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Mars Exploration Program
Mars Exploration Program (MEP) is a long-term effort Exploration of Mars, to explore the planet Mars, funded and led by NASA. Formed in 1993, MEP has made use of orbital spacecraft, lander (spacecraft), landers, and Mars rovers to explore the possibilities of life on Mars (planet), life on Mars, as well as the planet's climate and natural resources. The program is managed by NASA's Science Mission Directorate by Doug McCuistion of the Planetary Science Division. As a result of 40% cuts to NASA's budget for fiscal year 2013, the Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG) was formed to help reformulate the MEP, bringing together leaders of NASA's technology, science, human operations, and science missions. Governance First convening in October 1999, the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) enables the scientific community to provide input for the planning and prioritizing of the Mars Exploration Program. Mars exploration missions, as do most NASA missions, can be fairly costl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exploration Of Mars
The planet Mars has been explored remotely by spacecraft. Uncrewed spacecraft, Probes sent from Earth, beginning in the late 20th century, have yielded a large increase in knowledge about the Martian system, focused primarily on understanding Geology of Mars, its geology and Planetary habitability, habitability potential. Engineering Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary journeys is complicated and the exploration of Mars has experienced a high failure rate, especially the early attempts. Roughly sixty percent of all spacecraft destined for Mars failed before completing their missions, with some failing before their observations could begin. Some missions have been met with unexpected success, such as the twin Mars Exploration Rovers, ''Spirit (rover), Spirit'' and ''Opportunity (rover), Opportunity'', which operated for years beyond their specification. Current status There are two functional rovers on the surface of Mars, the Curiosity (rover), ''Curiosity'' and Persever ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Climatology
Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , '' -logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric condition during an extended to indefinite period of time; weather is the condition of the atmosphere during a relative brief period of time. The main topics of research are the study of climate variability, mechanisms of climate changes and modern climate change. This topic of study is regarded as part of the atmospheric sciences and a subdivision of physical geography, which is one of the Earth sciences. Climatology includes some aspects of oceanography and biogeochemistry. The main methods employed by climatologists are the analysis of observations and modelling of the physical processes that determine climate. Short term weather forecasting can be interpreted in terms of knowledge of longer-term phenomena of climate, for insta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atmosphere Of Mars
The atmosphere of Mars is the layer of gases surrounding Mars. It is primarily composed of carbon dioxide (95%), molecular nitrogen (2.85%), and argon (2%). It also contains trace levels of water vapor, oxygen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and noble gases. The atmosphere of Mars is much thinner and colder than Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's having a max density 20 g/m3 (about 2% of Earth’s value) with a temperature generally below zero down to –60 °C. The average Atmospheric pressure, surface pressure is about which is 0.6% of the Earth's value. The currently thin Martian atmosphere prohibits the existence of liquid water on the surface of Mars, but many studies suggest that the Martian atmosphere was much thicker in the past. The higher density during spring and fall is reduced by 25% during the winter when carbon dioxide partly freezes at the pole caps. The highest atmospheric density on Mars is equal to the density found above the Earth's surface and is ≈0.020 kg/m3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carbonate Minerals
Carbonate minerals are those minerals containing the carbonate ion, . Carbonate divisions Anhydrous carbonates *Calcite group: trigonal **Calcite CaCO3 **Gaspéite (Ni,Mg,Fe2+)CO3 **Magnesite MgCO3 **Otavite CdCO3 **Rhodochrosite MnCO3 **Siderite FeCO3 **Smithsonite ZnCO3 **Spherocobaltite CoCO3 *Aragonite group: orthorhombic **Aragonite CaCO3 **Cerussite PbCO3 **Strontianite SrCO3 **Witherite BaCO3 **Rutherfordine UO2CO3 **Natrite Na2CO3 Anhydrous carbonates with compound formulas *Dolomite group: trigonal **Ankerite CaFe(CO3)2 **Dolomite (mineral), Dolomite CaMg(CO3)2 **Huntite Mg3Ca(CO3)4 **Minrecordite CaZn(CO3)2 **Barytocalcite BaCa(CO3)2 Carbonates with hydroxyl or halogen *Carbonate with hydroxide: monoclinic **Azurite Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 **Hydrocerussite Pb3(CO3)2(OH)2 **Malachite Cu2CO3(OH)2 **Rosasite (Cu,Zn)2CO3(OH)2 **Phosgenite Pb2(CO3)Cl2 **Hydrozincite Zn5(CO3)2(OH)6 **Aurichalcite (Zn,Cu)5(CO3)2(OH)6 Hydrated carbonates *Hydromagnesite Mg5(CO3)4(OH)2.4H2O *Ikaite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biosignature
A biosignature (sometimes called chemical fossil or molecular fossil) is any substance – such as an element, isotope, molecule, or phenomenon – that provides scientific evidence of past or present life on a planet. Measurable attributes of life include its physical or chemical structures, its use of free energy, and the production of biomass and wastes. The field of astrobiology uses biosignatures as evidence for the search for past or present extraterrestrial life. Candidate biosignatures strongly indicate some of the earliest known life forms, aid studies of the origin of life on Earth as well as the possibility of life on Mars, Venus and elsewhere in the universe. Types Biosignatures can be grouped into ten broad categories:NASA Astrobiology Str ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microorganism
A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic scale, microscopic size, which may exist in its unicellular organism, single-celled form or as a Colony (biology)#Microbial colonies, colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen microbial life was suspected from antiquity, with an early attestation in Jain literature authored in 6th-century BC India. The scientific study of microorganisms began with their observation under the microscope in the 1670s by Anton van Leeuwenhoek. In the 1850s, Louis Pasteur found that microorganisms caused food spoilage, debunking the theory of spontaneous generation. In the 1880s, Robert Koch discovered that microorganisms caused the diseases tuberculosis, cholera, diphtheria, and anthrax. Microorganisms are extremely diverse, representing most unicellular organisms in all three domains of life: two of the three domains, Archaea and Bacteria, only contain microorganisms. The third domain, Eukaryota, includes all multicellular o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemical Energy
Chemical energy is the energy of chemical substances that is released when the substances undergo a chemical reaction and transform into other substances. Some examples of storage media of chemical energy include batteries, Schmidt-Rohr, K. (2018). "How Batteries Store and Release Energy: Explaining Basic Electrochemistry", ''J. Chem. Educ.'' 95: 1801-1810. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00479 food, and gasoline (as well as oxygen gas, which is of high chemical energy due to its relatively weak double bond and indispensable for chemical-energy release in gasoline combustion). Schmidt-Rohr, K. (2015). "Why Combustions Are Always Exothermic, Yielding About 418 kJ per Mole of O2", ''J. Chem. Educ.'' 92: 2094-2099. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.5b00333 Breaking and re-making chemical bonds involves energy, which may be either absorbed by or evolved from a chemical system. If reactants with relatively weak electron-pair bonds convert to more strongly bonded products ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geothermal Energy
Geothermal energy is thermal energy extracted from the crust (geology), crust. It combines energy from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay. Geothermal energy has been exploited as a source of heat and/or electric power for millennia. Geothermal heating, using water from hot springs, for example, has been used for bathing since Paleolithic times and for space heating since Roman times. Geothermal power (generation of electricity from geothermal energy), has been used since the 20th century. Unlike wind and solar energy, geothermal plants produce power at a constant rate, without regard to weather conditions. Geothermal resources are theoretically more than adequate to supply humanity's energy needs. Most extraction occurs in areas near tectonic plate boundaries. The cost of generating geothermal power decreased by 25% during the 1980s and 1990s. Technological advances continued to reduce costs and thereby expand the amount of viable resources. In 2021, the US ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Superoxides
In chemistry, a superoxide is a compound that contains the superoxide ion, which has the chemical formula . The systematic name of the anion is dioxide(1−). The reactive oxygen ion superoxide is particularly important as the product of the one-electron reduction of dioxygen , which occurs widely in nature. Molecular oxygen (dioxygen) is a diradical containing two unpaired electrons, and superoxide results from the addition of an electron which fills one of the two degenerate molecular orbitals, leaving a charged ionic species with a single unpaired electron and a net negative charge of −1. Both dioxygen and the superoxide anion are free radicals that exhibit paramagnetism. Superoxide was historically also known as "hyperoxide". Salts Superoxide forms salts with alkali metals and alkaline earth metals. The salts sodium superoxide (), potassium superoxide (), rubidium superoxide () and caesium superoxide () are prepared by the reaction of with the respective al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Life On Mars
The possibility of life on Mars is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to the planet's proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no conclusive evidence of past or present life has been found on Mars. Cumulative evidence suggests that during the ancient Noachian time period, the surface environment of Water on Mars, Mars had liquid water and may have been Planetary habitability, habitable for microorganisms, but habitable conditions do not necessarily indicate life. Scientific searches for evidence of life began in the 19th century and continue today via telescopic investigations and deployed probes, searching for water, chemical biosignatures in the soil and rocks at the planet's surface, and biomarker gases in the atmosphere. Mars is of particular interest for the study of the Abiogenesis, origins of life because of its similarity to the early Earth. This is especially true since Mars has a cold climate and lacks plate tectonics or continental drift, so it has remain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Planetary Habitability
Planetary habitability is the measure of a planet's or a natural satellite's potential to Abiogenesis, develop and sustain an environment hospitable to life. Life may be abiogenesis, generated directly on a planet or satellite endogenously. Research suggests that life may also be transferred from one body to another, through a hypothetical process known as panspermia. Environments do not need to contain life to be considered habitable nor are accepted habitable zones (HZ) the only areas in which life might arise. As the existence of life beyond Earth is not known, planetary habitability is largely an extrapolation of conditions on Earth and the characteristics of the Sun and Solar System which appear favorable to life's flourishing. Of particular interest are those factors that have sustained complex, multicellular organisms on Earth and not just simpler, unicellular creatures. Research and theory in this regard is a component of a number of natural sciences, such as astronomy, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Life
Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, metabolism, Cell growth, growth, adaptation, response to stimulus (physiology), stimuli, and reproduction. All life over time eventually reaches a state of death, and none is Immortality, immortal. Many philosophical definitions of living systems have been proposed, such as self-organizing systems. Viruses in particular make definition difficult as they replicate only in Host (biology), host cells. Life exists all over the Earth in air, water, and soil, with many ecosystems forming the biosphere. Some of these are harsh environments occupied only by extremophiles. Life has been studied since ancient times, with theories such as Empedocles's materialism asserting that it was composed of Classical element, four eternal elements, and Aristotle's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
