explore program overview explore is designed to engage children in space and planetary science in...
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Explore Program Overview
Explore is designed to engage children in space and planetary science in the library
Free!
Hands-on
Flexible! Use in summer sessions, after-school programs, festivals, science days, family events…
Beyond Earth Onlinehttp://www.lpi.usra.edu/explore/beyondEarth/
Mars Inside and Out Onlinehttp://www.lpi.usra.edu/explore/mars/
Life on Mars? Onlinehttp://www.lpi.usra.edu/explore/LifeOnMars/
Protecting LifeThe Martian Challenge
How would you protect your Martian?
Strange New Planet
How have scientists’ views of Mars changed over time?
How have robotic spacecraft shaped these views?
Could Mars support, or have supported, life?
History of Mars Exploration
Historically, what percentage of missions to Mars have been successful? (n = 40)
a) 15%
b) 30%
c) 45%
d) 60%
History of Mars Exploration
Historically, what percentage of missions to Mars have been successful? (n = 40)
a) 15%
b) 30%
c) 45%
d) 60%
History of Mars Exploration
Given what we know about Mars today, what can we say about its current, and past, habitability?
History of Mars Exploration
Given what we know about Mars today, what can we say about its current, and past, habitability?
How does this view differ from our thoughts in the 1960s?
History of Mars Exploration
From Galileo until the mid-1960s, scientists were restricted to ground-based observations of Mars
What are its limitations?
Early Exploration
Galileo Galilei, 1564-1642
Let’s Observe!!
From Galileo until the mid-1960s, scientists were restricted to ground-based observations of Mars
What are its limitations?
Early Exploration
Ground-based, telescopic view of Mars.
French author Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle wrote in 1686:
“Mars has nothing curious that I know of; its days are not quite an hour longer than ours and its year’s the value of two of ours. It’s smaller than the Earth, it sees the Sun a little less large and bright than we see it; in sum, Mars isn’t worth the trouble stopping there.”
From Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds
Early Exploration
Percival Lowell interpreted “canali” to mean canals (artificial); mapped 437 “canals” in 917 sketches; took the idea of canals to the grave
Early Exploration
Percival Lowell, 1855-1916
Lowell’s Martian “canals”, pre-1914
Early Exploration
“A third presence on Mars indicates a living world: vegetation. The evidence is in the blue-green areas and the changes in their appearance. Vegetation would present exactly the appearance shown…. The seasonal change that sweeps over them…shows both growth and decay….”
- Earl C. Slipher, 1962
Seasonal changes on Mars affect the appearance of the planet.
• Early exploration of Mars revealed it to be:• Cold; temperatures at freezing or well below freezing• Dynamic, at least regarding patterns on the surface;
dust, vegetation, or both?• Low atmospheric pressure; clouds• Unsure about the atmospheric composition• Arid• Polar cap – What is it made of?• No canals/intelligent life
Early Exploration
How can we get a better look?
Let’s Observe!!
Took 22 pictures w/ a TV camera on July 14, 1965
Early ExplorationMariner 4 – Flyby, 1965
Images returned by Mariner 4 revealed a Martianlandscape resembling the Moon more than theEarth.
Close approaches occurred July 31 (M6) & August 5 (M7), 1969
Early ExplorationMariner 6 & 7 – Flyby, 1969
Though they were more clear, images from Mariner 6 & 7 did little to change the Moon-like impression of Mars made by Mariner 4 images.
Flybys were great but revealed only a fraction of the surface of Mars
M4, M6, M7 were all focused on the southern hemisphere
Early Exploration
Early Spacecraft ExplorationMariner 4, 6, 7
How did the Mariner flybys advance scientific understanding of Mars?• Mars looked more like the Moon; life far less likely (M4)
• Temperature range; south polar cap composed of CO2
(M6,7)• IMPORTANT: Mariner 4 only imaged ~1% of the surface of Mars, mostly in the southern hemisphere; Mariner 6 & 7, ~20%
• NO CANALS
Early Spacecraft ExplorationMariner 4, 6, 7
How did the Mariner flybys advance scientific understanding of Mars?• Mars looked more like the Moon; life far less likely (M4)
• Temperature range; south polar cap composed of CO2
(M6,7)• IMPORTANT: Mariner 4 only imaged ~1% of the surface of Mars, mostly in the southern hemisphere; Mariner 6 & 7, ~20%
• NO CANALS
How can we get a better look?
Let’s Observe!!
Mariner 9 arrived at Mars on November 14, 1971
Early ExplorationMariner 9 – Orbiter, 1971
The Mariner 9 spacecraft was the first to orbit anotherplanetary body. Mariner 9 arrived at Mars to find the surface hidden
by a planetary-wide dust storm.
Early ExplorationMariner 9 - 1971
Once the dust cleared, Mariner 9 discovered numerous geologic features not seen by earlier missions.
Olympus Mons
Vallis Marineris
Early ExplorationMariner 9
How did Mariner 9 advance scientific understanding of Mars?• Mars is more geologically diverse than had ever been presumed; Volcanoes!
• Evidence water once flowed on the surface, not in artificial canals, but natural river channels
Exploring Mars: The Inside Story•Dr. Walter Kiefer, Lunar and Planetary Institute
Explore Mars