For centuries, Mars has been a planet, known to us humans.
The ancient people observed it with interest and called it after the Roman god of war, due to its specific red colour - the colour of blood.
Some serious Mars study started about 130 years ago.
The italian astronomer Shiaparelli was the first one to observe the surface of Mars and give name to some "seas" and his famous "canali".
The first spacecraft to visit Mars was Mariner 4 in 1965. Later on, followed Mars 2, Viking (landed at Mars in 1976) and others.
In 2008 a spacecraft called Phoenix was launched in search of ice and water around the poles.
What was the astonishment when Phoenix probes were declared capable of supporting life!
On this picture, we can clearly see the ice.
Sam Kounaves, the lead investigator and Professor of Chemistry told the journalists that the soil probe, collected by Phoenix, shows availability of all the necessary nutrients to support life.
And it is non-toxic, as it was believed years ago.
Scientists now double their enthusiasm and nothing can dampen their spirit in search of native life forms.
This discovery may be of great importance to our civilization.
A "second Earth", as some jokers started calling Mars, will develop in some decades.
If there's ice and water, there may be some bacteria and other microorganisms.
Mars atmoshpere consists of : Carbon Dioxide: 95.3% Nitrogen: 2.7% Argon: 1.6% .
It sounds like science fiction, but organizations have future plans to enrich the atmosphere with oxygen and create conditions, acceptable for mammals and trees to exist.
A second Earth will be formed in the future.
Nobody can tell now whether this is going to be good or bad.
I only hope that people will not repeat the same mistakes that cause the environmental decline of "Earth №1".
