What is the real Mars ? Since Mars is in a habitable area of the solar system like Earth, and these two planets are rocky planets and Earth planets , Mars has many similarities with Earth. Therefore, humans once believed that there may also be some unknown Martian life, or even Mars civilization, on Mars, which is closest to more than 55 million kilometers and the farthest distance reaches 400 million kilometers away. But when human probes head to Mars, we see that the real Mars is not as beautiful as imagined. On the surface of Mars, there is not the kind of Martian life and Martian civilization we imagine. On the contrary, what is revealed in front of us is an extremely desolate and arid Mars.
Perseverance photos sent back to Mars
Perseverance rover is the new generation of the United States Mars rover. It was launched at the end of July 2020 and successfully landed in the Jezero crater on the surface of Mars in February 2021. So far, this rover has been on the surface of Mars for more than a year. Like the previous Curiosity rover, Perseverance rover has many important missions, one of which is to search for signs of Martian life on the surface of Mars.
Of course, the process of searching for signs of life on the surface of Mars is very long, because we do not know whether there is life on Mars, nor do we know what form of life on Mars is. Therefore, humans have been exploring Mars for decades, but they still don’t know whether Mars has life. Although Martian life has not been found, these Martian rovers have not disappointed us because they take photos of Martian from time to time and show some scenes of Martian before us.
NASA has released photos of Mars sent back by the Perseverance rover, and there is a strange "cat bread stone" not far from the rover. This stone looks special, like a cat curled up in a ball, sitting upright on the surface of Mars. If you look closely at this photo, we will also see that there seem to be two pointed "ears" at the front of the stone, and a long bread-shaped "body" at the back, like a chubby cat lying there quietly. Of course, this is just a stone that looks like a cat, not that Perseverance rover captured the cat on Mars.
Perseverance Preparation Oxygen
Perseverance As a new generation of Mars rover, it is more advanced and has more powerful functions than the previous Mars rover. For example, Perseverance rover also carries a Mars helicopter called " Wit ", which is the first rotorcraft to take off on the surface of Mars in human history. It has completed more than ten flight missions on the surface of Mars so far. For example, Perseverance rover also completed the first time in human history to prepare oxygen on the surface of Mars.
Human beings have lived on the earth for millions of years and have long adapted to the earth's environment. If we humans want to immigrate to Mars in the future, there are still many problems that need to be solved, one of which is the oxygen problem. We can not eat or drink for a while, but we cannot stop breathing for a long time. Oxygen is a very important substance for us. It is obviously unrealistic if we transport oxygen from the Earth to Mars. If water is decomposed on the surface of Mars, oxygen can be obtained while hydrogen can be obtained, which can be used as fuel for the spacecraft. However, this involves developing water on the surface of Mars, as well as electrolyzing water , the whole process may be relatively complicated. And the Perseverance rover now takes another approach to preparing oxygen.
Mars also has an atmosphere, but the atmosphere of Mars is relatively thin, and its main component is carbon dioxide . The "Martian Oxygen In-situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE)" carried by the Perseverance rover can convert carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere into oxygen. In April last year, Perseverance rover completed its first mission to prepare oxygen. At that time, the production of oxygen was only 5.4 grams, which could satisfy one astronaut's breathing for about 10 minutes.
For more than a year, the MOXIE of the Perseverance rover has been making oxygen. Research data shows that by the end of 2021, MOXIE can reach 6 grams of oxygen per hour, and the oxygen output rate is equivalent to that of an ordinary earth tree. This efficiency doesn't seem very high, but this study has far-reaching significance, meaning that we can really prepare oxygen on Mars to provide oxygen-rich air for future astronauts who land on Mars. After all, MOXIE is actually very small, probably the same size as an toaster . If we want to prepare oxygen on Mars in the future and make some larger-sized large oxygen converters to send it to Mars, it will theoretically produce a large amount of oxygen. By then, it may be more realistic for humans to land on Mars.
