Cycles Worksheet Answer Key

Purpose: Mars has consistently been a planet of absorption for abounding people, including scientists, science-fiction writers and amplitude explorers. The aboriginal telescope ascertainment of the Red Planet by Galileo Galilei in 1609 opened up a new apple of astronomy. Writers began bearing their artistic belief about Mars, including Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift in 1726. In the story, astronomers ascertain two moons orbiting the planet. However, Mars’ two moons, Phobos and Deimos, were not absolutely apparent until 1877. Today, scientists are attractive to Mars to accept how action formed in our solar arrangement and achievement to one day accelerate bodies to analyze its surface.

This activity, advised for in-class or basal learning, encourages acceptance to architecture an basal mission that will acknowledgment basal accurate questions about Mars. The acceptance will altercate how the abstracts calm by their missions ability be acclimated to plan for closing human-crewed missions.

Procedural overview: After account “To rehearse Perseverance’s mission, scientists affected to be a Mars rover” and “The Perseverance departer caps off a ages of Mars launches,” acceptance will analysis past, accepted and accessible Mars missions to actuate what has been abstruse about Mars and what has been proposed for approaching missions. In class, acceptance will altercate their allegation and actuate what still needs to be abstruse about the ambiance of Mars and how those allegation ability access approaching animal analysis of the planet. Acceptance will bisect into groups to actuate which accurate questions they appetite to tackle, and again they will architecture basal missions to Mars to acknowledgment those questions.

Approximate chic time: 45 account to one hour

Supplies:

Computer with internet accessVirtual amplitude for alien discussions and abstracts sharingMission to Mars apprentice worksheet

Directions for teachers:

In this activity, acceptance will apprentice what goes into planning a accurate mission to Mars. Acceptance will analysis some basal backdrop of Mars and again investigate accomplished and accepted Mars missions to actuate what scientists hoped to study, how they planned to conduct analysis on these capacity and what has been abstruse from the missions. Acceptance will again use this advice to architecture basal Mars missions of their own. These basal missions should ambition specific accurate questions and be advised in such a way that answers to those questions could be obtained. The acceptance should be able to explain how they appetite to architecture their mission and why, and agenda which instruments they will accommodate on the mission and what kinds of scientists they will charge to complete their mission. Acceptance will altercate how their mission could be acclimated to advice advance a approaching human-crewed mission to Mars.

A account action could absorb a added day to acquiesce acceptance to convenance planning and carrying a presentation.

This action can be done in the classroom or in a virtual-learning environment. Discussions can be conducted via Zoom, Skype or added acceptable babble programs, while abstracts can be aggregate via e-mail or through Google Docs, Sheets or Slides. To save time, acceptance could do their analysis on above-mentioned missions as homework, and again the chic could altercate allegation collectively afore adding into groups to architecture the missions. A added advantage would be to accumulation the acceptance for the altercation and mission design.

Background

Here are some facts about Mars afore you get started: Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, with an boilerplate ambit of 2.09 x 108 km amid the two bodies. Mars is a bouldered planet with a attenuate atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide (95.1%) and baby amounts of nitrogen (2.59%), argon (1.94%), oxygen (0.161%) and carbon monoxide (0.058%). The blow of the atmosphere is composed of baptize breath and a few added trace elements. Although the Martian atmosphere is about one-hundredth the array of Earth’s atmosphere, it still forms clouds and adventures winds, including apprehension able abundant to close the absolute planet in dust storms. But because the atmospheric burden on Mars is abundant beneath than it is on Earth (6 to 7 millibars on average, compared with 1,013 millibars at sea akin on Earth), the storms are abundant beneath intense.

Mars has a ambit of 3,389.5 km, aloof over bisected of Earth’s ambit (6,371 km), and it has a apparent force about one-third of Earth’s. A day on Mars is about 40 account best than a day on Earth, but Mars’ year is abundant best — about 687 Earth days. The aberration in their orbits brings Mars and Earth aural their beeline ambit of anniversary added about every 26 months, accouterment an ideal mission barrage window.

While there is no accepted aqueous baptize on Mars’ surface, affirmation acerb suggests that apparent baptize may already accept been plentiful. Today, scientists accept that the arctic ice caps on Mars are fabricated of a aerial allotment of baptize ice and that aqueous baptize may be present beneath the surface.

Mars is the best broadly explored planet in the solar system, except for Earth, and is the alone planet that has been explored with rovers. Anniversary mission to Mars has focused on a specific catechism or analysis area. Some missions accept focused on small, localized regions to abstraction minerals, clay agreement and weather, while others accept focused on bigger areas to abstraction all-embracing acclimate patterns, altitude and geologic features.

You can additionally ask acceptance to apprehend about Mars on their own application the afterward or agnate resources:

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/main/index.htmlhttps://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/missions/index-past.htmlhttps://www.planetary.org/space-missions/every-mars-missionhttps://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-is-mars-58.htmlhttps://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/https://www.planetary.org/worlds/mars

The Accomplishments questions on the Mission to Mars apprentice worksheet (questions and sample answers below) will advice acceptance complete their antecedent analysis on the planet.

1. Analysis the afterward backdrop of Mars:

2. What are some key geographic appearance on Mars?

Olympus Mons is the bigger absorber abundance in the solar system. Valles Marineris is a breach that looks agnate to the Grand Coulee on Earth, but it is abundant best and deeper. The arctic hemisphere is bland and has lower elevations than the southern hemisphere, which is primarily fabricated up of heavily cratered highlands.

3. What is the apparent force on Earth? How does that analyze with the apparent force on Mars?

Earth’s apparent force is 9.8 m/s2. Mars’ apparent force is about one-third of Earth’s.

4. How does Mars’ atmospheric agreement analyze with Earth’s? How would this affect astronauts active on Mars?

The atmosphere on Mars is mostly carbon dioxide, admitting the atmosphere on Earth is primarily nitrogen and oxygen. Because bodies charge oxygen to breathe, astronauts would charge oxygen tanks and apparel agnate to the ones astronauts abrasion aback they are in space.

5. Like Earth, Mars additionally adventures seasons due to its ~25 bulk axial tilt. How do the seasons analyze amid Earth and Mars?

The axial angle of Mars is agnate to Earth’s 23.5 bulk tilt, and it additionally adventures spring, summer, winter and fall. But because Mars is further abroad from the Sun, its seasons are best than Earth’s, about 142–194 canicule per division compared with Earth’s 89–93 canicule per season.

6. Based on what you researched about Mars, do you anticipate Mars can abutment animal action application alone the accustomed assets accessible on the planet? Explain why or why not.

There are no accustomed assets that we apperceive of on Mars that could abutment humans. Baptize may abide in the arctic caps or abysmal beneath the surface, which would crave avant-garde accouterment to dig out. The atmosphere is not acceptable for bodies to breathe, so astronauts would crave oxygen. Based on what accepted missions acquisition in the soil, nutrients from Earth may charge to be added to acquiesce crops to grow. There are additionally no accepted ammunition sources for heating or electricity on the apparent of the planet. Solar panels from Earth would be bare to autumn activity from the sun. The alone architecture actual that we apperceive of on Mars’ apparent is rock.

7. What accustomed hazards on Mars do you anticipate affectation risks for approaching astronauts?

Extreme algid temperatures, best winters, abridgement of oxygen, dust storms, acknowledgment to radiation and abridgement of accustomed shelters would all be accustomed hazards astronauts could face on Mars.

Mission research

Like any acceptable scientists, your acceptance will appetite to accomplish some analysis on added Mars missions afore affair with their accumulation to altercate their plans. They can alpha by attractive through old accessories at Science News and Science News for Acceptance to apprentice added about accepted and accomplished Mars missions, including “To rehearse Perseverance’s mission, scientists affected to be a Mars rover” and “The Perseverance departer caps off a ages of Mars launches.” They can use added sources such as NASA for added advice to acknowledgment the Mission analysis questions on the Mission to Mars apprentice worksheet (questions and sample answers below).  

1. Write some addendum about antecedent and accepted Mars missions. Accommodate capacity about the purpose of the missions, the accurate instruments, accessories and aircraft (rover, lander, orbiter or flyby) acclimated and key discoveries from the missions.

Answers will vary.

2. What are some key capacity from accomplished and accepted Mars missions that can be acclimated to advice architecture human-crewed missions to Mars?

Answers will vary.

3. Based on your research, what would you be absorbed in belief about Mars during your Mars mission?

I’d be absorbed in belief added about the all-embracing altitude of Mars and abnormally any microclimates about areas that are of absorption for animal explorers. Compassionate the all-embracing altitude and acclimate patterns in a specific breadth can be activated to designing the able accessories for animal campaign to accompany to Mars.

4. If no abstracts existed for what you appetite to abstraction on Mars, what added types of absolute abstracts could you use to advice plan your allotment of the mission and accept what you are attractive for?

I could analysis abstracts about the atmospheric agreement based on Earth observations, the aberration in ambit from the sun throughout the Martian year and variations in solar blush based on solar cycles. Knowing the backdrop of the molecules that accomplish up the atmosphere would acquiesce me to actuate how the capricious bulk of solar radiation falling on a specific breadth of Mars’ apparent affects the apparent temperature.

5. Astronomers are not the alone ones who abstraction added planets in the solar system. For example, geologists, mineralogists, biologists, meteorologists and engineers are some added types of scientists who assignment calm to design, plan and body missions to Mars. What are some examples of what these scientists abstraction that will account the missions?

Geologists can abstraction bedrock formations, mountains and craters. Mineralogists can abstraction the types of minerals on the planets and how they formed. Biologists can attending for actinic signatures that announce action in bedrock and clay samples. Meteorologists can abstraction the atmospheres of the planets. Engineers abstraction the mural to architecture a departer that can bisect the area.

Group discussion

In either whole-class altercation or in groups, accept acceptance allocution about what they abstruse from their accomplishments analysis about Mars missions. Admonish them to accommodate insights from missions that “failed.” You can use the afterward questions, which additionally arise on the Mission to Mars apprentice worksheet, to advance your acceptance through this altercation about their research.

1. What were the primary purposes of accomplished and accepted missions to Mars?

Answers will alter and may accommodate administering geologic surveys and acquirements about atmospheric altitude or clay composition, which serve the beyond purposes of belief how bodies could survive on Mars and analytic for affirmation of accomplished and accepted life.

2. What do you apprehension about the cardinal of mission failures against the cardinal of successes? How are the bootless basal missions admired to teams belief Mars?

There is a aerial allotment of failures, at atomic 50 percent. Lessons can be abstruse from anniversary of the bootless basal missions by compassionate what acquired the abortion so it can be anchored or prevented from accident in after missions that will accommodate humans.

3. Altercate a acknowledged Mars mission. What was the ambition of the mission? What breadth of Mars was researched? What aircraft and chart did the mission require?

Curiosity was launched by NASA in the United Sates in November 2011. Curiosity is a departer advised to analyze accouter environments. It landed in Gale atrium on Mars in August 2012. Abounding instruments were included on the rover, including cameras, spectrometers, radiation detectors, an ecology sensor and an atmospheric sensor.

4. Altercate a bootless Mars mission. What was the advised mission? Why did it fail?

Schiaparelli EDM lander launched with the ExoMars trace gas orbiter in March 2016 from Kazakhstan in a collective European-Russian mission. It bootless aback the parachute was afford from the lander too early, causing the lander to blast into Mars’ surface.

5. Do the Mars missions focus on answering one specific catechism or lots of altered questions? Why do you anticipate this is?

The Mars missions anniversary accept their own questions to acknowledgment rather than gluttonous to acknowledgment abounding questions about the planet. This allows mission planners to focus on the instruments that will get the best absolute and abundant dataset that will advice acknowledgment the airish questions. If a mission were to try to alter too abounding projects, it would apparently be clumsy to backpack all the instruments bare to acknowledgment all of the questions that came up. This would be like aggravating to do all of your schoolwork at already rather than absorption on one accountable at a time.

Discuss with your acceptance the focus of a few Mars missions. For instance, the Perseverance departer (launched July 2020) will abstraction bedrock samples and the mineralogy at Jezero crater; the Achievement orbiter (launched July 2020) will abstraction acclimate patterns; the Tianwen-1 mission, absolute an orbiter, departer and lander (launched July 2020), will attending for accomplished and accepted signs of life. These examples will advice acceptance accept that scientists and engineers adjudge which catechism or accumulation of accompanying questions they appetite to acknowledgment aback planning their missions, and abode why the apprentice groups should focus their Mars missions on answering one specific question.

Planning the mission

Ask apprentice groups to adjudge which focused question(s) they would like their basal Mars missions to study, and admonish them to use the Mission to Mars apprentice worksheet (questions and sample answers arise below) to complete their work. If the acceptance charge prompts, ask them advancing questions such as “What assets does Earth accommodate that Mars does not?” or “What will astronauts charge in adjustment to survive on Mars?”

1. What is the primary catechism or ambition of your team’s mission to Mars?

We appetite to apprentice added about localized altitude variations on Mars.

2. How will the abstracts from your mission account planning for animal missions to Mars?

Knowing the abiding altitude altitude and melancholia changes will advice in the planning for human-crewed missions. It will be important to apperceive how sunlight, acclimate and temperature will change while the astronauts are on Mars for two Earth years apprehension the abutting accessible acknowledgment launch. For example, compassionate the atmospheric altitude can advice the engineers appropriately architecture or clarify the parachute deployment or the bulk of about-face advance bare for the landing of the spacecraft. The bulk of solar about-face and temperatures throughout the year can be acclimated to advice architecture a abode that can use solar ability as abundant as accessible and accommodate heating and cooling throughout the Martian year. The altitude abstracts can additionally be acclimated to advice architecture apparel that will assure the campaign as they biking alfresco the habitat.

3. What abstracts will your mission charge to accomplish in adjustment to acknowledgment your team’s question?

Our mission will charge to admeasurement the temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind acceleration and direction, bulk of solar radiation, visibility, billow awning and atmospheric composition.

4. Based on the abstracts your aggregation is absorbed in demography on Mars, what types of accurate instruments and accessories will you need? Use your analysis on accomplished and accepted Mars missions to adviser your thinking.

For our lander, we would charge to accommodate a array of acclimate instruments, including wind sensors, burden gauges, sensors to admeasurement atmospheric composition, thermometers and cameras that booty pictures of the sky and the surrounding areas, such as a fisheye camera, and solar panels to admeasurement the bulk of solar radiation.

5. Select the kinds of experts you will charge for your team’s mission. Feel chargeless to add added types of experts if your aggregation thinks they will be needed.

6. Why will you charge these accurate experts? What will they do?

We will charge meteorologists to advice architecture the instruments the mission requires; computer scientists, automated engineers and physicists to advice plan and barrage the mission; computer scientists to ensure the abstracts gets beatific aback to Earth; meteorologists and astronomers to abstraction the data.

7. Select the blazon of aircraft your abstraction will require.

8. Why will this blazon of aircraft be best for your team’s mission?

A lander will be best for this mission because alike on Earth best acclimate stations are static, so that they can accumulate abstracts to actuate patterns in one accurate area. By installing a abiding acclimate base on Mars, abnormally in an breadth that is of absorption for animal exploration, we will be bigger able to accept the microclimate and the acclimate patterns of that accurate location.

9. What are the abeyant challenges your aggregation will charge to affected to admeasurement advantageous data?

A appropriate blanket will charge to be added to all of the instruments to assure them from dust and from the accessible acerb furnishings of the Martian atmosphere. Also, the breadth of our lander on Mars will be relevant, back landing on a abundance or in a coulee could affect both temperatures and wind currents.

Bonus

If you appetite your acceptance to convenance authoritative accurate presentations, they can assignment in their groups to actualize slideshows or posters of their missions.

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