Mars - Revision history

RichardWSmith: /* Human Exploration and Settlement */ Added link.

2024-08-24T06:00:58Z

Human Exploration and Settlement: Added link.

RichardWSmith: /* Human Exploration and Settlement */

2024-08-24T05:59:45Z

Human Exploration and Settlement

RichardWSmith: /* Notable Features */

2024-08-24T05:58:27Z

Notable Features

RichardWSmith: /* Aereography (Martian Geography) */ Mars does not have very strong winds.

2024-08-24T05:57:51Z

Aereography (Martian Geography): Mars does not have very strong winds.

RichardWSmith: Added a sentence on atmosphere and a couple links.

2022-05-27T15:12:41Z

Added a sentence on atmosphere and a couple links.

RichardWSmith at 22:02, 24 March 2021

2021-03-24T22:02:08Z

RichardWSmith: Added a link to the Settlement page.

2021-03-24T18:39:03Z

Added a link to the Settlement page.

JimL: Added a table of planetary science figures taken from the same source article used to update the page a couple months ago.

2019-02-17T19:04:58Z

Added a table of planetary science figures taken from the same source article used to update the page a couple months ago.

JimL at 19:02, 17 February 2019

2019-02-17T19:02:39Z

JimL: Added section on human exploration and settlement.

2018-11-25T19:23:59Z

Added section on human exploration and settlement.

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:00, 24 August 2024
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	Explorers would make temporary visits to Mars. In contrast, settlers would spend the rest of their lives on Mars. NASA is currently focused on exploration more than settlement<ref>Wall M. (2016). Permanent Mars Colony Is 'Long Way Down the Road,' NASA Says. https://www.space.com/32325-nasa-mars-colony-crewed-mission-outlook.html</ref>. SpaceX describes subsequent settlement as a follow-on goal of their Mars exploration plan<ref name=":0" />. Mars One is a private European venture that makes settlement their immediate goal, with no prior exploration phase<ref>About Mars One. http://www.mars-one.com/about-mars-one</ref>.		Explorers would make temporary visits to Mars. In contrast, settlers would spend the rest of their lives on Mars. NASA is currently focused on exploration more than settlement<ref>Wall M. (2016). Permanent Mars Colony Is 'Long Way Down the Road,' NASA Says. https://www.space.com/32325-nasa-mars-colony-crewed-mission-outlook.html</ref>. SpaceX describes subsequent settlement as a follow-on goal of their Mars exploration plan<ref name=":0" />. Mars One is a private European venture that makes settlement their immediate goal, with no prior exploration phase<ref>About Mars One. http://www.mars-one.com/about-mars-one</ref>.
		+
		+	See [[Settlement]] for more information.

	==Life on Mars==		==Life on Mars==

@@ Line 88: / Line 88: @@
 ==Human Exploration and Settlement==
-NASA plans to send human explorers to Mars in the 2030s<ref>[https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars NASA's Journey to Mars. https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars]</ref>, while the private company SpaceX has an independent plan for sending humans to Mars in 2024<ref name=":0">[https://www.spacex.com/mars SpaceX. Missions to Mars. https://www.spacex.com/mars]</ref>.  The Inspiration Mars Foundation has proposed a manned flyby mission, but the current status of this project is unclear.
+NASA plans to send human explorers to Mars in the 2030s<ref>[https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars NASA's Journey to Mars. https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars]</ref>, while the private company SpaceX has an independent plan for sending humans on a Mars flyby in 2024<ref name=":0">[https://www.spacex.com/mars SpaceX. Missions to Mars. https://www.spacex.com/mars]</ref>.  The Inspiration Mars Foundation has proposed a manned flyby mission, but the current status of this project is unclear.
 Explorers would make temporary visits to Mars.  In contrast, settlers would spend the rest of their lives on Mars.  NASA is currently focused on exploration more than settlement<ref>Wall M. (2016). Permanent Mars Colony Is 'Long Way Down the Road,' NASA Says. https://www.space.com/32325-nasa-mars-colony-crewed-mission-outlook.html</ref>.  SpaceX describes subsequent settlement as a follow-on goal of their Mars exploration plan<ref name=":0" />.  Mars One is a private European venture that makes settlement their immediate goal, with no prior exploration phase<ref>About Mars One. http://www.mars-one.com/about-mars-one</ref>.

@@ Line 64: / Line 64: @@
 *[[Olympus Mons]]: the largest mountain in the Solar System, rising 24 km (78,000 ft.) above the surrounding plain. Its base is more than 500 km in diameter and is rimmed by a cliff 6 km (20,000 ft) high.
 *[[Tharsis]]: a huge bulge on the Martian surface that is about 4000 km across and 10 km high.
-*[[Valles Marineris]]: a system of canyons 4000 km long and from 2 to 7 km deep.
+*[[Valles Marineris]]: a system of canyons 4000 km long and from 2 to 7 km deep. These are thought to be a Rift Valley.
 *[[Hellas Planitia]]: an impact crater in the southern hemisphere over 6 km deep and 2000 km in diameter.

@@ Line 53: / Line 53: @@
 The atmosphere of Mars is quite different from that of Earth. It is composed primarily of carbon dioxide with very small amounts of other gases, such as nitrogen and oxygen. Martian air contains only about 1/1,000 as much water as our air, but even this small amount can condense out, forming clouds that ride high in the atmosphere or swirl around the slopes of towering volcanoes. Local patches of early morning fog can form in valleys. At the Viking Lander 2 site, a thin layer of water frost covered the ground each winter.
-The average pressure on the surface of Mars is only about 7 millibars (less than 1% of Earth’s), but it varies greatly with altitude from almost 9 millibars in the deepest basins to about 1 millibar at the top of Olympus Mons. But it is thick enough to support very strong winds and vast dust storms that on occasion engulf the entire planet for months. Mars’ thin atmosphere produces a greenhouse effect but it is only enough to raise the surface temperature by 5 degrees (K); much less than what we see on Venus and Earth.
+The average pressure on the surface of Mars is only about 7 millibars (less than 1% of Earth’s), but it varies greatly with altitude from almost 9 millibars in the deepest basins to about 1 millibar at the top of Olympus Mons. But it is thick enough to support winds and vast dust storms that on occasion engulf the entire planet for months. Mars’ thin atmosphere produces a greenhouse effect but it is only enough to raise the surface temperature by 5 degrees (K); much less than what we see on Venus and Earth.
 Much of the Martian surface is very old and cratered, but there are also much younger rift valleys, ridges, hills and plains. The southern hemisphere of Mars is predominantly ancient cratered highlands somewhat similar to the Moon. In contrast, most of the northern hemisphere consists of plains which are much younger, lower in elevation and have a much more complex history. An abrupt elevation change of several kilometers seems to occur at the boundary. The reasons for this global dichotomy and abrupt boundary are unknown (some speculate that they are due to a very large impact shortly after Mars’ accretion).

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 |0.007 bar
 |}
-Mars orbits the Sun at a distance of 249,228,730 km at aphelion and 206,644,545 km at perihelion. Its gravity is one third that of Earth. The climate of Mars is Earth-like with seasons. Though Mars is much smaller than Earth, its surface area is about the same as the land surface area of Earth.
+Mars orbits the Sun at a distance of 249,228,730 km at aphelion and 206,644,545 km at perihelion. Its gravity is one third that of Earth. The climate of Mars is Earth-like with seasons. Though Mars is much smaller than Earth, its surface area is about the same as the land surface area of Earth.  The Martian [[Atmosphere]] is almost unique in that the South Pole gets so cold in winter that the main atmospheric constituent will freeze out.  This causes large swings in the planetary atmospheric pressure and can contribute to planet scale [[Dust storms]].
 ===Aereography (Martian Geography)===

@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
 |-
 |Atmospheric pressure
-|0.007 bars
+|0.007 bar
 |}
 Mars orbits the Sun at a distance of 249,228,730 km at aphelion and 206,644,545 km at perihelion. Its gravity is one third that of Earth. The climate of Mars is Earth-like with seasons. Though Mars is much smaller than Earth, its surface area is about the same as the land surface area of Earth.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[Image:Mars Hubble.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The planet Mars (Greek: ''Ares'')]]
 [[Image:Mars_symbol.png|25px|left|Astronomical symbol of Mars]]
-'''Mars''' is the fourth planet from the Sun (after Mercury, Venus and Earth). It resides with Earth (our planet) in the region of the solar system where liquid water can exist on the surface, and therefore the chance that life is (or once was) present on Mars remains a distinct possibility. This also makes Mars the most likely candidate for future human settlement.
+'''Mars''' is the fourth planet from the Sun (after Mercury, Venus and Earth). It resides with Earth (our planet) in the region of the solar system where liquid water can exist on the surface, and therefore the chance that life is (or once was) present on Mars remains a distinct possibility. This also makes Mars the most likely candidate for future human [[Settlement]].
 Mars is the Roman god of war (Ares is the Greek version), and the planet was probably given this name because of its red color. Mars is frequently referred to as the Red Planet.

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 |-
 |Orbital inclination
-|1.860 degrees
+|1.850 degrees
 |-
 |Minimum surface temperature

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Planetary Science==
 Mars orbits the Sun at a distance of 249,228,730 km at aphelion and 206,644,545 km at perihelion. Its gravity is one third that of Earth. The climate of Mars is Earth-like with seasons. Though Mars is much smaller than Earth, its surface area is about the same as the land surface area of Earth.
@@ Line 49: / Line 87: @@
 Future Mars exploration missions include NASA's InSight and [[Mars 2020|Mars 2020 Rover]], and ESA's [[ExoMars|ExoMars Rover]].
-== Human Exploration and Settlement ==
+==Human Exploration and Settlement==
 NASA plans to send human explorers to Mars in the 2030s<ref>[https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars NASA's Journey to Mars. https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars]</ref>, while the private company SpaceX has an independent plan for sending humans to Mars in 2024<ref name=":0">[https://www.spacex.com/mars SpaceX. Missions to Mars. https://www.spacex.com/mars]</ref>.  The Inspiration Mars Foundation has proposed a manned flyby mission, but the current status of this project is unclear.
@@ Line 62: / Line 100: @@
 [[category:Mars Planetary Science]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:23, 25 November 2018
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	Future Mars exploration missions include NASA's InSight and [[Mars 2020\|Mars 2020 Rover]], and ESA's [[ExoMars\|ExoMars Rover]].		Future Mars exploration missions include NASA's InSight and [[Mars 2020\|Mars 2020 Rover]], and ESA's [[ExoMars\|ExoMars Rover]].
		+
		+	== Human Exploration and Settlement ==
		+	NASA plans to send human explorers to Mars in the 2030s<ref>[https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars NASA's Journey to Mars. https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars]</ref>, while the private company SpaceX has an independent plan for sending humans to Mars in 2024<ref name=":0">[https://www.spacex.com/mars SpaceX. Missions to Mars. https://www.spacex.com/mars]</ref>. The Inspiration Mars Foundation has proposed a manned flyby mission, but the current status of this project is unclear.
		+
		+	Explorers would make temporary visits to Mars. In contrast, settlers would spend the rest of their lives on Mars. NASA is currently focused on exploration more than settlement<ref>Wall M. (2016). Permanent Mars Colony Is 'Long Way Down the Road,' NASA Says. https://www.space.com/32325-nasa-mars-colony-crewed-mission-outlook.html</ref>. SpaceX describes subsequent settlement as a follow-on goal of their Mars exploration plan<ref name=":0" />. Mars One is a private European venture that makes settlement their immediate goal, with no prior exploration phase<ref>About Mars One. http://www.mars-one.com/about-mars-one</ref>.

	==Life on Mars==		==Life on Mars==