What did Mars look like millions of years ago? Did it have oceans? Did it have Life?

Question

Can this Planet be transformed into a earth like planet? How and when will it happen?

sorry I mean't Billions of years ago!!!

Answer 1

no one is sure because its impossible to go back in time but scientific evidence says that it did have oceans in the past and most likely had bacteria and other micro life on it.

Answer 2

Mars did have oceans - at least 2 billion or more years ago. The basic problem with Mars is that it's too small. It's not big enough to generate a permanent magnetic field which is necessary to protect the planet from the Sun's radiation. So the atmosphere was blasted away.

There's various ideas on how to "terraform" Mars to make it more earth-like. Some of them might make Mars habitable for as long as the human species exists, but none of them would last the billions of years until the sun dies.

Answer 3

While no can ever know for sure. scientist think that it was full of water, and had the capability to sustain life. NASA actually has plans to transform Mars to be more livable. They want to build strategically placed smoke stacks and release harmful gasses into the atmosphere, in attempt to warm it up. Then they will genetically engineer plants that will thrive on the planet. These plants will take the CO2 gasses out of the atmosphere and give off O2, this will pressurized Mars, so that when astronauts living there go outside of their homes, they will just need a Oxygen Mask, and that is it. The homes that they think will be most promising, are gonna be inflatable, but they are still researching that. The Science/Discovery Channel did a bunch of documentaries on this subject, they come on all the time...

Answer 4

Terraforming is still a long way from being viable, so I don't know about transforming Mars like in Total Recall or anything. (crappy movie though, wasn't it?)

But we do know for a fact that Mars had oceans so what it looked like millions of years ago might have very well been a blue/green world like earth. It's speculated that there is still water underground, but we know for certain that there is still water on the surface at least in the form of ice at the poles.

As far as life, it's there now (microbial, but still), but we don't know just how much life there might have been in the past yet.

This is an exciting time to be a part of. We're rewriting the books on what we thought we knew about space and other worlds.

If only we would devote more effort toward this venture. The potential for knowledge, new resources and possible new homes should make it a no-brainer.

Answer 5

Billions of years ago, it was covered in ice. When the sun swelled out as it got older, and thus hotter, the ice melted in the most solar exposed areas and ran and collected as oceans, but there was a limited amount of water on the planet to sustain them. Microbes and other things may have thrived during that time, but as the sun got older and hotter, the water evaporated. Quite possibly, life may still exist there, but underground and quite intelligent enough to not let any of us know they're there. But this is just a theory.
Also, it would take a very long time to terraform an entire planet because you'd have to worry about whether any of the resources needed would just escape from the gravity into space. Therefore, if you'd want to terraform it, you'd have to do it in such a precise way that would make the process work. Different kinds of math and physics would be one's best friends in that regard.

Answer 6

ok, here is a theory...and its just that (not to be taken too seriously) what if humans started out on mars, became super advanced, but some disaster threatened mars which ravaged the surface. now, what if just before the start of that disaster a handful of humans boarded a ship and headed to earth to continue on the race. However, being on a planet devoid of technology, they were forced to start over from the basics and after just a few years whatever tech. they had with them was either broken down to make basic tools or just simply wore out. Eventually they had to start living off the land and the ideas of technology became lost in the generations. (imagine being stuck on an island with only your computer...you KNOW how it works, you may even KNOW how to build one and make power for one...but knowing how and having all the resources needed to make it happen are two different things...eventually the metal becomes more practical as a knife than a hard drive) . . . just food for thought

Answer 7

Long ago Mars was lush and green, brimming with life. The people of Asteroidia were jealous and they attacked Mars. Mars defended herself (that is why we now have an 'Asteroid' belt in the solar system), but is was too late. Her environment had been destroyed. As a final act of desperation she sent two Marsonauts to the nearest planet in the hope that life would continue. Their names were Adam and Eve. That is why people still ask if there was once life on Mars. Our collective unconscious is trying to reveal the truth to us.

Answer 8

It looks like it may have well had oceans at one time but somewhere between 1 and 2 billion years ago, not just millions.

Answer 9

ya! you are right. scientistists have found channels of water, fossils just like plants, two dry cesert, fossil of foot. but earth"s future is there . it contains lot of co2 than o2 so we should plant the plants then enough o2 will be there then we can go and live. that is my opinion.

Answer 10

NASA is trying to get answers to those questions, keep your eye on the news for the next two decades.