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Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech Mars the Red Planet Known to Babylonians 3,600 years ago as “Star that Wandered” The Greeks referred to it as “Ares” the god of War Romans called it Mars Location Image Courtesy of NASA Basic Facts Distance from Sun ≈1.52 times as far as Earth Time to Orbit the Sun ~ 26 Earth months Atmosphere ~ Mostly carbon dioxide Martian Day ~ 24.7 hours Temperature on the planet’s surface hardly rises above freezing point Earth and Mars Comparison Earth Mars Radius 6378 km 3397 km Density 5515 kg/m3 3933 kg/m3 Gravity 9.8 m/s2 3.72 m/s2 Year 365.25 days 686.98 days Eccentricity 0.017 0.094 Day 24 hours 24 hr 39 min Obliquity 23.45º 25.19º Earth and Mars Comparison Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech Mars Surface Features Surface Color: “Red” Features – Impact Craters – Largest volcano in the solar system (Olympus Mons) – Largest Canyon in the Solar System (Valles Marineris) – Ancient river channels – Lava Rocks – Dust: Reddish from volcanic rock Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech Valles Marineris Mars Atmosphere Unbreathable Thin Dusty, makes the sky pinkish, lots of dust storms Surface Pressure: 1/150th of Earth’s (only 5.6 millibars) Composition: 95% CO2, 3% N, 1.5% Ar, 0.1% O2, 0.03% H2O Moons of Mars Mars has two tiny moons named “Deimos” (Panic) & “Phobos” (Fear) The moons are irregular and very small in size – Phobos 27x22x18 km – Deimos 15x12x10 km The moons are probably asteroids captured by Mars Image Courtesy of NASA Deimos Phobos Is there Water on Mars? Water is the key to life as we know it The north and south poles of Mars are covered with thick ice or frost Some astronomers about 100 years ago thought there were canals on Mars dug by intelligent civilization Space probes to date have not found any traces of canals on Mars Previous Mission to Mars Viking 1 and 2 in 1976 – First pictures of Martian surface Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech Previous Mission to Mars Pathfinder in 1997 – Roving vehicle – Sojourner to explore Martian surface Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech Current Missions Mars Global Surveyor – Accomplishes all the tasks of its mission – And still going Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech Odyssey Discovered subsurface water ice near poles Track changes of polar ice, clouds and dust storms Generated maps of radiation and minerals Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech Mars Rovers Spirit – Landed January 3, 2004 Opportunity – Landed January 24, 2004 Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Launch date 2005 SHARAD – Shallow Radar Instrument – Penetrate ground and search for water at depths greater than 3 feet. CRISM – Spectrometer – Find recent traces of water Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Launch date 2005 CTX – Contex Camera – Wide area views HiRISE – High Resolution Camera – In depth study of areas where water once flowed Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech Future Mission Phoenix - 2008 K9 Rover Image Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech Mars Science Laboratory - 2009 Mars Websites http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/classroom http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov http://marsed.asu.edu http://msip.asu.edu http://marsbound.asu.edu