Why Do We Want to Go to Mars?

Why Do We Want to Go to Mars?

Let's see how much you already know about our neighbor, Mars.

Multiple Choice

In what position would you find Mars in our solar system?

• First

• Second

• Third

• Fourth

Mars is the most distant rocky terrestrial planet in our solar system, on the skirts of the Goldilocks Zone for our sun, where energy is just right for liquid water....and life!

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Mars is the 4th planet

Multiple Choice

Mars is known as the "Red Planet," because its soil contains large amounts of this metal in its soil:

• Iron

• Mercury

• Rhodium

• Nitrogen

The Martian soil has large quantities of iron in it, giving this planet the appearance of being red in the sky.

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Iron makes red compounds.

Multiple Choice

The highest elevation on Mars is its volcano, Olympus Mons. How many times taller is this peak than Mt. Everest, Earth's tallest peak?

• They are the same height

• Twice as tall.

• Three times taller.

• Four Times Taller

Valles Marineris is a canyon on Mars that is as long as the United States and 6 miles deep.

​...and the valleys are deep, too.

Multiple Choice

Who were the first people to study Mars?

• The Babylonians

• The Greeks

• The Romans

• The Egyptians

Negral was the Babylonian King of Conflict. Later, the Romans kept that theme going and called this planet Mars, their God of War.

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​They called it "Negral."

Match

Match the following astronomers to their contributions to our study of Mars:

• Copernicus

• Tycho Brahe

• Galileo

• Huygens and Cassini

• Shiparelli

Heliocentric Solar System

Mars Distance from the Sun

First Telescope

Length of the Martian Day

Mars' two moons, Phobos and Deimos

• Heliocentric Solar System

• Mars Distance from the Sun

• First Telescope

• Length of the Martian Day

• Mars' two moons, Phobos and Deimos

Their early discoveries allowed us to see the planets in a new perspective. Today we learn a lot from the rovers on Mars' surface.

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​There's more to learn!

Multiple Choice

The first successful space mission to Mars was __.

• Mariner 4

• Cassini space probe

• Apollo 11

• Project Gemini

The Mariner missions were the first to orbit a planet other than Earth, sending back high resolution pictures of the surface. Here's one from 1964.

​Many Firsts...

Drag and Drop

Three rovers that have traveled to the surface of Mars to help us learn about the surface are ​

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, ​

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and ​

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. To get full points put them in alpha order!

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

Opportunity

Sojourner

Spirit

Pluto

Chandrayaan

Voyager

Chang'e 3

Sojourner was the first, landing in 1997.

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​5 Rovers are on Mars

Open Ended

What are some possible reasons for exploring Mars?

Open Ended

What information would we need to gather about Mars before sending people to its surface?