About atmospheric phenomena, friendliness of life and inner values: In the January issue, BILD DER SCIENCE reports on the latest findings from Mars research. They reveal exciting features of our neighboring planet. The focus is also on his story. At least theoretically, even simple creatures could have developed in warm, humid climates, new results suggest.
The first article in the four-part cover story “Mars” is dedicated to exploring the atmosphere of the red planet. There are certainly exciting things to observe in the comparatively thin gas shell: clouds of frozen water or carbon dioxide crystals move over the craters and dust devils occasionally swirl over the surface. The BDW author Kai Dürfeld reports what is known about the origins of these phenomena and what mysteries they still pose. Scientists are also currently creating a cloud atlas to document where and how these structures form in the Martian atmosphere. The knowledge could enable important conclusions to be drawn about the planet’s exotic weather patterns. This information could in turn be important for future Mars missions, reports Dürfeld in the article “Quiet weather can also be stormy”.
The following article focuses on one of the most exciting questions in Mars research: Was our neighboring planet once life-friendly and possibly home to extraterrestrial organisms? BDW author Thorsten Dambeck reports on the latest research results that show that Mars has probably repeatedly offered warm and humid conditions in its past. However, due to certain characteristics it then developed into the icy desert planet of our time. There is also increasing evidence that Martian life may once have existed. Particularly exciting are material samples that the Mars probe Perseverance obtained from a “spotty rock”. Future missions could bring them to Earth for more detailed studies, writes the author in the article “When Mars was habitable.”
About clouds, life and inner values
Then it’s about the mysterious interior of the red planet: Thorsten Dambeck presents the latest results from NASA’s InSight lander. In this project, researchers are using Mars earthquakes to peer into the depths of Mars. As the author reports, they came across traces of a prehistoric bombardment: 4.5 billion years ago there were apparently gigantic impacts in which huge debris penetrated deep into the planet’s mantle. The results of the InSight mission also provide information about the extent to which overturning processes are taking place in the Martian mantle, according to the article “Time capsule underground”.
In the fourth article, BDW author Marlena Wegner explains how the images we see from Mars are actually created. It makes it clear that these recordings are rarely direct photographic images. Instead, they are usually the products of complex data processing processes. One example is images based on images taken by the German Aerospace Center’s Mars camera on board the European Mars Express space probe. Stereo and color images can only be created by combining different data. You can find out what Mars really looks like, as the images convey, in the article “From raw data to images: a labyrinth”.
You can read the articles on the cover topic “Mars” online as part of a bdw+ subscription, or you can find them in the January issue of BILD DER SCIENCE, which will be available in stores from December 19th.