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Solar System > Mars > Flashcards

Mars Flashcards

1
Q

What is its distance from the sun in AU and km

A

1.524 AU

228m km

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2
Q

What gives Mars its distinctive colour

A

iron (III) oxide - i.e. hematite or rust.

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3
Q

What is the diameter of mars in km

A

6780km

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4
Q

What is the volume of Mars in (VE)

A

0.151 VE

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5
Q

Which of Mar’s moon lies below the synchronous altitude, so is being pulled by tidal forces towards an eventual impact with the planet

when (approx) will this happen

If it doesn’t crash (and assuming no human / alien interference) what will happen

A

Phobos

50 million years

It could be broken up to form a ring structure

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6
Q

How big are Phobos and Deimos

A

Phobos (22km diamater)

Deimos (12km)

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6
Q

What is the name of the mega-crator on Mars, almost the same size as the one on the moon

A

Hellas Planitia (Planitia essential means plain - thats how it appears as)

2300km diameter and 7km deep (3km deeper than the one on the moon)

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7
Q

In what region of Mars is Olympus Mons

How tall is it

What are the other three mega shield volcanos beginning with the most Westerly

A

Tharsis

25km

Arsia, Pavonis and Ascraeus (collectively the Tharsis Montes)

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8
Q

Although Mars has little atmosphere, what constitutes the largest portion (and how much)

A

Carbon Dioxide - 96%

then Argon - c.2% and Nitrogen - c.2%

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9
Q

Name the rovers

and for kudos the year they landed and when did they stop working

Which is missing?

A

Sojourner (1997 - 1997) - just 65cm long (lived just a few months)

Spirit (2004 - 2010)

Opportunity (2004 - 2018)

Curiosity (2012 - present)

Perseverance (2021- - present)

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10
Q

When did Curiosity land on Mars

Where is it exploring

For kudos, how long is the rover, and how much does it weigh

What is it fueled by

A

August 2012

Gale Crater

2.9m long by 2.7m wide and 2.2m high

It weights 900kgs

Plutonium 238 dioxide

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10
Q

What were the first two NASA probes to Mars, and when did they are

What was the structure of the explorers

What theory was successfully tested with the landers

A

Viking 1 and 2

arrived in 1976

Viking 1’s mission lasted until 1980 so it was long lived, V2 made it until 1978

They consisted of orbiters and landers

They tested General Relativity - time dilation - sending radio signals to the lander V1

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11
Q

How long does it take Mars to orbit the Sun

A

687 days (1.8808 years)

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12
Q

What is the average surface temperature on Mars

A

-63 C

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14
Q

Who first reported finding canals on Mars

Who did this influencem who himself had a great influence on the public and the idea of life on Mars

Who thought he may have discovered radio communications from Mars in 1901

A

Giovanni Schiaparelli in 1877

this influence Percival Lowell, who also thought he saw them in 1894 (bear in mind War of the Worlds was published only a few years later) - they hinted at a world drying, cooling and dying.

Nickolai Tesla

Even in the 1960s there were articles published on life on Mars

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16
Q

Who (adn when) discovered Phobos and Deimos and what are they named after

A

Asaph Hall in 1877

Named after characters in Greek mythology

Phobos - panic /fear

Deimos - dread/terror

They were children of the God Ares / Mars

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17
Q

What is the Mar’s rotation period (siderial)

A

24 hours 37 minutes

18
Q

What is the name of the second largest volcanic province on Mars

A

Elysium

with Elysium Mons (13.9km high) at the centre

19
Q

How long is the Valles Marineris

and how deep

by comparison (how long and deep is the Grand Canyon)

From West to East. what are the six (or eight) main features

A

4000 km long

7km deep

GC is 446km and 2km deep

Of course, there is Eos at the very end to the East, and Tithonium, which is the Chasma above and parallel to Ius.

20
Q

Which meteriote famously may have contained evidence of previous Martian life

A

Allan Hills 84001

(named after the Allan Hills in Antartica where it was found by US meteorite hunters in 1984)

It got into the headlines in 1996, based on observed carbonate globules - Pres Clinton actually made a formal annoucement to mark the event

It is the only meteriote from Mars originating from the ‘Wet’ period

21
Q

What is the surface gravity on Mars (relative to earth)

A

0.376g

22
Q

Who sent the Beagle 2 to Mars (and in what year did it land)

What package was it sent with

why didn’t it work

A

Colin Pillinger

It formed part fot he Mars Express mission

landed in 2003 (it was first located in January 2015 by Mars Reconnaissance Orbitter

Didn’t work because the solar panels failed to successfully deploy

23
Q

What is the axial tilt for Mars

A

25.2 degrees

24
Q

What is the mass of Mars in (MEs)

A

0.107 of the earth (about 11 percent)

25
Q

Who first observed recognisable markings on Mars

What feature did he probably see

What is special about this feature (what did he deduce from seeing it)

What exciting hypothesis did this lead to

A

Christiaan Huygens (1659)

He saw Syrtis Major

SM has been seen by following astronomers, and is one of the signature features.

By watching SM move across the surface Huygens could deduce Mars’s rotation period

The idea that world’s could be like earth, the so called ‘plurality of worlds hypothesis’, people began to think that other planets might have other animals and plants

26
Q

What lead people to believe there might be a civilisation on Mars

A

It wasn’t just the canals (i.e. river irrigated areas) -where the idea is that the Aliens would live on the warmer equator and get their water from the Poles through the canals

It was also the fact that many features, SM in particular, would appear to change with the seasons, which made people think that they weren’t actually seas but large swathes of changing vegetation

27
Q

Why did the optimistic view of martian civilisation recede in the early 20th century

What space probe flyby lead scientists to conclude that Mars was a dead world

A

Improved spectrometers showed that Mars was much more hostile than assumed - the air being much thinner.

Nevertheless, limitations on photographic film meant that high resolution views of Mars were still lacking in the 1960s, and that vegetation was still amongst the best explanations for the changing dark areas.

Mariner 4 flyby in 1965

28
Q

What was the first probe to go into orbit around Mars

What was its exciting discovery

A

Mariner 9 (arriving in 1971)

Dry river beds - reviving the idea of Life on Mars (at least in the past)

29
Q

What does MAVEN stand for

What questions was it seeking address

A

Mars Atmosphere and Volatiles Evolution

Mission goals include determining how the planet’s atmosphere and water, presumed to have once been substantial, were lost over time.

30
Q

What family of Mars Trojans are found at L5

What is interesting about them?

A

Eureka family

As of July 2017, Mars is known to have 9 trojans - all but one are L5 trojans, and all are close to Eureka

Discovery of olvine. Eureka itself is olivine dominated. Olivine is a mineral that typically forms within much larger objects under conditions of high pressure and temperature. The implication is that these asteroids are likely relict mantle material from within mini-planets or “planetesimals” which, like the Earth, developed a crust, mantle and core through the process of differentiation but have long since been destroyed by collisions.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-04-astronomers-orbit-mars-hosts-ancient.html#jCp

31
Q

What Mars mission arrived in 2016

Who is it a collaboration of

What is it for

What lander did it deploy

What is the second component of the mission - when is it due for launch

What are both looking for

A

ExoMars Trace Gas Orbitters (TGO)

ESA and Russian Roscosmos

It is to study methane in Mars’s atmosphere, and other trace gases

It deployed the Schiaparelli lander - which crashed

It was intended to test technologies for soft landing - rather than having an important science package

ExoMars Rover - 202? (who knows)

Both missions are looking for signatures of life

The TGO will act as a relay for the Rover

32
Q

Where on Mars did Perseverance Land?

A

Jezero Crater at the edge of Isidis Planitia, which is like a bay at the edge of Utopia Planitia.

33
Q

What is the name of the Chinese rover. When and where did it land?

A

Zhurong (2021) - Utopia Planitia

34
Q

Can you picture the landing sites for the different rovers.

A
35
Q

What is the giant - splat like volcano north of Olympus Mons

A

Alba Mons

36
Q

What is the name of the large Planitia to the West of Olympus

and what is the Planitia to the North of this plain

Where you reach if you go West rather than North

A

Amazonis

Arcadia

If you go west you reach Elysium Planitia

37
Q

What is the name of the other big basin in the south of Mars

A

Argyre Basin

38
Q

What is the name of the Planitia, at the edges of which you will find the Pathfinder and Viking landing spots

A

Chyrse

39
Q

Where are there signs of geological activity on Mars, including in the last 50k ago or so What is causing it

A

Cerberus Fosse - Elysium Planitia Thought to be caused by a very large mantle plume

40
Q

What are the three periods of Martian geological history (and the sort of fourth)

Between what years were they - and what the defining features of each period.

A

Pre-Noachian (4.5b - 4.1b)
- time when the vast northern lowlands were creating, making Mars a planet of two halves.
Noachian (4.1b - 3.7b)
- named after the Noachis Terra - the highlands between the ancient large impact basins. This is also the time of the formation of the Tharsis region and Valley Marineris. This is also the time when Mars would have had lakes and potentially shallow seas

Hesperian (3.7b - 2.9b)
- named after Hesperia Planum, a region of ridged plains located north-east of the Hellas Planitia impact basin. During this time, water got locked up in the ground - but periodically exploded out in volcanic related floods

Amazonian (2.9b to present)
The period is characterised by a relative absence of large-scale geological and climatic changes. For much of the period, the planet’s surface has been dry and arid.

41
Q

What is the useful thing to note about Mars tilt

A

It varies a lot as it can’t be stabilised by its moon as the earths can

At times the tilt of Mars has been over 80 degrees!

42
Q

What is the useful thing to note about Mars tilt

A

It varies a lot as it can’t be stabilised by its moon as the earths can

At times the tilt of Mars has been over 80 degrees!

Solar System (24 decks)

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