Activities for Wednesday, 4/14
Mars
The red planet. The inspiration for Martians and likely the next body to be explored by humans. In 1877, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli set out to map and name areas on Mars. He created the most detailed sketch of Mars that had been done at the time. One of the things he included in his drawings were canali, Italian for channels. The American astronomer Percival Lowell misinterpreted canali to be canals, suggesting the presence of water and intelligent life on the planet Mars. Thus was born the Martian. Lowell went on to build his own observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1894 with the purpose of studying the canals. This observatory is still there today.
The Mars fever did not end there. In 1906, Lowell published a book entitled Mars and its Canals suggesting that the Martians were more advanced than Earthlings. In 1938, Orson Welles debuted the radio drama War of the Worlds, which used the idea of canals and Martians to incite fear and panic into the listeners of the broadcast. Today, we know that the canali are indeed channels likely caused by past water on Mars. Our Mars fever has not yet passed and we still are sending satellites, rovers, and potentially humans to explore the red planet.
Today, we invite you to explore Mars as part of our Statewide Star Party. Learn some basic facts about the planet, create your own visions of aliens, and get a sense of what it would be like to drive a rover. As always, don't forget to share images of your creations to our Padlet Board - we would love to see them!
To Learn
NASA Mars Infographics
NASA has developed some amazing infographics to highlight properties of Mars and how they compare to Earth. Explore them here and then visit the NASA website to learn more!
The red planet is a close neighbor! It is about 1.5 times the distance from the Sun as is Earth.
Mars is roughly 1/2 the diameter of Earth and 2x the diameter of our Moon!
Mars has two small moons named Phobos and Deimos. They are quite small and, unlike our own Moon, are not spherical in shape.
We are still learning about the interior of Mars, but we expect that it has a large liquid iron core, a mantle, and a crust.
The mass of Mars is much less than that of Earth!
The acceleration due to gravity that you feel depends upon the mass and size of the planet. On Mars, you would experience a smaller acceleration due to gravity. You would feel lighter and be able to throw a ball farther.
Earth is big enough to fit several Mars planets inside!
1 astronomical unit (AU) is the average distance between Earth and the Sun. At 1.5 AU from the Sun, Mars is 1.5 times farther than Earth.
On Mars, you would only weigh about 37.5% of your Earth weight!
Today, Mars has a very thin atmosphere. However, it is expected that Mars once held a much thicker atmosphere that allowed for the existence of liquid water on its surface.
Since Mars is farther from the Sun and has a thinner atmosphere than Earth, it is much cooler on Mars.
The farther a planet is from the Sun, the longer it takes it to complete one orbit. This means that the length of the year on Mars is longer than on Earth, about 687 Earth days.
Mars 101
Here is a quick video to get you acquainted with Mars.
Mars in a Minute
Is Mars really red? This Mars in a Minute video from NASA answers that question!
More videos in the Mars in a Minute series to answer more of your Mars-related questions can be found on the NASA Mars webpage.
Tom and Jerry - Meet Real Martians!
Wait a minute... Tom and Jerry met real Martians?
Watch this take on Martians and their wild homeland filled with creatures that are out of this world!
To Make
Spaghetti and Marsballs
How about making a mars themed dinner?
Serve up some spaghetti , topped with some Marsballs (hint: code word for meatballs) and tomato sauce. Enjoy a fresh plate of what we humans call spaghetti and meatballs.
Up for a challenge? Brainstorm ways to make your Marsballs look even more like tiny Mars planets!
If you have any other ideas, show us on our Padlet Board
What would life look like on Mars?
Are Martians green? What about blue? Maybe they have big black eyes? How about a large head? What if they have iron-red skin to camouflage with the environment? Maybe they don't even look human at all!
Let your imagination go wild and let us see what you think! Use your imagination and your favorite artists tools to sketch your version of a Martian.
Don't forget to share your masterpieces on Padlet our Padlet Board!
What would it be like to drive a Mars rover?
Ever wonder what it would be like to drive a rover on Mars? It would be much different from driving a remote control vehicle here on Earth. On Earth, your car will respond instantly to each command that you give it and you can immediately see the result. On Mars, neither of these things are true!
Driving a rover on Mars is much trickier than driving a car on Earth because the driver's seat is millions of miles away from the vehicle! Depending on where the planets are in their orbits, Mars may be as close to Earth as 33.9 million miles or as far as 249 million miles. This means that any signal sent from Earth to control the rover will take anywhere from about 3 minutes to 22 minutes to reach Mars. Therefore, scientists need to plan for the moves that the rover should make and send instructions well before the maneuvers are to be performed. Once the information is sent and the rover performs the requested tasks, it will take an additional 3 - 22 minutes for scientists to receive communication back from the rover about whether or not the maneuver was successful! Find out more about how rovers drive on Mars by watching the 60 second video provided!
To get a sense of what this would be like, try this activity from the NISE Network! Designate one person to be the "rover" and the rest of the family to be "mission control." Ask the rover to leave the room while Mission control creates a path that the rover should take using tape, paper, sidewalk chalk, etc. Along the way, place rocks, craters, and other objects for the rover to explore. Create a sequence of commands that the rover should take to explore the objects and navigate the path. The rover is then blindfolded and asked to follow the sequence commands as someone from command control issues them. Detailed instructions and guides from the NISE Network are provided to help design your Mars adventure!
Mars Rovers Activity Guide (Spanish)
Mars Rovers Facilitator's Guide
3D Images of the Martian Surface
Do you happen to have some old red and cyan 3D glasses lying around the house? It's time to put them to use! NASA has released some AMAZING images of the Martian surface as viewed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity that can be seen in 3D with these special glasses! A few of our favorites are shown here, but an entire gallery of these images can be accessed on the NASA Website.
Mawrth Vallis close up - view from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
'Victoria Crater' from 'Duck Bay' - view from Opportunity
Panoramic view from West of 'Dingo Gap' - view from Curiosity
Scale it up - Go life-sized!
Want to scale it up?
Have you been inspired to think BIG about Mars? Here is your chance to be creative and SCALE IT UP! If the Marsballs were just a little too small for your liking, try to make your own replica of the Martian surface. Using the NASA images as your guide, can you create a life-sized and life-like model of the planet?
For motivation, models of the first three generations of Mars rovers (Sojourner, Spirit/Opportunity, and Curiosity) are shown here beside two NASA engineers. Could you build a life-sized rover?
To Observe
Find Mars in the night sky using the Star Walk app
On Day 1 of our star party, we introduced you to the Star Walk app for navigating the night sky. Here is another chance to use it!
Go outside and try to find Mars using the app. As a family, describe what you notice. For example, you might ask the following questions:
In which constellation does Mars appear tonight
What color does Mars appear to be?
How bright is Mars compared to nearby objects?
Where do you think Mars will be in the sky tomorrow at the same time?
Will Mars always stay in the same constellation?
You can find the answers to these and many other questions by observing and using the Star Walk app!
Remember to use the Star Walk 2 App! If you have not already downloaded it, be sure to do so!
Star Walk 2 is freely available for both iPhone and Android.
In Summary
Science fiction has filled our minds with possibilities of what Mars was, is, and could be. What is left to be determined is how fiction this "science fiction" really is.
Here is your challenge:
Have you ever sat down and sketched an alien? If so, it is likely that your alien had a head, legs, arms, at least one eye, and a mouth. We tend to think of aliens as being quite humanoid - possessing many of the same features as we do. However, if we find life on Mars (or elsewhere in our Universe), must that life resemble us? If we keep our minds open, what kind of life might we find? I challenge you to think about what life might really look like outside of Earth. It is an interesting exercise to debate what life it - and isn't. Give it a try!
Don't forget to connect with others by sharing your memories on our Padlet board!