Science Winter Holiday Homework

Adopt a Planet

Planet MARS….

A LOOK AT IT

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIESEquatorial radius (km) 3396.2Polar radius (km)  

3376.2

Distance from Sun 1.67 AU

Surface area 144,798,500 km2

Volume  

1.6318×1011 km3

Albedo 0.15

Mass  

6.4185×1023 kg

Equatorial surface gravity  

3.711 m/s²

Escape velocity 5.027 km/sRotationperiod

24.622 hours 

Equatorial rotation velocity  

868.22 km/h

Axial tilt  

25.19°

Surface temperature 

min mean max−87 °C −63 °C 20 °C

Mean density (kg/m3) 3933Apparent magnitude  

+1.6 to −3.0

Revolutional Period 685 days approx.

Discovery of Mars

It is hard to put a name or date on the discovery of Mars. It is one of the five planets that are visible in the night sky and has been documented for thousands of years. It is considered that the ancient Babylonians were among the earliest people to discover and name the planet. They called it Nergal, after their god of fire, war, and destruction. They were followed by the Greeks who named it Ares after their god of war, and the Romans who renamed it Mars after their war god. The Roman name became as wide spread as the empire and is still commonly used today.

Galileo Galilei was the first to observe the planet with a telescope. In 1609 he trained his new invention upon the Red Planet, but could not observe much because the instrument was still fairly primitive. Mars is by far the most studied planet by humans in the Solar System, other than our own.

Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientifi c Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism.

Galileo didn’t play a big role in the discovery of mars but fi rst analyzed the report of it after his view through telescope at mars.

GALILEO GALILEI

Why Mars is the most discovered?

Natural conditions similar to Arctic and Antarctic zones of Earth.

Surface conditions are habitable.

Similar geology as compared to Earth.

Availability of water in the form of ice and glaciers.

Composition of Mars

HydrologyLiquid water cannot exist on the surface of Mars due to low atmospheric pressure. The two polar ice caps appear to be made largely of water. The volume of water ice in the south polar ice cap, if melted, would be sufficient to cover the entire planetary surface to a depth of 11 meters. Landforms visible on Mars strongly suggest that liquid water has at least at times existed on the planet's surface. Huge linear swathes of scoured ground, known as outflow channels, cut across the surface in around 25 places.

It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the volcanoes, valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth.

PO

LA

R IC

E

CA

PS

Surface pressure is 0.636 (0.4–0.87) kPaComposition of martian atmosphere: 95.32% carbon dioxide 2.7% nitrogen 1.6% argon 0.13% oxygen 0.08% carbon monoxide Small amount of other gases such as water

vapour, methane etc. is also present.

Atmosphere

Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and irregularly shaped.

Ph

ob

os

Dei

mo

s

Phobos Phobos is the larger and closer of

the two natural satellites of Mars. Both moons were discovered in 1877. Phobos is 7.24 times as massive as Deimos. Phobos orbits about 9,377 km (5,827 mi) from the center of Mars. Phobos is one of the least reflective bodies in the Solar System, and features a large impact crater, Stickney crater. It orbits so close to the planet that it moves around Mars faster than Mars itself rotates. Due to its short orbital period and tidal interactions, Phobos's orbital radius is decreasing and it will eventually either impact the surface of Mars or break up into a planetary ring.

Crater Stickney

Deimos

Deimos is the smaller and outer of Mars's two moons.

Mars‘ outer moon is possibly an asteroid that was perturbed by Jupiter into an orbit that allowed it to be captured by Mars. Deimos has a very circular orbit which lies almost exactly in Mars' equatorial plane. As seen from the surface of Deimos, Mars would appear 1,000 times larger and 400 times brighter than the full Moon as seen from Earth.

Orbital movement of Phobos and Deimos

Researches on Mars

• Dozens of spacecraft, including orbiters, landers, and rovers, have been sent to Mars by the Soviet Union, the United States, Europe, and Japan to study the planet's surface, climate, and geology. As of 2008, the price of transporting material from the surface of Earth to the surface of Mars is approximately US$309,000 per kilogram.

Past Missions• The first successful fly to Mars was on July 14–15 1965, by NASA's

Mariner 4. On November 14, 1971 Mariner 9 became the first space probe to orbit any other planet other than Earth when it entered into orbit around Mars. The first objects to successfully land on the surface were two Soviet probes: Mars 2 on November 27 and Mars 3 on December 2, 1971. In 1975, NASA launched the Viking program that consisted of two orbiters, each having a lander; both landers successfully touched down the surface of Mars in 1976. Viking 1 remained operational for six years, Viking 2 for three. The Viking landers relayed color panoramas of Mars.

• Following the 1992 failure of the Phobous Mars Observer and orbiter, the NASA Mars Global Surveyor achieved Mars orbit in 1997. This mission was a complete success, having finished its primary mapping Mars mission in early 2001. Contact was lost with the probe in November 2006 during its third extended program, spending exactly 10 operational years in space. The NASA Mars Pathfinder, carrying a robotic exploration vehicle Sojourner, landed in the Ares Vallis on Mars in the summer of 1997, returning many images.

 

• The NASA Phoenix Mars lander arrived on the north polar region of Mars on May 25, 2008. Its robotic arm was used to dig into the Martian soil and the presence of water ice was confirmed on June 20. The mission concluded on November 10, 2008 after contact was lost.

• The NASA Mars Odyssey orbiter entered Mars orbit in 2001. Odyssey's Gamma Ray Spectrometer detected significant amounts of hydrogen in the upper meteor on Mars. This hydrogen is thought to be containing large deposits of water ice.

The Mars Express mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) reached Mars in 2003. It carried the Beagle 2 lander, which failed during descent and was declared lost in February, 2004.In early 2004 the Planetary Spectrometer team announced the orbiter had detected methane in the Martian atmosphere. ESA announced in June 2006 the discovery of aurorae on Mars. The mission is still ongoing for the proper search of presence of aurorae on Mars.

In January 2004, the NASA twin Mars Exploration Rovers named Spirit (MER-A) and Opportunity (MER-B) landed on the surface of Mars. Both have met or exceeded all their targets. Among the most signifi cant scientifi c returns has been conclusive evidence that liquid water existed at some time in the past at both landing sites.

CURRENT MISSIONS

On March 10, 2006, the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) probe arrived in orbit to conduct a two-year science survey. The orbiter began mapping the Martian terrain and weather to find suitable landing sites for upcoming lander missions. The MRO snapped the fi rst image of a series of active avalanches near the planet's North Pole. The Orbiter is still active for observing climate and proper landing sites for future missions.

The Mars Science Laboratory, named Curiosity, launched on November 26, 2011, and is expected to reach Mars in August 2012. It is larger and more advanced than the Mars Exploration Rovers; with a movement rate of 90 m/h. Experiments include a laser chemical sampler that can deduce the make-up of rocks at a distance of 13 m.

Future Missions

In 2008, NASA announced MAVEN, a robotic mission in 2013 to provide information about the atmosphere of Mars. In 2018 the ESA plans to launch its first Rover to Mars; the ExoMars rover which will be capable of drilling 2 m into the soil in search of organic molecules.

The Finnish-Russian MetNet, is mission concept where multiple small vehicles on will be released on Mars to establish a widespread observation network to investigate the planet's atmospheric structure, physics and meteorology. Another Russian mission concept is Mars-Grunt, a Mars surface sample bringing mission.

InSight (formerly GEMS) is a Mars lander mission proposed under NASA's Discovery program, to place a geophysical lander on Mars to study its deep interior, and understand the processes that shaped the rocky planets of the inner solar system.

MARS EXPLORATION-SUCCESS OR FAILURE (NASA)

Information Pro Con

Began exploring Mars in 1960

54 orbiters and landers have been sent to Mars

Spirit and Orbiter (the 51st and 52nd missions) are currently exploring Mars and have worked 16 times longer than planned and have driven 20 times farther than expected.

50% success rate overall.Of eleven missions that were to land on the surface of Mars, only six actually transmitted any data after landing.

Reasons for failures

Sometimes miscalculations, harsh weather.

Often reasons are unknown

$4.2 billion has been spent on Mars exploration till date

NASA has pumped billions of dollars of profit into Florida’s economy for over four decades.

The switch from the shuttle program to the new exploration initiatives (Mars included) could mean fewer jobs over the next several years.

EarthSolar Day

Martian Solar Day

23 hrs.56 min.

24 hrs.39 min.

EarthYear

Martian Year

365.2solar days

685solar days

Stunning Facts about Mars

Some people think that Mars is a near-twin of

Earth, but it has a diameter of about half the

Earth, measuring only 6,800 km across. The

total mass of Mars is only about 10% the mass of

Earth. The surface gravity is only 38% of what one

would experience on Earth. In other words, one would be able to jump 3 times as high on Mars as

we can on Earth.

Mars might not have oceans, rivers and lakes, but NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft detected huge deposits of water underneath the surface, across the planet – in the form of ice. The Phoenix mission has arrived on Mars to search for ice underneath the soil at the northern polar cap. It has all the tools on board to analyze the water ice to see if has any traces of current or ancient life.

Tallest mountain

The tallest mountain in the Solar System is the mighty Olympus Mons on Mars. It rises up 27 kilometres above the surrounding plains. Olympus Mons is a shield volcano formed gradually over billions of years. Some lava flows on the volcano that planetary scientists think that it might still be active.

Olympus Mons as seen from a orbiter on Mars surface.

Olympus Mons

Longest and Deepest Canyon

One of the most distinct features on the surface of Mars is the Valles Marineris canyon which is the largest and deepest canyon of the solar system. It stretches 4,000 km along the equator of Mars, and can be as deep as 7 km in places. The Valles Marineris can stretch right across the United States.

Mars has almost no atmosphereThe freezing cold

temperatures are a problem, but even worse is the thin atmosphere. The air pressure at the surface of Mars is only 1% of Earth. And the atmosphere on Mars consists of 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon and trace amounts of water and oxygen.

Unsupported Climate

The temperature differences on both planets (Mars and Earth)are drastic (average temperature is -67 F on Mars).

The weather patterns on Mars are severe at times (wind storms, avalanches, etc.)

No proper life evidences has been found on Mars

Meanings to Note… Copernicanism - the fundamental theoretical basis of modern astronomy, first demonstrated

in the early 16th century by Copernicus.

Apparent Magnitude - The apparent magnitude (m) of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, the brighter the object appears, the lower the value of its magnitude.

Perturbed – disturbed by.. An object or gravity of a planet

Avalanches – a sudden rapid flow of snow.

Albedo – Brightness of a body because of the frequency of radiations.

Escape Velocity - the speed at which the kinetic energy and the gravitational energy of an object is zero.

Kinetic Energy - The energy of an object which it possesses due to its motion.

Permafrost - soil which is at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years.

Silicate - a compound containing a silicon bearing anion(negative ion).

Aurorae - a natural light display in the sky, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere.

An Aurorae Display

SOURCES

1. Default Search Engine – www.google.com

2. Images – Google Image Search

3. Mars info :

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars

• http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html

• http://www.challengerlearningcenter.com/Mars/Mars_the_red_planet.ppt

• www.esu7.org/~leiweb/Projects/third/Mars-Tate%20Christensen.ppt

• www.nasa.gov/

• www.nasaimages.org/

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