Is there life on Mars?

From the very beginning of its existence, an intelligent person gravitated toward the knowledge of the surrounding world and its secrets. And he wanted to get knowledge not only about those things that he usually dealt with and not only about the places where his life was going. He wanted to know much more.

Probably, from the very moment when the person made his first ascent of the head to the sky, and the beginning of his interest in what exists outside his immediate activity. After all, looking up, he saw a huge yellow sun, and the moon, and a myriad of stars, stretching across the vast expanses of heaven, among which was a very unusual star with a bright orange, even a fiery radiance - the planet Mars.

Over time, people began to be interested in things of universal scale. Are there extraterrestrial intelligence, alien civilizations, other races of intelligent living beings? And today one of the most important and burning questions was the question of whether there is life on Mars. Why there? In this short article we will make a brief overview of the information available on this matter.

The inhabitants of Ancient Egypt and Babylon called it the Red Star. Pythagoras offered to give her the name Piraeus, which meant "fiery." The ancient Greeks called it Ares (Ares - the ancient Greek god of war). And since in Roman mythology the god of war was Mars, in the end the planet was called. Although in Russia until the XVIII century in common use were the Greek names of the planets, and therefore Mars called Aream or Arris.

To date, many space expeditions to Mars have been carried out (successful and not), which allowed a lot to learn about it. Mars is the fourth from the Sun (after the Earth) planet and our closest space neighbor (along with Venus). The distance from the Sun is 228 million km. And from the Earth - 55.76 million km (when the position of the Earth is exactly between Mars and the Sun) and 401 million km (when the position of the Sun is exactly between Mars and the Earth). Its diameter is 6670 km, which is almost half the diameter of the Earth.

The atmosphere consists of 75% of carbon dioxide, and the remaining 25% - carbon dioxide mixed with water vapor. This makes life on Mars, to put it mildly, unlikely. But the climatic conditions theoretically allow the possibility of existence on the surface of water in the liquid state. And water, as you know, is the source of life. Atmospheric pressure on the planet is 160 times lower than terrestrial pressure. The air temperature in the daytime is about +15 ° C, and at night it drops to -80 ° C (at poles up to -143 ° C). The surface of the planet is cold, deserted and dry. And sand storms to black outshine the sky for weeks and months.

Be that as it may, Mars is the only one of all the planets, most similar to Earth and most suitable for life. More and more new pictures of the Martian surface show that on Mars there were times when water played a significant role - there were found the formations resembling river beds and places where there could be lakes and even seas.

Some scientists put forward hypotheses that life on Mars was, but then there was a severe ecological disaster (the fall of giant meteorites) or even a war (explosions of nuclear bombs) that destroyed all life on the planet. Theoretically evidence of this can serve as huge craters on the surface of Mars, stretching far into its depths

Serious researches in our time are exposed to the Martian meteorites found in various corners of the Earth. The first information about them dates back to 1984. And in 1996 a report was published on the traces of activity of biological organisms found on one of the meteorites. Methane gas was also found, which can not exist in itself in the atmosphere for a long time, which means that it stands out. The source of it, of course, can be the volcanoes of Mars, but there may be bacteria.

Official data is also the fact that many mysterious findings have been made on the red planet. For example, the face of the Martian Sphinx facing the sky, as well as various holes of regular shape and formation, which can be pyramids.

In addition, evidence that the US authorities have data confirming that life was found on Mars can be the fact that many photographs taken during the Martian expeditions were carefully hidden or even destroyed by order "from above." And in conversations with representatives of the authorities and various state structures, there is obvious insincerity and a desire to conceal something.

But the greatest excitement is now observed around not even this, but around the expedition to Mars. The company Mars One plans to send people to Mars in order to prepare the ground for the future colonization of a new planet. The news is amazing, but not happy with the fact that it will fly one way. Modern technology allows you to create a device in which people can get to Mars and land on its surface. But they do not allow launching from the planet to return to Earth. There is an official statement that the company Mars One has already found sponsors and received the first money to implement the project.

Special details about the irrevocable expedition are still small. But it is known that 4 people will take part in it, and the selection of volunteers has already begun (despite the fact that the mission is irrevocable, their unthinkable number and continue to appear new ones). The expedition is scheduled to start in 2023. If this happens, then on the red planet, people will land in 2027. All their further life they will spend in the Martian settlement, in advance built for them by robots, previously fixed.

In July 2015, it is already planned to complete the selection of applicants for the flight. There will be 24. The next 7 years, teams of 4 people will prepare for the mission.

At the same time NASA plans to send the first interplanetary expedition even further than Mars - to the asteroid belt. There is practically no information about this expedition at all. But it is known that the flight will last longer than the flight to Mars (more than four years). And the expedition members will be able to return to Earth.

In conclusion, it should be noted that no one can give an exact answer to the question of whether there is life on Mars. There are constant disputes. All new data appears. New theories and hypotheses are brought out. But one thing is certain: Mars is a planet, life is possible. Let's hope that further studies of this issue in the relatively near future will be able to give us a reliable answer. Who knows, maybe our nearest space neighbors are Martians ?!