Mars is a planet that has very contrasting natural features because it has large volcanoes, deep canyons, and craters that may keep water flowing. This would be a great location for future space travelers to explore.
Quoted from Space.com, Friday (6/8/2021) the landing location for this future mission may require a flat surface for safety and practical reasons. Here are some locations that are predicted to be visited by tourists coming to Mars.
1. Olympus Mons
Olympus Mons is the most extreme volcano in the solar system. Located in the region of the Tharsis volcano, this mountain is 25 kilometers high, three times the height of Mount Everest on Earth which is about 8.9 km high.
Mons Olympus is a giant shield volcano, formed after lava slowly creeps up its slopes. This means the mountain is easy to climb by future explorers, as the average slope is only 5%. At its peak, there is a spectacular depression 85 km wide formed by magma chambers that lose lava (possibly during eruptions) and collapse.
2. Tharsis Volcano
While traveling around Olympus Mons, tourists are advised to stop by to see some of the other volcanoes in the Tharsis region. Tharsis hosts 12 giant volcanoes in a zone of about 4,000 km according to NASA.
Like Olympus Mons, these volcanoes tend to be much larger than on Earth, probably because Mars has a weaker gravitational pull that allows the volcano to grow taller. This volcano may have erupted for two billion years or half of the history of Mars.
This picture shows the eastern Tharsis region as described by Viking 1 in 1980. On the left, from top to bottom, we can see three shield volcanoes 25 km high, namely Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Arsia. In the upper right there is another shield volcano called Tharsis Tholus.
3. Valles Marineris
Mars is not only home to the largest volcano in the solar system, but also the largest canyon. According to NASA, the Valles Marineris is about 3,000 km long. It is about four times longer than the famous Grand Canyon on Earth, which is about 800 km long.
Researchers are not sure how the Valles Marineris formed, but there are a number of theories about its formation. Many scientists estimate that when the Tharsis region formed, the process contributed to the growth of the Valles Marineris.
Lava moving through volcanic areas pushes the earth’s crust upwards, which breaks up the earth’s crust into damage in other areas. Over time, this offense developed into Valles Marineris.
4. North and South Poles of Mars
Mars has two areas of ice at its poles, with slightly different compositions. The north pole, (as seen in the photo) was carefully studied by Phoenix landers in 2008, while south pole observations came from orbits. During winter, according to NASA, temperatures near the north and south poles are so cold that carbon dioxide condenses from the atmosphere into ice on the surface.
The process is reversed in the summer, when carbon dioxide is reabsorbed back into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is completely lost in the Northern Hemisphere, leaving a layer of water ice. But some carbon dioxide ice remains in the southern atmosphere. All of these ice movements have a huge influence on Mars ’climate, producing winds and impacts
5. Gale Crater and Sharp Mountain (Aeolis Mons)
The region is famous for the historic landing of the Curiosity rover in 2012. Gale Crater holds much evidence of the presence of water on Mars in the past. Curiosity found the bottom of the river within weeks of landing, and found evidence of wider water throughout its course along the crater floor. Curiosity now reaches the summit of a nearby volcano called Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons) and sees the geological features in each layer.
One of Curiosity’s more interesting findings is the complex organic molecules in the region, on several occasions. The results of the 2018 exploration announced that this organic matter was found in rocks 3.5 billion years old. At the same time, the researchers announced that researchers also found that methane concentrations in the atmosphere change over the seasons. Methane is an element that can be produced by microbes, as well as geological phenomena. It is not clear if that is a sign of life.
6. Medusae Fossae
Medusae Fossae is one of the strangest locations on Mars. Some have even speculated that the location has evidence of a UFO accident. A more plausible explanation is that the Medusae Fossae is a very large volcanic deposit. Over time, the wind has carved the rocks at Medusae Fossae into some beautiful formations.
But researchers will need more research to find out how these volcanoes formed the Medusae Fossae. Studies in 2018 suggest that its formation may have been formed from very large volcanic eruptions that occurred hundreds of times over 500 million years ago. The eruption will warm the climate of the Red Planet as greenhouse gases from volcanoes drift into the atmosphere.
7. Recurrent slopes at Hale Crater
Mars has a special feature called Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL), which tend to form on the sides of steep craters during hot weather. It’s hard to know what RSL is.
The images shown here at Hale Crater (as well as other locations) show the points where the spectroscopy showed signs of hydration. In 2015, NASA initially announced that hydrated salt was a sign of water flowing on the surface, but research later said RSLs could be formed from atmospheric water or dry sand flows.
In fact, we may have to approach the RSL to see what the nature really is. But if RSL keeps foreign microbes, we can’t get too close to avoid contamination. While NASA is looking for ways to investigate it, future explorers may only be able to admire this mysterious feature from afar using binoculars.
8. 'Ghost Dunes' in Noctis Labyrinthus and Hellas Valley
Mars is a planet formed by the wind, as its water evaporates as its atmosphere thins. But we can see extensive water evidence in the past, such as the dunes called Ghost Dunes in Noctis Labyrinthus and the Hellas basin.
Researchers say the area used to have dunes tens of meters high. Later, the dunes are flooded with lava or water, which defends the bottom while the top is eroded.
Old sand dunes like these show how normal winds flowed on ancient Mars, which in turn gives climatology some clues about the ancient environment of Mars. In a more interesting touch, there may be microbes hiding in this sheltered area of the dunes, safe from the radiation and wind that will hit them.
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