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-------------------------- 2776 - MARS - 4th rock from the sun.
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- In 2020, see Review 2774, “MARS - the first helicopter flight?” This review is about the helicopter that is hitching a ride and will deploy when Perseverance / Rover lands on the planet in February, 2021.
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- Review 2772 - “MARS - several steps to Perseverance“. The Mars Perseverance rover mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. The Mars Perseverance mission addresses high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, including key questions about the potential for life on Mars.
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- Review 2760 - “MARS - Perseverance Rover in 2020 launch?” The mission is timed for a launch opportunity in August 2020 when Earth and Mars are in good positions relative to each other for landing on Mars. It takes less power to travel to Mars at this time, compared to other times when Earth and Mars are in different positions in their orbits. This Review lists 7 more reviews about Mars.
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- In 2007, one of the Rovers, named Opportunity, descended into a deep crater, named Victoria Crater, to observe a bright band of rock about 40 feet down. Astronomers believe this rock may represent an ancient surface of Mars and analysis might tell them more about what the early climate was like.
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- Mars is a cold, dry desert with frequent dust storms and high winds. About 2 months ago a big dust storm covered the rover’s solar cells and it had to go into hibernation so as not to run down its battery. Fortunately, the wind later blew most of the dust off the solar cells and Opportunity is back to 325 watts of power, and back on mission.
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- When the rovers landed on the surface of Mars it was a nice day, 70 F. Shirt sleeve weather. But that was a high temperature for Mars that has an average of -114 F and a low of - 220 F. At those temperatures we would immediately freeze our fingers, toes and eyeballs.
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- Worse than that we could not breath Mar’s atmosphere because it is so thin. Only 0.6% the density of Earth’s atmosphere. That is not enough air pressure for our lungs to work.
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- And, then there is no magnetic field on Mars to deflect the Solar Wind from the surface. Visitors need protection from this radiation. The Solar Wind is also responsible for blasting the atmosphere away.
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- Mars is smaller than Earth and has lower gravity. Because it is smaller it cooled down quicker than Earth and it no longer has a molten iron core to create a magnetic field for the planet.
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- The atmosphere is so thin that any water has evaporated and left the atmosphere for outer space. However, there is still water ice at the poles which are in continuous darkness, and possibly there is water under the surface at lower latitudes.
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- In fact, there is enough ice on the poles that if it melted it could cover the entire planet 36 feet deep. Of course, if it melted it would soon evaporate into the thin atmosphere and be lost forever. Some of the minerals that the Rovers have analyzed indicate that they were formed in the presence of water.
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- Mars has some amazing features. It has the highest mountain, 16 miles high. Mount Everest is only 5.5 miles high. It has the largest canyon in the Solar System. 2,480 miles long and 4.35 miles deep. Our Grand Canyon is 277 miles long and 1.24 miles deep.
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- Mars is ½ the radius of Earth, but only 1/10th the mass. Its entire surface area is about the land mass surface area of Earth. The planet is red in color because much of its surface is covered in iron oxide, that is rust.
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- The volcanoes on Mars have been inactive for millions of years. The lava planes were created 1,800,000 years ago. Plate tectonics stopped 4,000,000,000 years ago. There are over 43,000 craters on Mars that are over 3 miles wide.
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- Mars has two moons that are orbiting straight over the equator, orbiting in perfect circles. Astronomers believe they originated as captured asteroids. Their names are Deimos and Phoebes.
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- Mars has an eccentric elliptical orbit that takes 687 days to orbit the Sun. It has a 24 hour day and a seasonal tilt of 25 degrees. The closest it gets to Earth is 0.37 AU, 34,400,000 miles. Starting November 2007 to January 2008 Mars will appear to be moving backwards in the night sky, moving from Gemini to Taurus.
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- Google Mars at http://www.google.com/mars/ It is totally amazing and let your imagination go. Imagine having a remote control model car with a video camera on it. Now, instead of operating your model car in the cul de sac, imagine you are operating it on Mars. See Review 2774 to learn about the first helicopter flight on Mars.
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--------------------------- Other Reviews about visits to Mars
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- 2608 - MARS - cosmic rays seen on Mars? NASA is using the ‘InSight lander” to look for meteors on Mars. From a glance at the images, the search seems straightforward. But, the images show mostly ghosts, the invisible made visible and the visible drowned out amid the illusions. Here is a summary of the data from sky watching on Mars.
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- 2276 - Mars is our forth terrestrial planet from the Sun. See Review 2275 for the current information on the latest missions and what we learned. This review is some of the earlier history and the math used to learn before our space ships could get there.
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- 2275 - After 15 years, the mission of NASA's Opportunity rover has come to an end, but its successes on Mars have earned it a spot in the robot hall of fame. The Mars Exploration Rovers mission featured two identical, golf-cart-sized, solar-powered rovers named Spirit and Opportunity. Spirit landed on Jan. 4, 2004. Opportunity landed on the opposite side of Mars on Jan. 24, 2004.
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- 1905 - Mars Explorations. Over 40 missions have been sent to Mars. 20 were successful in studying the Red Planet. This year the missions will get closer to the answer” “ Is there evidence of life on Mars? “
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- 1877 - What can we earn from Oxygen? Burn some in your brain and see if you can learn where oxygen came from. Can we find some of this life giving oxygen on Mars?
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- 1860 - Discoveries are coming fast in astronomy. Space missions to Mars and Ceres collect enough data to keep astronomers working for decades.
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- July 18, 2020 827 2776
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