Thank you for joining us for today's Spotlight Program. I'm Liz Waid. And I'm Rebekah Schipper. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Imagine you are flying to Mars.
Welcome to space flight number 4-6-3-9. We will be flying from Earth to Mars. This flight will last ninety seven days. Please sit back and enjoy your time.
Do you think that flying to Mars will ever be possible? Would you want to fly to Mars? Would you consider even living on Mars? Well, this may be closer than you think!
In two thousand three the United States sent a special machine to Mars. This machine sent information about Mars back to Earth. Up until now, no human has been to Mars. People simply do not have the technology . yet.
But scientists believe that some day people will be able to travel to Mars, and even live on Mars! These scientists want to know everything they can about this planet.
But the trip to Mars is not an easy one. Mars is so far away that only a few machines have been able to travel there.
This is an exciting time to see what is happening with space exploration and the planet Mars. In this program Spotlight would like to bring you on a small tour of the planet Mars. We will look at some of the differences between Earth and Mars. And we will also look at some of the special qualities of this planet.
We begin our tour of Mars by comparing the land of Earth to the land of Mars. Both satellites and Astronauts have taken pictures of earth from space. Astronauts have taken these pictures during space walks and trips to the moon. And from space, Earth looks very blue. There is more water covering the earth than there is land covering the earth. Earth looks so blue because of all this water.
But if you look at pictures of Mars from space, you will see that it does not look blue at all. From space, Mars looks red. In fact, many people even call Mars "the red planet." Mars is covered with mountains, valleys, rocks, and, even dust. All are red.
Most scientists believe that Mars is red because there is so much iron in the soil and rocks. An orange or red substance called rust forms on the iron when iron and water mix.
Liquid water is necessary for human life. Scientists have discovered evidence that there was probably water on Mars a very long time ago. And they have found some frozen water, or ice. But they have not discovered any liquid water on Mars yet.
But if there is no water on Mars, then how did the iron rust? Well, some scientists believe that there may have been water on Mars many years ago. And other scientists disagree. They believe that the soil on Mars contains special molecules. They say these molecules can make iron rust even without water.
Even though scientists have not found liquid water on Mars, they will continue looking. But if scientists do discover liquid water on Mars, this could mean that there used to be life on Mars. Some scientists are very interested in life on Mars. They say that by studying life on Mars, people on Earth can understand life on Earth better.
On the next stop on our tour of Mars, we will look at the atmosphere and climate of Mars.
One of the most extreme differences between Earth and Mars is the atmosphere of each planet.
Take a deep breath. Air fills your lungs. The air filling your lungs is made up of different gasses. It is mostly nitrogen and oxygen. People need to breathe these gasses to live.
But air on mars is made up of about ninety five percent carbon dioxide. This is the gas that people breathe out. So, people cannot breathe the air on Mars.
And Mars' climate is much colder than Earth's. On Mars it can be as cold as one hundred and thirty three degrees below zero degrees Celcius. And a warm day on Mars is very rare. The warmest day on Mars is only twenty seven degrees Celcius. The average temperature on Mars is fifty five degrees below zero degrees Celcius.
The force of gravity on Mars is also less than on earth. Gravity on Mars is only about a third of what it is on Earth. That is, on Earth gravity pulls objects to the ground much faster than it does on Mars.
If people can ever live on Mars, they will need to live very different lives than they do on Earth. They will need special breathing machines. These machines will need to give them air like Earth's. They will need technology in buildings to keep the temperature warm. And they will also need special technology to increase the gravity in buildings. They will depend on technology a lot.
Finally, for the last stop on our Mars tour, we will look at something interesting about time on Mars and Earth. Did you know that the length of a day is different on each planet?
Well, scientists have measured the distance each planet goes around the sun. When a planet completes one full orbit around the sun, it is called a "year." It takes the earth three hundred sixty-five days to complete its orbit around the sun.
But a Martian year is almost two times longer! It takes Mars six hundred and eighty-eight earth days to orbit around the sun.
Earth days? What do you mean by that?
Well, each day on earth is twenty-three hours and fifty six minutes long. This is called an "Earth day." But each day on Mars is twenty-four hours and thirty seven minutes long. So, a Martian day is forty-one minutes longer than an earth day!
So, if people ever lived on Mars it would be a difficult job to measure time! Would people measure time in Earth days or Martian days?
In the future, people may be able to live on Mars. But their lives would be very different from their lives here on Earth. Living on Mars may not be possible for a long time. There is a lot of information about Mars that no one knows yet! But Astronauts and other scientists will continue to explore this red planet. Some day, when scientists know more about Mars, do you think that you would want to live there?
We hope you have enjoyed Spotlight's quick tour of Mars. The writer and producer of this program was Liz Waid. The voices you heard were from the United States. Computer users can hear our programs, read our scripts and see our word list on our website at www.Radio.English.net. Keep listening to Spotlight to hear more programs about the planet Mars! This program is called "A Short Tour of Mars." We love to hear comments and questions from our listeners. If you have a comment or a question, you can email us! Our email address is Radio@English.net. We hope you can join us again next time for Spotlight. Goodbye!
