Exploration of Mars

Exploration on Mars

For College Students/Adults

\Final-Astronomy

Objectives

Students will understand the following:
1. Since the dawn of the space age in the 1960s, we have sent spacecraft to the most easily reached places in our solar system, such as Mars.
2. For exploration of celestial bodies, NASA has developed a three-phase strategy: reconnaissance, surveillance, and in-depth study.
3. Each mission to Mars has made specific discoveries and raised questions to be answered by future missions.

Materials For this lesson, you will need:
• Research materials about recent exploration within our solar system
• Computer with Internet access

Procedures 1. Begin the activity by initiating a brief discussion in which your students express their opinions about whether there is life on Mars. Ask them to back up their opinions with facts they have learned.
2. Conclude the discussion by reviewing with your students what they know about spacecraft that have been sent by NASA to explore our solar system. Let students know that since the 1960s, we have sent spacecraft to explore Mars and other places in our solar system that are most easily reached.
3. Mention that NASA has developed a three-phase strategy for scientific exploration of celestial bodies. Then tell the class that they are going to be finding out more about NASA’s program and plans for further exploration of the solar system. Invite them to suggest ways of conducting their research.
4. Have groups of students contact NASA to learn the basic outline of the three-phase strategy (reconnaissance, surveillance, in-depth study). They should find out the criteria and limits that define each phase, discover which technologies each phase utilizes for exploration, and understand how each phase builds on information learned from the previous phase.
5. Have students do further research, using materials you have provided and the Internet, to learn about past missions to Mars, what discoveries were made on each mission, and what questions were raised by each mission.
6. The members of each group should work together to produce a report on their findings.
7. Have the groups share their reports; then, as a class, create a time line entitled “Missions to Mars.” The time line should date each mission and categorize the missions into their strategic phases.

Adaptations Adaptations for Older Students:
Have students do further research to explore the funding for exploration of Mars and other areas of our solar system. How much money has been spent on the program? Where does the money come from? The class might divide into groups to debate whether the benefit to society justifies the expenditure required to explore other planets.

Discussion Questions 1. Discuss how meteorites are classified?
2. Discuss why Mars is referred to as the "red planet"? What do we know about the geologic history, surface, and atmosphere of Mars?
3. Even before this meteorite was discovered, there has been discussion about life on Mars. What other scientific observations launched this speculation?
4. What technology is available today that was not available 100 years ago to analyze a meteorite?
5. Discuss the significance of the tiny fractures found on the rock?

Evaluation You can evaluate your students on their reports using the following three-point rubric:
• Three points: reports clear, complete, well organized, and error-free

• Two points: reports fairly clear, sufficiently well organized, with some errors

• One point: reports sketchy and vague, poorly organized, with numerous errors

You can ask your students to contribute to the assessment rubric by determining what information the report should provide.

Extensions Creature from Outer Space!
Invite students to create a creature that would survive on Mars. Suggest they describe and draw the physical features of the creature and then explain in writing how it performs survival functions, such as eating, communicating, breathing, and so on. Interested students might go on to write science-fiction stories describing the first manned mission to Mars and the first human contact with the creatures they created.

Voyages to Mars
Direct your students to the Life on Mars home page on the Federation of American Scientists Web site. They will find that currently nine scientific projects aimed at exploring Mars are in preparation. Challenge students to find out how each mission plans to meet its objective and what technological problems each mission needs to overcome. For example, the spacecraft may have to generate a supply of oxygen on the surface of Mars in order to fuel the return home. How might that be accomplished?

Suggested Readings "Steps to Mars II: A Conference Report"
Louis D Friedman and Others, Planetary Report, November/December, 1995

"The Martian Chronicles"
Traci Watson, Shannon Brownlee and Marc A. Shulte, U.S. News and World Report, August 19, 1996

Links Searching for Evidence of Water on Mars [PDF]
Find information and additional activities on this topic at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab website. http://www.spaceacademy.jhuapl.edu/shared_files/Activities/CRISMMARS_sfw.pdf Live from Mars
This site has excellent videos for teachers to use with their students. The "Teacher's Lounge" hyperlink has discussion groups and a very useful "Teacher's Guide for Projects," with lessons and worksheets. Click on "An Introduction to Electronic Field Trips," with step-by-step and easy-to-follow instructions on how to conduct an electronic field trip. The "Kid's Corner" is a great place to see kids at work on the projects, with photos and descriptions. The "Student Stumpers" hyperlink contains riddles written by students for others to solve, and the "Photo Gallery" is an extensive collection of good pictures. http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/

Vocabulary abstract

Definition: A written summary that concentrates on the essentials of a subject.
Context: We sent the abstract up to NASA headquarters. biogenic

Definition: Relating to living organisms.
Context:...We could be seeing biogenic activity in a microfossil. carbonates

Definition: Compounds that are derivatives of carbonic acid.
Context: Dissolved in the water were minerals called carbonates. galaxy

Definition: A massive assembly of hundreds of millions of stars, gas and dust.
Context: It implies that there is life on many places in our galaxy. mass spectrometer

Definition: An instrument that identifies the chemical composition of a substance.
Context: Professor Richard Zare was using a dual laser mass spectrometer. meteorite

Definition: The metallic or stony remains of a meteor.
Context: The world was formally introduced to meteorite ALH84001 on August 7,1996. microfossils

Definition: Fossils that may be a fragment of a larger organism and may be studied only microscopically.
Context: We saw some pictures that looked like microfossils. oxidized

Definition:Combined with oxygen.
Context:A substantial amount of the iron is highly oxidized. planet

Definition: Any nonluminous celestial body that orbits around a star.
Context: The development of life on planets like the earth is a normal thing. stars

Definition: Luminous celestial bodies composed of self-contained hot gases.
Context: A major search ...for radio signals from civilizations on the planets of other stars.