Exploration of Mars

diameter telescope we were lucky enough to have a mostly clear sky to view in this order: Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon. Viewing these celestial bodies in person is truly one of the most exciting and core tenets of astronomy. With our telescope we were able to see firsthand and notice some of the distinct characteristics of the different objects. First we looked at our nearby neighbor planet, Mars. Mars is named after the Roman god of war and has a nickname of the “Red Planet” due to…

Mercury's surface is similar in appearance to the appearance of the Moon, showing plains and heavy cratering, indicating that it has been inactive for billions of years. Knowledge of Mercury's geology has been based only on the 1975 Mariner flyby and terrestrial observations, it is the least understood of the terrestrial planets. As data from messenger orbiter is processed, this knowledge will increase. For example, an unusual crater with radiating troughs has been discovered that scientists…

red planet. Felsic rocks that thought to not exist on Mars are now identified. Overall, these findings alter the understanding of the geologic complexity and magmatic activity of Mars. Prior knowledge of Mars’s geology was rather simple; consisting of one type of rock formation in contrast to Earth’s diverse and complex geology. Felsic rocks such as granite, are common in subduction zones on Earth (Wray et al., 2013, 1013). However, in Mars, felsic rocks are nonexistent and only contain mafic…

Mud Cracks on Mars: A Sign of Possible Ancient Alien Life? If you asked a scientist what the basic building block of life is, the answer would be water. Therefore, when NASA’s Curiosity Rover recently found evidence suggesting that the Red Planet (Mars) was not always completely dry, thoughts of previous life forms come to mind. According to Nathan Stein, who is a member of NASA’s Curiosity science team, the most likely scenario for the cracks on Mars’ surface is mud. Evidence of Ancient Lakes…

It's understood that films are viewed with our eyes and heard with our ears but, "Scavengers" is proof that you can also implement taste and smell into film even if the smells and taste are absolutely disgusting. The title, "Scavengers" flew over my head even after the opening summary that states that the main characters of the film were left stranded on a strange planet after communication from VESTA-1 (a spacecraft) was lost. As the animation takes place we learned that the VESTA-1 was…

The objects between 42 and 47 AU are in very stable orbits – not affected in any significant way by any of the planets. Like the “classical” planets, these objects are in nearly circular orbits, so were given the name “Classical KBOs” (CKBOs), by David Jewitt. Of the CKBOs, about one-third have a low orbital inclination of around 2o – these are the “Cold” CKBOs. The remaining two-thirds have a much higher inclination of up to 20o or more – the “Hot” CKBOs. Hot and cold do not have anything to do…

water existing on Mars. Water is pretty common here on Earth, so why is this such a big deal? The big deal is that this is one of the biggest discoveries in Mars history. The discovery of liquid water, provides limitless options from colonization, to the fact that there may be life there now. But how did the media impact this disclosure? Normally space discoveries never get extremely popular. I thought to myself what was so different about this one. I conceded that since life on Mars has been…

Water On Mars Have you ever thought that it would be great if there was water on Mars? Well, there is evidence that there is water on Mars. I never thought that it was possible for water to be on Mars, also water is a great place for life. We already know for sure that there is lots of water on Mars, it is just frozen at the north and south pole (Redd). The specific name for the frozen water is ice caps. The ice caps are gigantic, they are around 2 miles across each one and there are two of…

American author Andy Weir. His book was later turned into a motion picture that was released on October 2, 2015, which stars Academy Award winning actor Matt Damon as the main character, Mark Watney. The Martian is about six scientists who travel to Mars aboard a NASA spacecraft to check the planet and it characteristics. While they are there collecting dust, taking pictures, and recording data everything seems to be fine; then tragedy strikes. Scientist Mark Watney is going to have to fight for…

The short story “Naming of Names” by Ray Bradbury is about the protagonist, Harry, who moved to Mars with his family and immediately doesn’t like the change. Resisting change causes more harm than good. When his friends tell him, ”You’re getting thinner Harry”, he responds I’m not. They tell him, “and taller”, he yells, “liar!”. Harry loses some of his social friends due to his bad behavior. Harry adjusts to change very poorly and ends up hurting himself and other people. As soon as Harry…