Are we ready to make Mars our home? This question has been echoing through the halls of NASA since the recent robotic missions to the red planet. With China’s Zhurong and NASA’s Perseverance Rover making groundbreaking discoveries, it’s becoming apparent that human landing on Mars is indeed possible. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at some of NASA’s recent findings that could pave the way for future human exploration on the Red Planet.

In February 2021, NASA’s Perseverance Rover landed in the Jezero Crater of Mars to collect samples of extraterrestrial life. However, the Martian environment proved to be a challenging obstacle to overcome. Nonetheless, on the 27th of September 2021, while exploring the Gizero terrain, Perseverance captured a rare and remarkable encounter with a Martian dust devil.

Thanks to NASA’s innovative technology, scientists were able to attach a working microphone to Perseverance and record the sound of the dust devil. While the fine-grained particles of the dust devil posed a significant threat to the Rover’s scientific instruments and solar energy panels, examining the data is providing insights into how dust might affect future Mars missions and potential human exploration. This discovery revealed that the dust devil was around 25 meters wide and 118 meters tall – that’s taller than the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal!

Moreover, NASA’s recent images of Martian snowfall reveal a foreign yet somehow familiar display of the planet’s beauty. Like Earth, Mars experiences snow and frost and is home to water and ice. However, in a Martian winter, the average temperature, which is already freezing, plunges to 190 degrees below zero. In this bone-chilling weather, the planet hosts a second kind of ice made from carbon dioxide known as dry ice. Unlike water-based frost on Earth, the carbon dioxide Frost doesn’t melt; instead, when temperatures warm, dry ice converts directly from a solid to a gas, creating iconic formations that resemble dalmatian spots, fried eggs, and even swiss cheese.

While NASA’s orbiters cannot see through Mars’ dense clouds to capture photographs of snowflakes as they fall, ground-based robots cannot withstand the planet’s harsh storms. In 2008, the agency’s Phoenix Lander launched a laser into the atmosphere and monitored the signals returned by clouds and snowflakes. Furthermore, dry ice snow has been spotted by the Mars reconnaissance Orbiter, observing the weather in both infrared and visible light, giving scientists a better understanding of Mars’ atmospheric conditions.

In conclusion, NASA’s recent discoveries on Mars are an exciting testament to human innovation and technological advancement. While there are still plenty of obstacles to overcome before we can consider Mars our home, it’s clear that we are slowly but surely moving in the right direction. As we continue to explore the red planet and gather data, we’re one step closer to understanding our place in the universe.