WEBVTT

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So, you're thinking of moving to Mars.

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Have you picked out a spot 
for your new home?

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No? Well, I'm here to help.

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First things first,

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here are some of the things
you'll need to bring to The Red Planet:

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a high tolerance for cold, 
loneliness, and radiation,

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a lifetime supply 
of breathable air and food,

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a multibillion dollar spaceship,

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a desire to just get away from it all,

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and water.

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You're definitely going to need water.

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So what sort of real estate
are you looking for?

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How about a mansion in the maze-like
Noctis Labyrinthus?

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A hide away in the Happy Face Crater?

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A fortress on the Face Mesa?

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An oceanview?

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Uh, bad news on the last one.

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You're about 4 billion years late.

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We're pretty sure that Mars
used to have oceans, lakes, rivers,

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the whole package.

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But over time, almost all of it
froze beneath the surface,

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or evaporated off into space.

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There's probably still some
trapped beneath

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the seasonally expanding and contracting
carbon dioxide ice caps, though.

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So what might Mars look like today
if it had surface water?

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That of course depends
on how much we're talking about,

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but maybe something like this.

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The relatively flat northern hemisphere
is below the average elevation,

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so it would become one giant ocean,

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while the crater-ridden 
southern hemisphere

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would stay mostly high and dry.

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That difference between hemispheres
is a bit bizarre,

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and we don't know why it's like that.

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The southern half is probably
much older,

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judging by features 
like the number of craters,

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and the evidence of increased
volcanic activity in the north.

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Okay, so who knows.

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Maybe one day Mars will have oceans again,

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but for now, what we've got is essentially
one giant dusty desert.

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In fact, it's similar enough 
to deserts on Earth,

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that we've been able to learn a great deal
about Mars on our home planet.

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For instance, Maritan sand dunes
form and behave

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similarly to our sand dunes,

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though the Martian versions 
often grow twice as large

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thanks to a gravitational pull
that's about a third as strong as ours.

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And Mars has some features
you won't see on Earth,

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like tars, which are crestless
sand dunes up to fifteen meters tall,

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whose formations 
we have yet to understand.

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You're probably wondering,

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"What do you get when you
combine a planet-wide desert

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with an atmosphere, like ours,

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is subject to wind-generating
pressure differentials, dust storms?"

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These will be your main weather hazards
on the Red Planet.

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They play a large part 
in making the planet red

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by distributing rusted iron particles
across the surface and into the air.

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Thanks to the low gravity
and lack of moisture,

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these dust storms can last for months
and cover the planet.

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So, you might want to build your home
as high as possible.

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Well, look no further.

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This is Olympus Mons,
the largest volcano in the Solar System.

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Even if Mars had a breathable atmosphere,

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you'd find the views from 
the 25 kilometer summit breathtaking.

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Or are volcanos not your thing?

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Then how about Valles Marineris,
the largest canyon in the Solar System?

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It's so wide that from one side,

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the opposite rim would be below
the curve of the horizon.

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Still, you catch som spectacular
blue sunsets in the normally red sky,

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which gets its color from the dust
absorbing most of the blue light,

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and the way sunlight is scattered
by the atmosphere.

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Have you got spirit, curiosity,
or are you just looking for opportunity?

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Then stop stalling
and make the move to Mars today.

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Mars: Redder than Ever.