Why is Mars the first choice for human beings to immigrate into space?

In all kinds of sci-fi movies, humans regard Mars as a destination for moving into space. In reality, in the vast starry sky, human beings are scrambling to choose Mars as the detection target. Mars will be very lively in 2020, and the United States, China and the United Arab Emirates all have plans to go to Mars.

Why are humans so obsessed with Mars? This may start with the human Mars complex.

Humans have always been full of yearning for Mars. Some people say that our life originally came from Mars, and some people say that the present of the earth is the past of Mars. Scientists from NASA also insist that the faces and pyramids found on Mars are real, and the bridge where Matt Damon successfully planted potatoes on Mars in the sci-fi movie "Mars Rescue" is even more popular.

After all, human beings have lived in the cradle of the earth for too long, and the environment of the earth is gradually deteriorating. Humans have realized that "we can't live in the cradle forever".

With the gradual deepening of the exploration of Mars, the understanding of this planet is more intuitive, and people are increasingly discovering that Mars is too similar to the Earth. Mars, the red planet in the solar system, is simply the "twin sister" of the blue earth and a "pocket earth".

If Mars has a living environment for human beings, from the earth to Mars, human beings will not feel too much discomfort. This deeply attracts scientists to explore more mysteries behind the similarities between twins and sisters, thus opening the way for human beings to transform and migrate to Mars.

Mars has become the first choice for human space immigrants, first of all, because it is in the livable zone of the solar system with the earth and is one of the neighbors relatively close to the earth. Not only that, after years of exploration and research on Mars, we found that Mars and the Earth have many similarities.

Like the earth, Mars has revolution and rotation. A day on Mars is 24 hours and 37 minutes, which is almost the same as the rotation time of the Earth. The sun seen on Mars also rises and sets in the west. The inclination of the orbital plane of Mars and the equatorial plane of Mars is 25. 19 degrees, which is very close to the inclination of the earth of 23.5 degrees, which makes them have the rotation of the four seasons.

Mars, like the earth, is mainly composed of silicate rocks and has a solid rock surface similar to the earth. It belongs to the family of "Earth-like planets", which is undoubtedly the most practical foundation of human home. The soil and rocks of Mars are rich in minerals and various compounds, which are also the basic components of life. Mars also has north and south poles, and even the white ice caps at the two poles are like replicas of the white ice caps at the north and south poles of the earth. There are deserts, plains, mountains and canyons on Mars ... even tornadoes and sandstorms can run rampant on Mars, much more arrogant than on earth.

Like the earth, there is an atmosphere around Mars. But the main component of the Martian atmosphere is carbon dioxide. Humans can extract oxygen from carbon dioxide through technical means, which can not only be used for human breathing, but also be made into fuel. Both the Mars Pathfinder and the Wanderer have recorded that the temperature under a thin layer of dust and gravel on the sunny side of the surface of Mars is 265,438 0℃, which is just a comfortable temperature. Although the temperature of Mars at night and at the poles will be as low as-100℃, the lowest temperature on the earth's land can also reach -90℃.

In addition, Mars has always been considered to have water, and even traces of liquid water seem to be found on the surface of Mars. There is also evidence that there is a large amount of water ice in the polar ice sheet. Judging from all kinds of evidence, there may have been life on Mars, and now Mars may be the future of the earth.

Of course, when you come to Mars, you will find more interesting phenomena. A year on Mars is about 687 Earth Days, which means that a year on Mars is equivalent to two years on Earth. If you run and jump or lift heavy objects on Mars, you only need to spend 38% of the strength on the earth, because the gravity on Mars is only 1/3 of that on the earth, and everyone on Mars can become a Hercules, and it is easy to become a master bouncer.

Of course, although Mars is very similar to the Earth, the known Martian environment is far from meeting the basic survival needs of human beings, such as the atmosphere of Mars is too thin, the oxygen content is too low, and the temperature difference between day and night is too large. ...

On the other hand, people's understanding of Mars is still "superficial". Since the 1960s, human beings began to send probes to Mars, and embarked on the journey of exploring Mars. Cruelly, the success rate of the Mars exploration program is less than 50%. Despite repeated setbacks, the dream of Mars has never been lost, and the pace of exploration has never stopped.

Who knows? What should I do if my dream comes true in the face of the unknown?

After all, it is precisely because the future is full of unknowns that our exploration and practice become more meaningful.

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Produced by: Popular Science China

Production: General Department of Moon and Deep Space Exploration of China Academy of Sciences, Zhang Zhanlan of National Space Science Center of China Academy of Sciences.

Producer: Computer Network Information Center