Red Planet has always been one of the most mysterious objects in the sky to humans.The ancient astronomers discovered that a celestial body and several others behave quite differently than other objects.Unlike other stars, they are constantly changing their position in the sky.
Actually, the name "planet" came into Russian and other European languages of Greek, where it literally means "wandering."Although the differences between the planets of the star have been discovered long before the Greeks, Sumerians and Babylonians, yet we use today is the legacy of the ancient civilization.The planets were named respectively the associations that they caused the Greeks and Romans.Faded Venus associated with the foam of the sea, causing it to become identified with the goddess of love.Mercury, which is the fastest moving across the night sky, was associated with a known messenger of the gods (Hermes in the Greek version).Krasnoliky Mars could not cause association with fire and destruction.For which he received the name of the god of war.
this planet and attracted the attention not only in ancient times.It is our interest to him today.Perhaps among the coldest bodies in the solar system Mars is the most frequent guest in the human art.Ancient bound him to the divine essence.In the Renaissance, when it became more aware of the planets, Mars began to waft even more bizarre fantasies.The question of whether there is life on Mars, often played up in science fiction novels.So, one of the first science fiction writer HG Wells in his "War of the Worlds" describes the terrible Martians, far ahead of earthlings in technological development and flown to destroy our civilization.And Edgar Burroughs, in contrast, draws Mars Society noble and strong, although surprising from the standpoint of got into this company earthling.
And what science can tell us whether there is life on Mars?
Very often fantastic stories as mentioned above, brings writers and directors is scientific ideas and views about the boundaries of the possible.For the first time scientists have a rational look at the question of whether there is life on Mars, in the XVII century.Then telescopes, it was found that the red planet has polar ice caps, and a number of other characteristics that are similar to the earth.This, of course, led to the idea of the possible existence of flora and fauna there.Such circumstantial evidence discussed by scientists of the Earth up to the era of space flight.
eventually put an end to the controversy over whether there is life on Mars or not, could significantly only in one way.Thus, the first man-made object was launched to the planet in 1962, but lost control.He was a Soviet apparatus Mars-1.Mars-2 reached the planet's surface, but crashed on landing.And only the Mars-3 in 1971, safely reached the goal, and helped carry out a number of valuable experiments.Thanks to the Soviet program "Mars" and the American "Viking" finally took a close acquaintance with this celestial body.
Unfortunately or fortunately, the spacecraft not only did not find traces of life, but also the conditions in which they were met by the red planet, we talked about the impossibility of the existence of complex organisms there.However, the fact that the Martian atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, leaves serious hopes of finding traces of life in the past.The fact that carbon dioxide is a product of plant life.And then its presence can be explained if life on Mars really existed once.
Already in the 2000s to study at the planet was once again sent to the spacecraft."Phoenix" in 2008 and Curiosity («Curiosity") in 2012. The latter is a whole research station.Its aim is a thorough study of the planet's soil.After all, previous studies have shown that there can be a difficult life.But whether there is microbial life on Mars, and if so, where and at what depth it is found - is very curious mystery.The basis for these hopes are meteorites of Martian origin that fell once on Earth.Surprisingly, there were traces of primitive bacteria.In addition, there is reason to believe that today the world is preserved water.This gives a significant head start to life in all its manifestations.
