04/07/2016 6 243 0 Jadaha

Secrets of the Universe

"Is there life on Mars, is there life on Mars - science does not know" - this is not an easy apt aphorism from the popular comedy film "Carnival Night", which is widely included in our colloquial and became a walking joke. The main thing here is that this phrase for a very long time reflected our actual level of knowledge about the existence of life on the Red Planet. And just now, in last years, when the latest scientific observations, studies, facts are collected and processed, all this allows us to say: “There was life on Mars!”

Why is Mars red?

Mars has been called the "Red Planet" since time immemorial. A bright red disk hanging in the night sky during the years of the Great Controversies, when this planet is as close as possible to the Earth, has always caused some unsettling feeling in people. It is no coincidence that the Babylonians, and then the ancient Greeks and the ancient Romans associated the planet Mars with the god of war, Ares or Mars, and believed that the time of the Great Controversy was associated with the most cruel wars.This gloomy sign, oddly enough, sometimes comes true in our time: 1940-1941 coincided with the first years of World War II.

But why is Mars red? Where does this blood color come from? Oddly enough, the similarity of the color of the planet and blood is due to the same reason: the abundance of iron oxide. Iron oxides stain blood hemoglobin; ferric oxides, combined with sand and dust, cover the surface of Mars. Soviet and American space stations that made soft landings in the Martian deserts transmitted to Earth color images of rocky plains covered with red ferruginous sand. Although the Martian atmosphere is very rarefied (its density corresponds to the atmosphere of the Earth at an altitude of 30 kilometers), dust storms are extremely strong here. Sometimes it happens that because of the dust, astronomers cannot see the surface of this planet for months.

American stations transmitted information about the chemical composition of the Martian soil and bedrock: on Mars, deep dark rocks predominate - andesites and basalts with a high content of iron oxide (about 10 percent), which is part of silicates; these rocks are covered with soil - a product of weathering of deep rocks. The content of sulfur and iron oxides is sharply increased in the soil - up to 20 percent. This indicates that the red Martian soil consists of oxides and hydroxides of iron with an admixture of ferruginous clays and calcium and magnesium sulfates. On Earth, soils of this type are also quite common. They are called red-colored weathering crusts. They are formed in a warm climate, an abundance of water and free oxygen in the atmosphere.

In all likelihood, red-colored weathering crusts arose on Mars under similar conditions. Mars is red because its surface is covered with a powerful layer of "rust" that corrodes dark deep rocks. Here one can only be surprised at the insight of medieval alchemists who made the astronomical sign of Mars a symbol of iron.

But in general, "rust" - an oxide film on the surface of the planet - the rarest phenomenon in the solar system. It exists only on Earth and Mars. On the rest of the planets and the numerous large moons of the planets, even those believed to contain water (in the form of ice), the underlying rocks remain unchanged for almost billions of years.

The red sands of Mars, dispelled by hurricanes, are particles of the weathering crust of deep rocks. On Earth, in our time, such dust is cursed by drivers on dirt roads in Africa and India. And in past eras, when our planet had a greenhouse climate, red-colored barks, like lichens, covered the surface of all continents. Therefore, red-colored sands and clays are found in deposits of all geological epochs. The total mass of the red-flowers of the Earth is very large.

Red-colored weathering crusts on Earth arose a very long time ago, but only after free oxygen appeared in the atmosphere. It is estimated that all oxygen earth's atmosphere(1200 trillion tons) green plants produce by geological standards almost instantly - in 3700 years! But if the terrestrial vegetation dies, free oxygen will disappear very quickly: it will again combine with organic matter, become part of carbon dioxide, and also oxidize iron in rocks. The atmosphere of Mars is now only 0.1 percent oxygen, but 95 percent carbon dioxide; the rest is nitrogen and argon. For the transformation of Mars into the "Red Planet" the current amount of oxygen in its atmosphere would be clearly not enough. Consequently, "rust" in such large quantities did not appear there now, but much earlier.

Let's try to calculate how much free oxygen had to be removed from the atmosphere of Mars for the formation of Martian reds? The surface of Mars is 28 percent of the surface of the Earth. For the formation of a weathering crust with a total thickness of 1 kilometer, about 5,000 trillion tons of free oxygen were withdrawn from the atmosphere of Mars. This suggests that there was once no less free oxygen in the atmosphere of Mars than on Earth.

So there was life!

Frozen rivers of Mars

There was a lot of water on Mars. This is evidenced by spacecraft photographs of an extensive river network and grandiose river valleys, similar to the famous Colorado Canyon in the United States. The frozen seas and lakes of Mars are now probably buried in red sands. It seems that Mars, along with the Earth, experienced the epoch of the Great Ice Ages. On Earth, the last grandiose glaciation ended only 12-13 thousand years ago. And now we live in an era global warming. Photos of Mars show that there is also a thawing of a multi-kilometer layer permafrost. This is evidenced by giant landslides of melting red-colored soil along the slopes of river valleys. Since the climate of Mars is much colder than the Earth's, it leaves the era of the last glaciation much later than us.

So, the combined effect of water and oxygen in the atmosphere, and even a warmer than now, climate could lead to the fact that Mars was covered with such a powerful layer of "rust", and now it is visible as a "red eye" for many hundreds of millions of kilometers. And one more condition: this "rust" could only arise if there was once lush vegetation on the "Red Planet".

Is there any evidence that this was the case? The Americans discovered a meteorite in the ice of Antarctica, abandoned by some terrible explosion from the surface of Mars. Something similar to the remains of primitive bacteria has been preserved in this stone. Their age is about three billion years. The ice shell of Antarctica began to form only 16 million years ago. But it is not known how long a fragment of Martian rock was spinning in space before it fell to Earth. Strong explosions on Mars, according to many experts, occurred not so long ago - 30-35 million years ago.

The history of the development of life on Earth shows that in just 200 million years, the primitive blue-green algae of the Precambrian turned into mighty forests of the Carboniferous period. This means that on Mars there was more than enough time for the development of complex life forms (from those primitive bacteria that were imprinted on stone to lush impenetrable forests).

That is why to the question: "Is there life on Mars? .." - I think we should answer: "There was life on Mars!" Now it is apparently practically absent, because the oxygen content in the Martian atmosphere is negligible.

What could destroy life on this planet? It is unlikely that this happened because of the Great glaciations. The history of the Earth quite convincingly shows that life still manages to adapt to glaciations. Most likely, life on the "Red Planet" was destroyed by the impacts of giant asteroids. And these impacts are evidenced by the red magnetic iron oxide, which makes up more than half of the iron oxides in the red colors of Mars.

Maghemite on Mars and on Earth

An analysis of the red sands of Mars revealed an amazing feature: they are magnetic! The red flowers of the Earth, having the same chemical composition, are non-magnetic. This sharp difference in physical properties is explained by the fact that iron oxide, the mineral hematite (from the Greek “hematos” - blood) with an admixture of limonite (iron hydroxide), acts as a “dye” in terrestrial red flowers, and on Mars the mineral maghemite serves as the main dye. It is a red magnetic iron oxide having the structure of the magnetic mineral magnetite.

Hematite and limonite are iron ores widespread on Earth, while maghemite is rare among terrestrial rocks. It is sometimes formed during the oxidation of magnetite. Maghemite is an unstable mineral; when heated above 220 degrees, it loses its magnetic properties and turns into hematite.

Modern industry produces large quantities of synthetic maghemite - magnetic iron oxide. It is used, for example, as a sound carrier in tapes. The reddish-brown color of tapes is due to the admixture of the finest powder of magnetic iron oxide, which is obtained by calcining iron hydroxide (an analogue of the mineral limonite) to 800-1000 degrees. Such magnetic iron oxide is stable and does not lose its magnetic properties upon re-calcination.

Maghemite was considered a rare mineral on Earth until geologists discovered that the territory of Yakutia was literally covered with a huge amount of magnetic iron oxide. This unexpected discovery was made by our geological team when searching for diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes, many “false anomalies” were revealed. They were very similar to kimberlite pipes, but differed in an increased concentration of magnetic iron oxide. magnetic, like its synthetic counterpart, I described it as a new mineral variety and called it "stable maghemite". But many questions arose: why does it differ in properties from "ordinary" maghemite, why is it similar to synthetic magnetic iron oxide, why is there so much of it in Yakutia, but not among the numerous red flowers of ancient deposits or in the equatorial belt of the Earth? .. Doesn't it mean is it that some mighty flow of energy once burned the surface of the north-east of Siberia?

I see the answer in the sensational discovery of a giant meteorite crater in the basin of the Siberian Popigay River. The diameter of the Popigai crater is 130 km, and to the southeast there are also traces of other "star wounds", also considerable - tens of kilometers in diameter. This terrible disaster happened about 35 million years ago. Perhaps she determined the border of two geological epochs - the Eocene and the Oligocene, on the border of which archaeologists find traces abrupt change types of life.

The energy of the cosmic impact was truly monstrous. The diameter of the asteroid is 8-10 km, the mass is about three trillion tons, the speed is 20-30 km/s. It pierced the atmosphere like a bullet through a sheet of paper. The impact energy melted 4-5 thousand cubic kilometers of rocks, mixing together basalts, granites, sedimentary rocks. Within a radius of several thousand kilometers, all life perished, the water of rivers and lakes evaporated, and the surface of the Earth was calcined by cosmic flame.

The fact that the temperature and pressure at the moment of impact were monstrous is evidenced by special minerals that are now found in the rocks of the Popigay crater. They could arise only at "unearthly" pressures of hundreds of thousands of atmospheres. These are heavy modifications of silica - coesite and stishovite, as well as a hexagonal modification of diamond - lonsdaleite. The Popigai crater is the world's largest diamond deposit, but only non-cubic, as in kimberlite pipes, hexagonal.Unfortunately, the quality of these crystals is so low that they cannot be used even in technology.And, finally, another result of powerful calcination.The red-colored limonite crusts that came to the surface received such a burn that the iron hydroxides turned into red magnetic iron oxide - stable maghemite.

The discovery in Yakutia of huge amounts of red magnetic iron oxide is the key to unraveling the magnetism of red-colored crusts on Mars. After all, there are more than a hundred meteorite craters on this planet, each of which is larger than Popigai, and smaller ones cannot be counted.

Mars "hard hit" from meteorite bombardments. Moreover, many craters are relatively young. Since the surface of Mars is almost four times smaller than the earth's, it is clear that it underwent powerful calcination, a cosmic burn, during which the ferruginous weathering crusts were magnetized. The content of maghemite in the soil of Mars is - 5-8 percent.The current rarefied atmosphere of this planet can also be explained by an asteroid attack: gases at high temperatures turned into plasma and were forever ejected into space.The oxygen of the atmosphere of Mars seems to be relic: it is an insignificant remnant of the oxygen that was generated by life destroyed by asteroids .

The third satellite of Mars?

Why did the asteroids attack the "Red Planet" so fiercely? Is it only because it is closer than others to the "asteroid belt" - the fragments of the mysterious planet Phaeton, which may have once existed in this orbit? Astronomers suggest that Mars' moons Phobos and Deimos were once captured gravitational field planets from the asteroid belt.

Phobos revolves around Mars in a circular orbit at a distance of only 5920 km from the surface of the planet. For a Martian day (24 hours 37 minutes), he manages to circle the planet three times. According to some calculations, Phobos almost came close to the so-called "Roche limit", that is, to the critical distance at which gravitational forces tear the satellite apart. Phobos is shaped like a potato. Its length is 27 km, width -19 km. The collapse and fall of fragments of such a giant "potato" will cause terrible blows to Mars and a new calcination of its surface. The remnants of the atmosphere, of course, will be torn off and go into space in the form of a hot plasma stream.

The idea arises that Mars has already experienced something similar in the past. It is possible that he had at least one other companion. The best name for it would be Thanatos - Death. Thanatos passed through the Roche limit, ahead of the now dying Phobos. It may very well be that it was these debris that destroyed all life on Mars. They erased plant life from the surface of Mars, destroyed the dense oxygen atmosphere. When they fell, the red-colored crust of Mars was magnetized.

The next few million years turned out to be enough for Mars to turn into a lifeless desert with frozen seas and rivers covered with red magnetic sand. Similar or lesser cataclysms are not a miracle at all in the world of planets. Does anyone on Earth now remember that on the site of the giant Sahara desert, only 6 thousand years ago, deep rivers flowed, forests rustled and life was in full swing? ..

As soon as the first telescopes were invented (16th century), scientists began to actively observe Mars. It turned out that it is completely covered with huge volcanoes and craters, has polar ice caps and atmospheric clouds.

To date, it is known that the red planet has such a specific color for a reason. Everything happens because of what is present. a large number of iron oxide in the soil.

Another very unusual thing is that the day on Mars is almost the same as on Earth, only an hour longer. 95% of the atmosphere of Mars is carbon dioxide, and the pressure on Mars is 160 times less than on our planet. The entire surface of the red planet is occupied by land with numerous mountain ranges without water. However, scientists suggest in the past its presence. It is especially noteworthy that Mars is the only planet in our solar system that has the deepest canyon and the mightiest mountain.

The entire planet has a rather harsh climate, since the average temperature is -50 ° Celsius, and only in the equator region does the temperature stay within 20 ° C. According to scientists, this desert planet with sand tornadoes is directly related to the emergence of earthly civilization, and researchers really want to solve the Martian riddles.

Was there a civilization on Mars

Many scientists are of the opinion that Mars could have been habitable a few thousand years ago. It is possible that the planet had numerous water resources in the form of rivers and seas and an oxygen-rich atmosphere, and its inhabitants were much more developed than earthlings. But at some point, unforeseen events occurred. Foreign celestial bodies have entered the solar system from the depths of space. Most likely there were several. They passed through the planet Phaeton, which was close to Mars, and split it into several parts.

Fragment parts of Tiamat (as Phaeton was also called) violated the magnetic field of Mars, flying through the mantle of the planet. The solar wind destroyed the Martian atmosphere, thus killing the inhabitants below it. As a result, 3 very large craters formed on Mars on one side of the planet and three volcanic vents on the other side.

There could also have been many other fragmentation particles that nearly split Mars itself. One of them left a trail, which later became known as the Mariner Valley. It is very deep and resembles the earth's Mariana Trench. But the most interesting thing is that no one can say for sure whether the inhabitants of the planet were saved. Ufologists support this belief, and scientists do not stop finding more and more facts that confirm their hypothesis.

We are being watched by a higher mind

Despite everything, the mysteries of Mars still exist and there are many of them. For example, researchers often find footprints that indicate the existence of Martians. This was very well helped at one time by orbital vehicles for observing outer space"Viking".

The pictures that were taken were unique. On them you can see unusual cone-shaped objects, similar to the Egyptian pyramids, but much larger than them. There is also an object called the "face of the Sphinx", which looks directly at the Earth. It is likely that this is just a figment of the imagination, but still do not neglect these guesses.

Many more people are well aware of the “glass worms” find. For the first time this became known at the end of the summer in 1999, when space station MarsGlobal of the American assembly was able to get pictures of some unknown objects. They looked like corrugated glass tubes that just lay on the surface of Mars. The photographs show that many of these pipes lie separately, but in places they intersect with each other and hide in the failures of the Martian soil.

Information from rovers

In January 2014, the Opportunity rover took a picture that clearly shows that a rock has appeared near the rover. Although, a few days ago this mysterious stone was not there. Thanks to this, the mysterious Mars has attracted special attention. While engineers and geologists were trying to find out the true cause of the stone in the photo, Internet users were already actively discussing this news.

Websites related to ufology tried to give an answer based on the hypothesis that the stone could be evidence of habitation. extraterrestrial civilizations on the red planet. Plus, there was even an attempt to convict NASA of hiding the true state of things. Particularly noteworthy was a humorous comment by Opportunity project scientist Steve Squires, who called the mysterious stone a jelly donut. Those who discussed this topic gladly picked up a wave of humor, and some even seriously began to consider his statement.

A little later, NASA employees became aware of where the foreign object in the photo came from. At that moment, when the researchers moved the rover a little to the other side, with the help of cameras they were able to examine the platform on which it stood, and saw the rock, just from which a piece of stone could fall off. This truth did not particularly disappoint scientists. On the contrary, it became very valuable for them, because thanks to the discovered stone, geologists, after conducting a chemical analysis, were able to learn about the concentration various substances in the rock of the mysterious Mars.

Currently studying the red planet rover Curiosity, which often sends unusual images that make NASA researchers think.

Oddities and mysteries of the planet Mars

One day in April, NASA released a picture taken from the rover's camera, in which a whitish spot is clearly distinguishable, very similar to a glow of artificial origin. Scott Waring was the first ufologist to notice this and suggested that it was likely alien civilizations sent a signal.

And he also accused NASA of delaying the disclosure of many secrets, because they could move the rover closer to a strange glow and get some information about life on the red planet. Thus, the mysteries of Mars are deliberately left unsolved. Of course, astronomy enthusiasts also took up the discussion of the white glow in the photo with great enthusiasm, which led to considerable conflicts and disputes.

Gift from outer space

In Antarctica in 1984, scientists discovered an ancient meteorite that resembles Martian soil in its composition. In addition, the remains of organic decomposition were visible on it. And this indicates only one thing: there was life and civilization on the red planet, but long before the Earth became inhabited. This is the most important Martian mystery - who exactly and when lived there.

More recently, one very interesting conclusion came to ESA staff, having received information from spacecraft: Phobos (the satellite of Mars) is actually hollow, and unusual buildings on its entire surface are made by human hands!

Among other things, there is a hypothesis that the Martians live on the planet Nibiru, hiding from the inhabitants of the Earth so that they cannot be detected.

Thus, the mysteries of Mars are increasingly attracting scientists from all over the world. Who knows, maybe soon it will be possible to unravel all these unusual mysteries.

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 form a giant ocean, which, according to many scientists, once covered almost the entire northern hemisphere of the 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 a global catastrophe, the humid and warm climate of Mars was replaced by 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 can hardly be explained 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 a wetter and warmer planet on which life could have arisen. 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, the 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.

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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 a relief is caused by liquid water, which was once in huge quantities flowed over 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 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 side Atmosphere pressure on the surface is too small (1/100th of the earth) 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.

Relief northern hemisphere planets, dry riverbeds and whole river deltas, network structures and the presence of minerals that require the presence of liquid water to appear. 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. Perhaps ancient Mars was cold and wet, and not cold and dry or warm and wet, as 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.

Inconsistent results of experiments on the study of the chemical activity of the soil, drastically changing detection data for carbon dioxide, detection of organic molecules of dichloromethane and methyl chloride, images of the surface with formations similar to dried up riverbeds and, of course, the well-known photographs of the Martian "Sphinx" (as was proved later , - the natural play of light and shadow) blew up the scientific and pseudo-scientific community with renewed vigor, causing a lot of 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.

Hundreds of NASA scientists and engineers continue to oversee the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers. High-tech chemical laboratories on wheels daily send information about the planet to Earth, to which it is planned to send the first expedition, which will include people, in a relatively short time.

At the moment, the estimated period of active operation of vehicles on the surface of Mars has long expired, however, thanks to the genius of their creators, rovers continue to work for the benefit of mankind to this day, from time to time throwing scientists the most difficult riddles.

While the luminaries of science are trying to find a logical explanation for the mysteries of the fourth planet, conspiracy theorists and ufologists often use the extracted materials to announce evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence.

Opportunity and the Jelly Donut Mystery

The Opportunity rover's workload in 2014 was comparatively insignificant. The reason for this is the long service life of the robot on the surface of Mars, which he touched on January 25, 2004.

Then scientists called the effective life of the apparatus 90 sols (Martian days, which last a little longer than the earth), but the successful design of the rover and innovative technologies allow him to collect information so far. It was Opportunity that proved that in the distant past there existed on Mars fresh water that formed the riverbeds.

Opportunity prepares to celebrate its 11th anniversary on Mars
Photo: mars.nasa.gov

During its work on Mars, Opportunity has worn out, some of its equipment has failed, so the rover practically stands still. However, on January 8, 2014, the robot still managed to drive its engineers into a dead end, as well as that part of the Earth's population that follows the research of a neighboring planet.

In the picture sent by the device, right next to the rover, which was not there a few days ago.

A strange stone that scientists discovered in one of the images of Opportunity
Photo: space.com

While geologists and project engineers were trying to figure out the reasons for the appearance of an unknown object near Opportunity, the news had already spread across the Web, giving rise to a heated discussion of the event. Some Internet resources related to ufology immediately tried to explain the appearance of a strange stone as evidence of the presence intelligent life on Mars, as well as convict NASA of hiding evidence.

Steve Squires added fuel to the fire with his joke (host project scientist"Opportunity") at one of the presentations, when he said that the discovered stone looked like a "jelly donut". This gave rise to another wave of humor on the Internet, and some managed to take the statement seriously.

Some time later NASA employees nevertheless, they were able to explain the reasons for the appearance of an unknown object near the rover. When the scientists managed to move the car a short distance, the cameras examined the area under it and found nearby rock, from which a small pebble fell off. This most likely happened at the moment when the Opportunity chassis was slipping in an attempt to move the device.

Photo: jpl.nasa.gov

However, scientists were not particularly disappointed, because the chemical composition of the found stone turned out to be extremely interesting for geologists and made it possible to draw several conclusions about the concentration of substances in the Martian rock under the influence of water currents.

Curiosity: 28 months on Mars

Like Opportunity, Curiosity's third-generation rover has already crossed its scheduled mission to Mars. At the same time, the device continues its research mission.

For two and a half years of work on a neighboring planet, the robot has collected a large amount of information necessary for scientists to ensure the safety of interplanetary flights for the human body, as well as living on the surface of an alien planet.

Recently, The New York Times published a video "28 Months on Mars", dedicated to the work of the rover on the Red Planet. The creators have put together a two-minute video from footage taken by Curiosity himself during his stay on Mars, starting on August 6, 2012. last shot dated December 3, 2014, on Sol 827 of the apparatus operation.

In the course of routine work on the study of the surface of Mars, Curiosity often witnesses mysterious events that baffle NASA scientists.

Strange glow in Curiosity images and the Martian theory

April 3 on the NASA website, on which a strange white spot can be seen with the naked eye, most of all similar to artificial light.

The first to notice this was the American ufologist Scott Waring, who hastened to post the photo on his resource. The ufologist claimed that the strange glow, in his opinion, is not a glare of the sun or a graphic artifact in the photograph, hinting opaquely that aliens are involved in the case. Here, Waring accused scientists from NASA that they could "ride" on a rover to the source of a strange glow, but they deliberately slow down research and do not try to find life on Mars.

A mysterious glow in one of the photographs of Curiosity caused a lot of controversy among astronomy lovers.
Photo: NASA

While less radical readers on the Internet joked that the Martians managed to unscrew the "spare tire" from the rover and now they are burning tires over the hill, scientists from the NASA laboratory tried to explain to the public that such artifacts in photographs are not uncommon.

Doug Ellison, who is one of the JPL employees, explained on his Twitter that the appearance of this glow in the picture is caused by cosmic rays. This theory is confirmed by the fact that the artifact is only on the image from the right lens of the Navcam system, while the left "eye" did not fix the anomaly.

Finding the first possible signs of life on Mars

In December 2014, a message appeared on the NASA website that Curiosity experienced a short-term anomalous increase in the concentration of methane in the atmosphere near the probe. For scientists, such data can be the main evidence of the presence of life on Mars, but they are prudently not in a hurry to draw conclusions and continue to analyze the data.

The release of methane was recorded twice - in late 2013 and early 2014, at which time the concentration of gas near the rover was ten times higher than normal. If we take into account the fact that almost all microorganisms on our planet produce methane during their life, then such a discovery could become sensational and radically change the method of exploration of Mars.

Curiosity's second discovery excited scientists even more. When the robot obtained samples from the rock, which received the name Cumberland, and carried out their chemical analysis, the rock was found organic compounds containing carbon and hydrogen - the main building material of life on our planet.

The researchers were skeptical of such information, since the molecules could have been brought to the surface of Mars by Curiosity itself. It took many months to verify the data, and only now scientists have published the results and confidently stated that organic compounds are of Martian origin.

Hole in the Cumberland rock. It was from it that a rock sample with organic compounds was obtained.
Photo: NASA

Of course, hydrocarbons can exist separately from organic forms, but such a discovery gives scientists great hopes for the discovery of life outside our planet.

Despite the fact that there are still theories in the circles of conspiracy theorists, according to which none of the rovers ever reached the Red Planet, and all the pictures were supposedly taken in the Nevada desert, the crowns of the technical evolution of mankind tirelessly work on an alien planet every day. Little robots are gathering information for those earthlings who are expected to set off on the first manned mission to Mars soon.