Studying Mars

Last updated about 4 years ago

4 questions

NASA Mars Exploration Program Goals

The Mars Exploration Program is a science-driven program that seeks to  understand whether Mars was, is, or can be, a habitable world. To find  out, we need to understand how geologic, climatic, and other processes  have worked to shape Mars and its environment over time, as well as how  they interact today. 

Mars is similar to Earth in many ways, having many of the same  "systems" that characterize our home world. Like Earth, Mars has an  atmosphere, a hydrosphere, a cryosphere and a lithosphere. In other  words, Mars has systems of air, water, ice, and geology that all  interact to produce the Martian environment.

What we don't know yet is whether Mars ever developed or maintained a biosphere--an environment in which life could thrive.

To discover the possibilities for past or present life on Mars,  NASA's Mars Exploration Program is currently following an exploration  strategy known as "Seek Signs of Life." This science theme is built on  the prior science theme of "Follow the Water," which guided missions  such as 2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Reconnaissance  Orbiter, and the Mars Phoenix Lander.

Progressive discoveries related to evidence of past and present water  in the geologic record make it possible to take the next steps toward  finding evidence of life itself. The Mars Science Laboratory mission and  its Curiosity rover mark a transition between the themes of "Follow the  Water" and "Seek Signs of Life." In addition to landing in a place with  past evidence of water, Curiosity is seeking evidence of organics, the  chemical building blocks of life. Places with water and the chemistry  needed for life potentially provide habitable conditions. Future Mars  missions under the science theme "Seek Signs of Life" would likely be  designed to search for life itself in places identified as potential  past or present habitats.

Read the article above. In what ways is Mars similar to Earth?

What systems use the scientific terms of atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and lithosphere? (Google is your friend!)

What is a biosphere and why is it important? (Write or Draw your answer)

Astronauts who go to Mars will ultimately be "Seeking Signs of Life". What they find could change everything we ever thought we knew about the universe and life itself. Why are water and organics so important for finding life? (you can use Google to help you but you MUST write an answer in your own words)