As you know, scientists are now conducting all kinds of experiments to see if life can be found anywhere else in the universe. Naturally, it is easier to explore our own solar system for signs of life than it is to probe outer space. And one of the places where some scientist believe a form of life might be found is the planet Mars.
Why did they pick Mars? Well, Mars is considered to be a sort of twin of our own planet earth. It is the next planet beyond the earth is distance from the sun. Mars is about half the diameter of the earth and it rotates around the sun in just less than two years. But Mars has a day that is almost equal in length to our day here on earth.
In observing Mars, astronomers have noticed certain things that indicate a form of like may be possible there. First of all, Mars has seasons like the earth. In fact, as the season change on Mars, in the spring and summer, and the color changes from bluish-green to yellow. Could this be vegetation?
Astronomers also believe that there is at least a small amount of water vapor in the atmosphere of Mars, and this would helpful in supporting life. Then, too, in 1887 an Italian astronomer, Giovanni Schiaparelli, reported seeing marketing on the surface of Mars that resembled canals. “Could these have been built by Martians in order to carry water from the polar region to the desert areas?” scientists wondered.
However, in the summer of 1965, the Mariner IV capsule completed its historic 325-million-mile journey to take photographs of the planet. These, radioed back to the earth from the capsule, indicate that if life does exist on Mars, it is of a very low order – moss, or lichen, or fungus. Any life would have to survive in a desert-like environment, and in an atmosphere that has little or no oxygen and only traces of water vapor. But many scientists still believe that when man finally lands on Mars, he will find some form life there.
