[밀물썰물] Taegeukgi on Mars
Enter: 2022-11-29 18:17:43
Reporter Kang Yoon-kyung kyk93@busan.com
Editorial Writer
Mars is the god of war in Greek and Roman mythology. The English pronunciation comes from the Roman Mars, and the Greek is Ares. One of the 12 gods of Olympus, the son of Zeus, the father of the gods, and Hera, the mother of the gods. While Athena, another god of war and also god of wisdom, uses ingenuity to wage war, Mars enjoys indiscriminate destruction and barbaric warfare. She is also famous for having a relationship with Venus, goddess of beauty and wife of Hephaestus, god of blacksmithing.
Mars is the name of a planet in the solar system that derives from this god of war. Unlike the Moon or Venus, which shine brightly and beautifully in the night sky, Mars has a distinctive red color. The reason why Mars is red is because there is a lot of iron oxide on the surface of Mars, like blood. So Mars has been accepted as an ominous planet since ancient times. It is in the same context as when the sun was colored red in a total solar eclipse or the blood moon in a total lunar eclipse was considered an ominous sign. When people saw Mars, they thought of the flames of war or disaster. The two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, are also named after the two sons of Mars.
Mars has become a familiar planet to mankind since Mars began to be explored. Early exploration of Mars began with the Soviet Union’s Manix 1 in 1960, and the Soviet and American probes repeatedly failed to land, leading to the term ‘Mars Curse’. In 1976, the United States landed the Vikings on Mars, and since the 21st century, robots and drones have actively explored Mars. Following the United States and the EU, China and the United Arab Emirates have also jumped into Mars exploration. Mars attracts attention because it is the planet most similar to Earth and has the possibility of water and life. Mars is considered to be the planet that will replace Earth in the future. Maybe it’s not a dream story to pioneer the land of Mars and grow potatoes like in the movie ‘The Martian’.
The Korean government announced a plan to plant the Korean flag on Mars in 2045, the 100th anniversary of its liberation. It was the publication ceremony of the ‘Future Space Economy Roadmap’ presided over by President Yoon Seok-yeol on the 28th. The plan is to help Korea grow into a space power by landing a manned probe made with Korean technology on Mars. To this end, the plan is to launch the Korea Space Administration, the Korean version of NASA, next year. It plans to develop its own launch vehicle engine that will go to the moon within five years, land on the moon in 2023, and begin mining resources. Hopefully the big dream of ‘giving the resources of the moon and the home of Mars to future generations’ will come closer.
Reporter Kang Yoon-kyung kyk93@busan.com
