CHAPTER IIREVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURENASAAccording to www.nasagov/audience/forstudents, NASA stands for “National Aeronautics and Space Administration.” It is a United States government agency that is responsible for science and technology related to air and space. NASA was created in 1958. Based on what I have read in the internet, President Dwight D. Eisenhower is the one who established NASA with a distinctly civilian, rather than military, orientation encouraging peaceful application in space science the “National Aeronautics and Space Act” was passed on July 29, 1958. NASA is created by the congress and the president of the United States an act to provide for research into the problems of flight within and outside the Earth’s atmosphere, and for other purposes.
NASA focused on better understanding Earth through the Earth Observing System, advancing heliophysics through the efforts of the Science Mission Directorate’s Heliophysics Research Program, exploring bodies throughout the Solar System with advanced robotic spacecraft missions such as New Horizons and researching Astrophysics topics, such as the Big Bang, through the Great Observation and associated programs.NASA’s first headquarters is commonly known as “The Little White House” at 1520 H Street, NW, in Washington, DC. It is built by Richard Cutts, in 1837 it became the home of Mrs. Dolly Payne Madison, the wife of President James Madison.
Named the Dolly Madison House, she lived there until her death in the year 1849. In 1886, the Dolly Madison House became the private Cosmos Club. The Dolly House served as NASA’s Headquarters from 1958 until October 1961. After the restoration in the early 1960’s, the Dolly Madison House became the offices for the Federal Judicial Center.
In 1992 the Federal Judicial Center switched locations and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit moved into this historic house.In the fall of 1961, NASA moved its headquarters to Federal Building 6 located at 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, in Washington. In 1963, NASA administration expanded into Federal Building 10-B at 600 Independence Avenue, SW and the Reporters Building at 300 St., SW. Since 1992 NASA Headquarters has been located at 300 E Street SW.
NASA was originally launched in October 1, 1958. It’s birth was directly related to the pressures of national defense. After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in the Cold War, a broad contest over the ideologies and the allegiances of the nonaligned nations. During this period, space exploration emerged as a major area of contest known as the space race.During the late 1940’s, the Department of Defense pursued research and rocketry and upper atmospheric sciences as a means of assuring American leadership in technology. A major step forward came the President Dwight Eisenhower approved a plan to orbit a scientific satellite as part of the International Geophysical Year for the period, July 1, 1957 to December 31, 1958, a cooperative effort to gather scientific data about the Earth. The Soviet Union quickly followed suit, announcing plans to orbit its own satellite.
MarsThe article from www.wikipedia.com states that Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System after Mercury. In English, Mars carries a name of the Roman God of War, and is often referred to as the “The Red Planet” because the reddish iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance that is distinctive among the astronomical bodies visible to the naked eye. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having the surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the moon and the valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth.The rotational period and the seasonal cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth, as is the tilt that produces the seasons. It is the site of the Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and the second-highest known mountain in the Solar System, and of Valles Marineris, one of the largest canyons in the Solar System.
The smooth Borealis basin in the northern hemisphere covers 40% of the planet and may be a giant impact feature. It has two moons namely the Phobos and Deimos, which are irregularly shaped. There are ongoing investigations assessing the past habitability potential of Mars, as well as the possibility of extant life. Future astrobiology missions are planned, including the Mars 2020 and ExoMars rovers. Liquid water cannot exist on the surface of Mars due to low atmospheric pressure, which is less than 1% of the Earth’s, except at the lowest elevations for short periods. The two polar ice caps appear to be made largely of water. The volume of water ice in the south polar ice cap if melted, would be sufficient to cover the entire planetary surface to a depth of 11 meters.
In November 2016, NASA reported finding a large amount of underground ice in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars. The volume of water detected has been estimated to be equivalent to the volume if water in lake superior.Mars can easily be seen from Earth with the naked eye, as can its reddish coloring. Its apparent magnitude reaches -2.94, which is surpassed only by Jupiter, Venus, the Moon, and the Sun. Optical ground based telescopes are typically limited to resolving features about 300 kilometers across when Earth and Mars are closest because of Earth’s atmosphere. The physical characteristics of Mars is compared as the Earth.
Its diameter is approximately half the diameter of Earth with a surface area only slightly less than the total area of Earth’s dry land. Mars is less dense than Earth, having about 15% of Earth’s volume and 11% of Earth’s mass, resulting in about 38% of Earth’s surface gravity. The red-orange appearance of the Martian surface is caused by iron oxide or rust. It looks like butterscotch, other common surface colors include golden, brown, tan, and greenish, depending on the minerals present.Like Earth, Mars has differentiated into a dense metallic core overlaid by less dense materials.
Current models of its interior imply a core with a radius of about 1,794 +_ 65 kilometers consisting of primarily of iron and nickel with about 16-17% sulfur. This iron sulfide core is thought to be twice as rich in lighter elements as Earth’s. the core is surrounded by a silicate mantle that formed many if the tectonic and volcanic features on the planet, but it appears to be dormant. Besides silicon and oxygen, the most abundant elements in the Martian crust are iron, magnesium, aluminum, calcium and potassium. The average thickness if the planet’s crust is about 50 km with a maximum thickness of 125 km. Earth’s crust averages 40 km.
It is also considered as a terrestrial planet that consists of minerals containing silicon and oxygen, metals and other elements that typically make up rock. The surface of Mars is primarily composed of tholeiitic basalt, although the parts are more silica-rich than the typical basalt and may be similar to andesitic rocks on Earth or silica glass. Regions of low albedo suggest concentrations of plagioclase feldspar, with northern low albedo regions displaying higher than normal concentrations of sheet silicates and high silicon glass. Parts of the southern highlands include detectable amounts of high-calcium pyroxenes. Localized concentrations of hematite and olivine have been found. Much of the surface is deeply covered by finely grained iron oxide dust.
The geological history of Mars can be split into many periods, but the following are the three primary period. First period is Noachian Period, named after Noachis Terra. It indicates the formation of the oldest extant surfaces of Mars, 4.5 to 3.
5 million years ago. Noachian age surfaces are scarred by, many large impact craters. The Tharsis bulge, a volcanic upland is thought to have formed during this period, with extensive flooding by liquid water late in the period. Second is, Hesperian Period named after Hesperia Planum.
It is about 3.5 to between 3.3 and 2.9 billion years ago.
The Hesperian Period is marked by the formation of extensive lava plains. And the last or third period is Amazonian Period named after Amazonis Planitia. About 3.3 to 2.9 billion years ago to the present.
Amazonian regions have few meteorite impact craters, but are otherwise quite varied. Olympus Mons formed during this period, with lava flows elsewhere on Mars.SpacecraftAlso according to www.wikipedia.com, a spacecraft is a vechicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. Spacecraft is used to fly in outer space. It is used in variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, metereology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration and transportation of human and cargo.
The first two spacecrafts sent to Mars are Viking 1 and Viking 2. One of them stayed there for about 4 years and the other one lasted for 6 years observing the surroundings of Mars. It is used by NASA to see images, visuals and what it is like to live in that planet. There are no images of aliens detected by the Viking 1 and 2 in Mars
