Mars - Orbit Travels the entire sky, always near the ecliptic (remember, its retrograde loops!) Orange-red, visible to naked eye at its brightest. 60 Seconds-Mars: Mars - Atmosphere Very little atmosphere, but clouds and windblown dust show that there IS an atmosphere, just a very low one Atmospheric density is about 1% of Earths Atmosphere is 95.3% Cos, 2.7% N, 1.6& Ar and small amounts of CO, O and water vapor. Average surface temps are about 70K cooler than on Earth. Evidence of flowing water at one time, so there must have been an atmosphere at one time to hold it there. . MAVENs mission is to find out what happened to that atmosphere. Basic idea behind is on next slide.. The Atmosphere of Mars The lack of atmospheric density and Mars distance from the Sun make the planet very cold Noon temperatures at the equator reach a bit above the freezing point of water Night temperatures drop to a frigid 218 K (-67 F) Thus, most water is frozen, locked up either below the surface as permafrost or in the polar caps as solid ice The Atmosphere of Mars Clouds, generally made of dry ice and water-ice crystals, are carried by the winds As on Earth, the winds arise from warm air that rises at the equator, moves toward the poles, and is deflected by the Coriolis effect Winds are generally gentle, but can strengthen and carry lots of dust! Not a drop of rain No rain falls, despite clouds Atmosphere is too cold and dry Fog seen in valleys and ground frost has been observed CO 2 snow falls on poles during winter Morning Frost Where did the atmosphere go? 2 ways Mars lost its thick atmosphere Mars was struck by a huge asteroid that blasted the atmosphere into space Marss low gravity coupled with low volcanic activity produced a net loss of gas molecules into space over the first 1-2 billion years of its existence, decreasing the effectiveness of the greenhouse effect to maintain a warm atmosphere MAVEN was launched in Nov 2013 and went into orbit in Sept 2014 to answer questions about the existence of an atmosphere on Mars and what happened to it. Mars Mars Orbiter - MAVEN Mars Atmosphere MAVEN Update MAVEN Update Nov 5, 2015 MAVENs findings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjItLod-prE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjItLod-prE Mars Mars Terraforming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJRcBeVQOhw orhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJRcBeVQOhw Mars - Surface Mars does have seasonal changes (thanks to the tilt and slightly eccentric orbit) Polar ice caps of mostly carbon dioxide (dry ice) grow and shrink, almost disappearing during the summer, and there are intense snowstorms during the winters Dust storms can envelop the entire planet in the summer, making it appear that the surface topography is changing Dune Fields Martian poles are bordered by immense deserts with dunes blown by winds into parallel ridges Mars - Surface planetologia.elte.hu Mars - Surface The northern and southern hemispheres are very different on Mars: The northern hemisphere is mostly characterized by rolling volcanic plains, seemingly formed by eruptions of enormous amounts of lava. There are large blocks of volcanic rock and boulders blasted out of impact areas by infalling meteroids. The southern hemisphere is made up of heavily cratered highlands lying several kilometers above the level of the lowland north. Mars - Surface The Tharsis bulge is about the size of N.America and is the closest thing Mars has to a continent. No plate tectonics so it is not drifting but stays put. Even less cratered than the northern hemisphere so appears to be the youngest region on the planet at about 2-3 billion years old. Mars Surface Tharsis bulge Dotted with volcanic peaks including Olympus Mons, which rises 25 km above its surroundings (3 times higher than Mt. Everest on Earth) Mars Surface The largest known volcanoes in the solar system are on Mars, we do not know if any are still active, though all appear to be extinct, the last erupting as recently as 100million years ago. They do not appear to be associated with any plate tectonics, but instead, like Venus, sit atop hot spots.unlike on Earth, the hot spots dont move!!!!! Most of the largest are associated with the Tharsis bulge, but many smaller ones are found on the northern plains. The great heights is a direct result of the low surface gravity on Mars. When a shield volcano forms and lava spreads, the height depends on its ability to hold its own weight. Mars gravity is 40% of Earths & its volcanoes rise about 2.5X higher. Mars - Surface The Valles Marineris is a huge crack in the surface - not really a canyon, no running water formed it. Mars - Surface Valles Marineris Believed to have been formed by the same crustal forces that pushed the Tharsis region upward, causing the surface to split and crack. Runs for almost 4000 km along the equator and about 1/5 of the way around the planet. 120km wide at its widest, 7km deep in places. The Grand Canyon would easily fit into one of its tributary cracks. Would span the entire US Mars - Surface The Hellas Basin is an impact feature based on its shape and structure. Contains the lowest point on Mars Mars - Surface Evidence for past water.. Viking orbiters saw runoff channels in the southern highlands Extensive systems resembling river systems on Earth Outflow channels are most Likely relics of tremendous Floods BUT if there had been lots of water, we should have found carbonate rock layers, and we have found few. The debate rages on.. Water on Ancient Mars From winding nature of features that often contain islands, it is inferred that water once flowed on Mars No surface liquid is now present Huge lakes and small oceans thought to have once existed evidence comes from smooth traces that look like old beaches around edges of craters and basins Outflow channel from some catastrophic flood Mars - Surface Where is the water today? Tiny amounts of water vapor in the atmosphere Most believed to be locked in a layer of permafrost just below the surface The permanently frozen residual polar caps are now known to be composed of water ice (as opposed to the seasonal caps that grow and shrink and are made up of CO 2 ) Observations of water vapor in the air above the northern cap in summers The southern cap was imaged by ESAs Mars Express in 2004 In 2002, the Mars Odyssey orbiter detected extensive deposits of water ice crystals (actually the hydrogen they contain) mixed with the Martian surface layers up to 50% by volume of the planets soil in some locations Mars - Surface Indirect evidence for a permafrost layer Yuty, a splosh crater formed by an impact. The impact would have heated & liquefied the permafrost, resulting in the fluid appearance of the ejecta Mars - Surface In 2000 the Mars Global Surveyor sent back photos of gullies in the cliffs and crater walls that appeared to be carved by running water in the relatively recent past. There are indications that these gullies are still active Mars - Water October 2015 Water Update October 2015 Water Update that-liquid-water-flows-on-today-s-marsthat-liquid-water-flows-on-today-s-mars The Martian Moons Phobos and Deimos are about 20 km across and are probably captured asteroids Their small size prevents gravity from pulling them into spherical shapes Both are cratered, implying bombardment by smaller objects Mars Internal Structure Mars has no magnetic field. **In 1997, Mars Global Surveyor detected a weak Martian field, 1/800 of Earths, but it is believed this was a localized anomaly, not a global field. As Mars does rotate rapidly, this is taken to mean there is no liquid core or it is nonmetallic, or both. Mars is small, so any internal heat would have escaped much more quickly than from a larger planet. There is evidence of volcanic activity suggesting parts of the interior must have been molten in the past, but it cannot have been as extensive as on Earth. Mars Missions First you have to get there.. Targeting Mars: Targeting Mars: L62y4&feature=youtu.beL62y4&feature=youtu.be Mars Missions Mars Global Surveyor - Orbited for just over a decade and allowed us to get repeated pictures of the same area stopped working in First gave us the evidence that the northern hemisphere is very different from the southern hemisphere. SIDE NOTE new thinking among scientists is that the northern hemisphere is one giant impact crater; would explain how the ground there appears to be smoother and without the volcanoes and cratering that mark the southern and the dimple feature at the northern pole. NOT without controversy! Curiosity Selfie Mars Landers The US has landed 7 spacecraft on Mars for the purposes of Conducting detailed geological and chemical analyses of Martian surface rocks Searching for life Searching for water (essential for life as we know it) Conducting human habitability studies Mars Landers - Viking Both Viking missions sent landers to the surface Chemical analyses of rocks and several experiments specifically designed to test for life Found a high iron content in the planets crust, the interaction of it and the oxygen in the air give the planet its red color Turned off while still functional because the scientific return no longer warranted the cost. Mars Landers Pathfinder & Sojourner Mars Pathfinder in 1997 First lander to be dropped from a parachute, wrapped in balloons. Lasted 3 months (expected to last only 1) and took measurements of the atmosphere while its rover, Sojourner, ran around within about 50 meters of its parent craft testing soil and rock samples. Soil chemistry was similar to that sampled by the Viking landers Rock analyses showed different chemical makeups from the Martian meteorites found on Earth Mars Landers The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission launched in summer twins. Spirit and Opportunity landed on opposite sides of the planet for a planned 3 month mission. Primary goal was a search for evidence of liquid water at any time in the past, and they succeeded, changing the minds of many skeptics Mission Success depended on each rover: surviving 90 days; traveling at least 600 meters, imaging and describing the geological environments they found This was the first time in history that anyone with a web browser could tap into the data flow from Mars and watch from Earth (there was a 14 minute transmission delay, but still!) Mars Landers - MER Spirit launched on June 10, 2003 & landed right on time on January 3, It bounced around for more than 16 minutes before stopping and phoning home to report its safe arrival. First pictures were sent back 3 hours later and within 72 hours, the websites of JPL, NASA and other organizations affiliated with the program had 1.2 billion hits, setting the Internet record at that time for a single event, and this was before social media. landed in a rocky area and would travel 4.8 miles from its landing point. Mars Landers - MER Spirit Highlights: Made history as the first robot to summit a mountain and take pictures of the planets dust devils. Returned the first evidence for carbonates on Mars, a sure sign of near-neutral water, like water on EarthUS:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbnid=Vpx9heW57BQjtM:&imgrefurl=http://mars.nasa.gov/multimedia/marsasart/&docid=pc0miEE4RouF9M&imgurl=http://mars.nasa.gov/images/21_The_Serpent_Dust_Devil_on_ Mars_PIA15116-full.jpg&w=2093&h=1389&ei=IIT6UuyrCYSdyQG5yoHAAQ&zoom=1 Mars Landers - MER Spirit last communicated with NASA in March of 2010 and its mission officially ended in May The original mission was planned for 3 months and lasted 6 years. Even after becoming stuck to where it could no longer move in 2006, the Rovers mission was transitioned to a stationary platform, sending back well over 100,000 images. Driving backward, dragging the inoperable front wheel in 2007, plowed up white soil, which would be analyzed by Spirit's Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer and Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer revealed that the bright material was nearly pure silica Spirit returned 128,224 images and traveled 7.7 km (4.8 miles) during its 6 year mission. Mars Landers - MER Opportunity launched July 7, 2003 and landed January 24 th Opportunity was considered the luckier of the two landings, landing very near an exposure of layered rock that within weeks yielded compositional and textural evidence of a water-rich ancient environment. Its site showed signs of having been underwater and then dry numerous times, like a shallow lake would Opportunity was not equipped to search for fossil records, though this would be a great place to search! Mars Landers - MER Opportunity Highlights: Found the hematite it was looking for forms in water and is found locked up in small concentrations nick-named blueberries by the mission team. First robot to ever check out it own heat shield First robot to examine meteorites on Mars First robot to drive into craters Scientists have found a paleo-environment where water once flowed across the surface filling some craters Mars Landers Opportunity has traveled 24 miles so far. This longevity means that they basically got more missions and landing sites than the two that the originally paid for. Currently has a front wheel permanently rotated inward eight degrees so mostly drives backward now; has a broken shoulder joint actuator in its Instrument Deployment Device so it must hold its arm partially deployed like its fishing, and its two mineral detectors no longer work. Opportunity is still sending back information and celebrated 10 years of activity in January 2014. Mars Landers - Opportunity In October, 2014 JPL performed a reboot on Opportunity they have had to reset the rover several times when it failed to execute commands remember it was meant to last 3 weeks and its been 10 years! It stores information on a flash drive much like our phones or computers and their best bet to keep it running is to back up the data and wipe the drive clean and start over. They have done the same to both Opportunity and Spirit with success so hopefully Curiosity will continue running for some time to come!opportunitys-flash-memory-from-125-million-miles-awayopportunitys-flash-memory-from-125-million-miles-away Mars Landers - Opportunity March, 2015 Mars Landers MER Opportunity 2011 Photo taken by Opportunity of comet that passed within 87,000 miles of Mars on Oct 19, 2014 Mars Landers - Phoenix Launched Aug Landed May 25, 2008 Mission Ended Nov 10, 2008 when available solar power ran out in the Martian winter Landed in the Martian Arctic with a mission to take soil samples and test for the presence of ice, which was confirmed in July of 2008. Mars Landers Curiosity Landing. Twitter Sarcastic Rover Seven Minutes of Terror - JPL Watching the Landing -Photo taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter during the landing Mars Landers Curiosity launched in Nov 2011 and touched down in Aug Its mission goals are: Investigation of the Martian climate & geology Assessment of whether the selected field site inside Gale Crater has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life Evidence for and the role of water Planetary habitability studies in preparation for future human exploration - measured radiation levels during transit and continues to do so while on planet Mars Landers - Curiosity Curiosity is about twice as big and five times as heavy as Spirit and Opportunity. Powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, like the Viking 1 and 2. It includes a gas chromatograph, a mass spectrometer and a tunable laser spectrometer with combined capabilities to identify a wide range of carbon-containing compounds and determine the ratios of different isotopes of key elements. Isotope ratios are clues to understanding the history of Mars atmosphere and water. An X-ray diffraction and fluorescence instrument called CheMin also examines samples gathered by the robotic arm. A hand lens imager takes extreme close-up pictures of samples and can reveal details smaller than the width of a human hair. Other instruments include an x-ray spectrometer, additional cameras, measure radiation, laser, environmental monitoring station and others. Mars Landers - Curiosity On June 24, 2014, Curiosity completed a Martian year (687 Earth days), having completed its main goal of determining whether or not Mars offered the conditions favorable for life at any time in its history. The answer was determine very soon after it arrived at Yellowknife Bay YES. Two mudstone slabs sampled with Curiositys drill revealed an ancient lakebed with mild water the essential elemental ingredients for life as well as a type of chemical energy source used by some microbes on Earth. Selfie Aug Mars Landers - Curiosity Other discoveries. Measurements found that the atmosphere holds little if any methane (a gas that can be produced biologically) First determination of the age of a rock on Mars and how long a rock has been exposed to harmful radiation, to determine when water flowed and assess degradation rates of organic materials in rocks in soils. A different drilling subject, Windjana, shows a more diverse mix of clay minerals, including magnetite may indicate long exposure to water and others including a type of feldspar which is one of the most abundant minerals in Earths crust and had not been definitely detected on Mars before.implies complex geological process, like melting. Mars Landers - Curiosity Curiosity Update: e=youtu.bee=youtu.be 11th- anniversary?utm_content=buffer6f1da&utm_medium=socia l&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer11th- anniversary?utm_content=buffer6f1da&utm_medium=socia l&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer 2004-April 2015 footage https://youtu.be/3b1DxICZbGc https://youtu.be/3b1DxICZbGcopportunitys-flash-memory-from-125-million-miles-away Summer 2015 Mars Orbiter Mission, the first ever successfully launched from India in November 2013 and arrived in September Primarily a technical mission to see if they could accomplish the launch, journey, put the satellite into orbit and retrieve data. All is working well and a joint operation between NASA and India is planned. Mars Landers Keys to the success of Mars Landers Winds blow dust off of the solar panels Engineers are very good at managing power consumption Taking advantage of slopes to point the solar panels toward the Sun during the Martian winters Mars Missions The agency plans to launch a mission to Mars in 2016 called Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, to learn about the deep interior of Mars. A Curiosity-size rover planned for launch in 2020 has the task to check for evidence of past life on Mars. - Mars Missions 2016 NASA InSight Mission Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport Will launch in March from Vandenburg Air Force Base in California, the first interplanetary mission ever to be launched from California To study planets interior and seismic activity for a 720 day mission, on the Phoenix platform lander platform. NASA 2020 Mars Rover will be based on the Curiosity design To determine the abilities to harvest the atmosphere and convert CO 2 to pure oxygen, to further pave the way for human exploration. 50 Years of Exploring Mars to go or not? Dont go into space.. youtu.beyoutu.be The vehicle - Orion Should we live on Mars? =youtu.be=youtu.be Things to overcome.. Boeing Path to Mars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdqhGhfX62Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdqhGhfX62Y