The earth has two neighbors, one is Venus and the other is Mars, both of which are planets in the habitable zone. In theory, as long as it is in a habitable zone, it is possible to evolve into an ecological planet and evolve life. However, after human beings walked out of the earth, they respectively explored Venus and Mars and discovered that one of them is a planet of Purgatory and the other is a planet of desert, and there is no life existing.
Relatively speaking, the environment of Mars is much better than that of Venus, so scientists have focused on Mars. From the outside, Mars is a rock-red planet. In ancient times, people called it the planet of fire or Mars, while in the west it was called the star of Mars.
Mars and the earth are placed together, in addition to the huge difference in appearance, their size is also very obvious. The diameter of Mars is 6,794 kilometers, which is only half the diameter of the earth, less than one-seventh of the earth’s volume, and only one-ninth of the earth’s mass.
In the early days, astronomers observed through astronomical telescopes that there were many criss-cross lines on the surface of Mars. Scientists at the time speculated that these might be canals, and that Mars might also be a living planet, and even Martian civilization existed.
With the continuous advancement of human technology, scientists sent probes to Mars to uncover its mystery. Since Mars is not too far away from the earth, launching a probe in the Mars window only takes about half a year to arrive.
When the probe reached the orbit of Mars, it was the first time to see the beauty of the surface of Mars up close. At this time, scientists knew that there were no canals on the surface of Mars, no oceans, and no life and civilization. The entire Mars is covered with red sand, which is completely an arid desert planet.
In order to explore more secrets of Mars, the rover landed on Mars, closer to the surface, so that we can understand Mars in more detail. Although the surface of Mars is a desert world with no oceans, through continuous exploration by the rover, a large number of ravines, canyons and basins have been found on the surface of Mars. These places have obvious traces of being washed by water.
These major discoveries have made us more interested in the history of Mars. Scientists believe that the early Mars was the same as the Earth. It had oceans all over the world. It was a beautiful ecological planet, and it might even give birth to early primitive life.
This result is in line with the status of Mars as a habitable planet. Scientists have always believed that planets in the habitable zone, the Earth could form oceans and give birth to life 4 billion years ago, so Mars should be able to do so. And according to the location of Mars, it is farther away from the sun, and it should have cooled down earlier than the earth 4 billion years ago, and the oceans were formed earlier.
Water is the source of life. Since Mars could form the ocean 4 billion years ago and become a beautiful ecological planet, then in theory, life should also be born. But why the earth has been full of vitality since then, and life evolved step by step to the birth of mankind, while Mars has become a lifeless desert planet?
As for Mars’s transformation from an ecological planet to a desolate desert planet, scientists have also put forward different speculations. Some scientists believe that a huge planet may have hit Mars, causing the disappearance of Mars’ magnetic field. Without the protection of the magnetic field, the atmosphere of Mars is constantly losing, and finally the ocean on the surface is constantly losing, step by step becoming a desert planet.
The above speculation is not without any basis. Scientists base it on the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Regarding the formation of this asteroid belt, the general opinion of scientists is that there used to be a planet here, and then it shattered into a large number of fragments to form the current asteroid belt. And the reason why this planet shattered may be that it collided with Mars.
However, the above speculation is also a bit unreasonable. If Mars has been hit by a planet, why does the hitting planet become fragments, while Mars is fine?
In addition to this speculation, more scientists believe that Mars’s transformation from an ocean world to a desert world may be related to the natural cooling of the Martian core. Scientists generally believe that Mars had a magnetic field in the early days, and the disappearance of the magnetic field later led to the loss of the atmosphere and liquid water on the surface, thus becoming a desert planet.
So why does the Martian magnetic field disappear? Some scientists believe that the disappearance was caused by the impact of celestial bodies, while others believe that it was the natural cooling of the inner core. This third point of view, the natural cooling of the inner core has been supported by more scientists. As we said earlier, the mass and volume of Mars are very small relative to the earth, and the existence of the magnetic field is completely dependent on the movement of the inner core.
Rocky planets are mainly composed of three layers. The outermost layer is the crust, the middle is the mantle layer, and the most central is the inner core. The crust is a rocky layer. From the mantle, there is a flow of liquid material, which we call magma. The inner core is a world of magma, and the inner core is divided into two layers. The innermost layer is a solid structure composed of iron and nickel, and the outer layer is magma.
The flow of magma drives the movement of the inner core, thereby generating a magnetic field. Due to the large mass and volume of the earth, the movement of the inner core can be maintained. However, due to the small mass and volume of Mars, its inner core cannot maintain long-term motion, and gradually cools down step by step. As the core continues to cool, its magnetic field becomes weaker and weaker until it disappears.
Without the protection of the magnetic field, the atmosphere and surface liquid water will be constantly abducted by the solar wind, eventually becoming a desolate desert planet. Although this result makes us feel sorry, but from a human point of view, such a result is very beneficial to mankind. If the mass of Mars is similar to that of the earth, the magnetic field may always exist.
With the protection of the magnetic field, Mars will not become a desert planet, and the possibility of life will be very high. After a long period of evolutionary evolution, life may eventually give birth to intelligent life and further grow into a Martian civilization. If two civilizations were born in the solar system, once they both stepped out of the parent star to develop into the interstellar space, then in order to compete for the resources of the solar system, the Martian civilization and the earth civilization may break out of interstellar war, which will bring unpredictable consequences.
Now Mars has become a desert planet. It used to be an ecological planet with a lot of water resources. This is a very good ecological foundation. As long as human beings make further advances in science and technology in the future, perhaps we have a way to restore the magnetic field of Mars. After a series of modifications, Mars can regain the style of 4 billion years ago and become a world again. The beautiful planet has become the new home of mankind.