Mars 2

Question 1

What is a flyby?

Answer 1

Movement of spacecraft passing a planet but not entering its orbit or landing on it

Question 2

What are some mission to Mars?

Answer 2

Viking
MGS
Pathfinder
S and O rovers
Reconassiance orbiter
Science laboratory

Question 3

What is the martian surface like?

Answer 3

Bleak with red dust and scattered rocks, thin coating of water ice

Question 4

What did the viking space missions contain to detect life?

Answer 4

• Pyrolytic release experiment
• Gas exchange experiment
• Labeled release experiment

Question 5

What were the assumptions for life on Mars?

Answer 5

Carbon based
Similar chemical composition to Earth
Would metabolise simple organic compounds

Question 6

What was the labeled release experiment?

Answer 6

Designed to detect Co2 released by microorganisms due to metabolic activity

Question 7

How did the labelled release experiment work?

Answer 7

-Scooping up soil
- mix with 7 organic nutrients labeled with radioactive C-14 atoms
- if theres microbes it would metabolised and release radioactive Co2 or methane to be detected

Question 8

What did the LR experiment show?

Answer 8

Showed signs of life
10,000 counts of radioactive molecules
50 higher than natural background

Question 9

What was the Gas Chromotograph-Mass spectrometer on the Viking?

Answer 9

Device to detect organic compounds in soil samples

Question 10

What did the Gas Chromotograph-Mass spectrometer show?

Answer 10

Fe, Si and O found but no carbon
Differed from LR experiment

Question 11

What is general acceptance for the viking experiments results now?

Answer 11

Caused by chemical and not biological processes due to photochemical processes

Question 12

Why is mars surface not suitable for life?

Answer 12

• no ozone in atmosphere
• UV sterilises the soil
• Strong oxidising agent in the soil

Question 13

What is the Mars Global Surveyor?

Answer 13

NASA imaging spacecraft above Mars since 1999

Question 14

What has the MGS shown?

Answer 14

Two hemispheres

Question 15

How do the two hemispheres differ?

Answer 15

South: rough and heavily cratered
North: low, level plain

Question 16

What shows mars being geologically active in the past?

Answer 16

Dormant/extinct volcanoes
Evidence of crustal movement

Question 17

What is the mars pathfinder?

Answer 17

Lander and mars rover in 1997

Question 18

What was the information recieved from the pathfinder lander?

Answer 18

2.3 billion bits of info
16,500 pictures
8.5 million measurements

Question 19

What were the results from pathfinder for rock composition?

Answer 19

Were consistent with martain meteorites

Question 20

What were the results from pathfinder for the core?

Answer 20

Mars may have a solid iron core as rotation axis of mars is precessing which mass in the core is needed for

Question 21

What were the results from pathfinder for weather?

Answer 21

-Surface temp is below freezing
-atmosphere is less than 1% of earths
- Mars year is 2x earths
- have seasons

Question 22

What were the results from pathfinder for seasons?

Answer 22

• More extreme seasons in S hemisphere

Question 23

What do the seasonal changes on mars lead to?

Answer 23

Co2 condensing when temperatures drop in winter
Co2 sublimates in summer
Atms pressure up in summer pole and decrease at winter pole

Question 24

What were the results from pathfinder for unusual weather?

Answer 24

Strong winds associated with cycling of Co2 gas leads to huge dust storms

Question 25

What are the Mars spirit and opportunity rovers?

Answer 25

Landed in 2004
Explore surface and geology

Question 26

What are some of the discoveries by spirit and opportunity for what forms?

Answer 26

Blueberries formed from minerals

Question 27

What are the similarities between Earth and Mars?

Answer 27

• volcanoes
• canyons
• dry and rock desert
• clouds and dunes

Question 28

How does water exist on mars?

Answer 28

Ice
small amount in the atmosphere

Question 29

What is the history of water on mars?

Answer 29

Liquid water but this then freezes as co2 disappears

Question 30

What is the evidence of liquid water?

Answer 30

• dry river networks
• Reull vallis - valley carved by water
• frozen water near north pole

Question 31

What is the Mars Odyssey spacecraft?

Answer 31

Spacecraft using spectrometers and thermal imaging to detect evidence of water and ice

Question 32

What has odyssey spacecraft found?

Answer 32

Presence of water ice in upper 1m of soil in large region of south pole.
20 to 50% ice by mass in lower layer of surface

Question 33

What has Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter found?

Answer 33

Salty liquid water flows intermittently

Question 34

What is Mars Science and Laboratory Curiosity rover?

Answer 34

Aim to investigate mars habitability for manned mission to mars

Question 35

Why has Mars lost its atmosphere?

Answer 35

Light gravity and weak magnetic field it got blown away by solar storms
4 billion yrs ago

Question 36

What drove the inca conspiracy?

Answer 36

Intersecting ridges at south-polar region of Mars seen in 1972 resembling ancient ruins

Question 37

Where did viking 1 and 2 touch down?

Answer 37

1300km North of equator 1
Other side of Mars 2

Question 38

What does LR experiment assume?

Answer 38

Water on Mars

Question 39

What is the range of size for Mars’s core?

Answer 39

1300km - 2400km

Question 40

What are lineated flor deposits?

Answer 40

Ridged and grooved materials believed to ice-rich

Question 41

What is the perserverance rover?

Answer 41

2020 rover searching for signs of life on the surface