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Can humans breathe on Mars? – Jack J., 7, Alexandria, VA
Let’s pretend you were an astronaut who had just landed Mars. What do you need to survive?
First, here’s a short list of water, food, shelter, and oxygen.
The air we breathe on Earth contains oxygen. Plants and certain bacteria provide it to us.
However, oxygen is not the only gas in Earth’s atmosphere. It’s not the most abundant. In fact, only 21% of our air is made up of oxygen. Most of the rest is nitrogen, about 78%.
Now, you may be wondering: If there is more nitrogen in the air, why do we breathe oxygen?
Here’s how it works: Technically speaking, when you breathe in, you take in everything in the atmosphere. But your body only uses oxygen. Exhale the rest when you exhale.
Martian air
Mars’ atmosphere is thin, only 1% of the volume of Earth’s atmosphere. In other words, Mars has 99% less air than Earth.
Part of the reason is because Mars is about half the size of Earth. Its gravity is not strong enough to prevent atmospheric gases from escaping into space.
The most abundant gas in this thin air is carbon dioxide. For people on Earth, it is a highly concentrated toxic gas. Fortunately, it makes up far less than 1% of our atmosphere. But on Mars, carbon dioxide is 96% of the air.
Mars, on the other hand, has almost no oxygen. That’s only one-tenth of one percent of the air, not enough for humans to survive.
Trying to breathe on the surface of Mars without a spacesuit to provide oxygen would be a bad idea, but you’d die quickly. I would suffocate, Because the atmospheric pressure is lowboth at about the same time will make your blood boil.
life without oxygen
So far, researchers have found no evidence of life on Mars. But the quest has only just begun. Our robotic probes have only just scratched the surface.
Make no mistake, Mars is an extreme environment. And it’s not just the air.There is very little liquid water on the surface of mars. the temperature is incredibly cold – Night temperatures exceed -100 degrees Fahrenheit (-73 degrees Celsius).
However, there are many living things on earth Survive extreme environments. Life has been found on the ocean floor and in the Antarctic ice several miles below the surface. Many of these places have extremely hot or cold temperatures, little water, and little oxygen.
And even if there is no life on Mars anymore, it may have existed billions of years ago, when Mars had a thicker atmosphere. more oxygen, warm temperature and large amounts of liquid water on the surface.
that’s one of the goals NASA’s Mars Perseverance spacecraft mission – To search for signs of life on ancient Mars. That’s why Perseverance is searching for fossils of organisms that once lived in Mars’ rocks, perhaps as primitive as Martian microbes.
self-made oxygen
Between Comes with 7 instruments Perseverance rover Moxyan amazing device that takes carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere and turns it into oxygen.
If MOXIE works as scientists hope, future astronauts will be able to generate more than just their own oxygen. It could be used as an ingredient in the rocket fuel needed to return to Earth. If people can produce more oxygen on Mars, there will be less need to bring it in from Earth, making it easier for visitors to get there. But even with “homemade” oxygen, astronauts would still need spacesuits.
Currently, NASA send humans to mars. That could happen within the next decade, perhaps sometime in the late 2030s. You will be an adult by then. And you’ll probably be one of the first to set foot on Mars.
Hello, curious children! Have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask adults to send their questions to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age, and city/ward/town/village where you live.
And curiosity has no age limit. If you are an adult, please let us know if you have any questions. I can’t answer every question, but I’ll do my best.
Philindia GantPhD geological science student, University of Florida and Amy J. WilliamsAssistant Professor of Geology; University of Florida
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