Name: ___________________________________________ Period: _______
Mars!
Physical Properties:
Radius: __________________________
Moons: __________________________
Mass: __________________________
Density: __________________________
Length of Day: __________________________
Orbital Properties:
Mars’s orbit is fairly _____________________ – affects amount of sunlight reaching it
Mars can be either in the direction of the Sun (_____________________) or not
(_____________________)
Polar Ice Caps
Can see polar ice caps that grow and shrink with the seasons:
Changing polar ice caps are frozen __________________________; water ice is
permanently frozen underneath
Shifting dust cover makes surface look like it is changing
Frequent dust storms, with high winds
Water may now be __________________________under polar ice caps
The Surface of Mars
There is no evidence for __________________________.
Northern hemisphere is rolling volcanic terrain
Southern hemisphere is heavily cratered highlands; average altitude 5 km above northern
Assumption is that northern surface is __________________________than southern
Means that northern hemisphere must have been lowered in elevation and then flooded
with lava
Much of northern hemisphere may have been __________________________
Major feature: __________________________, size of North America and 10 km above
surroundings
Minimal cratering; youngest surface on Mars
Mars has largest volcano in solar system: __________________________
•
__________________________diameter at base
•
__________________________high
•
Caldera is __________________________in diameter
•
Three other Martian volcanoes are only slightly smaller
Impact craters less than 5 km across have mostly been _________________________away
Analysis of craters allows estimation of age of surface
Recently, __________________________have been seen that seem to indicate the
presence of liquid water; interpretation is still in doubt
Mars
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Name: ___________________________________________ Period: _______
Mars!
Valles Marineris: huge canyon, created by crustal forces
•
__________________long
•
Maximum _____________wide, __________________deep
__________________________resemble those on Earth.
No evidence of connected _____________________system; features probably due to
__________________________
Viking landers both landed in low-latitude northern plains
Rocky surface, red due to _____________content
The Martian Atmosphere
Martian atmosphere is mostly __________________________, and very thin
Too thin to retain much _____________; temperature drops sharply at night
Mars Clouds
Most clouds are _____________ ice
But some… are _____________
_____________can form in low-lying areas, as sunlight strikes:
Mars may be victim of runaway _____________________effect in the opposite sense of
Venus’s:
As water ice froze, Mars became more and more reflective and its atmosphere
_____________________, freezing more and more water and eventually carbon dioxide as
well.
Martian Internal Structure
No seismic studies have been done
From behavior of crust, it is estimated to be _____________thick
No _____________field, so core is probably _____________, _____________, or both
The Moons of Mars
Mars has two tiny moons:
_____________ (left, 28 km × 20 km)
_____________ (right, 16 km × 10 km)
Both probably captured from the __________________________belt
Mars Axial Tilt
Mars currently has a tilt of _____________
Without a large moon, Mars can _____________
The wobble affected the climate
Mars
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Name: ___________________________________________ Period: _______
Mars!
Life on Mars?
Many searches have been done for life on Mars, but _____________has been found.
In 1996, scientists claimed to have found such evidence in an Antarctic
_____________from Mars, but this is in dispute.
A Wet Mars?
Evidence from MERs supports idea of past water on Mars.
Great __________________________?
Rocks suggest __________________________
What happened to Mars?
Imagine a Mars that developed like Earth…
Core cools and _____________shuts down
Only small pockets of _____________remain
Without a magnetosphere, the _____________is stripped away
With no insulating atmosphere, the _____________plummets
Greenhouse effect in _____________
With no atmosphere, the _____________drops
As pressure drops, the water _____________away
Mars Now
_____________, _____________, _____________
_____________underneath soil?
Evidence suggests yes
How much?
Exploring Mars
Percival Lowell
Claimed to see _________________which were evidence of __________________
_____________
First lander
First look at Martian surface
No signs of life 
The Golden Age !
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit & Opportunity)
Phoenix Lander
_____________! _____________! _____________!
The Next Step
Mars Science Laboratory
Hunting for _____________
Launching March 2011
Mars
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