Mission to Mars launched
On a quest to study methane and other gases on Mars, Europe and Russia dispatch to get the information they need. The scientists of this research hope to launch a second mission in a couple of years. The rover for the new mission will be made by the British. Picture attribution to Kevin Gill on Flickr.
by Emmanuel Giannakopoulos, staff reporter
On a quest to study methane and other gases on Mars, Europe and Russia dispatch to get the information they need.
Europe and Russia’s main objective is to study the gases around Mars. The reason that they are looking to study methane is because there is much less methane on Mars than there is on Earth. For example, on Earth, methane is here in the parts per millions and on Mars, it is in the parts per billions. The amount of methane in Mars is a significantly smaller amount.
“I think it’s amazing that we are finally able to do something on Mars, I’m very excited to see what comes from the research find,” junior Daniel Dougherty said.
A reason that there is less methane on Mars is a result of Mars having a very harsh environment that destroys much of the methane. Although the environment destroys the methane, it keeps showing up and scientists do not know why. There are some theories that have not yet been proven. However, these findings may or not may not be proven or based on the information they will receive.
“I think that it’s very cool that we have the technology to even reach Mars, even though humans can’t get there themselves,” junior Nazeer Hashimi said.
According to BBC’s article “Mars TGO probe despatched on methane investigation”, another mission is on its way to test out technology such as the radar, computers and algorithms. Although they have all this in mind, these goals may not be achieved until late October. The scientists of this research hope to launch a second mission in a couple of years. The rover for the new mission will be made by the British.