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brownthat is thought to be older. In general the south SUPPLEMENT TO NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, NOVEMBER 2016
S
The Challenge of
an Unforgiving World ATMOSPHERE TEMPERATURE VOLUME AND MASS DISTANCE
A key step in the journey to Mars is to orbit it, which NASA hopes Today Mars has an atmospheric pressure that is just 0.6 percent of Like Earth, Mars has days and nights, weather patterns, distinct Marss planetary volume is 15 percent of Earths; its mass is 11 percent. Earth lies near the inner edge of the solar systems habitable
Earths, which isnt enough to hold a body of water in place. A more seasons, and polar ice caps. But while its midlatitudes can be temper- According to the laws of Newtonian physics, gravity on Mars is about a zone, defined as the range of distances from a star, in this case
will happen in the 2030s. But landing, surviving, and ultimately thriving on SUN
robust atmosphere may once have supported large bodies of ate at times, its thin air and vast distance from the sunone Martian third of that on Earth. This means astronauts there could lose a lot of the the sun, where a planet can sustain liquid water (with enough
the red planetwith its low gravity level, seesawing temperatures, and nearly water, yet somethingperhaps solar radiation, the impact of an orbit takes nearly two Earth years to completemake it susceptible skeletal and muscle mass they developed fighting Earths gravity. It also atmospheric pressure to keep it in place). Mars sits within the
oxygen-free atmospherepresent myriad issues for human colonists. asteroid, a change in the magnetic fieldmade oceans impossible. to wild temperature swings. means that launching a spaceship from Mars would take less energy. habitable zone too, but closer to the outer edge. ME
RCURY
96%
-81 38 E ART H
atmospheric pounds
EARTH MARS Carbon average
21% dioxide -200 MARS 86
Could humans live on Mars? One day, perhaps. But establishing settlements there would be
78% 100 pounds MARS
Oxygen -126 EARTH 136 MARS on Earth a forbidding task. The vision shown here is drawn from the National Geographic Channels
Nitrogen
1% Argon, 1.93% Argon 100
57 pounds would feel like global event series on Mars. It reflects what some scientists are thinking right now, based
water vapor, 1.89% Nitrogen -300 -150 0 atmospheric 150 38 pounds
carbon dioxide
0.18% Oxygen and water
average on Mars. on the most recent research. Time will tell if its a blueprint for living on the red planet.
EARTH
WATER
GETTING GROUNDWATER
In addition to the ice on Marss surface at high
latitudes, there might be a great deal of frozen
water within the soil closer to the planets
equator. Microwaving the soil could melt and
extract the water.
CO2 OXYGEN
Electrons BETTER BREATHING
THROUGH CHEMISTRY
CO CO Scientists could collect the abundant carbon dioxide gas
O ion O ion in Marss atmosphere, compress it, and use electricity to split
Discarded Discarded its molecules into oxygen and carbon monoxide molecules. Greenhouse
The oxygen would be tested for purity and stored, and the
carbon monoxide vented back into the atmosphere.
O2
Lab
Common area
Corridor
SHELTER
LIVING IN LAVA TUBES
Lava tubes are cave-like conduits formed underground by cooled, hardened lava
after molten rock has flowed through. Scientists say the ones on Mars may be
significantly larger than those on Earth. The interiors of the Martian tubes,
hidden under dozens of feet of solid rock, are protected from cosmic and solar
radiation and fluctuating temperatures on the harsh, dusty surface.
Dorm
COMMUNICATION
To learn more about colonizing the red planet, tune in to the Point-to-point communication on Mars
would be via radio waves. To avoid
Channels global event series, MARS, on November 14 at 9/8c.
obstructions, signals would have to be
beamed to orbital satellites and then WATER
For related educational resources go to natgeoed.org/mars.
relayed back to the ground.
SUPPLEMENT TO NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, NOVEMBER 2016
HIDDEN GLACIERS
EDITOR: JASON TREAT. ART: DYLAN COLE Ground-penetrating radar from NASAs Mars Recon-
RESEARCH: MANYUN ZOU; TARYN SALINAS naissance Orbiter has revealed massive glaciers of
TEXT: JEREMY BERLIN frozen water preserved beneath rocky debris at much
SOURCES: ROBERT BRAUN, GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY; NASA/JPL; RAVI KUMAR
KOPPARAPU, NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER; ANTHONY MUSCATELLO AND lower latitudes than where ice had been previously
EDGARDO SANTIAGO, NASA; ADAM BRUCKNER, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON; MICHAEL
HECHT, MIT HAYSTACK OBSERVATORY; WIEGER WAMELINK, WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY AND
identified. These glaciers extend for dozens of miles.
RESEARCH CENTRE, NETHERLANDS
COPYRIGHT 2016 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS, LLC, WASHINGTON, D.C.
PRINTED AUGUST 2016