Czy Mars pomoże rozwiązać zagadkę pochodzenia życia?

Mars, the God of War, for thousands of years has been associated with the borderline of life and death. Maybe this is why reports on the existence of natural channels on Mars, proposed in the 19th century by an Italian astronomer Schiaparelli, were commonly interpreted as a proof of life on Mars. The task of the channels was to distribute water from the polar to the equatorial regions for agricultural purposes. The subconsciously entrenched social belief in the existence of life on Mars is well illustrated by the effect of a radio broadcast by Orson Welles in 1938, concerning invasion of aliens from Mars, which caused panic in the United States - comments Prof. Włodzimierz Bednarek from the Department of Astrophysics at the University of Lodz.

 

Life zone

Mars is one of three rocky planets located in the so-called 'life zone' around our star. These planets, at some stage of evolution, had liquid water on their surface. Research indicates that in the past Mars had comparable amounts of liquid water on its surface (in the form of seas, lakes, rivers) to those of Earth. They were largely lost due to the small mass and size of the planet, and the lack of a strong magnetic field preventing escape of hydrogen from the atmosphere.

Some part of this primary water (possibly still in the liquid form) is present at some depth under the surface of Mars creating favourable conditions for certain forms of life. Results of the research of this environment would provide us with scientific hints with respect to potential forms of life, their similarities and differences in comparison with life on Earth. That is why studies of Martian areas, showing the presence of liquid water in the past (e.g. river valleys), give hope to obtain an answer to the problem of the origin and distribution of life in the universe.

Difficult braking

Beginnings of the direct research of Mars were very difficult. About a half of early missions to Mars in the 20th century ended up in failure. It was only within the last 20 years that the process of safe landing in Marsian conditions was developed. Such a process requires a combination of as many as three techniques of braking (by the use of aerodynamic shield, a large parachute and a system of braking with rocket engines along with lowering the lander on the lines in the last phase).

In February 2021 the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) successfully managed to place an automatic vehicle (Perseverance), of a size of a small car (one tonne of weight) on the surface of Mars. The vehicle has been equipped with the latest apparatus to look for primary forms of life in the former mouth of the river bed to the Jezero crater.

The goal of the vehicle is also to test new techniques for studying rocky planets with thin atmospheres by the use of a miniature drone (Ingenuity) and to perform tests of apparatus to regain oxygen from the atmosphere of Mars from its carbon dioxide resources. The oxygen, could in the future, considerably facilitate manned exploration of this planet also by supplying fuels to rocket engines. However, the basic goal of the Mars rover is to collect samples of materials from the surface of the planet into about 30 containers, which will be then precisely examined in laboratories on Earth. For this reason, two next phases of the mission started by Perseverance vehicle are planned.

This ambitious project to bring the samples to Earth is to be executed in cooperation of NASA with the European Space Agency (ESA) over the years 2026-2031. It would require sending the next lander with a rover and a return rocket from the surface of Earth to the orbit of Mars. Samples from the orbit would be transported by the use of an ion-powered vessel to Earth for precise laboratory research. The cost of the current stage of the Martian mission is approximately $ 2.5 billion, and the next two stages would cost a total of $ 7.5 billion.

A new beginning?

Also other countries perceive it as sensible to invest in Marsian research. This year Mars was reached by probes from China (including a lander and rover) and from the United Arab Emirates (an orbiter). USA and China have long-range plans for manned flights to Mars in the coming two decades. However, the most ambitious plan - to build a next-generation rocket capable of taking people to Mars is being carried out by a private company of Elon Musk. He claims that manned flights to Mars and the planet colonization may take place in just a few years. It is possible that mankind will gain a second safe haven in the scale of your life, this time in the sky.

Włodzimierz Bednarek - an astrophysicist, specialization - High Energy Astrophysics. Włodzimierz Bednarek is mainly interested in high-energy phenomena occurring in the universe. He conducts theoretical research on gamma radiation and neutrino emissions from space sources. Its main objective is to understand particle acceleration and radiation production processes in plasmas ejected from massive black holes at the centres of active galaxies, in massive star clusters, supernova remnants containing pulsars, and in stellar systems with a compact object (white dwarf, neutron star or black hole).

During the last ~ 15 years he has been an active member of the international MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov Telescope) cooperation, which has built and conducts observations by the use of a system of 2 large Cherenkov telescopes in the Canary Islands. He played the role of the "Principal investigator" in several observation programmes with these telescopes (then the author for correspondence in scientific articles of the collaboration). He was the chairman of the MAGIC Cooperation Time Allocation Committee (TAC) and a long-term member of the TAC and the MAGIC Key Observation Programmes Committee. Throughout the last ~ 25 years (with several-month breaks) he was the manager of own grants funded by the State Committee for Scientific Research (KBN) and the National Science Centre (NCN).

His current research activity focuses on modeling high energy processes in heterogeneous sources, showing rapid variability over time. He is a co-author of 284 articles in international journals, including ~ 90 written by one author or in small collaborations. These works have obtained a total of ~ 1290 citations, after adjusting to the number of authors of papers.


Text: Prof. Włodzimierz Bednarek, Department of Astrophysics, Faculty of Physics and Applied Informatics

Edit: Promotion Centre, UL