According to the suggestion of American scientists, the US government officially approved the construction of a spacecraft named "Mars Trailblazer" in February 1994 and launched it in the second half of 1997. When the spacecraft reaches Mars space, it will put down a lander and set up a small scientific observation station on Mars. Once this task is completed, a Mars environmental investigation network consisting of 12 ~ 16 small scientific observation stations will be established according to the proven technology, and its atmospheric and geological conditions will be studied for a long time to explore whether these conditions are conducive to life.
199 1 In June, four professors from Stanford University, 25 engineering graduate students and five space experts from the former Soviet Union gathered in San Francisco, USA, and announced that after half a year's investigation and research, they believed that with decades of manned space technology accumulation in the United States and the former Soviet Union and long-term manned operation experience in space orbital stations, they were capable of sending people to Mars, and it was possible that they could send people to Mars in 20/kloc-0. Why do humans go to Mars? You know, it is calculated that it will cost at least 600 billion dollars to really send people to Mars. But it is hard to resist the temptation of Mars to scientists, because this celestial body is so attractive: is there life on it? Can it be used as the residence of the earth residents in the future to solve the problem of overcrowding on the earth? These mysterious questions attract many scientists like magnets.
In the solar system, the conditions of Mars are close to those of the Earth. Through scientists' long-term observation and research on Mars, it is known that the maximum temperature of Mars during the day is about 15℃, while the temperature at night can be reduced to-100℃, which is extremely cold. In addition, it is known that there is a thin atmosphere on Mars, which contains water vapor, and there are four seasons in a year. This shows that Mars is more like the Earth than any other planet in the solar system, so some scientists once thought that there might be some form of life on Mars.
In order to further understand the situation of Mars, the former Soviet Union launched seven spacecraft to explore Mars from 1962+065438+ 10 to1August, 973. Among them, two probes crossed Mars and entered heliocentric orbit, and three probes entered orbit around Mars, becoming satellites of Mars. The other two probes made a soft landing on the surface of Mars. One is the Mars 3 probe launched on May 28th, 197 1. After more than six months' flight, it landed safely on the surface of the southern hemisphere of Mars for the first time in space history on February 2, 197 1. On March 1974, the Mars 6 probe landed safely on Mars again, and it measured the composition of the Martian atmosphere during the landing. Two soft landing Mars probes sent back a lot of information and images to the Earth.
From July 1962 to July 1973+065438+ 10, the United States sent six Mariner probes to Mars to explore Mars and its surrounding space, among which Mariner 4 carried a TV camera. For the first time, a clear image was sent back to the earth from the vicinity of Mars, from which it can be determined that there are about 300 craters on Mars. Mariner 7 discovered a snowdrift formed by water ice and dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) in the Antarctic region of Mars.
1975, the United States also launched two Mars probes, named pirates. Viking 1 Yu1On July 20th, 976, it landed safely on planas Tia Plain of Mars. Viking 2 landed safely in the utopia plain of Mars on1September 3, 976. One of their tasks is to find out whether there is life on Mars, and the other is to survey the landform, atmosphere and earthquake of Mars.
During this period, the information sent back by the Mars probes of the two countries basically denied the statement that there may be life on Mars. Nevertheless, there are still many scientists who believe that there may be life on Mars. It's just that the functions of these detectors are limited, leaving out possible life clues and information. Their basis is that Mars may have been a "world with running water and hot springs suitable for life."
Recently, the discussion about whether there is life on Mars has once again become a hot topic in the scientific community. The activity began with a press conference held by NASA in August 1996. On this day, a research team of NASA announced to the world that they had studied a meteorite weighing 1.9 kg from Mars for two years and found evidence of life.
This meteorite from Mars was discovered in Mount Allen, Antarctica in 1984 by an investigation team of the American Science Foundation, and was named ALH8400 1 meteorite. Because of the complex organic molecules found in this meteorite, these molecules look like crystals produced by bacteria on the earth, and they also look like thin tubes like bacterial fossils on the earth. The research team of NASA believes that there was at least life on Mars, although it was not intelligent life.
However, many scientists disagree with this news from NASA, and think it is too early to conclude that there is life on Mars. This has caused a new wave of research on life on Mars.
Therefore, in order to finally solve the dispute over whether there is life on Mars, samples of soil and rocks must be directly retrieved from Mars for analysis, and the final conclusion cannot be reached until someone is sent to visit Mars in person.
In fact, scientists have long planned to land on Mars, and it is only a matter of time before humans visit Mars in person. According to the plan of scientists from the former Soviet Union and the United States, it takes three steps to reach Mars.
The first step is to launch several Mars robots in the middle and late 1990s, which will land on the surface of Mars like paratroopers. Some of these robots will return to Earth with the detection results, which will provide a basis for space experts to choose the landing point and mode of manned spacecraft on Mars. This step has already begun. For example, Russia launched the Mars -96 aircraft on1996165438+10/6, with a takeoff weight of 6580 kg. After flying to Mars, it will be divided into several parts, the main part of which is an orbiter weighing 650 kilograms, which will become a satellite of Mars. Two other automatic controllers weighing 50 kilograms each made a soft landing on Mars and worked there for 700 days and nights. There are also two armor-piercing projectiles, which can drill into the depth of 4-6 meters in the Martian rocks, so as to install antennas and cameras on the surface of Mars, take detailed photos of the surface of Mars, analyze the soil and study the structure and changes of the atmosphere.
Of course, the United States will not fall far behind. It will also launch the Mars Global Probe, which will take a camera to photograph the ancient craters, polar ice caps, huge canyon systems and volcanic landforms of Mars, and draw a map of the whole of Mars. They will also launch the "Mars probe" spacecraft. Its lander will be equipped with a Mars rover, a camera and various instruments, which can measure the abundance of various elements on Mars. The United States hopes that the Mars probe can prove that a cheap spacecraft can also land on the surface of Mars and send back information about various scientific research results, because the cost of the Mars probe is much lower than that of the Viking lander in the 1970s, only110.
In order to show its strength, the United States will launch a series of Mars orbiters and landers in the future, and plans to bring samples of Mars back to Earth from one or several locations in 2005.
Following the recent discovery of life information on Mars from ALH8400 1 Martian meteorite in Antarctica, the United States plans to launch a newly designed probe on 200 1 to meet the requirements of finding microbial fossils on Mars and bringing them back to Earth. US President Bill Clinton announced that he would support the space program to find more evidence of life on Mars.
Unwilling to be lonely, Japan plans to launch a spaceship (Mars orbiter) to study the atmosphere of Mars. The European Space Agency will also decide whether to launch a spacecraft to Mars, but it is estimated that it can only be launched in 2007 at the earliest.
The first step in the trilogy of going to Mars may last more than 10 years from now, and there is still a long way to go before humans can directly set foot on Mars.
In the second step, two years before the astronauts arrive on the surface of Mars, they must first send the "Mars House" with the Mars rover (also known as the Mars rover) and the spacecraft with the engine to Mars. This kind of spacecraft with engine will be used to send astronauts back to Mars orbit from the surface of Mars in the future. The rover will enable astronauts to conduct large-scale scientific investigations and experiments on the surface of Mars.
In fact, someone is already preparing for this step, that is, preparing the rover in advance. For example, a prototype of an unmanned lunar rover developed by Russia was tested in Death Valley, a national park in California, USA, in May 1992, which is similar to the landform of Mars. The purpose of this experiment is to simulate the transmission of TV and radio data between the earth and Mars. This rover has three pairs of wheels with a width of 350 mm, on which spikes can be turned in all directions, and each pair of wheels can be extended and connected to prevent the floor from hitting the ground. The rover is driven by an 8-watt nuclear motor, which can only maneuver 1 hour every day, and the speed is very slow, about 20 ~ 30 cm per second.
Japan plans to develop a rover before 2000, and the design blueprint has been initially completed. The length of the rover is 6.8 meters, and the body is made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic. The front of the car is equipped with a foundation excavation rig, which is operated remotely from the ground to collect soil and rock samples.
Of course, some people are studying the design of "Mars residence", but this has not become a big problem in modern times.
The third step is to send three male astronauts and three female astronauts to Mars by manned spacecraft in 20 12. Six astronauts will have to fly for nine months to reach Mars. There are two main problems to be solved in order to fly monotonously and lonely in the limited space of the spacecraft for so long: one is the material; One is spiritual. The purpose of equipping female astronauts is to adjust feelings and stabilize emotions during monotonous flight, so as to ensure the smooth completion of the conquest of mission to mars. But it is a big problem to fly in a spaceship for a long time, work for one year after arriving at Mars, and then return to Earth for nine months.
199 1 The Institute of Medical Biology of the Ministry of Health of the former Soviet Union set up a strange project, which is to cultivate a new fly species. Flies are pests that everyone hates. Why cultivate new varieties? It turns out that this kind of fly is specially cultivated for the needs of human beings to fly in the future, such as Mars. The eggs laid by this new fly in feces are a kind of treasure. They can hatch into super larvae, and it can turn feces into ecologically clean humus. The high-quality tomatoes, cucumbers and mushrooms cultivated with this humus are delicious dishes for astronauts. What's more interesting is that the quails bred with the spacecraft grow very big after eating the larvae of this new fly. It won't be long before they become the best food in the astronauts' space oven.
Of course, there are still many problems to be solved to realize the third step. For example, astronauts' long-term weightlessness flight will cause bone decalcification and muscle atrophy. In order to prevent this from happening. Spacecraft designers will install an artificial gravity device in the manned cabin, which will rotate at a certain speed (for example, four times per minute) to produce artificial gravity equivalent to the earth's gravity 1/3.
According to the plan announced by scientists from the United States and the former Soviet Union in San Francisco in June 199 1, the earth people who made the first expedition to Mars will land in the "Eagle Chasma" area 2 on Mars. By then, Mars will not only leave the footprints of people on earth, but also become another foothold for human beings in space, and the debate on whether there is life on Mars will be "clarified". Mars city will be established in the future. It provides a foundation for the long-term and arduous research on transforming Mars.
It is not easy for humans to enter Mars and stay there for a long time. Because Mars has an atmosphere, but the climate is too cold and the atmosphere is too thin for human habitation. Even if you stay on Mars for a short time, you can't live without a spacesuit.
But compared with the moon, Venus and other planets, Mars is closer to the earth in all aspects. Therefore, some scientists and engineers think that if Mars can be transformed, it may be possible to bring it closer to the earth and then sow life there.
Transforming the climate on Mars into a climate similar to that on Earth was first proposed in science fiction. However, with the deepening understanding of what climate life on earth can survive, scientists believe that similar conditions may be created on Mars.
Now more and more people think that life can be sown on Mars. It's easy to say, but many difficulties must be overcome to transform giant Mars. First, let the climate of Mars gradually warm up and be suitable for the growth of living things.
Scientists believe that the biggest problem to be solved is that the atmosphere of Mars is too thin. If the earth's atmosphere is compared to thick porridge, then the atmosphere of Mars is thin soup. You should know that the atmospheric pressure of the earth is 10 13 MPa, while the atmospheric pressure of Mars is only 5.5 MPa. The atmosphere on Mars is composed of a small amount of carbon dioxide (but accounting for 95% of the atmosphere), nitrogen (accounting for 2% ~ 3%), argon (accounting for 1% ~ 2%) and oxygen (accounting for only 0.3%). The heat trapped by these mixed gases is difficult to keep Mars warm.
An Englishman named James? A scientist in Lovelock wrote a science fiction novel in which he imagined that intercontinental missiles no longer used on earth could transport millions of tons of chlorofluorocarbons to Mars. Because this compound gas has a strong greenhouse effect, it can intercept the heat emitted by the planet's surface and make the temperature of Mars rise gradually.
American engineer Robert? Zhu Lin believes that it is not impossible to realize Lovelock's vision. After calculation, he thinks that it will take only 40 years to create a powerful greenhouse effect on Mars, so that the ice on the equator of Mars will gradually melt into water, and the dry ice in Antarctica and carbon dioxide in the soil will be released. According to this plan, the problem can be solved by transporting 6,543,800 tons of chlorofluorocarbons to Mars every year.
By then, an atmosphere equivalent to the thickness of the Earth's atmosphere 1/3 will be formed on Mars, which is mainly composed of carbon dioxide and a small amount of water vapor. In this environment, humans will be able to walk on Mars without wearing a pressurized spacesuit, but they still need to carry oxygen bottles, because there is not much oxygen in the atmosphere of Mars at this time.
The further problem is to solve the problem of having enough oxygen. How to solve it? A man named Joel from NASA? Levin's scientists put forward an idea. He said: "If you want to form an oxygen atmosphere on Mars, you must use biological methods to sow organisms on Mars. These creatures grow by absorbing carbon dioxide and water vapor and then releasing oxygen. However, it is estimated that it will take at least several hundred years to form an oxygen atmosphere.
Although the plan to study and transform Mars is only an idea, it will take centuries to realize this grand plan, but the action of human landing on Mars has never stopped. Not only the United States, but also Europe, Russia and Japan are making plans to explore Mars.
It is worth mentioning that Japan's Dalin Construction Co., Ltd. conducted a study on "Mars Residential Base 1" to open up a human residential base on Mars, and prepared to let more than 500 earthlings settle on Mars when commemorating the anniversary of the launch of the former Soviet satellite 100, the first time human beings entered space.
The goal of this research is to make eight astronauts from the United States, Russian Federation, China and Japan stay on Mars for one year in 201kloc-0/year, thus creating the first field trip to Mars in human history.
According to this goal, astronauts will live in sealed cabins when they live on Mars, with two people in each cabin, covering an area of about 100 square meter, and the environment is quite spacious and comfortable. The domestic water and oxygen for astronauts will be made from the Martian atmosphere, polar glaciers and frozen soil. In addition, plastic greenhouses will be used to grow wheat and rice, and animals such as sheep, fish and chickens will be raised for astronauts to eat. Let astronauts be self-sufficient in life on Mars.
The required energy is generated by solar energy, and wind turbines are erected on the surface of Mars. According to calculation, 4000 tons of materials are needed to build the above facilities. According to the current carrying capacity of the spacecraft, it takes about 900 round trips to transport all materials to Mars. From 20 1 1 to 2057, spacecraft must be launched 20 times a year to build this Mars base.
Mankind conquered Mars not only for exploration or settlement, but also for far-reaching significance. Because directly studying the surface of Mars and observing the atmosphere of Mars in situ can provide geologists and climatologists with information about planets similar to Earth and the reasons for their climate evolution. According to this information, it is possible to find clues to the measures to control the evolution of the earth's climate. It is difficult to find the reasons for the evolution of the earth's climate just by studying it from the earth. Another purpose of conquering Mars, of course, includes finding signs of life on Mars. Although there is no convincing evidence that there must be life on Mars, scientists and the general public are still very interested in it. Because the origin of life is always a mystery that people want to know.