Mars is by far the most studied planet other than Earth in the solar system. Mar

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Mars is by far the most studied planet other than Earth in the solar system. Mars is close enough for early telescopes to be able to make out features, such as the ice caps and dark patches. Percival Lowell (discoverer of Pluto) swore he could observe canals on the surface, which lead to an explosion in science fiction stories involving “Martians.” Venus, our other nearest neighbor is a cloud covered world that doesn’t allow us to study the surface very easily. We can only learn about its surface features using radar and a few Russian probes that made it into the atmosphere. Furthermore, it is incredibly hot on Venus due to high concentrations of greenhouse gases. Russia made several attempts to study Venus, managing to drop a probe that lasted two hours before the heat melted its components. Mars is much easier to study than Venus. Having an atmosphere only 1% the thickness of Earth and 60 times less dense (dashing realistic hopes of colonizing Mars). Mars is not too hot and has almost no cloud cover (though sometimes the whole planet can be covered in a global dust storm). The thin atmosphere and more manageable temperatures allow us to send probes and rovers to Mars, which can function quite well on the martian terrain. Procedure Open Google Earth. On the top menu, select View ! Explore ! Mars or you can click the planet symbol at the top of the viewing window. You should now see Mars instead of Earth. It may seem a little bit pixelated. This is because the images are built up from many dierent high-definition cameras. Getting Started First, practice zooming in and out by either using a scroll wheel on a mouse. a trackpad, or the bar on the right side of the screen (outline fills in when you hover over it).You should also click on Mars and spin it around to get used to that functionality. Notice that there is a compass in the upper tight with an “N” symbol. If you click on the symbol, it will always re-align Mars such that north will be up. Second, zoom in enough such that Mars does not fit in the entire screen. If you look on the bottom, you’ll see latitude and longitude coordinates as well as the elevation. We will be using these values periodically throughout the lab. Finally, lets look at some map options. We will be switching between these maps quite a bit. On the bottom left there will be a menu called “Layers.” In that menu, you’ll see an option called “Global Maps.” Click on the arrow next to it to show all the options. The “Vis- ible Imagery” map is usually the default. Below is a description of the maps we will be using: Visible Imagery - A composite of many dierent images from the viking orbiter and the Mars Global Surveyor. We will use this mainly for our visible viewer. Colorized Terrain - An elevation map of Mars. We will be using this map quite a bit. Daytime Infrared - Heated objects appear brighter on infrared cameras. This is use- ful for showing more details you might not see in regular color. For example, volcanic dust is made up of basalts that are dark in color. Basalts absorb more heat during the day and will show as bright regions on an infrared map Viking Color Imagery - Composed of thousands of viking orbiter images, this map is useful for looking at global features because it isn’t as banded as the composite Visible Im- agery map. Now that we are aware of all these features, lets begin. Click on the circle next to “Colorized Terrain.” Notice the elevation bar on the left of the viewing window. The tallest features will be white, surrounded by red, while the lowest features will be blue surrounded by green. With Mars entirely in the viewing window, spin it around a little bit, you should notice that half of Mars is separated into two distinct color groupings. 7) Use the ruler tool to measure the widths of Washington in kilometers: i) W ! E: ii) N ! S: 8) Would Olympus Mons fit completely inside the state of Washington? Switch back to the view of Mars. Make sure it is still colorized terrain. Look for a huge blue spot surrounded by orange and red, this is called Hellas Planitia (zoom in until the name appears to be sure). 9) Using elevation data and the ruler tool, estimate the following data for Hellas Plani- tia: i) Lowest elevation - ii) Elevation of surrounding (orange) terrain - iii) Width - 10) How do you suppose this geological feature was formed? Geological Features In this section, we’ll explore many dierent geological features on Mars. A list of named features will be provided shortly, but first lets define some geological features and how to recognize them. Impact Craters - Impact craters are very circular, usually characterized by lower ele- vations within a crater rim. Volcanos - Volcanos rise above the surrounding terrain and are characterized by high eleva- tions. Mars’ volcanos are of the shield volcano variety (circular) as there hasn’t been plate tectonics on Mars for a very very long time. They are characterized by high elevations (very high in the case of Mars). Rift Valleys - Rift valleys are caused by a fracture in the crust, either through heavy impacts or plate tectonics. They are characterized by having fairly straight canyons. Deltas - When a canyon or delta is formed by water, there are a lot of twists and turns creating a very meandering path that is quite distinguishable from a rift valley. For this next part, you can use the search feature on the upper left. However, BE- WARE that when you hit enter it will zoom you into the center of the feature, you have to zoom out to see the whole feature. Also, you may use whichever map you choose. You should switch back and forth between the visible and the colorized terrain to help you recognized the overall feature. Though I won’t require you to list the elevations, I recommend taking a moment or two to recognize how dramatic the elevation changes can be on Mars. 17) Based on the change in elevation, and the likely composition of the material mak- ing this smear, what do you infer caused this long white smear? Rovers Google Earth has data built in from the rover missions. In the layers panel (bottom left). Make sure the drop down menu for “Mars Gallery” is open. Click on the arrow if it is not. Then click on the arrow for “Rovers and Landers,” and double click on “MER Opportunity Lander.” 18) Why do you think this site was chosen to land the rover (there are many reasons, try to think of at least one)? The camera icons represent actual surface photos from the rover. You can click on these photos and they will give you detailed descriptions. If you click on the “Fly into this high- resolution photo,” you will be able to view these locations as if you were there. Look for Victoria Crater along the rover path, either choose a photo or zoom in manually until you can see the bumps and ridges in the center of the crater. 19) What do you suppose these bumps and ridges are?

Explanation / Answer

17) Based on the change in elevation, and the likely composition of the material mak- ing this smear, what do you infer caused this long white smear?

ANS – Atmospheric turbulence, as per my observation causes the smear like appearance during the exposure on Mars. Although it is very difficult to get a sharp image of the surface rather than recording any surface details. With a history of a watery past, copious amounts of erosion, revealed sedimentary rock, volcanoes, clouds, icecaps, sand dunes and features like dried-up riverbeds, there’s an entire geological history there that’s arguably as interesting as our own planet’s. At just half the diameter and a few percent the mass of Earth, as well as its location at a significantly greater distance from the Sun, Mars suffered a very, very different fate from Earth. Whereas on our planet, oceans have thrived and so has life, Mars has become cold, dry and very, very desolate. Even the newfound presence of liquid water on the Martian surface doesn’t change the fact that Mars has evolved in an incredibly different way from Earth. Without a full understanding of how this happened, the very legitimate fear is that Earth could someday follow suit and wind up a desolate wasteland, where any surviving life will be relegated to extreme locales, rather than being ubiquitous everywhere we look. By measuring how the Martian atmosphere interacts with the Sun, how particles atoms and ions are blown off and lost to deep space and by examining the solar wind, aurorae and other atmospheric effects, we can learn not only what’s happening to Mars at present, but how it became such a desolate world.

18) Why do you think this site was chosen to land the rover (there are many reasons, try to think of at least one)?

ANS – The site is suspected that Eberswalde was once an ancient river delta, while the huge Gale crater has a mountain nearly 3 miles (5 kilometers) high rising from its center. Jezero is rich in clay minerals and once harbored a basin lake and drainage network that covered a huge catchment area, scientists say. The crater is therefore a rover's paradise of mineralogy and geochemistry, as well as a prospective astro-biological treasure trove: Martian life may have developed in Jezero, since it is believed the lake was long lived. All that being said, Jezero Crater becomes the top candidate for landing site.

19) What do you suppose these bumps and ridges are?

ANS – They look like seafloor spreading ridges with submarine hot springs buried by 2500 meters (1.5 miles) of ocean; deep ocean trenches where the oceanic plates of the earth literally fall into the mantle; neat orthogonal ridge/transform patterns, and a magnetic field that reverses at just the right rate to be recorded by cooling lavas at the spreading ridges.

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