Life on Mars If the surface life has been reanimated as recently as 450,000 years ago, then rovers on Mars could find dormant but still viable life at a depth of one meter below the surface, according to an estimate. In 1965, the Mariner 4 probe discovered that Mars had no global magnetic field that would protect the planet from potentially life-threatening cosmic radiation and solar radiation; observations made in the late 1990s by the Mars Global Surveyor confirmed this discovery. Scientists speculate that the lack of magnetic shielding helped the solar wind blow away much of Mars's atmosphere over the course of
Mars 1 various scientific instruments including a magnetometer probe, television photographic equipment, a spectroreflexometer, radiation sensors (gas-discharge and scintillation counters), a spectrograph to study ozone absorption bands, and a micrometeoroid instrument. This spacecraft is also referenced as "Sputnik 23" and "Mars 2MV-4". It was originally designated "Sputnik 30" in the U.S. Naval Space Command Satellite Situation Summary. Although it was called Mars 1, there was at least three other probes prior to this Mars 2MV-4 No.1, Mars 1M No.2, and Mars 1M No.1 Mars 1 Mars 1, also known as 1962 Beta Nu 1, Mars 2MV-4 and Sputnik 23, was an automatic