Introduction/ Background
Space has continually remained connected to the future of humanity. The human ancestors lived their entire lives dependent on understanding the universe. Apart from the moon, there has been no other celestial body that has gathered the unrelenting thoughtfulness which has been directed at planet Mars. Notably, Mars has received huge public responsiveness which has receded and rolled with the legislations of the current and the previous century. In fact, at the commencement of the 20 th century, a widely held belief was that Mars was an inhabited planet (Lambright, 2014). However, before the same century was over, new information unveiled that Lowell's Martian Canals were purely an illusion of optical nature. With the landing of a spacecraft on the surface of Mars, detailed images showed a barren landscape with minimal signs of life. Nevertheless, in the current century, the space explorers seek to probably launch a manned mission to the red planet. If successful, the possibility of landing the human race in Mars will become a reality.
Methodology/ Purpose:
I am trying to present the facts on the exploration made on the planet Mars and the efforts made towards getting a better understanding of the planet. The focus of this report will be based on scientific reports. The literature on the exploration missions remains largely available as each discovery that unfolds is first presented for scientific documentation. Therefore, this report looks at the existing scientific information about the past and ongoing efforts directed at exploring the feasibility of Mars’ inhabitation by the human race.
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For most of the explorations of Mars, national programs have been at the core of the most successful space explorations. In fact, national programs resulted in the realization of the first space explorations. For instance, the Soviet Union managed to successfully launch exploration programs such as; landing the first space vehicle on the moon, placing the first animal in orbit, launching the first artificial satellite and placing the first human in orbit ( Knappenberger, 2015) . Similarly, the United States of America has carried out some of the most famous accomplishments in space explorations. Some of the remarkable success of the American program include the rovers placed in Mars and a total of six manned lunar landings planned by the Apollo program (Lambright, 2014). Therefore, such successes from an important basis for the national program to remain as the fundamental and most viable options for the exploration of Mars.
Findings:
The sequence of explorations
The sequence of events surrounding the exploration of Mars began as early as in the year 1964. The missions of the 1960s sought to provide information about the topography of Mars and meteorological information ( Knappenberger, 2015) . Notably, all the missions were observatory through explorer vehicles that could provide imaging. One of the remarkable missions was the Zond 2 mission courtesy of the Soviet Union. The Zond 2 weighed about 960 kilograms and was injected into the orbit where it would arrive on Mars in the year 1965. Nonetheless, the communication to the Zond 2 was lost before its projected date of arrival on Mars. Later in 1965, the Soviet Union launched the Zond 3 which was set at an orbit intersecting Mars’ orbit ( Stooke, 2012) . This object managed to capture images of the lunar surface of Mars hence paved the way for further explorations. Three years later, NASA took a hard lander which would capture details of the atmosphere of Mars as well as capture meteorological details (Lambright, 2014). With its successful implementation, more details about Mars became known thus increasing the curiosity for further exploration.
In 1969, the Soviet Union took another step in exploration with the designing of an exploration vehicle that would capture fine images of Mars ( Stooke, 2012) . However, the mission failed as the vehicle lost control and crashed. At this point, the United States tried its technology in form of the Mariner series of spaceships going up to the eighth mariner spaceship which had finer camera detailing and infrared capabilities. They too did not suffice to satisfy the explorer's curiosity. Therefore, in 1971, the Soviet Union launched its cosmos 419 vehicle which became the first ever spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars ( Stooke, 2012) . Continued spacecraft explorations continued and in 1972, it was possible to map Mars. The progress was so rapid that by April the next year, over 80 percent of the entire planet Mars was covered with detailed images of the same.
After the completion of navigation around Mars, efforts started on exploring any evidence of life on the planet with water being the main indicator sought after. The mission, known as the "Viking landing site selection" was in search of areas that could be sources of water such as volcanic regions or basins (Lambright, 2014). The task proved quite hectic as the images could not present the needed geological and biological images. However, with continued development of highly superior cameras, some three potential landing sites were identified by the Viking landing site team. The information for selection was based on images from the Mariner 9 which nonetheless had inadequate geological data. In 1976, the first Viking lander 1 spacecraft was commissioned which had, even more, superior cameras ( Knappenberger, 2015) . The images generated were much detailed and clear showing details on the surface of Mars such as eroded areas, rough surfaces and other fractures on the Mars surface ( Stooke, 2012) . This mission was followed by the commissioning of the orbiter1 which surveyed the entire planet Mars, providing high-resolution details. In august 1980, the orbiter1 was terminated and returned to earth as better space crafts were being developed. Nonetheless, the Vikings lander 1 was left standing and eventually managed to land on Mars.
Analysis of images and samples
An analysis of the images depicting the location of Viking orbiter 1 showed a crater, named crater A on the surface of Mars. Notably, the space crafts provided soil samples and atmospheric details that were later analyzed ( Taylor, 2010) . For the Viking orbiter 1, the samples collected were twelve in number and were analyzed for details. The collection of samples was made possible by the installed backhoe on the spacecraft which helped in the estimation of the extent of cohesion of materials on the surface through exerting a downward force on them. From the twelve samples obtained, three samples were analyzed for biological details, three samples were analyzed using the approach of organic chemistry while the remaining six samples were analyzed using inorganic chemistry approach ( Stooke, 2012) . A total of seventy-three analyses were made for the biological details while twenty-four analyses were conducted on atmospheric details of the Martian atmosphere. Moreover, samples of soil were analyzed for magnetic and physical properties.
The samples were investigated for the elements forming their composition and were tested with constituents of the biology instruments for detailed analysis. From the findings of the analysis, the reports showed disapproving details on the inhabitation of Mars. In fact, the analysis showed that the soil was unfavorable for life as it contained oxides that would eliminate carbon compounds. Regarding the existence of organisms in Mars, no unambiguous findings were established. No evidence of the growth of organisms or the metabolism of such organisms was proven thus the capability of the planet Mars to sustain life remains largely unassured. However, the reports remain highly questioned and efforts are made to avail other samples for further tests. Later, another spacecraft, the Mars pathfinder was commissioned and landed on Mars in the year 1997 ( Taylor, 2010) . However, the location of the pathfinder was impossible to synchronize simultaneously with the Viking 1 spacecraft. Nonetheless, both spacecraft provide detailed images through which analysts are able to identify features on the planet Mars. In fact, images on the scale of 1:500 000 became possible and were published in the early 2000 courtesy of the USGS (Taylor, 2010).
Projections on use of the moon to reach Mars
There are efforts to embark on lunar exploration undertakings to facilitate constant robotic exploration and human explorations of Mars as well as other further distant celestial bodies in space. As NASA reports, since the year 2008, they have managed to launch robotic missions in succession with the destination being the Moon in a bid to arrange for and maintain human activities on exploration of Mars (Lambright, 2014). By the year 2020, NASA intends to have conducted an initial prolonged human mission on the lunar surface. Moreover, they intend to use the obtained information to advance and assess new technologies, approaches, and systems for the support of constant exploration of Mars (Lambright, 2014). Eventually, the established station on the lunar surface will form a closer link to Mars and thus increase the number of explorations to Mars.
Conclusion:
Inhabiting Mars will make available an assurance plan for the continuity of humanity. With the possibility of the earth facing a catastrophe from asteroid collisions, the human race would remain in existence were such events to occur. Moreover, with continued exploration of Mars, important and essential scientific information would help in understanding the climate of the earth (Taylor, 2010). From existing information, the conception is that be the ancient atmosphere of Mars was dense with greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. However, with the continued explorations such as the launch of the “Mars Maven Orbiter” spacecraft, data will be availed that will enhance the understanding of the mechanisms that caused the change of the climate of Mars. Moreover, such information could help in designing mechanisms for preserving the planet earth and thus preserve its future.
References
Knappenberger, C. (2015). An Economic Analysis of Mars Exploration and Colonization.
Lambright, W. H. (2014). Why Mars: NASA and the politics of space exploration . JHU Press.
Stooke, P. J. (2012). The International Atlas of Mars Exploration: Volume 1, 1953 to 2003: The First Five Decades . Cambridge University Press.
Taylor, F. W. (2010). The scientific exploration of Mars . Cambridge, UK, New York: Cambridge University Press.
