 |
Updated, June 16,2008
 |
Mars
Position: 4th from Sun
Distance from sun: 227,940,000 km
Mars Day: 24.6 Earth Hrs
Mars Year: 686.98 Earth Days
Orbital Speed: 24.2km/sec
Satellites: 2
Diameter: 6,794 km
Mass: 6.4219e23 kg
Atmosphere: 95% Carbon Dioxide |
 | Earth
Position: 3rd from Sun
Distance from Sun: 149,600,000 km
Earth Day: 24 hours
Earth Year: 365 Earth Days
Orbital Speed: 29.8 km
Satellites: 1
Diameter: 12,756 km
Mass: 5.976e24 kg
Atmosphere: 77% Nitrogen
|
The Planet Mars
Mars is named for the ancient Roman god of war. The Romans and Greeks associated the planet with war because its color resembles the color of blood. Viewed from Earth, Mars is a bright reddish-orange. It owes its color to iron-rich minerals in its soil. |
Scientists have observed Mars through telescopes based on Earth and in space. Space probes have carried telescopes and other instruments to Mars.
Scientists have found strong evidence that water once flowed on the surface of Mars. The evidence includes channels, valleys, and gullies on the planet's surface. If this interpretation of the evidence is correct, water may still lie in cracks and pores in subsurface rock. A space probe has also discovered vast amounts of ice beneath the surface, most of it near the south pole.
The Martian surface has many spectacular features, including a canyon system that is much deeper and much longer than the Grand Canyon in the United States. Mars also has mountains that are much higher than Mount Everest, Earth's highest peak.
Mars is much colder than Earth. The average temperature on Mars is about -80 degrees F (-60 degrees C).
The Phoenix Mission
The Phoenix Mars Mission is the first in NASA's "Scout Program." Scouts are designed to be highly innovative and relatively low-cost complements to major missions being planned as part of the agency's Mars Exploration Program.
Peter Smith of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory serves as Phoenix's PI and is responsible for all aspects of the mission.
Overview
|
|
Mars is a cold desert planet with no liquid water on its surface. But in the Martian arctic, water ice lurks just below ground level. Discoveries made by the Mars Odyssey Orbiter in 2002 show large amounts of subsurface water ice in the northern arctic plain. The Phoenix lander targets this circumpolar region using a robotic arm to dig through the protective top soil layer to the water ice below and ultimately, to bring both soil and water ice to the lander platform for sophisticated scientific analysis.
Two Main Objectives
1. Study the History of Water in All its Phases
2. Search for Evidence of Habitable Zone and Assess the Biological Potential of the Ice-Soil Boundary .
NASA
.../more
Canadian Weather Station
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander carrying Canada's meteorological station successfully touched down on the Red Planet on May 25, 2008 at
7:53 p.m. EDT.
Its Canadian weather station is studying the arctic region of Mars. The instruments are measuring pressure and temperature, assessing local climate patterns as well as dust, clouds, and fog in the lower atmosphere.
Phoenix will spend the next 90 days probing Mars' soil and atmosphere for clues about the history of water and to see whether the environment could support life.
Mission Overview
The Phoenix Mars Lander, the first mission to study a polar region of Mars at ground level, launched from the Kennedy Space Center aboard a Delta II rocket at 5:26 a.m. EDT on August 4, 2007. After landing near the northern polar cap on May 25, 2008, in an area known as Vastitas Borealis, Phoenix will spend the next 90 days probing Mars' soil and atmosphere for clues about the history of water and to see whether the environment could support life.
Phoenix uses a 2.35-metre robotic arm to dig into the soil scooping up samples for analysis by its onboard chemistry set. Scientists can test to see whether the soil is salty, alkaline, oxidizing, and has complex organic molecules necessary for life. Phoenix will be the first mission to touch and sample the water on Mars, which is thought to be frozen in the northern permafrost just below the surface.
The Importance of Water
Water is key to many scientific questions about Mars:
* Have there ever been—or are there now—living organisms on Mars?
* What can Mars teach us about climate change?
* How do geological processes differ on Mars and on Earth?
* How can we prepare to explore Mars?
Water is a major agent of climate and geology, a precursor for life, and a potential resource for human explorers.
Canadian Space Agency (CSA)
.../more
|
"Science yields understanding that counters entrenched superstitions. Probability indicates that other forms of life are out there -- somewhere. In exploration, we will surely discover answers to problems experienced here
on earth." - Ed Dobson, economist, author
"Space exploration has produced numerous achievements in medicine, metallurgy, physics, computer science, engineering, and life support systems.The Mars mission extends the great search for truth in the universal laboratory." - Dr. Barry Wellar, Professor Emeritus, Ottawa University
| |
|
|
