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Space Exploration > Exam 2 > Flashcards

Exam 2 Flashcards

1
Q

How many moons in the Solar System are bigger than Mercury?

A

2, Titan and Ganymede

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2
Q

How does the diameter of mercury compare to the diameter of Earth?

A

1/3 of Earth’s diameter

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3
Q

What makes Mercury an inferior planet?

A

It is closer to the sun

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4
Q

What is the ratio of Mercury’s orbits to spins?

A

Spins 3 times for each of 2 trips around the Sun

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5
Q

How long is Mercury’s synodic day in Earth days?

A

176 days

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6
Q

How long is a Mercury sidereal day in Earth days?

A

58.6 days

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7
Q

How long is a Mercury year in Earth days?

A

88 days

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8
Q

Why does the Sun occasionally move backwards in the sky as seen from Mercury?

A

As mercury speeds through its closest approach to the sun, its orbital speed overtakes its rotational speed

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9
Q

Why does Mercury’s temperature change so dramatically?

A

Its closeness to the sun, slow rotation and lack of atmosphere

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10
Q

Why doesn’t Mercury have an atmosphere?

A

Its small mass, closeness to the Sun, no volcanic activity

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11
Q

How many transits of Mercury occur each century?

A

13 to 14 times per century

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12
Q

Why don’t transits of Mercury happen often?

A

Mercury’s orbit is tilted about 7 degrees relative to Earth’s orbit

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13
Q

Which theory can accurately describe Mercury’s orbit?

A

Einstein’s Theory of general relativity

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14
Q

What mission sent back the first images of Mercury?

A

Arecibo (2001)

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15
Q

Why don’t we have images of Mercury taken by the hubble space telescope?

A

It’s too close to the sun and hubble couldn’t handle it

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16
Q

What mission was the first to orbit Mercury?

A

Mariner 10

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17
Q

How did Mercury’s weird terrain form?

A

When the seismic waves from the Caloris impact converged, a process known as seismic focusing

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18
Q

How do scarps form on Mercury?

A

Wrinkles from shrinking mercury

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19
Q

Why are Mercury’s poles so cold?

A

Indirect sunlight and no atmosphere to distribute heat

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20
Q

Why do the images of Mercury sent by BepiColobo have parts of the spacecraft in them?

A

The cameras used to capture them were positioned on the spacecraft to monitor it

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21
Q

What are most of Mercury’s crater named after?

A

Deceased musicians, artist and authors

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22
Q

Is Venus currently visible in the morning or the evening?

A

evening

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23
Q

Why is Venus so bright in the sky?

A

Its nearby and has a high albedo of 0.77

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24
Q

How did Galileo determine that Venus orbits the Sun and not the Earth?

A

Venus appeared in phases

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25
Q

How long until the next transit of Venus?

A

December 10, 2117

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26
Q

How does the diameter of Venus compare to the diameter of the Earth?

A

95%

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27
Q

What is the atmospheric pressure on the surface of Venus compared to the Earth’s?

A

90x of the Earth’s

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28
Q

What is the dominant gas in Venus’ atmosphere?

A

carbon dioxide

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29
Q

What percent of Venus atmosphere does carbon dioxide make up?

A

95%

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30
Q

What kind of high thick clouds does Venus have?

A

Sulfuric acid

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31
Q

Why do pictures of Venus’ surface all look rather orange?

A

Sulfuric acid

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32
Q

How deep in the ocean would you need to go to experience the same pressure as Venus’ atmospheric pressure at its surface?

A

3,000 ft of water

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33
Q

Why is Venus the hottest planet in the solar system?

A

Runaway greenhouse effect
300,00 more carbon dioxide

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34
Q

What does it mean that Venus’ rotation is retrograde?

A

It means that it rotates backwards

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35
Q

What was the first US mission to Venus?

A

Mariner 2

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36
Q

Why couldn’t the Mariner 2 send back images of Venus?

A

There was no camera, it wasnt designed to take pictures

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37
Q

Which mission sent the first image of Venus’ surface?

A

Venera 9 lander

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38
Q

Which US mission sent multiple probes into Venus’ atmosphere- one of which sent data from the surface for over an hour?

A

Pioneer Venus 2

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39
Q

Which mission sent the first color image of Venus’ surface?

A

Venera 13

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40
Q

Which mission used radar to make high resolution images of Venus’ surface?

A

Magellan

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41
Q

What are surface features on Venus named after?

A

goddesses, giantesses, famous women and common women’s names

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42
Q

Which mission captured the image of Earth called “the blue marble”?

A

Voyager 1

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43
Q

How far away was Voyager 1 when it took the pale blue dot image of Earth?

A

3.7 billion miles

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44
Q

How do earthquakes waves tell us what is inside of the Earth?

A

by analyzing how these waves are refracted, reflected and sometimes completely blocked based on the material they pass through

45
Q

Before differentiation could occur what had to happen to Earth?

A

It would have to be liquified

46
Q

Why does Earth have a solid core inside its liquid core?

A

The inner core’s intense pressure - the entire rest of the planet and its atmosphere - prevents the iron from melting. The pressure and density are simply too great for the iron atoms to move into a liquid state

47
Q

What drives plate tectonics?

A

Tremendous heat and pressure within the earth cause the hot magma to flow in convection currents

48
Q

How do subduction plate tectonic motions shape the Earth?

A

Crustal thickening, mountain building metamorphism

49
Q

How does colliding plate tectonic motions shape earth?

A

The crust moves upward and the crustal material folds, buckles and breaks. Ex: rocky mountains

50
Q

How do separating plates shape the Earth?

A

magma rises from deep within the Earth and erupts to form a new crust on the lithosphere

51
Q

How do hot spots shape the Earth?

A

Create submarine mountains

52
Q

How do sliding plates shape the Earth?

A

friction, earthquakes

53
Q

What deflects Earth’s winds as they travel from the poles to the equator?

A

The Coriolis effect

54
Q

Why is the Earth’s average temperature so much warmer than the Moon’s?

A

The moon doesn’t have an atmosphere to absorb sunlight like the Earth so the heat escapes

55
Q

How does the CO2 cycle regulate Earth’s temperature?

A

Greenhouse effect, controlling the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

56
Q

Describe the mesosphere and what features are found there

A

Coldest temperature in the atmosphere, meteors burn up, noctilucent clouds

57
Q

Describe the Stratosphere and what features are found there

A

nacreous clouds and ozone layer

58
Q

Describe the thermosphere and what features are found there

A

auroras occur, 1/2 the mass of the atmosphere, contains the ISS, satellites, temperature increases with altitude

59
Q

Describe the Troposphere and what features are found there

A

where weather happens

60
Q

What are the Van allen belts?

A

two belts of radiation surrounded the earth like donuts

61
Q

How does the moon cause earth’s tide?

A

differential gravitational force

62
Q

What causes spring tides?

A

When the sun, moon and earth are all lined up the sun’s tidal force works with the moon’s tidal force. The combined pull can cause the highest and lowest tides

63
Q

What causes neap tides?

A

Between the two spring tide the moon faces the Earth at a right angle to the sun. When this happens the pull of the sun and the moon are weak. This causes tides that are lower than usual

64
Q

How big are Earth’s land tides?

A

20 inches, the earth is somewhat plastic and rises

65
Q

How is tidal breaking affecting the orbit o f the Moon and the rotation rate of the Earth?

A

Drags tidal bulge slightly ahead of the point directly below the moon, the moon’s gravitational attraction pulls earth’s tidal bulge “backward” slowing Earth’s rotation. Moon pulled forward, earth slowed down

66
Q

What causes seasons on Earth?

A

obliquity: the tilt of the earth’s rotational axis (23.5)

67
Q

When it is winter in Cache Valley what season is it in Australia?

A

Summer

68
Q

IF the shape of the Earth’s orbit were unaltered but its rotation axis was shifted so it had no tilt with respect to its orbit how would season be altered?

A

It would be the same

69
Q

What is the period of Earth’s ais precession?

A

25,772 years. Makes seasonal contrasts more extreme in one hemisphere and less extreme in the other

70
Q

How fast do satellites travel in low Earth orbit (LEO)?

A

17,500 MPH

71
Q

About how long does it take for a satellite to make an orbit in medium Earth orbit (MEO)?

A

12 hours

72
Q

About how long does it take for a satellite to make an orbit in lower Earth orbit (LEO)?

A

90 minutes

73
Q

Why do satellites require shielding in MEO?

A

in the middle of the van allen radiation belt

74
Q

How long does it take for satellite to make an orbit in geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO)?

A

One day

75
Q

What satellites orbit in LEO?

A

Starlink, ISS, Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

76
Q

What satellites orbit in MEO?

A

Global positioning system (GPS)

77
Q

What satellites orbit in GEO?

A

Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), Satellite TV

78
Q

What satellites orbit in L1?

A

Solar Heliosphere Observatory (SOHO), Deep Space Climate Observer (DSCOVR)

79
Q

What satellites orbit in L2?

A

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

80
Q

How many satellites orbit in L3, L4 and L5?

A

0 satellites

81
Q

How does the diameter of Mars compare the the diameter of the Earth?

A

1/2 the diameter of the the earth and 1/10 mass of the earth

82
Q

How are the season on Mars different than season on Earth?

A

The season are more extreme on Mars and last twice as long as Earth’s

83
Q

What causes the wind on Mars to blow from the summer pole to the winter pole?

A

Temperature differences between one area and another cause air to flow between them producing winds

84
Q

How often are mission sent to Mars?

A

Once ever 26 months. Earth and Mars are aligned in a way that minimizes travel times and expense

84
Q

What spacecraft sent the first pictures of Mars?

A

Mariner 4

84
Q

What mission sent the first color images from the surface of Mars?

A

NASA’s perseverance Mars Rover

84
Q

What was the first rover on Mars?

A

Sojourner

84
Q

Which rovers landed on mars with the aid of air bags?

A

Spirit and opportunity

84
Q

Which Mars rover holds the record for the longest space drive?

A

Perseverance

84
Q

Which orbiter has given us beautiful high resolution images of Mars?

A

Mars Odyssey Orbiter

85
Q

How did Opportunity’s solar panels get cleaner?

A

Strong winds blowing over the rim of Endeavor Crater

85
Q

Which mission landed closets to Mars’ north pole?

A

Phoenix spacecraft

86
Q

Which rovers used sky cranes to land on mars?

A

Curiosity and persverance

87
Q

Which Mars lander had a seismometer that detected a large meteoroid impact (490 foot crater)

A

Insight Lander

88
Q

Which rover had a companion helicopter?

A

Perseverance

89
Q

What is the name of the helicopter companion of perseverance?

A

Ingenuity

90
Q

What mission gave us a global topographical map of Mars?

A

Mars global surveyor

91
Q

What is the name of the enormous canyon on Mars that dwarfs the Grand Canyon on Earth?

A

Valles Marineris

92
Q

What is the name of the largest volcano in the Solar System?

A

Olympus Mons

93
Q

What makes Mars’ atmosphere pink?

A

Rocks on Mars are full of iron and they rust, then the dust gets kicked into the atmosphere

94
Q

What are the names of Mars’ moons?

A

Phobos and Deimos

95
Q

What is mars largest moon?

A

Phobos

96
Q

Which of Mars’ moons rises in the west?

A

Phobos

97
Q

Which lander found ice exposed by its rockets on Mars?

A

Phoenix Mars Lander

98
Q

Why did Mars lose its protective magnetic field?

A

Chemical changes inside Mar’s core

99
Q

Which mission has shown that Mars is still losing its atmosphere?

A

MAVEN

100
Q

Will Mars ever be warm and wet again?

A

It is very unlikely

101
Q

What evidence of life on Mars can not be explained by something other than life?

A

Impactite is shown to preserve sign of life on Earth

Space Exploration (5 decks)

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