CNN
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Someday we may become Martians.
It’s not a glowing green blob with three eyes and wobbly antennae, it’s a human born and raised on the Red Planet.
NASA researchers are now Spend a year in a simulated Mars habitat in Texasin preparation for the space agency’s ambitious plan to land the first astronauts on Mars. as early as the 2030sMeanwhile, the European Space Agency (ESA) is making preparations. First round trip from Earth to Mars at the end of the decade.
However, accurate land maps and local weather data are essential for safely landing the spacecraft. Researchers at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) are bringing this dream closer to reality. Mars Atlas.
A careful combination of over 3,000 high-resolution images collected by the United Arab Emirates Emirates Airlines Hope Probe – this is Orbiting Mars from 2021 – The team created a “beautiful colored mosaic of the entire planet,” says Dimitra Atri, head of the Mars Research Group at New York University.
“If you look at the history of Mars, so many spacecraft have just crashed,” Atri said, adding that the thin atmosphere makes it difficult for rockets to slow down, and weak winds can change the landing trajectory. He added that it is sexual. “If a spacecraft crashes, there will be a huge loss of science and resources. But we must be very careful when sending humans.”
Understanding daily seasonal weather patterns will help researchers identify the safest times and locations to land, Atri says.
Landing is just one challenge that an accurate atlas can overcome. Identifying the best locations for human habitation in terms of landscape, temperature, and resources is another challenge. “If we have ice available, we can turn it into water that can be used for residential purposes,” Atri explains.
“It may sound silly, but perhaps in the future it will be common for people to go to Mars and even live there,” says Atri.
EMM/EXI/Dimitra Atli/New York University Abu Dhabi Center for Astrophysics and Space Science
Dimitra Atli plans to publish the new map as an atlas and make it available to the public.
dust and desertification
Astronomers are Has been mapping Mars for almost two centuries. The first map of Mars was created in 1840 by Germans Wilhelm Biel and Johann von Medler. But Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli’s 1877 map sparked a lasting fascination with the idea of a Martian civilization when the natural waterways he marked on the map were mistakenly shown as man-made waterways. I caused it.
NASA’s Mariner missions in the 1960s and 1970s improved our understanding of Mars’ terrain, including the first images of volcanoes, lava flows, rocky canyons, and giant dust storms. In the decades since then, NASA has produced numerous maps. based on earth mineralogyAnd earlier this year, the U.S. Space Agency released a detailed interactive program. 3D map of Mars.
NYUAD’s map is “the first map to completely use actual color photographs of the entire planet,” Atri says.
NASA’s Goddard Space Science Institute currently uses NYUAD’s maps in its Mars 24 software, which maintains accurate time on Mars. His JMARS, a public database used by NASA scientists for mission planning, also incorporates the atlas into its database.
JMARS President Scott Dickenseed told CNN in an email that the NYUAD map was “created based on data acquired more recently than some of the previous global maps,” and that it “provides even more information about what Mars looks like.” “It provides a perspective,” he said.
While NASA and ESA instruments provide high-resolution data over long periods of time, the instruments used to collect data for the NYUAD Atlas “can look at the entire Martian disk at once,” Dickenseed said, adding that this Perspective added, “It could be.” This is extremely useful for researchers looking to observe cloud and sandstorm activity on a planetary scale. ”
Mars and Earth
There is a theory that Mars once existed. Life may have existed on a watery planet like EarthHowever, atmospheric thinning caused cooling and drying, leading to the current arid conditions. Currently, global dust storms occur regularly and have major effects on the climate, including blocking radiation and trapping heat, Atli said.
Desertification is a growing problem Atri believes climate scientists can apply the data they collect about desertification on Mars to Earth to “understand what will happen to our planet in the future.”
“My fear is that if we don’t do enough on Earth (to tackle climate change), the Earth will become like Mars,” he said. added.
EMM/EXI/Dimitra Atli/New York University Abu Dhabi Center for Astrophysics and Space Science
The new images show amazing details of Mars’ terrain, including the Valles Marineris, known as the “Grand Canyon of Mars.”
In the future, Atri plans to recreate conditions on Mars in the lab to study how plants behave. Mars has an unforgiving and harsh environment with very little atmosphere, extremely low temperatures, and high levels of ultraviolet radiation.
Atri said the plants he will be studying grow naturally in dry, saline soils in desert regions like the United Arab Emirates, and how they can withstand the Red Planet’s harsh climate. They say it could help researchers understand better ways to grow food and allow researchers to find better ways to grow food. Optimize agriculture in space or in arid regions of Earth.
The research is in the early stages of planning, and Atri hopes to collect the first real samples from Mars around 2033. But other researchers are already investigating how innovations being developed to grow food on Mars could affect Earth.
about 34% Global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions come from food production, which uses vast amounts of land and water. But one-third of the world’s food is lost due to inefficiencies in the system. be wastedwhile it’s over 345 million people experience extreme food insecurity, an increase in hunger and malnutrition. Limited resources in space mean we need technology to produce food on Mars. Closed loop with high efficiency and little waste.
British researchers published the following paper last month. article Two Canadian food scientists have published a book in the journal Nature Food investigating how controlled farming in space could be a “gateway” to developing similar technologies on Earth. there is Claims that growing food on Mars could change Earth’s agriculture.
Lessons learned about the geology, climate, and atmosphere of Mars also apply to the geology, climate, and atmosphere of Mars. thousands of planets Stars orbiting outside our solar system may be habitable or able to maintain atmospheres, Atli said.
Many scientists believe that life exists on Earth born on mars Billions of years ago, Atli considered Mars to be the perfect laboratory to study theories.
“We need to understand our neighbors,” says Atli. “Maybe life existed at some point, or maybe there’s life that still survives underground. Maybe we have a common origin. No. Do you know?”
“This is our best shot at understanding ourselves and where we come from.”