What is more - Mars or Earth? Comparison of the dimensions of Mars and the Earth

Since ancient times, mankind has turned its views to the stars. But if earlier people addressed to heavenly bodies only as to the higher beings, capable to affect their life with their wonderful properties, now these views have much more pragmatic character.

Mars in antiquity

The first name received by the planet was Ares. So in honor of the god of war called the ancient Greeks, reminiscent of people about the war, the planet. At a time when no one was interested in what more, Mars or the Earth, the power solved everything. That's why the Greeks were replaced by the ancient Romans. They brought their own ideas about the world, life, their names. They also renamed the star, which symbolizes evil, cruelty and grief. It was named after the Roman god of war, Mars.

Many centuries have passed since, it has long been established that more, Mars or the Earth, it became clear that the planet is far from as cruel and powerful as imagined by the ancient Greeks and Romans, but the interest in the planet has not disappeared, and with every century everything is only Intensified.

Life on Mars

The first sketch of Mars was unveiled in 1659 in Naples. Francesco Fontana, a Neapolitan astronomer and lawyer, initiated the whirlwind of studies that hit the planet through the ages.

Giovanni Schiaparelli in 1877 bypassed the achievements of Fontana, making not just a drawing, but making a map of the whole planet. Taking advantage of the great confrontation that allowed us to look close to Mars, he found some channels and dark areas on our neighbor in the solar system. Do not waste time thinking about which planet is bigger: Mars, Earth, humanity has decided that these are products of extraterrestrial civilization. It began to be considered that the canals are irrigation systems, which the aliens directed to irrigate vegetation zones - those darkest areas. The water in the canals, according to the majority, came from glacial caps on the poles of the planet.

The scientist, who discovered all these geological objects, initially did not mean anything like that. However, over time, under the influence of the enthusiasm of the majority, he believed in such a popular hypothesis. He even wrote the work "On the Intelligent Life on Mars", where he explained the ideal directness of the channels precisely by the activity of alien farmers.

However, as early as 1907, a geographer from the United Kingdom in his book "Are we inhabiting Mars?" Refuted this theory, using all the research available at that time. He finally proved that on Mars in principle the life of highly organized beings is impossible, in spite of the fact that Mars is larger in size than the Earth or less.

The Truth About Channels

Confirmed the existence of direct, as arrows, channels of the planet in 1924. Surprisingly, most astronomers observing Mars have never seen this phenomenon. Nevertheless, by 1939, to the next Great confrontation, about 500 channels on the planet's shots were counted.

Finally, everything was clarified only in 1965, when the Mariner 4 flew so close to Mars that he could photograph it from a distance of only 10,000 kilometers. These pictures showed a lifeless desert with craters. All the dark zones and channels were just an illusion caused by distortion during observations in the telescope. There is no such thing in reality on the planet.

Mars

So still, what's more: Mars or Earth? The mass of Mars is only 10.7% of the Earth's mass. Its diameter at the equator is almost half the earth's surface - 6,794 kilometers compared to 12,756 km. The year on Mars lasts 687 earth days, day - 37 minutes longer than ours. On the planet there is a change of seasons, but no one would be happy about the onset of summer on Mars - this is the harshest season, winds of up to 100 m / s are walking around the planet, clouds of dust cover the sky, closing sunlight. However, the winter months, too, can not please the weather - the temperature does not rise above minus one hundred degrees. The atmosphere consists of carbon dioxide, which during the winter months is covered with huge snow caps on the poles of the planet. These hats do not completely melt. The density of the atmosphere is only one percent of the Earth's.

But do not think that the planet has no water - at the foot of the largest volcanic mountain in the solar system - Olympus - found huge glaciers of ordinary water. Their thickness reaches 100 meters, the total area is several thousand kilometers. In addition, on the surface found formation, similar to the dried up riverbeds. The results of the research prove that once there were fast streams of water flowing along these rivers.

Research

In the 20th century, not only unmanned space stations were sent to Mars, but rovers were also launched, thanks to which it became possible to obtain soil samples of the red planet. Now we have accurate data on the chemical composition of the atmosphere and the surface of the planet, the nature of its seasons, we have photographs of all areas of Mars. NASA's rovers, reconnaissance satellite and orbiter have a tight working schedule, in which there is not literally a single minute left until the year 2030.

Prospects

It's no secret that mankind spends huge, simply space resources for studying Mars. It has long been answered the question of what is more, Mars or Earth, but we have not lost interest in this planet. What's the matter? What is so interesting for scientists that states spend such sums on the study of a barren desert?

Despite the fact that the presence of rare earth elements is quite possible, their extraction and transportation to Earth is simply unprofitable. Science for the sake of science? Perhaps, but not in the situation that is now developing on our own planet, to spend resources on the study of empty planets.

The fact is that today, when even a child does not ask the question of how much Mars is greater than the Earth, the problem of overpopulation of the blue planet is very acute. In addition to the immediate shortage of residential areas, the need for fresh water and food is growing, and the political and economic situation is deteriorating in all, especially environmentally-friendly zones. And the more actively a person lives, the faster we move to a catastrophe.

The idea of the "Golden Billion" has long been put forward, according to which one billion people can live on Earth safely. The rest need ...

And here Mars can come to the rescue. More or less Earth, he - in this case is not so important. Its total area is approximately equal to the land area of our planet. Thus, it is possible to settle a couple of billions of people. The distance to Mars is not critical, the path to it will take much less time than in ancient times occupied from Rome to China. But it was regularly done by traders. Thus, it remains only to create favorable conditions for the life of earthlings on Mars. And this is quite possible after a while, because scientific progress is moving ahead in giant steps.

And it is not known who will win in this competition, the Earth and Mars: what is more suitable for life in a few dozen years - the answer to this question is waiting for us ahead.