Few places have great mystical attraction than this rusty-red stone in 54.6 million kilometers away from us. Even thousands of years ago ancient civilizations talked about what would happen in such a blood-red. Certainly no blood or fire was not enough. But the mystical fog dissipates, and you find a strange icy land that will surpass even your wildest dreams: a broad plateau, a windswept desert, a prehistoric craters, towering volcanoes and dune field the size of Luxembourg, and all of it covered with the all-pervading dust and stone powder. Here it never rains (because the water evaporates instantly), the greenhouse effect is a joyful event, and the fall leaves pain.
On Mars, sunsets shimmering blue, and the Earth is no more than a tiny ball among the stars. And where would you go to hunt for alien life, or to ski on the lakes of frozen carbon dioxide — everywhere you’ll be the first. This is breathtaking. However, this is an exaggeration, because breathe on Mars you will not succeed.
How to get there?
After many years of selfless dreams, it’s finally happening. If all goes according to plan, SpaceX, headed by its permanent leader Elon Musk plans to send the first batch of tourists to the Red planet in 2022.
However, if you don’t want to pay for a ticket, there is another possibility: to study Mars indirectly. This is a very real possibility that you are currently investigating NASA. All you need is the robot and a virtual reality headset.
What to see?
The first landmark in the list is mount Olympus. This volcano with a height of 22 kilometers, the largest in the Solar system, almost three times higher than mount Everest. As the Earth’s volcanoes, this volcano on top covered with thin clouds, only they are composed not of water but of dust. It is unknown if the Olympus, but if so, his power should throw a giant lava bombs into space.
If you go on southwest, where you’ll find Valles Marineris. This impressive valley is reminiscent of a deep scar that runs along the Martian equator. In total, its length about 4000 miles. It’s a lot, by earthly standards. In some places it reaches a depth of 7 kilometers.
As the scar formed on Mars, is unclear. Valles Marineris is composed of colorful layered deposits that may have formed on the bottom of an ancient lake or glacier or in the process of accumulation of volcanic ash. But unlike, for example, the Grand Canyon, which was formed by erosion on Mars could have caused a drift of the continents, which formed the abyss, exploded when two tectonic plates. Two sides of the chasm are the same, as the pieces of the puzzle.
“Both places it would be cool to visit. They are much more than anything on Earth, and this is partly because Mars has a much thicker crust,” says Ashwin vasavada, a scientist from the jet propulsion Laboratory of NASA in California.
If you will watch the sunset from the canyon, he will be red — blue. This phenomenon is associated with a weak atmosphere of the planet, the thickness of which is equal to 1% of the earth. The sky of our planet is blue, because the wavelengths are scattered by air molecules. On Mars this does not happen to the same extent, so the sky is the color of toffee. But when the sun is low, the light must travel farther through the atmosphere, the Martian sky is blue it becomes scary.
The red planet has another blue surprise. In many areas, lying under a thick layer of red dust, meeting the blue and green mineral rocks, such as iron. As a result, when the dust is swept away by wind or impact by a wayward asteroid, it reveals a kaleidoscopic array of blue shades, from the corrugated sand dunes to the craters, glowing cobalt blue in the aquamarine dust.
Climate
To say that Mars in summer, will be a little past the cashier. “The average temperature on Mars (about -56 degrees Celsius) is about the same as in the depths of Antarctica,” says David Catling, astrobiologist from the University of Washington.
If you prefer a beach holiday, you’ll want to stay closer to the equator. Here you will find a nice warm (up to 35 degrees in the shade) and very little wind. In such a rarefied atmosphere of a raging storm will be similar to the light breeze. And although the night is damp and foggy, the days are dry. “Gale crater about ten water molecules per million molecules of air. On the Ground their would be thousands,” says Vasavada.
Because the Red planet is one and a half times farther from the Sun than Earth, there is no need to carry glasses during the day will be about as bright as if you are already wearing a couple.
Alas, tents and campfires are excluded. Even if you find something that can burn in the absence of plants, atmosphere is 96% carbon dioxide, which is more suitable to extinguish the fire than to maintain it.
What to do
When cold -193 degrees, the Martian poles represent a winter Wonderland. Both lie in complete darkness for half a year and have ice caps made of frozen water. They are covered with super soft fluffy layer of snow from the frozen carbon dioxide; in the South it can reach a thickness of several meters. If you love the Arctic climate, you will be rewarded with opportunities to ski, from which the earth’s athletes will be green with envy.
According to the magazine Popular Mechanics, every winter, about a quarter of the red planet’s atmosphere freezes and falls on the icy surface of the planet. Although tiny cubic granules not suitable for snowballs (not too sticky) — they will be perfect for snowboarding and skiing.
When the sunlight returns in spring, pole evaporate, turning from a solid to a gas. On the surface of ice, dry ice, from which on earth do theatrical fog rises up, forming wisps of Cirrus clouds, which spurred strong winds, flying at a speed of over 400 km/h.
If you don’t want to hold on the equator, you can always explore the wild. Any known form of life on Earth consists of liquid water, so if Mars has life, she probably lurks in the puddles.
Scientists have searched for these pools for many years, but to no avail. And now, in 2011, they were found: mysterious dark streams of liquid flowing from the slopes of canyons and craters of Mars. Most likely, these streams are very salty. But who knows, maybe Martian life prefer the brine. In order to find it, you will need a microscope, not binoculars.
And at night we recommend you to recline the chair — good one-third of earth’s gravity allows — and enjoy the view. And don’t forget to take a selfie.
Guide to Mars (the future)
Ilya Hel