Small Pale Red Planet 1st Issue Phase 1

 

Introduction:

Mars is the only planet we know the most about but have not set foot on yet.  We have sent satellites, orbiters, landers, and rovers, but there are no human footprints on the planet Mars.  The last time humans have set foot another planet was in 1972 with Apollo 17 on the Moon.  Since then we have accumulated such a wealth of knowledge about the Red Planet that few outside the scientific community really know what we possess.  That is why I think we need a written survey  about the Planet Mars.  To look at it through a proper perspective and investigate the possibilities for the future exploration of the planet.  I see a definite need for a work such as this one.

 

Relative size to scale of Earth to Mars.  Mars is a little under 1/3 the size of Earth.

We have all sorts of video for the Planet Mars and there are many scientific details to consider.  The number of photos cataloged is very large and I doubt if anyone has paused to count them.  So I think there is reason for an attempt at a written/video/image survey of the planet.  It will be done as listed below:

 

Mars Quadrangle Map

This is the map that I will follow for this Project but I will refer to them as regions instead.  I will start from the top at the North pole and gradually work my way south to the South Pole. Working my way from left to right. That way we will have a complete survey of the entire planet.  To the left is the East and to the right is the West.

My Association With Mars

 

The Phoenix Lander on Mars

My association with Mars comes from the the Phoenix Lander Mission which landed close to the Martian North Pole.  I followed it from launch until it stopped working.  It was active on Mars for about 5 months- longer than NASA had intended.  Most of the exploration equipment developed by NASA has been built like that-it lasts longer than the instrument’s expected lifetime.   With Phoenix it was the first time NASA would openly admit there was water on Mars in the form of ice right under the soil of the planet.  Now NASA openly admits that there was probably life on Mars at one time too.  A thing me and many others thought they would never admit to.   My specialty has been as a Planetary Science writer and that is what I write about-planets and exoplanets.  I have covered the Phoenix Mission, and currently write about the Kepler, New Horizons, and Juno Missions.  My reason for writing about these missions is I am interested in  places that could be reached sooner than any of the places that is being dreamed about outside the solar system.  Kepler is an exoplanet mission so that is the only one that is outside our solar system.   This form of planet hunting is the proper thing to do at this time.  Once we learn to travel through our solar system there will be places where we will seek to colonize and look for ET.  We will know where to look thanks to a Mission like Kepler.  From what we have learned from Kepler we now know that, Mars exists on the outer edge of the habitable zone, a region of the Solar System where life can exist. Mars is on the border of a region known as the extended habitable zone where concentrated greenhouse gases could support the liquid water on the surface at sufficient atmospheric pressure. Therefore Mars has the potential to support a hydrosphere and biosphere.