1. Mars The god of WAR Chapter 28
Copyright (c) The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

2. (aside from Earth) in the Solar System
Mars is the most explored planet
Viking 1 & 2
Mariner 4 provided the first close-up image (1965)
ESA’s Mars Express (2003)
Global Surveyor
Odyssey
Mars
(aside from Earth) in the Solar System

3. Viking Spacecraft and the view of Mars
Mars is the most explored planet (aside from Earth) in the Solar System
Viking Spacecraft and the view of Mars

4. Viking 1 Spacecraft view

5. Mars is the most explored planet (aside from Earth) in the Solar System
Pathfinder in 1997 landed on the planet w/Sojourner

6. Pathfinder’s view

7. Mars is the most explored planet (aside from Earth) in the Solar System
Summer 2003 Opportunity

8. Opportunity’s view

9. Mars is the most explored planet (aside from Earth) in the Solar System
Spirit rovers 1st landed in2004

10. Mars is the most explored planet
Spirit panaromic view of mars
A lot of things exploring Mars… LIKE…

11. UFO sighting

12. Mars is the most explored planet
Even Bigfoot is exploring Mars!!!

13. Mars is the most explored planet
WHAT is it???

14. Mars is the most explored planet
Face on Mars

15. Maybe it’s Megatron???

16. The REAL face of Mars

17. The REAL face of Mars

18. Mars is the most explored planet (aside from Earth) in the Solar System
Phoenix in 2007 to look at one of the poles

19. View from Phoenix

20. Mars is the most explored planet (aside from Earth) in the Solar System
Mars Global Surveyor
flow of liquid

21. Mars is the most explored planet
Mars Global Surveyor MAP
Also studied flow of liquid

22. Odyssey Spacecraft

23. Odyssey
Globally mapped the amount and distribution of many chemical elements and minerals that make up the Martian surface.
Maps of hydrogen distribution led scientists to discover vast amounts of water ice in the polar regions buried just beneath the surface.
Odyssey also recorded the radiation environment in low Mars orbit to determine the radiation-related risk to any future human explorers who may one day go to Mars.

24. Most recent spacecraft was in 2012

25. Curiosity landed Click on above link to watch the landing.
Click on the link (below) to see full
Landing

26. Curiosity is the first spacecraft to record a landing on another planet. The six-wheel rover arrived on Aug. 5, 2012 to begin a two-year mission to examine whether the Martian environment was hospitable for microbial life.

27. The rover's ultimate destination is Mount Sharp, a towering mountain that looms from the ancient crater floor. Signs of past water have been spotted at the base, providing a starting point to hunt for the chemical building blocks of life.
Before Curiosity journeys toward the mountain, it will take a detour to an intriguing spot 1,300 feet away where it will drill into bedrock. With the test drive out of the way, Curiosity was expected to stay at its new position for several days before making its first big drive -- a trip that will take as long as a month and a half.
Curiosity won't head to Mount Sharp until the end of the year.

29. The surface of Mars is currently a dry, dusty place
Plains covered with rocks ranging from pebble-sized to boulder sized!
Lots of evidence for flowing water, rivers and salty oceans

30. The surface of Mars is reddish in color.
This orange sand is mostly rust… (Fe2O3) due to the iron oxide within the soil

31. Mars is home to some amazing sites! Valles Marineris
Major Features of Mars
Mars is home to some amazing sites!
Valles Marineris

32. A canyon that stretches across the face of the globe
Valles Marineris
Named for Mariner 4
A canyon that stretches across the face of the globe
As wide as the United States!
Major Features of Mars

33. Mars is home to some amazing sites! Like:Olympus Mons
Major Features of Mars
Mars is home to some amazing sites!
Like:Olympus Mons

34. Tallest mountain of the major planets
Olympus Mons
Tallest mountain of the major planets

35. Extends above the bulk of the atmosphere of Mars!
Olympus Mons
Extends above the bulk of the atmosphere of Mars!
An extinct shield volcano around 250 million years old.

36. Map of Mars
Four gigantic shield volcanoes are located near the equator, near a region called the Tharsis Plateau

37. Map of Mars
The Tharsis bulge may have been caused by an upwelling of hot material from the interior of the planet. This created volcanoes in the region (including Olympus Mons) and may have created Valles Marineris.

38. Map of Mars
The Tharsis bulge may have been caused by an upwelling of hot material from the interior of the planet. This created volcanoes in the region (including Olympus Mons) and may have created Valles Marineris.

39. Mars is home to some amazing sites! Polar ice caps
Major Features of Mars
Mars is home to some amazing sites!
Polar ice caps

40. Major Features of Mars
The polar caps of Mars are composed mostly of water ice (north) and frozen carbon dioxide (south)

41. They grow and shrink seasonally
Ice Caps of Mars
They grow and shrink seasonally
Similar axial tilt to Earth (25 degrees)
Produces seasons similar to those on Earth
Southern winter is much more extreme than northern, as Mars is farthest from the sun during this period.

42. The northern hemisphere has sparsely cratered plains.
The southern hemisphere of Mars is a heavily cratered, highland region resembling the highlands of the Moon.
Major Features of Mars

43. Deserts ring Mars at mid-latitudes
Winds blow surface material into dunes, similar to those found on Earth
Dune Fields

44. Surface features seem to support this Dry riverbeds Splash craters
Water on Mars?
Many scientists believe that Mars was once warmer and wetter than it is today
Surface features seem to support this
Dry riverbeds
Splash craters
Gullies in crater walls
Etc!

45. Evidence for Water

46. Splash Craters are craters that form from impacts on damp soil

47. Gullies

48. Ice Floes?

49. If Mars was so wet, where did all the water go?
Where the water is now
If Mars was so wet, where did all the water go?

50. Some may be trapped just below the surface as permafrost
Where the water is now
Some may be trapped just below the surface as permafrost
May be locked up in mineral compounds

51. Most probably escaped to space
Where the water is now
Most probably escaped to space
Evaporated from the surface
UV photons broke apart H2O molecule
H escaped to space

52. The Martian Atmosphere
The Martian atmosphere is very different from Earth’s
95% carbon dioxide,
3% nitrogen
Surface pressure is very low – same pressure as Earth at 35 km!
The Martian Atmosphere

53. The Martian Atmosphere
No rain ever falls, but it sometimes snows dry ice crystals!
Clouds of water ice and carbon dioxide ice float through the sky

54. Temperatures range from just above freezing to 180 K (-136ᵒF)
In order for a planet to retain an atmosphere the 2 most important are:
Temperature of planet
Escape velocity
Distance from the Sun
Axial tilt
Composition & weight of the gases.
Temperatures range from just above freezing to 180 K (-136ᵒF)

55. The Martian Atmosphere
The winds on Mars, though gentle, can carry dust far into the atmosphere.
These dust storms sometimes obscure most of the surface!
No erosion

56. The Martian Atmosphere
The winds on Mars

57. Interior of Mars
Astronomers hypothesize that Mars has a core of iron, nickel, and possibly sulfur that extends somewhere between 1200 km and 2400 km from the center of the planet. Because Mars has no magnetic field, astronomers think that the core is probably solid.

58. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos.
Moons of Mars
Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos.

59. Phobos It’s about 15.5 miles diameter (about the size of Houston, TX)
Its gravity is 1/1000 of earth
You could jump off the surface (about a mile up) and float off into space
Could lift a 900,000 pound object

60. Phobos
You could summersault over 3000 times BEFORE you land 25 minutes later
Covered with a Dark dust about 3 feet deep
Dark as charcoal
TEMP: +30ºF to a -170ºF night
Rotation is about 8 hours

61. Phobos crater (“stick me”) on the west side
It’s a 7 mile wide which almost split the moon in half
A 200 mile wide meteor traveling at MPH hit the West side of the moon
Larger than the United States
Could go Spelunking on Mars

62. Deimos Moons of Mars Moon (dia): 7.8miles Orbit eccentricity: 0.0002
Orbit inclination: degrees
Rev: 30 hours
Rot: none
Mass: x 10^15 kg
Density: g/cm^3
Surface gravity: m/s^2
Escape velocity: 13 mph (20 km/h)

63. Mars The god of WAR Chapter 28
Copyright (c) The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.