http://www.golabz.eu/spaces/planeta-marte-un-proiect-pentru-umanitateMARS-A PROJECT FOR HUMANITY

One of the biggest curiosities of mankind is the universe .Over time , scientists have tried to answer the question : "Exist life on

Mars planet? "

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury Named after the Roman god of war, it is often referred to as the "Red Planet" because the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance.Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the volcanoes, valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth. The rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth, as is the tilt that produces the seasons.

Liquid water, necessary for life as we know it, cannot exist on the surface of Mars except at the lowest elevations for minutes or hours. Liquid water does not appear at the surface itself, but it could form in minuscule amounts around dust particles in snow heated by the Sun.[66][67] Also, the ancient equatorial ice sheets beneath the ground may slowly sublimate or melt, accessible from the surface via caves.Water on Mars exists almost exclusively as water ice, located in the Martian polar ice caps and under the shallow Martian surface even at more temperate latitudes.

There is disagreement in the scientific community as to whether or not the recent gully streaks were formed by liquid water. Some suggest the flows were merely dry sand flows.Others suggest it may be liquid brinenear the surface, but the exact source of the water and the mechanism behind its motion are not understood.

Mars Science Laboratory

The Mars Science Laboratory mission is a NASA project that launched on November 26, 2011 the Curiosity rover, a nuclear-powered robotic vehicle, bearing instruments designed to assess past and present habitability conditions on Mars.The Curiosity rover landed on Mars on Aeolis Palusin Gale Crater, near Aeolis Mons (a.k.a. Mount Sharp),on August 6, 2012.On 16 December 2014, NASA reported the Curiosity rover detected a "tenfold spike", likely localized, in the amount of methane in the Martian atmosphere. Sample measurements taken "a dozen times over 20 months" showed increases in late 2013 and early 2014, averaging "7 parts of methane per billion in the atmosphere." Before and after that, readings averaged around one-tenth that level. In addition, high levels of organic chemicals, particularly chlorobenzene, were detected in powder drilled from one of the rocks, named "Cumberland", analyzed by the Curiosity rover.