MISSION TO MARS
Our fascination with Mars has spawned not just the “little green men” of science fiction
but many scientific probes that have set out to explore the tantalizing prospect that Mars
may, or at least can, harbor life. It is not just Mars of course. Our yearning for signs of
life outside the earth has led us to cast our eye upon Gliese 581c, a planet around a red
dwarf star 20 light years away, or to ram a “Deep impact” projectile from a NASA
spacecraft into a comet, in order to explore its icy core for secrets of the origin of life on
earth. But considering its relative proximity to us, at 171 million miles, Mars has
attracted many missions. The latest, the Phoenix Lander, is all set now to examine its
icy undersurface.
Travelling 12600 miles per hour, enduring 1500 C temperature through the Martian
atmosphere, Phoenix first deployed a breaking parachute, shook off its protective
casing, and then fired 12 small “retro rockets” that allowed it to land softly – the first
successful soft landing in 32 years. Scientists say that the technology used may well be
what will allow humans to make such a landing someday. The first images from its
cameras, powered by solar arrays, of Mar’s northern pole showed the polygonal
patterns visible from space, believed to be caused by movement of ice beneath the
surface.
Phoenix, launched last August, is named having risen from ashes of previous mission
failures. Only five of the 11 international attempts to land probes on Mars have
succeeded. Most life search missions “follow the water” –water is the basis of all life,
and it is ice that Phoenix will dig out, with a robotic arm. If it is there, the frozen samples
will be examined by onboard instruments which will there after transmit the results back
to Earth. Earlier Mars landings were in the planet’s equator, where it is believed there is
no water. If Phoenix does find something, it will change the way we think about
ourselves.
-DR. NAVRAJ SINGH SANDHU, PAHS1, www.navraj@gmail.com
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