Dry Ice, Wetter Mars

Dry Ice, Wetter Mars

April 21, 2011

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/73147/title/Dry_ice%2C_wetter_Mars

This article is about a new found reservoir of dry ice on the surface of mars. This new discovery adds to the evidence that Mars once had a carbon dioxide atmosphere thick enough to keep liquid water on the surface without evaporating. It is still unclear if the planet would have a adequate atmosphere to host life, because of the temperatures in mars may have been slightly colder during the time when the atmosphere had more amounts of carbon dioxide. The newly found reservoir could nearly double the mass of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mars, the climate changes would be normal, and would not generate a warmer and wetter Mars. Phillips a scientist in a University in Colorado says that during times of higher tilt, more carbon dioxide would settle in the planet’s surface. The surface frost, would offset any greenhouse warming from the extra gas in the atmosphere, and would tend to maintain the chilly temperatures now typical on the Red Planet.

I chose this article, because of its title. I thought that it would be interesting to put something related to Mars, because everyday more signs of “life” in Mars are present. More things that may allow scientists to prove that humans can live in Mars are showing themselves, something that interests me greatly, because I think it would be really amazing if Mars had similar characteristics to the Earth that would allow us to live there. I believe that all of these discoveries are amazing, and that people should really be interested in it. I can’t really relate it to my life, because I don’t live there, or plan in a near future to live there, and it doesn’t affect me directly. But it does affect me, because it shows me that there are possibilities to have life there. I find it highly interesting, and I think that that’s why I chose it, because I believe that living there could be really great, another planet, relatively near ours, that has similar characteristics to the Earth, I just find it amazing.