Mars is the planet closest to us. The distance from Earth to Mars varies: from 54.5 million km to 401.3 million km. As you know, a change in distance occurs due to the movement of these planets in their orbits. Every 26 years there is a minimum distance from Earth to Mars (54.5 million km). At this moment, the red planet is located opposite the Sun. This phenomenon is called confrontation. Between Mars and the Sun, the average distance is 227.92 million km. This is 1.5 times the path between the Earth and the Sun. The radius of Mars is 3, 390 km, which is half the radius of the Earth.
The climate on Mars is much colder than ours. The lowest recorded surface temperature reaches -125 ° C. This deadly frost was observed at the poles during the winter season. The highest temperature is + 25 ° C. It is recorded in the summer at the equator of the planet. The average temperature of Mars is -60 ° C.
Like all the planets of our system, Mars rotates around the Sun in its orbit, which has the shape of an ellipse. One year lasts on the red planet 687 Earth days. One day on Mars lasts 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds.
The axis of rotation of the planet is located at an angle relative to the orbit of 25.19 °. This indicator at the Earth is 23.45 °. The angle of the planet affects the amount of light of the sun that hits the surface at some point in time. This phenomenon provokes the emergence and change of seasons.
A fairly aggressive climate (except for the unimaginable cold, there are still very strong volcanoes and wild winds on the planet) makes it difficult to make expeditions. However, this did not prevent scientists in the past from speculating that intelligent life exists on Mars. Modern scientists, more enlightened, are supporters of the theory that life on Mars existed much earlier.
At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, automatic spaceships visited the red planet. These expeditions took place when the distance from Earth to Mars was the minimum value to reduce the flight time. These artificial satellites conducted research on the surface of the planet and its atmosphere. However, they could neither prove nor disprove the theory of past life. There were only additional doubts.
An ideal investigation, which could destroy all the debates and myths about the red planet, would be an expedition with a man. However, the main reason why this is impossible is not even a huge, by human standards, distance from Earth to Mars, but an incredible risk. The fact is that outer space is filled with gamma rays and radioactive protons, irradiation of which will cause great harm to the health of astronauts.
Of particular danger to humans in space are the flows of ionized nuclei, the speed of which reaches light. These rays are able to penetrate the ship's skin and the spacesuit. Once in the human body, they destroy DNA strands, damage and destroy genes. For example, during a flight to the moon, astronauts managed to see a flash of such rays. Then, most members of the expedition developed cataracts of the eye. Based on the fact that the distance from Earth to Mars is much greater than to the Moon (the expedition to our natural satellite lasted only a few days, and it takes at least a year to the red planet), we can assume how much it will affect the health of the study participants.
And it doesn’t matter what distance is from Earth to Mars, how aggressive the environment is on it, and how dangerous this trip is, interest in this planet will not run out soon, since there will be enough secrets for many more generations.
