The Jetsons Go to “Mars”

“The God of War”

By Jarvis Carter

“I cannot wait until we arrive”

Facts about Mars

Mars is much smaller than Earth, but has a similar surface area.

Thin Atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon, and traces of oxygen

Average pressure is 7 milibars

Oh No! We need to be far away from the winter

pole because it is -207 degrees F, that means we need to be on

the side closest to the sun because the temperature

is around 80 degrees F there.

Hmmm Interesting! Mars is the 4th planet and the

7th largest planet

Characteristics of Mars

• Mars rotates on its axis from west to east• Mars mass is 7.08 X1020 tons• The density of Mars is 3.933 grams cm• Travels around the sun in an oval orbit

“I did not know Mars travels around the sun 687 days!”

Distance of Mars from the sun is around 128,390,000

miles and as high as 154,860,000 miles

The color of Mars is a bright reddish-orange

EvolutionEvolved around 4.6 billion years ago

Mars has been divided into three periods

1.The Noachian Period – Noachis Terra, southern hemisphere highland

2. The Hesperian Period – a tall plain in the southern hemisphere

3. The Amazonian Period – (low rate of cratering) low plain in the northern hemisphere .

“During the Noachian Period, meteoroids and large asteroids

struck Mars”

“The Amazonian Period is the

youngest geologic materials on Mars”

Surface features

• Plains• Canyons• Volcanoes• Valleys• Gullies• Polar Ice

• Along the equator is located a system of canyons called the Valles Marineris. The canyons run for about 2,500 miles and around 60 miles wide. Large channels come out from the eastern end and other parts of the canyons have layered sediments.

• Mars has the largest volcano system. Olympus Mars has the greatest height rises about 17 miles. The other volcanoes are Arsia Mons, Ascraeus Mons, and Pavonis Mons

Plains are flat and low. They are located in

the northern-hemisphere.

Atmosphere and PressureThere is 0.13% of oxygen in the

atmosphere of Mars.

Carbon dioxide is a big percentage, it makes up 95.3% of gas

Nitrogen makes up 2.7% of the atmosphere, Argon makes up 1.6%, carbon monoxide is 0.07%, and water makes up 0.03%.

• The pressure is around 0.10 pound pressure

• Each winter, carbon dioxide at the poles remove gas from the atmosphere

“Thin clouds can form high altitudes, and they are made up of frozen

carbon dioxide particles”

Wind and Satellites

• Global scale winds occur on Mars as a result of the same process that produces such winds on Earth.

• The condensation and evaporation of carbon dioxide have an effect on the circulation.

• Surface winds on Mars have speeds about 6 miles per hour.

• There are two small moons, Phobos and Deimos.

• The moons were discovered by Asaph Hall, who is an American Astronomer, in 1877.

• The satellites are shaped irregular• The largest diameter is about 17 miles

in Phobos and about 9 miles in Deimos.

• The colors of the satellites are gray.

“A little known fact is Dust Storms are

common when Mars is closer to

the sun.”

Physical Features• There are four main sources of

information on the interior of Mars

1. The calculations of density, mass, and gravity of the planet

2. Knowledge

3. Observation of Martian meteorites that fall to Earth

4. Information gathered by circling space probes

Mars has three important Layers

1. Crust (rock) – composed of volcanic rock called basalt. The thickness is about 30 miles

2. Mantle (denser rock) – peridotite

3. Core (iron) - composed of iron, nickel, and sulfur

The radius of the core is

around 900 to 1,200 milesCool! The

temperature of the mantle is around 2700

degrees F

History of Mars: Observation from Earth

In the 1800s, Giovanni V. Schiaparelli, who is an Italian astronomer, stated that he had seen a network of straight dark lines. The lines were called canali (channels).

Percival Lovell, stated the canali was built by a Martian civilization.

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Did you know that early astronomers

found polar caps that grown and shrink with

the seasons?

History of Mars: Observation by spacecraft

• Spacecraft began to observe Mars in the 1960s.

• Mariner 4 was launched in 1964.

• Mariners 6 & 7 was launched in 1969.

• In 1971, Mariner 9 circled around Mars and it plotted about 80% of Mars. Mariner 9 also had first discoveries of Mars , canyons and volcanoes.

• A major mission was Viking, which was launched in 1975 by the United States.

• The Vikings main goal was to search for life.

• Vikings had two orbiters and two landers.

• Two flourishing probes were Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor . Both of the probes were launched in 1996.

• The Pathfinder objective was to determine a new landing system. Pathfinder called a small vehicle called Sojourner.

• In 2001, the United States set off the Mars Odyssey probe. The probe was used to analyze chemicals of the Martian surface and the rocks below the surface, and to study the radiation near Mars.

“In 2002, the probe found vast amounts

of frozen water beneath the

surface.”

Possibility of Life• Mars is known to have three things that are

believed are appropriate for life:

1. Chemicals such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen

2. Source of energy

3. Liquid water

Sunlight could be the energy source, and heat is the second energy source

In 1996, David S. McKay, who is a geologists, stated that scientists had discovered evidence of Martian life.

The evidence had organic molecules, called magnetite, which are grains of minerals.

Listen up! did you all know living things might

exist on Mars today!

The End

• k

“Wow!” “I learned so much about Mars that I did

not know”

Goodbye! Big reddish-

orange planet!