Mars environment is harsh? Curiosity took a photo, Zhu Rong Mars rover needs to pay attention?

Although Mars is in the habitable zone of the solar system, the environment of Mars is relatively harsh compared to that of Earth. The atmosphere of Mars is very thin, with only 1% of the air density of Earth. Even though the main component of the Martian atmosphere is carbon dioxide, it cannot form the greenhouse effect very well, so the atmosphere of Mars is both cold, dry, and thin. Although the Martian atmosphere is very thin, it brings impact can not be ignored.

First of all, the existence of an atmosphere on Mars causes our lander to be more complicated in landing on Mars than on the Moon because we also need to take into account some of the effects of Martian weather. Although we have been exploring Mars for decades, we still know very little about Mars, and the Martian weather may affect the safe landing of the lander. Moreover, under the effect of air resistance, the temperature of the lander will be very high during the descent. For example, the temperature of the protective shield of the Trail rover reached up to 1300°C during the landing, and if there is a problem with the heat insulation, it may lead to the lander being burned up.

Secondly, also because Mars has air, so Mars often blows dust storm weather, the rover sent back some images, and we can see some rocks on Mars are covered with thick dust. This is also a potential threat for some Mars landers that use solar panels. The Opportunity rover, which has been operating on Mars for more than a decade, lost contact after encountering Martian dust storm weather, and now the Insight rover has also had to go into energy-saving mode because of the lack of solar power due to Martian dust storm weather.

In addition, the surface of Mars is full of gravel and debris, which can also be very damaging for Mars rovers landing on the surface of Mars. The Curiosity Mars rover has sent back selfies several times, and from the photos, we can see the current state of the Curiosity Mars rover. Now NASA has shared a close-up photo taken by Curiosity that shows dense small holes in the wheels of the Curiosity Mars rover, and that the Mars rover's vehicle is wearing out much faster than expected.

This one situation, for us, can be said to be a reminder. Because our country's Tianqian 1 Mars exploration mission to complete three major steps at once around Mars, landing on Mars, and touring Mars, now Tianqian 1 has successfully circled Mars for more than 2 months, carrying the Zhu Rong Mars rover is also about to land on the surface of Mars, and then drive on the surface of Mars and start scientific research. Curiosity Mars rover experience illustrates the Mars rover in the process of Mars driving may appear our unexpected damage, so in the process of driving, we need to pay attention to avoid some relatively large size of stones.

Musk called himself the "Emperor of Mars"?

From the previous article can be seen, that the environment of Mars is relatively harsh, with low air density, low temperature, and abnormally dry, such an environment is not suitable for human survival directly. Although the environment of Mars is relatively harsh, many people hope that one day in the future can set foot on Mars, such as Mr. Musk has repeatedly proposed to open a manned landing on Mars, Mars immigration plan, but also called himself the "Emperor of Mars".

Mr. Musk's starship prototype ended up in failure in several tests, but in the fifth test flight, the starship prototype successfully landed, which makes Mr. Musk more confident to realize the dream of sending humans to Mars. Despite the dream of human migration to Mars, Mr. Musk also knows that the journey to Mars is fraught with danger, saying that the first humans to reach Mars will be uncomfortable and may not even return to Earth alive.

Even if the future of interstellar spacecraft progresses well, in such a situation, perhaps not many people are willing to take the risk, after all, we have no idea what problems a trip to Mars will encounter.