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Mars Exploration Today ARTICLE MARS EXPLORATION TODAY JEREMIE LASUE1,2 Since the beginning of the space age with the launch and success of Sputnik 1 in 1957, the exploration of our neighbouring planets has demonstrated the diversity of environments available around the Sun. More recently, the current extent of exoplanet discoveries — with more than a thousand planets confirmed by the Kepler mission in January 2015 — has lead us to a better understanding of how the planetary systems and planets within them are formed. It also made us realise that other habitable worlds may be quite common. But as we tackle the complexity of our own planet, a definite answer to the questions of how early Earth originated and evolved to support life requires a deeper understanding of the solar system as a whole, and more specifically how Mars evolved so differently. Whether Mars harbours life or did in the past remains the most important driver of Mars exploration. Our Most Similar Neighbour valley networks, polar caps and many others. Like Earth, it has an atmosphere with clouds and sometimes dust n our solar system, Mars is well known as the fourth storms. However, the present average atmospheric pressure planet from the Sun. It is located at the boundary is low relative to Earth’s, and the atmosphere is mostly between the realm of the rocky, terrestrial planets that I made of carbon dioxide (95%). The martian polar ice caps make up the inner solar system and the outer gaseous and contain principally water ice, and many water related icy planets that reflect the decrease in temperature as one gets further from the central star. That boundary is best TABLE 1: Comparison Between represented by the frost line where water molecules can Earth and Mars Properties condense (estimated to be around 5 times the distance Earth Mars between the Sun and the Earth) Distance from the Sun (million km) 150 228 On top of being close enough from Earth to allow its –2 exploration by spacecrafts with relative ease, amongst all Solar irradiance (Wm ) 1367.6 589.2 the planetary objects that can be found around the Sun, Obliquity (o) 23.4 25.2 Mars is arguably the one that presents the conditions that Day length 24 hours 24h37m(=1sol) are closest to the ones found on our own planet. As Year length (days) 365.26 686.98 presented in Table 1, Mars orbital parameters, size and Diameter (km) 12756 6779 global characteristics are close to the ones of Earth. The Figure 1 illustrates the large variety of surface features on Density (g.cm–3) 5.5 3.9 Mars. These include impact craters, volcanoes, canyons, Gravity (m.s–2) 9.81 3.71 Atmospheric pressure (mb) 1000 6.36 1 IRAP, CNRS— UPS, Toulouse, France Average surface temperature (oC) 15 –63 2 OMP, CNRS— UPS, Toulouse, France N (78.1%) CO (95.3%) * Corresponding author: ! Jeremie Lasue Institut de Recherche en 2 2 Atmospheric composition O (20.9%) N (2.7%), Astrophysique et Planétologie Observatoire Midi--Pyrénées, 9 2 2 Ar(1.6%) Avenue Colonel Roche, Toulouse, FR--31028. VOL. 81, NOS. 7–8 167 features are detected on its surface. Thus the possible Marineris canyon system about 4000 km long and up to 7 presence of liquid water and habitable environments on or km deep, named after the spacecraft. The most striking below the surface have driven interest in the planet. features involved probable formation by flowing water in Orbiting at a distance on average about 50 percent farther the planet’s past, based on identification of branching valley from the Sun than the Earth, Mars is the only other planet network systems and broad outflow channels. besides the Earth that is within the solar system’s potential From 1975 through 1980, the next major spacecraft habitable zone, which ranges from 0.95 to 1.67 times the exploration from NASA involved the two Viking orbiters distance between the Sun and the Earth, where water can and two Viking landers. Figure 3 plots the position of all be found in liquid form as a potential habitable the landers that have successfully reached the surface of environment. For an introduction to the characteristics of Mars and are expected to do so in the near future on a the planet Mars the reader is suggested to refer to1. topographic map of the planet. The orbiters imaged the A very interesting feature of the planet is the entire surface of Mars at a resolution of 150 to 300 meters, predominance of the ancient rocks present on its surface. and selected areas down to 8 meters. The landers were On Earth, erosion processes and plate tectonics have both successful landing respectively at Chryse Planitia and removed most of the oldest rocks, indeed just about 10% Utopia Planitia on two opposite sides of the planet. For of the total surface area of the continents is formed of the first time, they imaged the surface of Mars and Archean rocks or older (rocks older than 2.5 Gy). On the characterised the surface material at both landing sites as contrary, on Mars, about 74% of the surface of the planet iron-rich clays. Temperatures ranged from 150 to 250 K, is formed2, by Noachian and Hesperian rocks, which are with a variation over a given day of 35 to 50 K. Seasonal older than 3 Gy. When comparing side to side the dust storms, pressure changes, and transport of atmospheric geological evolution of the two planets, as shown on Figure gases between the polar caps were observed. A set of four 2, one notices that Mars just like the Earth, must have had biological experiments on-aboard were designed to detect conditions favourable to the emergence of life in its early life on the soils by different means. The gas chromatograph- stages. At that time, Mars possessed abundant water that mass spectrometer experiment did not detect significant carved the extensive valley networks and probably an amounts of complex organic molecules. The gas exchange atmosphere much thicker and warmer than today and a experiment looked at gas released from incubated soil higher internal heat flux that could have provided another samples without success. The labeled release and pyrolytic energy source. After about 3.5 Gy, through the Hesperian, release experiments used the 14C isotope of carbon as a Mars suffered an important transition towards more acidic tracer of biological activity either for a nurtured or and oxidising conditions, liquid water activity at the surface incubated martian soil. An initial positive detection of 14C became more sporadic and colder conditions settled due metabolisation was not reproduced by further experiments to a thinner atmosphere and smaller geothermal heat flux. on the samples. In the end, it appears that no conclusive As a consequence, the conditions during which the initial evidence of life was found at either landing site. For a stages of life have occurred have been mostly erased on review please refer to Ref.3. However, reanalysis of the Earth, but not so on Mars. Understanding whether suitable data in the wake of the discoveries from the more recent environments for the emergence of life existed on early landers and rovers suggests that the viking results can be Mars and if life ever existed on the planet is the major explained by the presence of perchlorate (a very strong driver for the current exploration of Mars. chemical oxidant) and martian organics in the soil samples. The First Era of Mars Exploration The Second Era of Mars Exploration: ‘Follow the Water’ Starting in 1964 with the successful fly-bys of the Mariner 4, 6, and 7 NASA missions, close imaging of the After the disappointments of early missions to Mars planet were acquired. The first images returned new technologies were required to advance our knowledge disappointingly presented a cratered surface similar to the of the planet, and exploration stopped for almost 20 years. Moon. Further surveys showed contrasting results Since the late 1990s, a new phase of Mars exploration highlighting the geological diversity of the planet. Mariner started, named after the NASA moto of ‘follow the water’, 9 (1971-72) was the planet’s first orbiter, and it successfully indicating that if there was any chance of finding potential imaged the entire globe. These early spacecraft revealed life on Mars, the best policy was first to try and determine the planet’s cratered highlands, flat northern plains, if suitable environments existed now or in the past. This immense volcanoes and huge tectonic rifts, like the Valles sustained era of exploration led to significant increases in 168 SCIENCE AND CULTURE, JULY-AUGUST, 2015 the planet history came from the near-infrared spectro- imagers on-board the ESA Mars Express (OMEGA) and the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (CRISM). Targeted at detecting spectral signatures of minerals on the surface of the planet, they have successfully shown the presence of hydrated minerals from clays such as smectites, as well as sulphates, linked with ancient areas indicating past aqueous environments in a number of locations on the planet. The respective ages of the deposits indicate the evolution of the planet from conditions suitable for life in the ancient past to the oxidising conditions seen today as represented in Figure 2. Furthermore, rovers and stationary landers, like Mars Pathfinder (1997), Spirit and Opportunity; the two Mars Figure 1 : Global view of Mars based on a Mars Global Surveyor image mosaic (1999-2004). Visible on top, the northern polar ice cap. At center Exploration Rovers (2004) and the Phoenix mission (2008) left, the shield volcanoes Olympus Mons, Alba Mons and the Tharsis have performed increasingly sophisticated surface Montes.
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