Causes such as proliferation of nuclear weapons and climate change
Star of Life, the crisis of human extinction on Earth
Mandatory recognition, not’planet migration’ option
Since the launch of the first probe in the ’60s
Endless challenge in US-Soviet competition
‘Finding Life Traces’ in UAE and China Confluence
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| In July last year, the US Mars probe, the Perservance, was launched in Florida. [로이터] |
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| The Arab world’s first Mars probe’Amal’ approaches Mars on the 9th and is entering orbit. [EPA] |
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| On the streets of Dubai, UAE, a citizen rejoices at the success of the Mars rover Amalho in orbiting Mars. [로이터] |
Climate change brings unprecedented warmth in Siberia, and an arctic cold wave that was unthinkable in temperate regions is ravaged by surprise. The entire planet suffers from a growing pile of waste due to chemical abuse, overproduction and reckless consumption. Civilizations such as nuclear power plants illuminate the dark nights of the Earth like broad daylight, but they emit endless radioactive waste that will not disappear after hundreds of years. It has long been poised to launch a terrifying nuclear weapon that will blow up the entire planet at the push of a button.
The blue earth, which has boasted a particularly beautiful and strong vitality in the solar system, is in crisis.
Only 100 seconds remain until the end of the apocalypse clock symbolizing the crisis of mankind. The watch, released by the American Association of Nuclear Scientists (BAS) at the beginning of each year, has two minutes left until the end of 2019, but advanced 20 seconds last year, leaving only 100 seconds. Fortunately, this year’s Apocalypse Clock, which was released in January, has maintained the same 100-second mark as last year.
BAS cited nuclear weapons and climate change as critical factors threatening the destruction of the planet. According to them, there are still more than 13,000 nuclear weapons in the world, and nuclear powers are continuously strengthening their nuclear power. Nuclear disarmament negotiations are in a standstill, and as time goes on, the possibility of nuclear war is increasing.
▶100 seconds remaining, the end of the earth clock… Earth in Crisis = People of Earth say that it is better to live in the Sahara Desert, which is called’the land of red death’, rather than going to Mars. However, if the Earth’s annihilation clock has a few seconds left instead of 100 seconds, migration outside of the Earth may become a necessity rather than an option.
Out of endless curiosity about the unknown world, space exploration has succeeded in sending the probe to the edge of the solar system, starting with the lunar landing. It also landed a rover on Mars to receive billions of bytes of exploration information. With the warning light flickering that the end of the blue earth is nearing, mankind’s courtship for the red Mars is in earnest based on advanced technology.
Humanity’s efforts to reach Mars, which are 56 million km away from Earth and 410 million km away from Earth, have been continuing since time immemorial. Since the first launch of the Mars probe in the 1960s, mankind has been writing the history of the Mars challenge for over 60 years. Unfortunately, as Mars rovers from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, and the United States all reached Mars in February, Earth’s interest in Mars is rising more than ever.
The UAE’s’Amal’ (Arabic meaning hope) entered orbit on Mars on the 9th, China’s’Tianyuan 1’on the 10th, and the US’s’Personality’ on the 18th.
After successfully entering orbit, Amal orbits Mars once every 55 hours for a year (687 days) at Mars time, performing tasks such as measuring the atmosphere in the upper and lower layers, observing the surface of Mars, and photographing. Tianyuan 1 will orbit for the next three months to perform Mars exploration missions and analyze the topography of the planned landing area. It will then land on the’Utopia Plain’, which is evaluated as the largest solar system among the impact basins formed by collisions with asteroids in May and June.
On the day of entering orbit, the Perseverance went through all the tricky processes such as entering the atmosphere, descent, and landing, and settled in the’example crater’, which is believed to be the ancient delta of Mars.
▶’All-in’ for exploration of traces of water and life on the probe that landed on Mars = The reason why mankind pays attention to Mars, which was called’the planet of death’ because it glowed red in the night sky, is because of the existence or possibility of life. Expeditions so far have found evidence showing the possibility that water once existed on Mars. The mission of the exploration rover that recently landed on Mars is also to find traces of water and life.
NASA’s fifth Mars rover, Perservance, will be tasked with finding traces of ancient life that may have existed on Mars and collecting soil and rock samples to bring to Earth. As an example of the landing site, the crater is estimated to be the delta where the river flowed from 3 billion to 4 billion years ago, and it is expected that traces of organic molecules and other microorganisms can be found.
The competition for Mars exploration in each country ignited around the 1960s, during the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. The first spacecraft to successfully fly close to Mars were Mariner 4 of the United States, launched in November 1964, and Mariner 9 of the United States, which first entered Mars orbit (1971), and the result was an overwhelming victory for the United States. The first spacecraft that landed on Mars (1975) was the US Viking 1, and the first exploration activity after landing (1997) was also the US Exploration Rover Sojourner (1997). In 2003, Exploration Rover Spirit and Opportunity excite the entire Earth by discovering evidence that Mars once had water.
What is worth noting in the future is that private companies are actively engaged in space exploration projects that have been led by governments in the future.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the first civilian to successfully send a manned spacecraft to a space station, aims to send humans to Mars by 2026. Reporter Kim Soo-han