Some scientists have hypothesized that a huge meteorite fell on Mars. This version was considered by many scientists to be fiction. However, recently it turned out that perhaps 5 million years ago, the red planet actually experienced a terrible catastrophe ...
And most importantly, this crater was formed as a result of a large meteorite impact on the planet. As a result, a giant crater 10 thousand kilometers long and 8 and a half wide was formed.
What happened after the disaster? Did the inhabitants of Mars die? Scientists believe that if ever there was intelligent life on Mars, then after the fall of a huge meteorite, hardly anyone could survive.
In addition, today life on Mars is impossible due to too low pressure and temperature.
But these terrestrial forms of life cannot exist under such conditions. Independent researchers hypothesize that the Martians could survive and settle under the surface of the red planet.
One such researcher is amateur astronomer David Martinez. In pictures of Mars taken by NASA, he found strange object in the form of a cylinder, measuring 200 meters in length and 45 in width. The researcher believes that this is a structure of artificial origin. Perhaps it was built by beings living inside the planet. And the building is top part giant underground structures.
However, NASA employees do not even consider such versions. They explain all the oddities and anomalies in the photographs from Mars either by video marriage or by an optical illusion. Maybe it is. But why then do the scientists of the American Aerospace Agency themselves create optical illusions ...
A group of independent researchers recently discovered that NASA employees are color correcting images from Mars. Comparing dozens of photos, the experts found that, for example, parts of the Opportunity all-terrain vehicle that were on the ground of blue color, in pictures from Mars began to look red. By doing the reverse procedure, the experts recreated the natural colors of Mars.
The pictures showed that the Martian sky is not red at all, but blue, like on Earth. Brown areas were repainted red, and green colors, which may indicate the presence of life on Mars, were completely removed during color correction.
But why is NASA hiding the true color of Mars? Some experts suggest that the United States prefers the whole world to think of Mars as a lifeless planet, while they themselves will study life on Mars on their own ... But there is a less fantastic version, NASA tints the photos so that the true character cannot be established from them martian landscape. Perhaps the United States hopes to discover rare minerals on the planet and be the first to start mining them. So is it possible that the most expensive Curiosity probe will serve not for the scientific search for extraterrestrial life, but will once again be a means for enrichment ...
Mars was known to ancient Chinese astronomers as the "red star" or "fiery star". Not surprisingly, scientists are still burning with questions about the Red Planet. Even after dozens of spacecraft have been sent to its surface and into its orbit, Mars remains unknown and mysterious to us earthlings. Below I have collected the most exciting unsolved mysteries of this planet.
Why does Mars have two faces?
Scientists have been puzzling over the differences between the two sides of Mars for decades. In the northern hemisphere, the surface of the planet is smooth and low-lying - this place is one of the flattest and smoothest places in the solar system. It is believed that in this part of the planet there was once a large accumulation of water, for example, the ocean. Meanwhile, Southern Hemisphere Mars, on the contrary, is very heavily cratered, and is 4 to 8 km higher than the northern one. Recent evidence suggests that such strong differences were caused by a collision with a huge celestial body in the distant past of Mars.
Where does methane come from on Mars?
Methane, the simplest organic molecule, was first discovered in the Martian atmosphere by the European Space Agency's Mars Express in 2003. On Earth, for example, most of the atmospheric methane is the result of the vital activity of living organisms, such as, for example, cattle, digesting plant foods. According to scientists, it is stably present in martian atmosphere only recent years 300, so whatever makes it is doing it very recently. Although, there are ways of methane formation and not related to organic life, such as, for example, volcanic activity. ESA's ExoMars, scheduled to launch in 2016, will study chemical composition the atmosphere of Mars precisely in order to determine the source of methane.
Is there liquid water on the surface of Mars now?
Even though there is a large number of evidence that liquid water once flowed on the surface of Mars remains open question, is it flowing anywhere on the Red Planet now? The atmospheric pressure on the planet is too low (about 1/100 of the earth's) for water to remain on it in liquid form. However, the dark, narrow lines that are clearly visible on the Martian slopes give hope that they were left precisely by the streams of liquid water in the spring.
Were there oceans on Mars?
Numerous missions to Mars have revealed many indications that the Red Planet was once warm enough for liquid water to exist on it. Such features are vast ocean beds, depression networks, river deltas, and minerals that require water to form. However, modern computer models The climate of young Mars cannot explain how such sufficiently high temperatures could exist at that time, since the sun was then much weaker, so some researchers believe that these features could be created by the winds or in some other way.
Is there life on Mars?
The first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars, Viking 1, gave us all a riddle that remains unsolved to this day. Is there life on Mars? Viking discovered organic molecules on the planet, such as methyl chloride and dichloromethane. However, these compounds were thought to be the result of contamination from Earth, namely the purification of fluids used to prepare spacecraft. The surface of Mars is very hostile to life as we know it. Cold, increased radiation, lack of water and other factors. However, there are numerous examples of the existence of life in extreme conditions on Earth, for example, Antarctica or the Atacama Desert in Chile. Life exists almost anywhere there is liquid water on Earth. And the possibility that there were once oceans on Mars makes many hope that life once did develop on Mars, which means that it may have survived. The answer to this question could help shed light on whether life is possible in the rest of the universe.
Life on Earth began on Mars?
Meteorites from Mars, found in Antarctica, have traces and blotches, reminiscent of those left in the rock by microbes on Earth. Although many researchers believe that the nature of the occurrence of these structures is chemical, and not biological, disputes are still ongoing, and in fact it is in them that the truth is born. This is especially interesting because Mars could become the birthplace of life on Earth, through meteorites.
Can humans live on Mars?
To answer the question of whether there was or is life on Mars, people still have to go there themselves sooner or later. By the way, NASA planned back in 1969 a manned mission to Mars by 1981 and a permanent base on Mars by 1988. He did not lag behind, but in many ways he was ahead of him and Soviet Union. However, human interplanetary flight has certain scientific and technological difficulties. Provision of food, water and oxygen, harmful effect zero gravity, potential fire and radiation hazards, and the fact that such hazards put astronauts millions of miles away from help. Nevertheless, there have always been daredevils, and even now there is no shortage of them. For example, this year, six volunteers lived in conditions that recreated the conditions space travel, for almost a year and a half as part of the so-called Mars500 project. It was the longest simulation experiment space flight that has ever been held. There are even numerous volunteers for a one-way trip to the Red Planet and establishing a colony there. So, perhaps soon we will find answers to all these mysteries of the Red Planet. And most likely, along with the answers, we will get even more questions, as in the case of our native Earth.
In the second half of the 20th century, thanks to the advances in astronomy and unmanned astronautics, it became clear that developed life forms on mars no, and all the talk about the existence there ancient civilization are ordinary fantasies. Nevertheless, the neighboring planet has thrown scientists with many new mysteries that make us turn to its distant past.
Mysterious rivers of Mars
Rivers cannot flow on Mars today. The reason is that at atmospheric pressure, which prevails there, water boils at very low temperatures.
However, no other liquid could form the Martian channels that are visible from space, and the only possible explanation for their presence is the formation of rivers that flowed in the distant past. To do this, we must assume that in earlier epochs Atmosphere pressure on Mars was much higher.
Is such a thing possible? Yes, because Mars is the only planet where the substance of the polar caps coincides in composition with the main gas of the atmosphere - carbon dioxide. This means that if all the matter of the polar caps of Mars is turned into steam, then the pressure of its atmosphere will increase.
In the 1970s, several hypotheses were put forward to explain the global climate change on Mars. For example, the famous American astrophysicist Carl Sagan proposed the original theory. Over the past 100,000 years, the Earth has experienced four periods of glaciation, punctuated by warm interglacial periods.
The most likely reason for the alternation of periods is a change in the influx of solar heat. Perhaps Mars is also susceptible to this influence, which, according to Sagan, is currently reduced.
The proof of his theory is the discovery on Mars of characteristic landforms formed by glaciers: "hanging" valleys, sharp ridges, saddles. But the glaciers themselves are not visible, so it was concluded that such glaciations happened in the distant past - in eras of a more diverse climate.
anomalous planet
However, soon to replace the theory of the Martian ice age came the catastrophe theory, which claims that the once neighboring planet was similar to the Earth in everything, but died as a result of a collision with some large celestial body.
"Catastrophes" argue like this. Mars is an "anomalous" planet. It has an orbit with a large eccentricity. He has almost no magnetic field. The axis of its rotation draws wild "pretzels" in space. Most of the impact craters on the surface of Mars "crowd" south of the so-called dichotomy line that separates zones with characteristic relief.
The line itself is unusual and marked by the escarpment of the mountainous southern hemisphere. There is another unique formation on Mars - a monstrous canyon of the Mariner Valley 4,000 km long and 7 km deep.
The most remarkable thing is that the deep and wide craters of Hellas, Isis and Argir are “compensated” on the other side of the Martian ball by the bulges of Elysius and Tharsis, from the eastern edge of which the Mariner Valley begins.
Mariner Valley Canyon
First of all, the "catastrophists" tried to explain the riddle of the dichotomy of the planet. A number of scientists have spoken out in favor of tectonic processes, but most agree with William Hartmann, who stated in January 1977: “The impact of an asteroid a thousand kilometers across with a planet could produce a significant asymmetry, possibly knocking off the crust on one side of the planet ... This kind the collision could have caused an asymmetry on Mars, where one hemisphere is riddled with many ancient craters, while the other has been almost completely altered by volcanic activity."
According to a popular hypothesis, in ancient times there was a small planetoid, the orbit of which passed between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter (in the same place where the main asteroid belt is now located) - it is called Astra. During the next approach to Mars, the planetoid was torn apart gravitational forces, as a result of which several large fragments rushed towards the Sun.
The largest fragment, which left behind the Hellas crater, dealt a vertical direct blow to the crust of Mars. He punched it to the inner magma, causing a huge wave of compression and shear waves. As a result, the Tharsis hill began to swell on the opposite side.
At the same time, two more large fragments of Astra pierced the crust of Mars. The shock waves reached such strength that they not only ran around the planet, but also had to “pierce” it through and through. Internal pressure was looking for a way out, and the dying planet burst at the seam - a monstrous cut was formed, which we now know as the Mariner Valley. At the same time, Mars also lost part of its atmosphere, which was literally "torn off" by a monstrous cataclysm.
When did the disaster happen? No answer. The only method of dating individual objects on the surface of neighboring planets involves counting impact craters on them based on the probability of collisions.
If we accept the assumption that a large number of fragments of the hypothetical Astra fell on the southern hemisphere of Mars at the same time, then the method of dating through meteorite statistics loses its meaning. That is, the catastrophe could have happened both 3 billion years ago and 300 million years ago.
Nuclear war on Mars
"Catastrophists", describing the death of Mars, usually proceed from the consideration that it was a natural process that has nothing to do with the activities of intelligent beings.
However, the authoritative American scientist John Brandenburg, holder of a doctoral degree from the University of California at Davis for his work in the field of space plasma, put forward an extravagant theory according to which Mars died as a result of ... a large-scale wars with the use of thermonuclear weapons.
The fact is that even the Viking spacecraft, which operated on a neighboring planet in the 1970s, established an excess content of the light xenon-129 isotope in comparison with heavy isotopes in the local weak atmosphere, and yet, for example, in terrestrial air their shares are approximately are equal. The findings were confirmed by the Curiosity rover.
The discovered light isotope could only be formed from radioactive iodine-129, which in turn has a relatively short half-life of 15.7 million years. The question is: where did it come from in such significant quantities on modern Mars?
Scientists have not yet been able to find a clear explanation for another Martian "anomaly".
Therefore, speaking on March 1, 2015 at the Lunar-Planet Conference in Houston, John Brandenburg gave his interpretation of the origin of xenon-129. The researcher noted that a similar excess of the light isotope occurs during the fission of uranium-238 by fast neutrons and is common for those locations. earth's atmosphere where it was contaminated with atomic test products.
The scientist also recalled the observations spacecraft Mars Express, which recorded from orbit the presence of dark deposits similar to volcanic glass with an area of 10 million km2 on the northern plains of the Red Planet. Moreover, the zones of these rocks coincide with the areas of maximum concentration of radioactive elements.
Brandenburg suggested that Mars Express had found nothing more than trinitite - nuclear glass, which appeared on Earth after testing the first atomic bomb in the Nevada desert.
In an official scientific report, John Brandenburg only stated the discovered facts, without trying to explain them, but in an interview with journalists he did not stint on sensational statements.
Moreover, he published the book “Death on Mars. The discovery of planetary nuclear extermination”, in which he outlined his version ancient history neighboring planet. He believes that the climate on Mars was similar to the earth, there were oceans, rivers and forests, there was a civilization.
But at some point, two Martian races, the Cydonians and the Utopians, were subjected to thermonuclear bombardment by a third force. In this case, it is possible that Astra was not a random stray body, but an "Armageddon machine" that destroyed the planet in response to a devastating thermonuclear strike.
Groups of scientists studying Mars were quick to disown John Brandenburg's theory, but the secrets of the neighboring planet will still have to be revealed someday, and we should wait for new sensational news.
Anton PERVUSHIN
Mars has been known to mankind since ancient times. Even ancient Chinese chronicles mention it as the "Fire Star". People have long and carefully studied our cosmic brother. But, despite the fact that dozens have been sent to the planet Mars, and telescopes have been staring at it for many years, much remains unknown. The "Red Planet" is in no hurry to reveal its secrets.
So, the 5 most interesting and unsolved mysteries"Red Planet".
1. Two-faced Mars.
Surface of Mars. global mosaic.
Scientists for many decades cannot answer the question of why the two hemispheres of one planet are so different.
The north is flat and low, one of the smoothest places in the solar system. There are suggestions that such relief is caused by liquid water, which once flowed in huge quantities on the surface of Mars.
The southern hemisphere, on the contrary, is riddled with craters and on average from 4 to 8 km. above the height of the northern basin. Recent evidence suggests that such differences may be caused by a large asteroid impact or "space bombardment" by smaller objects in the planet's distant past.
Image of the northern circumpolar regions of Mars.
However, an unambiguous explanation for such cardinal differences between parts of one planet has not yet been given.
2. Where does methane come from in the Martian atmosphere?
The question of the presence of methane in the atmosphere of the red neighbor has been tormenting scientists for many years.
Methane is a colorless gas, the simplest hydrocarbon. On Earth, most of it appears biogenically as a result of chemical and biochemical transformation. organic matter. For example, a significant source is the biogenic fermentation of cattle manure. According to currently accepted estimates, under the conditions of the atmosphere of the planet Mars, methane can exist unchanged for no more than 300 years, i.e. today, even traces of methane should not be there.
Despite this, this gas is present in the atmosphere of Mars in quantities sufficient for scientists to wonder: where does it come from?
Life on Mars has not yet been found, there are suggestions about volcanic activity as a source of methane. Fortunately, the existence of the same Olympus (the largest mountain and the largest volcano in the solar system) indicates the presence of active volcanism in the history of the planet. On the other hand, none research apparatus who visited Mars for decades did not notice his study of volcanic activity on the planet.
Mars Express mission in the mind of the artist.
So the search for the source of methane in the atmosphere of the planet Mars continues...
3. Is there liquid water on the surface of Mars at present?
A huge amount of circumstantial evidence suggests that streams of liquid water flowed across Mars at one time. It is quite possible that there was an entire ocean on the planet. However, the question of the presence of liquid water on the Red Planet currently remains open.
On the one hand, the atmospheric pressure on the surface is too low (1/100th of the earth's) to maintain water in a liquid state. On the other hand, dark narrow lines found on the Martian slopes hint that salt water flows over them every spring.
An image synthesized from orbital images and combined with a 3D model shows flows appearing on the inner slope of a Martian crater
Newton in spring and summer.
4. Did oceans exist on Mars?
Numerous Mars missions have discovered a number of features of the Red Planet that suggest that at some point in the past, Mars was warm enough not only for the existence of liquid water, but also for the appearance of entire water pools.
The relief of the northern hemisphere of the planet, dried up channels and entire river deltas, network structures and the presence of minerals for the appearance of which the presence of liquid water is necessary. All this tells us: there was water on Mars!
Spherical minerals on the surface of Mars.
Unfortunately, none of modern models The early climate of Mars cannot explain how the temperatures necessary for the transition of water to a liquid state could exist on the planet at that time, because the Sun shone weaker than now. Maybe ancient mars Was it cold and wet, not cold and dry, or warm and wet, as is claimed today?
Ancient Mars as seen by an artist.
5. Is there life on Mars?
Since Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiparelli discovered a network of long straight lines on the disk of the Red Planet in 1877, later called "Martian channels", the planet Mars has become the first candidate for life outside our planet. Moreover, as the science fiction writers of that time believed, intelligent life.
"Martian channels" fig. G. Schiparelli.
Subsequently, it was proved that Mars is very cold and dry, its atmosphere is much rarer than Earth's. The channels turned out to be a complex optical illusion caused by the combination of details of Mars when viewed through a telescope from the Earth's surface. The evil Martians from the "War of the Worlds" never discovered themselves, and the lifeless photographs of the planet's surface, transmitted by the Mariner 4 probe in 1965, seemed to finally put a sad end to the discussion of the presence of life on Mars.
However, as soon as the first apparatus of the Viking series (Viking-1) reached Mars in 1976, the public realized that in the search for life on Mars, one should not put a dot, but rather an ellipsis.
Contradictory results of experiments on the study of the chemical activity of the soil, drastically changing data of carbon dioxide detection, detection organic molecules dichloromethane and methyl chloride, pictures of the surface with formations that look like dried up riverbeds and, of course, the well-known photographs of the Martian "Sphinx" (as it was proved later, the natural play of light and shadow) blew up the scientific and near-scientific community with renewed vigor, causing a mass discussions and disputes that continue to this day.
The Martian region of Cydonia "The face of the Sphinx" (top right) and "pyramids"
The surface of Mars is hostile to life - low temperatures, aridity, hard solar radiation and other factors speak rather in favor of the absence of any life on the "Red Planet".
On the other hand, there are numerous examples of living organisms capable of surviving in equally harsh conditions on Earth. Life on Earth exists almost everywhere where there is liquid water. Therefore, the very possibility that oceans once existed on Mars forces humanity to continue to search, explore and. Whether it is "", exploring the surface of the "Red Planet" for many years, or "", just set off.
Can Mars support life now? Has he been able to do this in the past? Is there life on Mars? There are still no clear answers to these questions, and this is another great riddle our space brother.
"Face" on Mars. Snapshot of Viking-1.
No other planet has attracted as much attention as Mars. People are accustomed to refer to this planet as mysterious object, after all, according to some scientists, only on Mars there is really evidence of the presence of life. Further delving into the mysteries of this planet only increases this assumption.
For more than a century, geologists, astronomers, microbiologists and other representatives of the world of science have shown great interest in the study of Mars. However, despite this, the Red Planet still remains a mystery to us, covered with a halo of many secrets. One of these secrets is a mysterious phenomenon, which was once described by G. Wells in the famous novel "War of the Worlds". Here we are talking about Martian outbreaks, which, with the onset of the Great Confrontation between Mars and the Earth, manifest themselves most clearly. Illing, an English astronomer, first noticed the mysterious flash. This happened on December 11, 1896, when he was observing Mars. The flash was a brilliant small dot, which lit up for a few moments and immediately went out. And the Soviet astronomer Barabashov observed a longer flare. In 1934, he noticed a white and very bright band over the surface of the Red Planet, which did not fade for several minutes. The strongest outbreak was recorded on June 4, 1937. It lasted five minutes.
In 1956, another outbreak was recorded. Then Soviet astronomers noticed a dot with a bluish-white glow. It was comparable in brightness to the southern cap of the planet. Until now, the nature of the occurrence of such phenomena has not been studied. Researchers are at a loss as to whether these were the consequences of the impact of large meteorites on the planet or the explosions of volcanoes on its surface. However, according to the results of recent studies, it becomes clear that the possibility of outbreaks as a result of volcanic explosions is unlikely, since their power will not be enough to notice the explosion from the Earth. So, for example, in order to repeat the brightness level of the 1937 outbreak, the volcano had to leave behind a crater that would be hundreds of thousands of times larger than any known on our planet. Of course, there is a high probability of such strong explosions after the fall of an asteroid or meteorite. But the probability is extremely low that on the surface of Mars for last century at least four such asteroids have fallen.
Astronomer V. Davydov, on the basis of this, made the assumption that flashes on Mars are probably a reflection of sunlight from the surface, which has the properties of a mirror. This theory, despite its unreality, has a well-founded confirmation - in winter, small ice crystals are present in the atmosphere of Mars. It is quite possible that it was from such crystals that the reflection of light occurred, which was also visible on Earth. This theory has not yet been confirmed, but it fully explains the nature of the emergence of Martian mirrors.
The mysteries of the Red Planet began with a discovery made by the Italian astronomer Schiparelli during one of the great oppositions. He discovered on the surface of this planet a whole grid of straight, even lines. At that time, the biggest news on Earth was the construction of such great canals as the Panama, Kiel and Suez canals. Therefore, the discovery of Schiparelli was declared the Martian "channels". In other words, it is the result of the activities of intelligent beings. The most interesting thing is that these same straight lines were found on Mars before, but no one considered them channels until people began to build channels themselves.
The red planet continues to excite the imagination of earthlings with its mysteries. Not so long ago, the data obtained by the European Mars-Express probe were processed and another mystery appeared. The data indicate that in the bowels of Phobos, one of the satellites of Mars, there are huge voids that occupy about a third of its volume. Therefore, the theory that Phobos is an asteroid captured by Mars is rejected. Each expedition to the Red Planet brings more and more mysteries, which attracts writers, scientists, and ordinary people to it.
It is now known that there is definitely no liquid water on Mars. But, apparently, the white polar caps, which were discovered in 1704, are water ice mixed with solid carbon dioxide. In winter, they extend a third of the distance to the equator. This ice partially melts in the spring, and a wave of darkening propagates toward the equator from the poles. Previously, this wave was taken for Martian plants.
The total volume of ice contained in the polar cap of the northern hemisphere, according to modern concepts, is about 1.5 million km3. This means that this melted ice could not in any way form a giant ocean, which, according to many scientists, once covered almost all North hemisphere Red planet. Therefore, it remains a mystery where the water that once abounded on the now arid planet could have gone.
Mars and Earth, according to modern concepts, developed at an early stage of evolution according to similar scenarios. It is possible that later due to global catastrophe, the humid and warm climate of Mars has changed to a cold and modern one. In this case, most of the atmosphere could be lost. Questions about where the water went from its surface, about the causes of the cataclysm, about whether primitive life had time to emerge on young Mars, are the most pressing problems in the study of this planet.
Many scientists believe that a huge meteorite that fell on Mars contributed to the destruction of water bodies. After all, the planet cannot be protected from solar radiation and meteorites. This version is proved by a huge canyon that exists on Mars. Its depth is more than 10 kilometers. If we compare our Mariana Trench with this canyon, then the depression will be just a small point in comparison with it. If there was such a canyon on our planet, it could easily divide it in half.
Among the formations that have been found on the surface of the Red Planet, meander valleys or channel-like channels attract special attention. The presence of "tributaries" and in general their appearance it is hardly possible to explain it in any other way than to assume that these are riverbeds. But, at present, no rivers can flow on Mars, there can be no liquid water at all. But no other liquid could form such channels - liquid carbon dioxide cannot exist even in earthly conditions and the lava solidifies very quickly. So, meanders appeared due to the existence water streams, rec. Currently, there are no conditions necessary for this, which means that they were in the past. It is likely that Mars in the distant past was more humid and warm planet on which life could arise. Scientists today know that the climate on the Red Planet changed billions of years ago. The cause of this climate catastrophe remains a mystery. This catastrophe destroyed all the rivers, lakes and seas on Mars that were on it in the distant past.
most inexplicable mystery is the "Face of Mars". What is it - just a distortion of light, or is it actually an image in the form of a stone formation that looks like a human face. It really does look like a human face. It is 2.5 kilometers long, 2 kilometers wide and 0.4 kilometers high. The sizes are huge. This "face" is located in the northern hemisphere of Mars. It has never been taken seriously by scientists. They refuted the opinion that the picture of the "face" proves the existence of a civilization on Mars in the past. They justified this miracle by the fact that it was just a play of shadows and light. However, after a certain number of years, images were discovered that were examined by Gregory Molenar and Vincent DiPetro under a different light and bias. They started their own investigation. And after that, the version of the play of light and shadows has already disappeared. The ledge really looked like a human face. But it still remains a mystery.
It is worth noting that such finds on the Red Planet are not uncommon. Researchers are confused by the fact that the location of the large volcanoes of this planet coincides with the plan of Giza. But, according to E. Gilbert and R. Bauval, Egyptian pyramids were oriented by the stars. This cannot be said about volcanoes, since they have natural origin. A perfectly round formation at the very top of the Martian Olympus looks very mysterious - it is very similar to a landing site.
An unusual planet, with unusual mysteries, is still mysterious for the inhabitants of the Earth. We now have to make do with only those answers that are provided on this moment scientists of our planet. To get answers to all questions related to Mars, we can only wait for now.
No related links found
