Paragraph on “The Exploration of Mars” complete paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 11 and Class 12
The Exploration of Mars
Whatever was known about Mars till 1964 was based on the research work carried out by astronomers and scientists. In 1965 the Mariner-IV, an unmanned spacecraft, took the first pictures of Mars. Subsequent to this the Mariner-IX took close-up pictures of this desolate planet in 1971. Based on the data available from the pictures taken by these two space probes, the Viking-I and Viking-II unmanned spacecraft were sent to Mars in 1976. They landed at latitude 23° and latitude 48° respectively. These spacecraft collected samples from the surface of Mars and tested them for any living organisms, germs or bacteria, but nothing was found. The pictures transmitted showed the planet to have a dry rock covered terrain, the sky was pink in colour because of a misty haze which existed all around the planet. Based on these findings the scientists on Earth declared Mars as a dead planet.