Planets

Question 1

Where can you study mars from earth

Answer 1

Northern Iceland

The Atacama Desert, Chile

McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

Hanksville, Utah

Pilbara, Australia

Boulby, UK
Dorset, UK

Svalbard, Norway

Question 2

Give reasons why humans can survive on earth

Answer 2

• Earth is within the habitable, or ‘Goldilocks’ Zone → Not too hot, not too cold
• We have liquid water
• Earth’s rotation on its axis → giving moderate seasons and preventing temperature extremes anywhere
• Oxygen rich atmosphere
• Earth has an ozone layer → Without ozone we don’t have plants and can get skin cancer
• Earth has a magnetic field → blocks cosmic rays and solar particles

Question 3

What is ‘maria’

Answer 3

Darker coloured basaltic lava flows, smoother and younger surface

Question 4

What does it mean when something has a lot of craters

Answer 4

• The more craters there are, the older it is

Question 5

How were the holes made on the moon

Answer 5

The holes made on the surface of the moon are formed by ancient asteroid strikes

Question 6

How can we study mars from earth

Answer 6

• Look at areas that have similar conditions
  
  • test equipment for mars missions → to see if it can handle the terrain
  • ground truth data

Question 7

Why is Iceland a great place for studying mars

Answer 7

• Iceland → divergent/constructive tectonic plate boundary
  
  • mid-atlantic ridge
  • Iceland’s features:
    
    • highlands in the interior: mostly uninhabited volcanic dessert, basaltic rocks
    • volcanic dessert causes hot springs/hydrothermal springs
    • hot spring = source of heat, water, nutrients ⇒ basic ingredients of life
    • generally extreme environment
  • If we understand how life (even the smallest thing like bacteria) survives there (Iceland) then we can understand how/if life can survive on mars
  • Extremophile → bacteria

Question 8

What are plate tectonics

Answer 8

Tectonic plates are broken pieces made of the Earth’s crust or lithosphere. These plates move relative to each other, typically at rates of 5 to 10 cm per year, and interact along their boundaries, where they converge, diverge, or slip past one another. Such interactions are thought to be responsible for most of Earth’s earthquakes and volcanic activity. Plate motions cause mountains to rise where plates push together, or converge, and continents to fracture and oceans to form where plates pull apart, or diverge.
Ocean tectonic plates → heavier and denser than continental plates
- plate tectonics
- weathering → break down of rocks
- erosion/gradation → what moves the broken rocks away → wind, water, gravity & ice
- These break apart the surface → crumble/age it and cause it to separate

Question 9

Why is the Atacama Desert possibly the most arid landscape on Earth

Answer 9

• Being in the rain shadow of the Andes: Atacama is situated between two mountain chains (the Andes and the Chilean Coast Range) whose height prevents moisture transfer from either the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean
• Global circulation and subtropical high pressure zone
• Cold surface ocean current nearby

Question 10

What is latitude

Answer 10

Latitude → where you are in comparison to the equator ⇒ on the equator = 0

Question 11

Why is the south the coldest

Answer 11

• South gets less sunlight due to latitude
• On that same note, it reflects the sunlight back into space due to its bright surface → albedo
• Water slows the pace of heating, in the north, the ocean is releasing energy stored from the summer
  More open water in Antarctica
• The high elevation
• Cold ocean current around
• Continental setting (rather than coastal/maritime setting)