Nexus - 0223 - New Times Magazine-pages

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riverbeds are permanently dry. Instead, what we are really observ- | Madeira in 1877, it appeared that this was the identical position ing is the optical effect of vast cloud masses moving over the _of the spot where he had seen Star points then, and where Mitchell curving sides of the Martian polar aperture. The exterior of Mars had seen them in 1846... Meanwhile, the cap had been steadily experiences changing seasons; the interior does not. The degree to decreasing in size. On October 12, at 10 hrs 40 mins, ...Mr which atmospheric moisture and temperature vary at the pole, Douglas measured its position and estimated its size, as was his where the differing climates converge, will determine the amount wont every few days. He found it to be six degrees distant from to which the immense blue ring will manifest itself in terrestrial the planet's pole... On looking at the planet on October 13, at 8 telescopes. hrs 15 mins, to his surprise he found the cap gone. Not a trace of . Being unaware of the true configuration of Mars, Lowell natu- it could be seen... What had certainly been there on the 12th was rally believed that this blue polar band had to be water melted —_not there on the 13th. The ice cap had disappeared.” from an ice cap. In this assumption, though incorrect, he showed Robert Powers remarks in Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet. his wisdom. Unlike our present government policy, he knew "There seem to be vast quantities of water in the polar caps... absolutely that the pole of Mars cannot be carbon dioxide. Page Like the ice caps of Earth, they are bright white.” / 81: "Faraday made experiments on the relation of the congealing Thomas McDonough says in Space: The Next 25 Years: "Mars point of carbonic also has large, acid gas to the pres- bright ice caps, sure... He further which canzeven be found that the curve seen from the Earth for the liquefaction with a good tele- point lay very close Scope.” to that for the con- In The Greatest gealing point, and Challenge: The approached yet clos- Incredible Adventure er as the pressure and Splendid decreased. In other Destiny of Man in words, the gas Exploring Space, passed almost imme- Martin Caidin notes diately from the that Both American gaseous to the solid and Russian State... Now the astronomers in pressure is certainly recent years have very slight on the observed a series of surface of Mars... In very bright flashes, consequence, on @ lasting about five rise of temperature minutes, and fol- the frozen carbonic lowed by mush- acid gas would there room-shaped clouds. pass practically Original Moon Straight from the explorer Michael solid into the Collins writes in gaseous State... Mission to Mars: “A~ Now, from the exis- greater mystery is tence of the sur- what happened to rounding polar sea, the water and ice we remark that in that gouged out the substance com- those huge channels posing the polar billions of years ago. caps of Mars this does not occur. A considerable portion of itis | Mars has a strong enough gravitational field to hold water vapour always in the transition state of a liquid. Carbonic dioxide would __ in its atmosphere rather than allow it to escape into space... What not thus tarry: water would.” happened to all the water that carved out deep channels?” Lowell made a particularly fascinating observation of the north John Noble Wilford says in Mars Beckons: “Mariners 6 and 7... polar opening when, for a short period, a portion of the usual The camera photographed a hood of clouds over the south polar cloud cover parted, thereby allowing beams of light from Mars' cap, and infrared instruments measured temperatures there as low central sun to project beyond the orifice. “Meanwhile an interest- as -193 degrees Fahrenheit... The infrared spectrometer had ing phenomenon occurred in the cap on June 7; ...as 1 was watch- appeared to detect temperatures at the edge of the south polar ice ing the planet, 1 saw suddenly two points like stars flash out in the cap that were much too high to be from frozen carbon dioxide... midst of the polar cap. Dazzlingly bright upon the duller white Scientists could see by the Soviet document that the range of pos- background of the snow, these stars shone for a few moments and _ sibilities for the 1994 flight was wide and challenging. Under then slowly disappeared. The seeing at the time was very good... serious consideration were plans to place two spacecraft into But though no intelligence lay behind the action of these lights, orbits of Mars passing over the poles." they were none the less startling for being Nature’s own flash- On page 22 of the March-April 1992 Final Frontier are some lights across one hundred millions of miles of space. It had taken remarks about the planet nearest to the Sun—Mercury: ”...femper- them nine minutes to make the journey... On comparing its posi- atures that climb as high as 800 degrees Fahrenheit... tion with Green’s map of his observations upon the cap at Researchers at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena Picture reproduced from The Phantom of the Poles by William Reed (published by Walter S. Rockey Company, New York, 1906). NEXUS ¢ 43 DECEMBER 1994 - JANUARY 1995