Mars Compared to Earth

Mars Compared to Earth:

At one time, astronomers believed the surface of Mars was crisscrossed by canal systems. This in turn gave rise to speculation that Mars was very much like Earth, capable of supporting life and home to a native civilization. But as human satellites and rovers began to conduct flybys and surveys of the planet, this vision of Mars quickly dissolved, replaced by one in which the Red Planet was a cold, desiccated and lifeless world.

However, over the past few decades, scientists have come to learn a great deal about the history of Mars that has altered this view as well. We now know that though Mars may currently be very cold, very dry, and very inhospitable, this wasn’t always the case. What’s more, we have come to see that even in its current form, Mars and Earth actually have a lot in common.

Between the two planets, there are similarities in size, inclination, structure, composition, and even the presence of water on their surfaces. That being said, they also have a lot of key differences that would make living on Mars, a growing preoccupation among many humans (looking at you, Elon Musk and Bas Lansdorp!), a significant challenge. Let’s go over these similarities and the difference in an orderly fashion, shall we?

Sizes, Masses and Orbits:In terms of their size and mass, Earth and Mars are quite different. With a mean radius of 6371 km and a mass of 5.97×10²⁴ kg, Earth is the fifth largest and fifth most-massive planet in the Solar System, and the largest of the terrestrial planets. Mars, meanwhile, has a radius of approximately 3,396 km at its equator (3,376 km at its polar regions), which is the equivalent of roughly 0.53 Earths. However, it’s mass is just 6.4185 x 10²³ kg, which is around 15% that of Earth’s.

Artistic representation of the orbits of Earth and Mars. Credit: NASA

Similarly, Earth’s volume is a hefty 1.08321 x 10¹² km³, which works out 1,083 billion cubic kilometers. By comparison, Mars has a volume of 1.6318 x 10¹¹ km³ (163 billion cubic kilometers) which is the equivalent of 0.151 Earths. Between this difference in size, mass, and volume, Mars’s surface gravity is 3.711 m/s², which works out to 37.6% of Earths (0.376 g).

In terms of their orbits, Earth and Mars are also quite different. For instance, Earth orbits the Sun at an average distance (aka. semi-major axis) of 149,598,261 km – or one Astronomical Unit (AU). This orbit has a very minor eccentricity (approx. 0.0167), which means its orbit ranges from 147,095,000 km (0.983 AU) at perihelion to 151,930,000 km (1.015 AU) at aphelion.

At its greatest distance from the Sun (aphelion), Mars orbits at a distance of approximately 249,200,000 million km (1.666 AU). At perihelion, when it is closest to the Sun, it orbits at a distance of approximately 206,700,000 million km (1.3814 AU). At these distances, the Earth has an orbital period of 365.25 days (1.000017 Julian years) while Mars has an orbital period of 686.971 days (1.88 Earth years).

However, in terms of their sidereal rotation (time it takes for the planet to complete a single rotation on its axis) Earth and Mars are again in the same boat. While Earth takes precisely 23h 56m and 4 s to complete a single sidereal rotation (0.997 Earth days), Mars does the same in about 24 hours and 40 minutes. This means that one Martian day (aka. Sol) is very close to single day on Earth.

Earth’s axial tilt (or obliquity) and its relation to the rotation axis and plane of orbit. Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Mars’s axial tilt is very similar to Earth’s, being inclined 25.19° to its orbital plane (whereas Earth’s axial tilt is just over 23°). This means that Mars also experiences seasons and temperature variations similar to that of Earth (see below).

Structure and Composition:Earth and Mars are similar when it comes to their basic makeups, given that they are both terrestrial planets. This means that both are differentiated between a dense metallic core and an overlying mantle and crust composed of less dense materials (like silicate rock). However, Earth’s density is higher than that of Mars – 5.514 g/cm³ compared to 3.93 g/cm³ (or 0.71 Earths) – which indicates that Mars’ core region contains more lighter elements than Earth’s.

Earth’s core region is made up of a solid inner core that has a radius of about 1,220 km and a liquid outer core that extends to a radius of about 3,400 km. Both the inner and outer cores are composed of iron and nickel, with trace amounts of lighter elements, and together, they add to a radius that is as large as Mars itself. Current models of Mars’ interior suggest that its core region is roughly  1,794 ± 65 kilometers (1,115 ± 40 mi) in radius, and is composed primarily of iron and nickel with about 16-17% sulfur.

Both planets have a silicate mantle surrounding their cores and a surface crust of solid material. Earth’s mantle – consisting of an upper mantle of slightly viscous material and a lower mantle that is more solid – is roughly 2,890 km (1,790 mi) thick and is composed of silicate rocks that are rich in iron and magnesium. The Earth’s crust is on average 40 km (25 mi) thick, and is composed of rocks that are rich in iron and magnesium (i.e. igneous rocks) and granite (rich in sodium, potassium, and aluminum).

Artist’s impression of the interior of Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL

Comparatively, Mars’ mantle is quite thin, measuring some 1,300 to 1,800 kilometers (800 – 1,100 mi) in thickness. Like Earth, this mantle is believed to be composed of silicate rock that are rich in minerals compared to the crust, and to be partially viscous (resulting in convection currents which shaped the surface). The crust, meanwhile, averages about 50 km (31 mi) in thickness, with a maximum of 125 km (78 mi). This makes it about three times as hick as Earth’s crust, relative to the sizes of the two planets.

Ergo, the two planets are similar in composition, owing to their common status as terrestrial planets. And while they are both differentiated between a metallic core and layers of less dense material, there is some variance in terms of how proportionately thick their respective layers are.

Surface Features:When it comes to the surfaces of Earth and Mars, things once again become a case of contrasts. Naturally, it is the differences that are most apparent when comparing Blue Earth to the Red Planet – as the nicknames would suggest. Unlike other planet’s in our Solar System, the vast majority of Earth is covered in liquid water, about 70% of the surface – or 361.132 million km² (139.43 million sq mi) to be exact.

The surface of Mars is dry, dusty, and covered in dirt that is rich iron oxide (aka. rust, leading to its reddish appearance). However, large concentrations of ice water are known to exist within the polar ice caps – Planum Boreum and Planum Australe. In addition, a permafrost mantle stretches from the pole to latitudes of about 60°, meaning that ice water exists beneath much of the Martian surface. Radar data and soil samples have confirmed the presence of shallow subsurface water at the middle latitudes as well.



As for the similarities, Earth and Mars’ both have terrains that varies considerably from place to place. On Earth, both above and below sea level, there are mountainous features, volcanoes, scarps (trenches), canyons, plateaus, and abyssal plains. The remaining portions of the surface are covered by mountains, deserts, plains, plateaus, and other landforms.

Mars is quite similar, with a surface covered by mountain ranges, sandy plains, and even some of the largest sand dunes in the Solar System. It also has the largest mountain in the Solar System, the shield volcano Olympus Mons, and the longest, deepest chasm in the Solar System: Valles Marineris.

Earth and Mars have also experienced many impacts from asteroids and meteors over the years. However, Mars’ own impact craters are far better preserved, with many dating back billions of years. The reason for this is the low air pressure and lack of precipitation on Mars, which results in a very slow rate of erosion. However, this was not always the case.

Mars has discernible gullies and channels on its surface, and many scientists believe that liquid water used to flow through them. By comparing them to similar features on Earth, it is believed that these were were at least partially formed by water erosion.  Some of these channels are quite large, reaching 2,000 kilometers in length and 100 kilometers in width.

Color mosaic of Mars’ greatest mountain, Olympus Mons, viewed from orbit. Credit NASA/JPL

So while they look quite different today, Earth and Mars were once quite similar. And similar geological processes occurred on both planets to give them the kind of varied terrain they both currently have.

Atmosphere and Temperature:Atmospheric pressure and temperatures are another way in which Earth and Mars are quite different. Earth has a dense atmosphere composed of five main layers – the Troposphere, the Stratosphere, the Mesosphere, the Thermosphere, and the Exosphere. Mars’ is very thin by comparison, with pressure ranging from 0.4 – 0.87 kPa – which is equivalent to about 1% of Earth’s at sea level.

Earth’s atmosphere is also primarily composed of nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%) with trace concentrations of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gaseous molecules. Mars’ is composed of 96% carbon dioxide, 1.93% argon and 1.89% nitrogen along with traces of oxygen and water. Recent surveys have also noted trace amounts of methane, with an estimated concentration of about 30 parts per billion (ppb).

Because of this, there is a considerable difference between the average surface temperature on Earth and Mars. On Earth, it is approximately 14°C, with plenty of variation due to geographical region, elevation, and time of year. The hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth was 70.7°C (159°F) in the Lut Desert of Iran, while the coldest temperature was -89.2°C (-129°F) at the Soviet Vostok Station on the Antarctic Plateau.

Space Shuttle Endeavor silhouetted against the atmosphere. The orange layer is the troposphere, the white layer is the stratosphere and the blue layer the mesosphere. Credit: NASA

Because of its thin atmosphere and its greater distance from the Sun, the surface temperature of Mars is much colder, averaging at -46 °C (-51 °F). However, because of its tilted axis and orbital eccentricity, Mars also experiences considerable variations in temperature. These can be seen in the form of a low temperature of -143 °C (-225.4 °F) during the winter at the poles, and a high of 35 °C (95 °F) during summer and midday at the equator.


The atmosphere of Mars is also quite dusty, containing particulates that measure 1.5 micrometers in diameter, which is what gives the Martian sky a tawny color when seen from the surface. The planet also experiences dust storms, which can turn into what resembles small tornadoes. Larger dust storms occur when the dust is blown into the atmosphere and heats up from the Sun.

So basically, Earth has a dense atmosphere that is rich in oxygen and water vapor, and which is generally warm and conducive to life. Mars, meanwhile, is generally very cold, but can become quite warm at times. It’s also quite dry and very dusty.

Magnetic Fields:When it comes to magnetic fields, Earth and Mars are in stark contrast to each other. On Earth, the dynamo effect created by the rotation of Earth’s inner core, relative to the rotation of the planet, generates the currents which are presumed to be the source of its magnetic field. The presence of this field is of extreme importance to both Earth’s atmosphere and to life on Earth as we know it.

Map from the Mars Global Surveyor of the current magnetic fields on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL

Essentially, Earth’s magnetosphere serves to deflect most of the solar wind’s charged particles which would otherwise strip away the ozone layer and expose Earth to harmful radiation. The field ranges in strength between approximately 25,000 and 65,000 nanoteslas (nT), or 0.25–0.65 Gauss units (G).

Today, Mars has weak magnetic fields in various regions of the planet which appear to be the remnant of a magnetosphere. These fields were first measured by the Mars Global Surveyor, which indicated fields of inconsistent strengths measuring at most 1500 nT (~16-40 times less than Earth’s). In the northern lowlands, deep impact basins, and the Tharsis volcanic province, the field strength is very low. But in the ancient southern crust, which is undisturbed by giant impacts and volcanism, the field strength is higher.

This would seem to indicate that Mars had a magnetosphere in the past, and explanations vary as to how it lost it. Some suggest that it was blown off, along with the majority of Mars’ atmosphere, by a large impact during the Late Heavy Bombardment. This impact, it is reasoned, would have also upset the heat flow in Mars’ iron core, arresting the dynamo effect that would have produced the magnetic field.

Another theory, based on NASA’s MAVEN mission to study the Martian atmosphere, has it that Mars’ lost its magnetosphere when the smaller planet cooled, causing its dynamo effect to cease some 4.2 billion years ago. During the next several hundred million years, the Sun’s powerful solar wind stripped particles away from the unprotected Martian atmosphere at a rate 100 to 1,000 times greater than that of today. This in turn is what caused Mars to lose the liquid water that existed on its surface, as the environment to become increasing cold, desiccated, and inhospitable.



Satellites:Earth and Mars are also similar in that both have satellites that orbit them. In Earth’s case, this is none other than The Moon, our only natural satellite and the source of the Earth’s tides. It’s existence has been known of since prehistoric times, and it has played a major role in the mythological and astronomical traditions of all human cultures. In addition, its size, mass and other characteristics are used as a reference point when assessing other satellites.

The Moon is one of the largest natural satellites in the Solar System and is the second-densest satellite of those whose moons who’s densities are known (after Jupiter’s satellite Io). Its diameter, at 3,474.8 km, is one-fourth the diameter of Earth; and at 7.3477 × 10²² kg, its mass is 1.2% of the Earth’s mass. It’s mean density is 3.3464 g/cm³ , which is equivalent to roughly 0.6 that of Earth. All of this results in our Moon possessing gravity that is about 16.54% the strength of Earth’s (aka. 1.62 m/s²).

The Moon varies in orbit around Earth, going from 362,600 km at perigee to 405,400 km at apogee. And like most known satellites within our Solar System, the Moon’s sidereal rotation period (27.32 days) is the same as its orbital period. This means that the Moon is tidally locked with Earth, with one side is constantly facing towards us while the other is facing away.

Thanks to examinations of Moon rocks that were brought back to Earth, the predominant theory states that the Moon was created roughly 4.5 billion years ago from a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized object (known as Theia). This collision created a massive cloud of debris that began circling our planet, which eventually coalesced to form the Moon we see today.



Mars has two small satellites, Phobos and Deimos. These moons were discovered in 1877 by the astronomer Asaph Hall and were named after mythological characters. In keeping with the tradition of deriving names from classical mythology, Phobos and Deimos are the sons of Ares – the Greek god of war that inspired the Roman god Mars. Phobos represents fear while Deimos stands for terror or dread.

Phobos measures about 22 km (14 mi) in diameter, and orbits Mars at a distance of 9,234.42 km when it is at periapsis (closest to Mars) and 9,517.58 km when it is at apoapsis (farthest). At this distance, Phobos is below synchronous altitude, which means that it takes only 7 hours to orbit Mars and is gradually getting closer to the planet. Scientists estimate that in 10 to 50 million years, Phobos could crash into Mars’ surface or break up into a ring structure around the planet.

Meanwhile, Deimos measures about 12 km (7.5 mi) and orbits the planet at a distance of 23,455.5 km (periapsis) and 23,470.9 km (apoapsis). It has a longer orbital period, taking 1.26 days to complete a full rotation around the planet. Mars may have additional moons that are smaller than 50- 100 meters (160 to 330 ft) in diameter, and a dust ring is predicted between Phobos and Deimos.



Scientists believe that these two satellites were once asteroids that were captured by the planet’s gravity. The low albedo and the carboncaceous chondrite composition of both moons – which is similar to asteroids – supports this theory, and Phobos’ unstable orbit would seem to suggest a recent capture. However, both moons have circular orbits near the equator, which is unusual for captured bodies.

So while Earth has a single satellite that is quite large and dense, Mars has two satellites that are small and orbit it at a comparatively close distance. And whereas the Moon was formed from Earth’s own debris after a rather severe collision, Mars’ satellites were likely captured asteroids.

Conclusions:Okay, let’s review. Earth and Mars have their share of similarities, but also some rather stark differences.

Mean Radius:                6371 km                      3,396 km

Mass:                                59.7×10²³ kg              6.42 x 10²³ kg

Volume:                           10.8 x 10¹¹ km³         1.63 x 10¹¹ km³

Orbital Distance:         0.983 – 1.015 AU      1.3814 – 1.666 AU

Air Pressure:                 101.325 kPa                0.4 – 0.87 kPa

Gravity:                            9.8 m/s²                     3.711 m/s²

Avg. Temperature:      14°C (57.2 °F)            -46 °C (-51 °F)

Temp. Variations:       ±160 °C (278°F)        ±178 °C/ 320°F

Axial Tilt:                          23°                               25.19°

Length of Day:               23h 56m 4 s               24h 40m

Length of Year:             365.25 days                686.971 days

Water:                              Plentiful                      Intermittent (mostly frozen)


Polar Ice Caps:               Yep                              Yep

In short, compared to Earth, Mars is a pretty small, dry, cold, and dusty planet. It has comparatively low gravity, very little atmosphere and no breathable air. And the years are also mighty long, almost twice that of Earth, in fact. However, the planet does have its fair share of water (albeit mostly in ice form), has seasonal cycles similar to Earth, temperature variations that are similar, and a day that is almost as long.

All of these factors will have to be addressed if ever human beings want to live there. And whereas some can be worked with, others will have to be overcome or adapted to. And for that, we will have to lean pretty heavily on our technology (i.e. terraforming and geoengineering). Best of luck to those who would like to venture there someday, and who do not plan on coming home!

We have written many articles about Mars here on Universe Today. Here’s an article about how difficult it will be to land large payloads onto the surface of Mars, and here’s an article about the Mars methane mystery.

And here are some on the distance between Earth and Mars, Mars’ gravity, and if humans can live on Mars.

If you’d like more info on Mars, check out Hubblesite’s News Releases about Mars, and here’s a link to the NASA Mars Exploration home page.

And be sure to check out NASA’s Solar System Exploration: Earth and Mars Comparison Chart

We have recorded several podcasts just about Mars. Including Episode 52: Mars and Episode 92: Missions to Mars, Part 1.

About Matt Williams

Matt Williams is the Curator of the Guide to Space for Universe Today, a a regular contributor to HeroX, a science fiction author, and a Taekwon-Do instructor. He lives with his family on Vancouver Island in beautiful BC.

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WONDERFUL A Precocious Black Hole

A Precocious Black Hole: In July 2015, researchers announced the discovery of a black hole that grew much more quickly than its host galaxy. The discovery calls into question previous assumptions on development of galaxies. The black hole was discovered using the Hubble Space Telescope, and detected in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, by ESA's XMM-Newton and NASA's Chandra.

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WALLPAPER Earth in Full View

Earth in Full View: The Apollo 17 crew caught this breathtaking view of our home planet as they were traveling to the moon on Dec. 7, 1972. It's the first time astronauts were able to photograph the South polar ice cap. Nearly the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible, along with the Arabian Peninsula.

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JUPITER PLANET HD WALLPAPER

JUPITER PLANET HD WALLPAPER

JUPITER PLANET WALLPAPER HD

Jupiter
Planet
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a giant planet with a mass one-thousandth that of the Sun, but two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined. Wikipedia
Radius: 69,911 km
Mass: 1.898E27 kg (317.8 Earth mass)
Distance from Sun: 778,500,000 km
Gravity: 24.79 m/s²
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Moons: Europa, Io, Ganymede, Callisto, Amalthea, Carme, Pasiphae,

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Bio-Mimicry and Space Exploration

Bio-Mimicry and Space Exploration:

Sunflowers doing what they do best: capturing sunlight. (Image Credit: OiMax, image unaltered, CC2.0)

“Those who are inspired by a model other than Nature, a mistress above all masters, are laboring in vain.”

-Leonardo DaVinci

What DaVinci was talking about, though it wasn’t called it at the time, was biomimicry. Biomimicry is the practice of using designs from the natural world to solve technological and engineering problems. Were he alive today, there’s no doubt that Mr. DaVinci would be a big proponent of biomimicry.

Nature is more fascinating the deeper you look into it. When we look deeply into nature, we’re peering into a laboratory that is over 3 billion years old, where solutions to problems have been implemented, tested, and revised over the course of evolution. That’s why biomimicry is so elegant: on Earth, nature has had more than 3 billion years to solve problems, the same kinds of problems we need to solve to advance in space exploration.

The more powerful our technology gets, the deeper we can see into nature. As greater detail is revealed, more tantalizing solutions to engineering problems present themselves. Scientists who look to nature for solutions to engineering and design problems are reaping the rewards, and are making headway in several areas related to space exploration.

Flapping-Wing Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs)

MAVs are small, usually no bigger than 15 cm in length and 100 grams in weight. MAVs are not only small, they’re quiet. Fitted with chemical sniffers, cameras, or other equipment, they could be used to explore confined spaces too small for a human to access, or to stealthily explore areas of any size. Terrestrial uses could include hostage situations, assessing industrial accidents like Fukushima, or military uses. But it’s their potential use on other worlds yet to be explored that are the most fascinating.

MAVs have appeared in science fiction books and movies over the years. Think of the hunter-seekers in Dune, or the probes in Prometheus that were used to map the chamber ahead of the humans. Those designs are more advanced than anything currently being worked on, but flapping-wing MAVs are being researched and designed right now, and are the precursors to more advanced designs in the future.

High-speed cameras have spurred on the development of flapping-wing MAVs. The detailed images from high-speed cameras have allowed researchers to study bird and insect flight in great detail. And as it turns out, flapping-wing flight is much more complicated than initially thought. But it’s also much more versatile and resilient. That explains its persistence in nature, and its versatility in MAV design. Here’s some video from a high-speed camera capturing bees in flight.



The DelFly Explorer from the Delft University of Technology is one intriguing design of flapping-wing MAV. Its small and lightweight stereo vision system allows it to avoid obstacles and maintain its altitude on its own.



Flapping-wing MAVs don’t require a runway. They also have the advantage of being able to perch on small spaces to conserve energy. And they have the potential to be very quiet. This video shows a flapping-wing vehicle being developed by Airvironment.



Flapping-wing MAVs are highly manoeuvrable. Because they generate their lift from wing movement, rather than forward motion, they can travel very slowly, and even hover. They can even recover from collisions with obstacles in ways that fixed wing or rotary wing MAVs can’t. When a fixed wing vehicle collides with something, it loses its airspeed and its lift. When a rotary wing vehicle collides with something, it loses its rotor speed and its lift.

Because of their small size, flapping-wing MAVs are likely to be cheap to produce. They’ll never be able to carry the payload that a larger vehicle can, but they’ll have their role in exploration of other worlds.

Robotic probes have done all of the exploring for us on other worlds, at a much cheaper cost than sending people. While-flapping wing MAVs are presently being designed with terrestrial performance in mind, it’s an easy enough leap from that to designs for other worlds and other conditions. Imagine a small fleet of flapping-wing vehicles, designed for a thinner atmosphere and weaker gravity, released to map caves or other hard to reach areas, to locate water or minerals, or to map other features.

Ant Colonies and Collective Systems

Ant teamwork: a collective system in action. (Image Credit: Budzlife, image unaltered, CC2.0)

Ants seem mindless when you look at them individually. But they do amazing things together. Not only do they build intricate and efficient colonies, they also use their bodies to build floating bridges, and bridges suspended in mid-air. This behaviour is called self-assembly.

Ant colonies and ant behaviour have a lot to teach us. There’s a whole field of research called Ant Colony Optimization that has implications for circuits and systems, communications, computational intelligence, control systems, and industrial electronics.

Here’s a video of Weaver ants building a bridge to span the gap between two suspended sticks. It takes them a while to get it. See if you can watch without cheering them on.

Ant colonies are one example of what are called collective systems. Other examples of collective systems in nature are bee and wasp hives, termite mounds, and even schools of fish. The robots in the next video have been designed to mimic natural collective systems. These robots can do very little alone, and are prone to error, but when they work together, they’re capable of self-assembling into complex shapes.



Self-assembling systems can be more adaptable to changing conditions. When it comes to exploring other worlds, robots that can self-assemble will be able to respond to unexpected changes in their surroundings and in environments of other worlds. It seems certain that self-assembly by collective systems will allow our future robotic explorers to traverse environments and survive situations that we can’t specifically design them for in advance. These robots will not only have artificial intelligence to think their way through problems, but will also be able to self-assemble themselves in different ways to overcome obstacles.

Robots Modelled on Animals

Exploring Mars with robotic rovers is an astonishing achievement. I had chills running down my spine when Curiosity landed on Mars. But our current rovers appear brittle and frail, and watching them move slowly and clumsily around the surface of Mars makes you wonder how much better they could be in the future. By using biomimicry to model robotic rovers on animals, we should be able to build much better rovers than we currently have.

Wheels are one of humanity’s earliest and greatest technologies. But do we even need wheels on Mars? Wheels get stuck, can’t traverse abrupt changes in height, and have other problems. There are no wheels in nature.

Snakes have their own unique solution to the problem of locomotion. Their ability to move over land, up and over obstacles, squeeze through tight places, and even swim, makes them very efficient predators. And I’ve never seen a snake with a broken let, or a busted axle. Could future rovers be modelled on terrestrial snakes?

This robot moves across the floor the same way snakes do.



Here’s another robot based on snakes, with the added capability of being at home in the water. This one looks like it’s enjoying itself.



This robot is not only based on snakes, but also inchworms and insects. It even has elements of self-assembly. Wheels would only hold it back.  Some segments could certainly hold sensors, and it could even retrieve samples for analysis. Watch as it reassembles itself to overcome obstacles.



It’s easy enough to think of multiple uses of snake bots. Imagine a larger platform, similar to the MSL Curiosity. Now imagine if its legs were actually several independent snake bots that could detach themselves, perform tasks like exploring difficult to access areas and retrieving sample, then returning to the larger platform. They would then deposit samples, download data, and re-attach themselves. Then the whole vehicle could move to a different location, with the snake bots carrying the platform.

If this sounds like science fiction, so what? We love science fiction.

Solar Power: Sunflowers in Space

The flow of energy from the sun is diluted to a trickle the further afield in the solar system we go. While we keep getting more and more efficient at collecting the sun’s energy, biomimicry offers the promise of a 20% reduction in solar panel space required, just by mimicking the sunflower.

Concentrated Solar Plants (CSPs) are made up of an array of mirrors, called heliostats, that track the sun as the Earth rotates. The heliostats are arranged in concentric circles, and they catch the sunlight and reflect it towards a central tower, where the heat is converted into electricity.

When researchers at MIT studied CSPs in more detail, they discovered that each of the heliostats spent part of the time shaded, making them less effective. As they worked with computer models to solve the problem, they noticed that possible solutions were similar to spiral patterns found in nature. From there, they looked at the sunflower for inspiration.

A close-up of the spiral pattern in a sunflower. (Image Credit: Vishwas Krishna, unaltered, CC2.0)

The sunflower isn’t a single flower. It’s a collection of small flowers called florets, much like the individual mirrors in a CSP. These florets are arranged in a spiral pattern with each floret oriented at 137 degrees to each other. This is called the ‘golden angle’, and when the florets are arranged like this, they form an array of interconnected spirals that conforms to the Fibonacci sequence. MIT researchers say that organizing individual mirrors the same way in a CSP will reduce the space needed by 20%.

Since we’re still putting everything we need for space exploration into space by blasting it out of Earth’s gravity well strapped to enormous, expensive rockets, a 20% reduction in space for the same amount of solar energy collected is a significant improvement.

Extremophiles and Biomimicry

Extremophiles are organisms adapted to thrive in extreme environmental conditions. As of 2013, there have been 865 extremophilic microorganisms identified. Their recognition has given new hope to finding life in extreme environments on other worlds. But more than that, mimicking extremophiles may help us explore these environments.

The tiny Tardigrade: Nature’s toughest creature? (Image Credit: Katexic Publications, unaltered, CC2.0)

Strictly speaking, Tardigrades are not exactly extremophiles, because though they can survive extremes, they are not adapted to thrive in them. However, their ability to withstand environmental extremes means they have a lot to teach us. There are about 1,150 species of Tardigrades, and they have the ability to survive in conditions that would kill human beings, and would quickly degrade the functioning of any robotic probes that we may send to extreme environments.

Tardigrades are actually tiny, aquatic, eight-legged micro-animals. They can withstand temperatures from just above absolute zero to well over the boiling point of water. They can survive pressures about six times greater than the pressure at the bottom of the deepest ocean trenches on Earth. Tardigrades can also go ten years without food or water, and can dry out to less than 3% water.

The Tardigrade: Earth’s super-tiny superheroes. (Image Credit: ESA/Dr. Ralph O. Schill)

They’re basically the super-tiny super heroes of the Earth.

But as far as space exploration goes, it’s their ability to withstand ionizing radiation thousands of times higher than humans can withstand, that interests us the most. Tardigrades are called nature’s toughest creatures, and it’s easy to see why.

It’s probably in the realm of science fiction to imagine a future where humans are genetically engineered with tardigrade genes to withstand radiation on other worlds. But if we survive long enough, there’s no doubt in my mind we will borrow genes from other terrestrial life to help us expand into other worlds. It’s only logical. But that’s a long way off, and tardigrade survival mechanisms may come into play much sooner.

Earth’s protective cloak: the magnetosphere. (Image credit: NASA)

Worlds like Earth are lucky to be shrouded by a magnetosphere, which protects the biosphere from radiation. But many worlds, and all the moons of the other planets in our solar system—other than Ganymede—lack a magnetosphere. Mars itself is completely unprotected. The presence of radiation in space, and on worlds with no protective magnetosphere, not only kills living things, but can affect electronic devices by degrading their performance, shortening their lifespan, or causing complete failure.

Some of the instruments on the Juno probe, which is on its way to  Jupiter right now, are not expected to survive for the duration of the mission because of the extreme radiation around the giant gas planet. Solar panels themselves, which must be exposed to the sun in order to function, are particularly susceptible to ionizing radiation, which erodes their performance over time. Protecting electronics from ionizing radiation is an essential part of spacecraft and probe design.

Typically, the sensitive electronics in spacecraft and probes are shielded by aluminum, copper, or other materials. The Juno probe uses an innovative titanium vault to protect its most sensitive electronics. This adds bulk and weight to the probe, and still won’t provide complete protection. The Tardigrades have some other way of shielding themselves which is probably more elegant than this. It’s too soon to say exactly how tardigrades do it, but if pigmentation shielding has something to do with it, and we can figure it out, mimicking Tardigrades will change the way we design spacecraft and probes, and extend their lifespans in extreme radiation environments.

So how about it? Will our future exploration missions involve snake bots that can self-assemble into long chains to explore hard to reach areas? Will we unleash swarms of flapping-wing MAVs that work together to create detailed maps or surveys? Will our probes be able to explore extreme environments for much longer periods of time, thanks to Tardigrade-like protection from radiation? Will our first bases on the moon or other worlds be powered by sunflower-inspired Concentrated Solar Plants?

If Leonardo DaVinci was as smart as I think he was, then the answer to all those questions is yes.

About Evan Gough

Evan Gough lives on the West Coast of Canada with his wife and daughter, where he plays in the mountains and works as a technical writer.

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Uranus’ “Frankenstein Moon” Miranda

Uranus’ “Frankenstein Moon” Miranda:

Color composite of the Uranian satellite Miranda, taken by Voyager 2 on Jan. 24, 1986, from a distance of 147,000 km (91,000 mi). Credit: NASA/JPL

Ever since the Voyager space probes ventured into the outer Solar System, scientists and astronomers have come to understand a great deal of this region of space. In addition to the four massive gas giants that call the outer Solar System home, a great deal has been learned about the many moons that circle them. And thanks to photographs and data obtained, human beings as a whole have come to understand just how strange and awe-inspiring our Solar System really is.

This is especially true of Miranda, the smallest and innermost of Uranus’ large moons – and some would say, the oddest-looking! Like the other major Uranian moons, its orbits close to its planet’s equator, is perpendicular to the Solar System’s ecliptic, and therefore has an extreme seasonal cycle. Combined with one of the most extreme and varied topographies in the Solar System, this makes Miranda an understandable source of interest!

Discovery and Naming:Miranda was discovered on February 16th, 1948, by Gerard Kuiper using the McDonald Observatory‘s Otto Struve Telescope at the University of Texas in Austin. Its motion around Uranus was confirmed on March 1st of the same year, making it the first satellite of Uranus to be discovered in almost a century (the previous ones being Ariel and Umbriel, which were both discovered in 1851 by William Lassell).

A montage of Uranus’s moons. Image credit: NASA/JPL

Consistent with the names of the other moons, Kuiper decided to the name the object “Miranda” after the character in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. This continued the tradition set down by John Herschel, who suggested that all the large moons of Uranus – Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon – be named after characters from either The Tempest or Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock.

Size, Mass and Orbit:With a mean radius of 235.8 ± 0.7 km and a mass of 6.59 ± 0.75 ×10¹⁹ kg, Miranda is 0.03697 Earths times the size of Earth and roughly 0.000011 as massive. Its modest size also makes it one of the smallest object in the Solar System to have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium, with only Saturn’s moon of Mimas being smaller.

Of Uranus’ five larger moons, Miranda is the closest, orbiting at an average distance (semi-major axis) of 129,390 km. It has a very minor eccentricity of 0.0013 and an inclination of 4.232° to Uranus’ equator. This is unusually high for a body so close to its parent planet – roughly ten times that of the other Uranian satellites.

Since there are no mean-motion resonances to explain this, it has been hypothesized that the moons occasionally pass through secondary resonances. At some point, this would have led Miranda into being locked in a temporary 3:1 resonance with Umbriel, and perhaps a 5:3 resonance with Ariel as well. This resonance would have altered the moon’s inclination, and also led to tidal heating in its interior (see below).

Size comparison of all the Solar Systems moons. Credit: NASA/The Planetary Society

With an average orbital speed of 6.66 km/s, Miranda takes 1.4 days to complete a single orbit of Uranus. Its orbital period (also 34 hours) is synchronous with its rotational period, meaning that it is tidally-locked with Uranus and maintains one face towards it at all times. Given that it orbits around Uranus’ equator, which means its orbit is perpendicular to the Sun’s ecliptic, Uranus goes through an extreme seasonal cycle where the northern and southern hemispheres experience 42 years of lightness and darkness at a time.

Composition and Surface Structure:Miranda’s mean density (1.2 g/cm³) makes it the least dense of the Uranian moons. It also suggests that Miranda is largely composed of water ice (at least 60%), with the remainder likely consisting of silicate rock and organic compounds in the interior. The surface of Miranda is also the most diverse and extreme of all moons in the Solar System, with features that appear to be jumbled together in a haphazard fashion.

This consists of huge fault canyons as deep as 20 km (12 mi), terraced layers, and the juxtaposition of old and young surfaces seemingly at random. This patchwork of broken terrain indicates that intense geological activity took place in Miranda’s past, which is believed to have been driven by tidal heating during the time when it was in orbital resonance with Umbriel (and perhaps Ariel).

This resonance would have increased orbital eccentricity, and along with varying tidal forces from Uranus, would have caused warming in Miranda’s interior and led to resurfacing. In addition, the incomplete differentiation of the moon, whereby rock and ice were distributed more uniformly, could have led to an upwelling of lighter material in some areas, thus leading to young and older regions existing side by side.

Uranus’ moon Miranda, imaged by the Voyager 2 space probe on January 24th, 1986. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Another theory is that Miranda was shattered by a massive impact, the fragments of which reassembled to produce a fractured core. In this scenario – which some scientists believe could have happened as many as five times – the denser fragments would have sunk deep into the interior, with water ice and volatiles setting on top of them and mirroring their fractured shape.

Overall, scientists recognize five types of geological features on Miranda, which includes craters, coronae (large grooved features), regiones (geological regions), rupes (scarps or canyons) and sulci (parallel grooves).

Miranda’s cratered regions are differentiated between younger, lightly-cratered regions and older, more-heavily cratered ones. The lightly cratered regions include ridges and valleys, which are separated from the more heavily-cratered areas by sharp boundaries of mismatched features. The largest known craters are about 30 km (20 mi) in diameter, with others lying in the range of 5 to 10 km (3 to 6 mi).

Miranda has the largest known cliff in the Solar System, which is known as Verona Rupes (named after the setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet). This rupes has a drop-off of over 5 km (3.1 mi) – making it 12 times as deep as the Grand Canyon. Scientists suspect that Miranda’s ridges and canyons represent extensional tilt blocks – a tectonic event where tectonic plates stretch apart, forming patterns of jagged terrain with steep drops.

Image taken by the Voyager 2 probe during its close approach on January 24th, 1986, with a resolution of about 700 m (2300 ft). Credit: NASA/JPL

The most well known coronae exist in the southern hemisphere, with three giant ‘racetrack’-like grooved structures that measure at least 200 km (120 mi) wide and up to 20 km (12 mi) deep. These features, named Arden, Elsinore and Inverness – all locations in Shakespeare’s plays – may have formed via extensional processes at the tops of diapirs (aka. upwellings of warm ice).

Other features may be due to cryovolcanic eruptions of icy magma, which would have been driven by tidal flexing and heating in the past. With an albedo of 0.32, Miranda’s surface is nearly as bright as that of Ariel, the brightest of the larger Uranian moons. It’s slightly darker appearance is likely due to the presence of carbonaceous material within its surface ice.

Exploration:Miranda’s apparent magnitude makes it invisible to many amateur telescopes. As a result, virtually all known information regarding its geology and geography was obtained during the only flyby of the Uranian system, which was made by Voyager 2 in 1986. During the flyby, Miranda’s southern hemisphere pointed towards the Sun (while the northern was shrouded in darkness), so only the southern hemisphere could be studied.

At this time, no future missions have been planned or are under consideration. But given Miranda’s “Frankenstein”-like appearance and the mysteries that still surround its history and geology, any future missions to study Uranus and its system of moons would be well-advised.



We have many interesting articles on Miranda and Uranus’ moons here at Universe Today. Here’s one about about why they call it the “Frankenstein Moon“, and one about Voyager 2‘s historic flyby. And here’s one that answers the question How Many Moons Does Uranus Have?

For more information, check out NASA’s Solar System Exploration page on Miranda.

About Matt Williams

Matt Williams is the Curator of the Guide to Space for Universe Today, a a regular contributor to HeroX, a science fiction author, and a Taekwon-Do instructor. He lives with his family on Vancouver Island in beautiful BC.

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The Moon Greets the Planets in the November Dawn

The Moon Greets the Planets in the November Dawn:

A tri-planetary grouping from the morning of October 31st. Image credit and copyright: Joseph Brimacombe

So, did this past weekend’s shift back to Standard Time for most of North America throw you for a loop? Coming the day after Halloween, 2015 was the earliest we can now shift back off Daylight Saving Time. Sunday won’t fall on November 1^st again until 2020. Expect evenings get darker sooner for northern hemisphere residents, while the planetary action remains in the dawn sky.

Though Mercury has exited the morning twilight stage, the planets Jupiter, Venus and Mars continue to put on a fine show, joined by the waning crescent Moon later this week. The action starts today on November 3^rd, which finds +1.9 magnitude Mars passing just 0.68 degrees (40’, just over the apparent diameter of a Full Moon) from brilliant -3.9 magnitude Venus. Though the two nearest planets to the Earth appear to meet up in the dawn sky, Mars is actually 2.5 times more distant than Venus, which sits 74.4 million miles (124 million kilometres) from the Earth. Venus exhibits a 57% illuminated gibbous phase 21” across this week, versus Mars’ paltry 4.5” disc.

The lunar planetary lineup on the morning of November 6th… Image credit: Starry Night Education Software

Watch the scene shift, as the Moon joins the dance this weekend. The mornings of Friday, November 6^th and Saturday, November 7^th are key, as the Moon passes just two degrees from the Jupiter and Mars pair and just over one degree from Venus worldwide. Similar close pairings of the Moon and Venus adorn many national flags, possibly inspired by a close grouping of Venus and the Moon witnessed by skywatchers of yore.

… and the view the next morning on November 7th. Image credit: Starry Night Education software

Saturday November 7^th is also a fine time to try your hand at seeing Venus in the daytime, using the nearby crescent Moon as a guide. The Moon will be only four days from New, and the pair will be 46 degrees west of the Sun, an optimal situation as Venus just passed greatest western elongation 46.4 degrees west of the Sun on October 26th.

Mars meets Venus on November 3rd-4th… the center circle = 1 degree FoV. Image credit: Stellarium

Though Venus may seem like a difficult daytime object, it’s actually intrinsically brighter than the Moon per square arc second. Difficulty finding it stems from seeing it against a low contrast blue daytime sky, its small size, and lack of context and depth. The larger but dimmer Moon actually serves as a good anchor to complete this feat of visual athletics.

Venus from the morning of November 3rd. Image credit and copyright: Shahrin Ahmad

Looking for more? Comet C/2013 US10 Catalina will join the planetary lineup next lunation ‘round, hopefully shining at magnitude +5 as it glides past Venus and the Moon on December 7^th. Karl Battams at the U.S. Naval Research Labs has confirmed that Comet US10 Catalina—which reaches perihelion this month on November 15^th –should also briefly graze the field of view for SOHO’s LASCO C3 camera on November 7th.

There’s also a few notable lunar occultations this week. The Moon also occults the +5 magnitude star Chi Leonis for viewers around the Gulf of Mexico on November 4^th, including a dramatic grazing event for Northern Florida. The Moon also occults the +3.5 magnitude star Omicron Leonis on Nov 4^th for Alaska as well.

The occultation footprint for Chi Leonis. The solid lines indicate where the event will occur during darkness and twilight hours, while the dashed lines denote where the event transpires during the daytime. Image credit: Occult 4.2 software

See a bright star near the Venus this week? It’s none other than +3.6 magnitude Beta Virginis (Zavijava). The star passes 15’ from Venus on the morning of November 6th. Stick around ‘til 2069, and you can actually witness Venus occult Beta Virginis. Between Beta Virginis and Mars, Venus has the appearance this week of having the large pseudo-moon it never possessed. From Venus, our Moon would appear near magnitude +0.4 with a disk 6.4” this week, and range 12’ from the Earth.

The closeup view on the morning of November 7th along with a 5 degree Telrad FoV. image credit: Stellarium

Now for the wow factor. All of these disparate objects merely lie along our Earthbound line of sight this week. Traveling at the speed of light (186,282 miles or 299,792 kilometers a second), the Moon lies just over a second away. Venus, Mars and Jupiter are next, at 6, 18, and 49 light minutes out, respectively… and Beta Virginis? It lies 36 light years distant.

This pass of the Moon also sets us up for an occultation of Mars and a dramatic daytime occultation of Venus for North America during the next lunation…

More to come!

-Got pictures of the planetary grouping this week with the Moon? Be sure to send ’em in to Universe Today and our Flickr forum.

About David Dickinson

David Dickinson is an Earth science teacher, freelance science writer, retired USAF veteran & backyard astronomer. He currently writes and ponders the universe from Tampa Bay, Florida.

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