Planetary Science
¨ Schoolhouse Rocks
program at Arizona State University
¨ Will NASA share proof of former civilization
on Mars?
¨ Is hematite mineral naturally shiny and dark
grey?
¨ Is "rust" on a hematite mineral
the same as car rust?
¨ Does life exist on Jupiter's moon Europa?
¨ Are the Viking Orbiters still in Mars
orbit? Do we need to account for them?
¨ What is the difference between Terra
Meridiani and Meridiani Planum?
¨ What happens if the
MER-B rover lands away from the hematite?
¨ How will we be able
to see the MER rover roaming on Mars?
¨ What would happen if all the planets were
the same size?
¨ Why send a spacecraft mission to gather
samples of the sun?
¨ What is the significance of the Genesis moon
rock?
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QUESTION:
I'd like to use Schoolhouse
Rocks as an
activity in a 4th grade class. I'll collect
students' rocks, box them up and comply with your
requirements. Please confirm that you're going to
analyze them with TES and post the result on the Web.
ANSWER
from Michelle Mock on 10 January 2004:
Yes, Phil Christensen's Team at Arizona State University
will be analyzing the rock samples with a tool similar to
mini-TES as described at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/classroom/schoolhouse/. This should be a very
exciting activity for your students.
Have they read Phil's
interviews at Imagiverse? See:
http://imagiverse.org/interviews/philchristensen/phil_christensen_14_08_03.htm
The Mars K-12 Education
Outreach program at ASU also has another exciting project
for students. See http://msip.asu.edu/ for information on the Mars
Student Imaging Project where students can actually
propose a site for imaging using the Mars Odyssey THEMIS
instrument.
Visit http://marsed.asu.edu/ for information on teacher
workshops and other educational events. To be among
the first to find out about exciting activities for
students and events for educators, be sure to subscribe
to their mailing list.
The Mars Exploration Rover
Robotics Education project is another great Mars activity
for students. See: http://imagiverse.org/activities/robotics/mer/elem/
We would be very happy to
post input from your students at Imagiverse, so please
share the results of your Mars activities with us.
You may submit your items by sending to Imagiverse - Team. We would love to receive
their questions about Mars too. They can send
questions to Imagiverse - Ask The Expert
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QUESTION:
I am enjoying the voyage of the Mars Rover Spirit so much
and its search for existence of water! I would like
to ask if Spirit found any proof of a former civilization
or life form on Mars would that information be shared
with the general public?
ANSWER
from Michelle Mock on 6 January 2004:
Thank you for writing to Imagiverse and I am glad that
you are enjoying the incredible adventures of Mars rover
Spirit. We are too!
Of course! Any knowledge
gained from Spirit, or any of the others Mars missions,
will be shared with the public. Scientists can't
wait to share all the incredible things they find out!
Mars is a very neat place.
Don't hold your breath for
proof of a former civilization on Mars, unless you are
referring to microbial life. According to what
scientists have been able to figure out about Mars, up to
this point, it is highly unlikely that life would have
evolved beyond very simple microscopic life forms.
The NASA missions focus on
"follow the water", because based on what we
know of life on Earth, that is the most likely place to
find evidence of life (past or present). Sediments
associated with water, tell the story of how the
landscape might have been formed. So, as little
Spirit prepares to start its mission, scientists on Earth
can hardly wait to see what is there.
Keep watching. Spirit (and
twin Opportunity) are going to be very busy over the next
few months!!
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QUESTION:
Hematite jewelry and other hematite samples are usually a
shiny dark grey rock. Is this rock polished in
any way to make it shiny and dark grey or is this the way
it forms in nature?
ANSWER
from Vicky Hamilton on 16 October 2003:
Hematite in its massive form is shiny and dark grey
naturally. It can become less so if it is exposed
to the elements, and becomes pitted or collects other
windblown minerals on its surface. Hematite in
jewelry is almost certainly polished to remove any
textural irregularities and enhance the naturally shiny
nature of the mineral, in just the same way as is done
for most minerals. The bubbly texture that is
sometime apparent is related to how the hematite forms.
In such cases, it usually formed in a space (much like
big quartz crystals), rather than in between other
minerals, and has the ability to grow crystals in that
form.
Victoria E. Hamilton
Assistant Professor
Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology
University of Hawai'i
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QUESTION:
I have observed rust on a sample of hematite, an iron-bearing
mineral. How is the rust on hematite chemically
like the "ordinary" rust, say, on an automobile
frame?
ANSWER
from Vicky Hamilton on 16 October 2003:
They're the same. The chemical formula is Fe2O3.
Victoria E. Hamilton
Assistant Professor
Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology
University of Hawai'i
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QUESTION:
Is it true that it is very probable that life exists and
flourishes on Jupiter's moon Europa?
ANSWER
from Michelle Mock 23 September 2003:
It's very possible that life exists on Europa, one of the
Jovian moons. For that reason, before the
spacecraft Galileo ran out of fuel, it was commanded to
dive into the atmosphere of the planet Jupiter. The
decision to terminate the mission in a fiery death had a
dual benefit for science. First, if it had been
left on its own, there was a slight possibility that
Galileo could eventually collide with one of the Jovian
moons (e.g., Europa) and contaminate the moon with
organisms from Earth. By terminating the mission in
a controlled fashion, this was averted. The second
benefit was the incredible data and photographs that were
sent back to Earth in the last hours and minutes of the
mission. Scientists and others will be studying
this data for many years to come.
For more information on
Galileo and Europa, see: http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/
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QUESTION:
My dad and I were talking about the latest MER rovers
going to Mars and I asked him if any prior missions were
still in Mars orbit. He said he wasn't sure but he
didn't think so. When we send spacecraft to Mars,
do we have to account for previous missions that are
already in orbit? Are the Viking still in orbit
around Mars?
ANSWER
from Michelle Mock on 10 August 2003:
In addition to the two rovers headed for Mars, two NASA
spacecraft are currently orbiting the planet actively
sending back photographs and data.
Mars Global Surveyor,
which launched in late 1996 and arrived in the fall of
1997 is well into its extended mission and still sending
back incredible photographs and other data. Dr.
Michael Malin, Principal Investigator for the MOC camera,
spoke about the current activities of MGS at a lecture I
attended at Caltech last month. They are now able
to rotate the spacecraft to take images of the earth and
other planets from Mars. They are also able to
situate the spacecraft in such a way that they can
account for the spin of the Mars and movement of the
spacecraft, using a technique he called "image
motion compensation" to take higher resolution
photographs that the Project never thought were possible.
Mars Odyssey launched to
Mars in April of 2001. After arriving at Mars, it
used a technique called aerobraking to put itself in a
nice tight orbit for mapping the planet. It turned
on its science instruments in February 2002 and has been
sending back a wealth of information and new photographs
ever since. Phil Christensen, Principal
Investigator for the THEMIS instrument said that, believe
it or not, it is still really early in the mission.
The two NASA rovers,
Spirit and Opportunity, are currently in good health
heading towards landings in January 2004. The NASA
spacecraft will be joined by spacecraft from the European
Space Agency (ESA) and Japan, to make Mars a very busy
place in the upcoming years. In 2005, NASA will
send another orbiter to Mars. In 2007 another
lander, called Phoenix will go.
For information on Mars
exploration, go to http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/. Be sure to check out the
Mars pages at Imagiverse: http://imagiverse.org/mars/. Regarding the Viking
Orbiters, good question! I need to do some further
research or ask one of our experts. In some
instances, a spacecraft will be intentionally crashed
into a planet or asteroid to do some final science before
it runs out of power. Most of the time, just like
the satelites that we have orbiting around Earth, the
spacecraft eventually runs out of power and it is left in
an orbit which eventually decays and the spacecraft falls
to the planet. With Viking, I believe they were
just left in orbit and may still be there.
According to http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past/viking.html:
Viking Orbiter 1
continued for four years and 1,489 orbits of Mars,
concluding its mission August 7, 1980, while Viking
Orbiter 2 functioned until July 25, 1978."
[Corrected 9 September
2003. For additional information, see: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/80-83/release_1980_0940.html]
ANSWER
from Stephanie Wong on 10 August 2003:
If what you are asking is whether there will be a "traffic
jam" on Mars, and whether the mission team has to
account for possible "close encounters" with
previous spacecraft, I guess, yes, they would consider
it, but it would be of little concern. There is a
lot of "area" around Mars to orbit in, and
there is a miniscule chance that a new orbiter's
trajectory would intersect a functioning or dormant
orbiter's path. Each mission has its own unique
"orbital elements" that give unique orbits.
Of course, for all the satellites and space junk orbiting
Earth, that is another story.
What is particularly
valuable to having a number of spacecraft at Mars
functioning at the SAME time is that the observations
overlap. They can work in tandem. For
example, something interesting that Mars Global Surveyor
finds can be followed up with observations by Mars
Odyssey, which has a different set of instruments that
gives another perspective. Two "sets of eyes"
are much better than one.
The Viking Orbiters are
still lying dormant in orbit around Mars. According
to the National Space Science Data Center's website:
"On 7 August 1980
Viking 1 Orbiter was running low on attitude control gas
and its orbit was raised from 357 x 33943 km to 320 x
56000 km to prevent impact with Mars and possible
contamination until the year 2019. Operations were
terminated on 17 August 1980 after 1485 orbits."
And for the Viking 2
Orbiter:
"The orbiter developed a leak in its propulsion
system that vented its attitude control gas. It was
placed in a 302 x 33176 km orbit and turned off on 25
July 1978 after returning almost 16,000 images in 706
orbits around Mars."
With regards to the
landers, the Viking 1 lander rests at Chryse Planitia
while the Viking 2 lander is at Utopia Planitia.
All four Viking spacecraft had successful missions,
lasting many years, sending back abundant information
about Mars.
Reference: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planets/marspage.html
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QUESTION:
What is the difference between Terra Meridiani and
Meridiani Planum? What is the correct name of the
landing site?
ANSWER
from Steve Squyres on 27 June 2003 on NASADirect!:
The correct name of the landing site is Meridiani Planum.
Terra Meridiani is an old name; it's one that's been
around since very early in the days of Mars exploration
and it refers to the whole broad Meridiani region.
Meridiani got its name from the fact that the zero degree
line of longitude, the meridian on Mars, runs right
through that location. So that big area near the
equator is called Terra Meridiani - the specific plateau
or plane, which Latin for plane is planum, that we're
landing on - is called Meridiani Planum. So that is
the right name for the landing site.
Steve Squyres
Planetary Scientist
Cornell University
New York
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QUESTION:
When Opportunity lands at Meridiani Planum, what will you
do if it lands far away from the hematite? If you
find olivine at either of the two rover sites, would that
change the scientists' theories about the sites?
ANSWER
from Steve Squyres on 27 June 2003 on NASADirect!:
Well, with respect to what we would do if we found we
weren't near hematite, that's the reason why we have
wheels. There is definitely a possibility that
there will be no hematite bearing rocks that are within
easy and immediate reach, but we have got a lot of
ability to drive this rover. We can drive for
hundreds of meters across the surface if we need to, and
so we can look off into the distance using our
instruments, find where we think hematite bearing
minerals are and then actually drive over to them.
With respect to olivine, actually I don't think that will
change things too much. Olivine is a mineral that
is found in a lot of very common rocks. Basalt,
which is a common igneous rock, has olivine in it.
And we expect a lot of that stuff to be there. The
question is not what are the main rocks, the volcanic
rocks and so forth; the question is what are the trace
minerals, the minerals that are present in lower
abundances, and how much of those there are, because
those are the ones that are more likely to tell us about
water.
Steve Squyres
Planetary Scientist
Cornell University
New York
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QUESTION:
Since the only cameras are on the rover itself, will you
have any way of showing what the rover looks like roaming
on Mars? (i.e., will you be using digital animation to
give the public a feel for what the rovers look like on
the surface?)
ANSWER
from Steve Squyres on 27 June 2003 on NASADirect!:
Well, there are a couple ways we can do that. One thing,
of course, is that the rover can actually take pictures
of itself. Those cameras are mounted high on the
mast and if they look down or around they can get a very
good view of the solar arrays. We've also got some
nice cameras out in front that will actually show the arm
nicely as it deploys. So we will actually be able
to do a fairly good job of photographing the rover
ourselves. We probably will try to do some digital
animations as well. We have made some animations
already of what we think the rover is going to look like
as it drives around Mars, and I anticipate once we get
real Mars data we will continue with that.
Steve Squyres
Planetary Scientist
Cornell University
New York
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QUESTION:
What would happen if all the planets were the same size?
ANSWER
from Wendy Wooten on 6 February 2003:
The size of the planets would affect the gravitational
field around them. The force of gravity is directly
proportional to the mass of the body that is setting up
the field. If the planets all became as big as
Jupiter or Saturn, gravity on the other planets would
increase. It would not increase so much as to have
an effect on the other planets, but the moons that orbit
the planets would have a greater force on them, so they
would have to travel faster to stay in orbit or else they
would fall into the planets. On the other hand, if
the planets were all as small as Pluto, they would have
less gravitational force on their moons, and they would
have to orbit slower or else they would travel off into
space.
Wendy Wooten
Educator
Southern California
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QUESTION:
We live in California. California is in the United
States. The United States is on the Earth.
The Earth is spinning around the sun.
We heard that a space
craft was going to the sun to take a piece of it and
bring it back to earth. We want to know why anyone
would want to get a piece of the sun. Do you know
why?
ANSWER
from Jacinta Behne on 11 September 2002:
Many thanks for your interest in the Genesis mission.
There are 3 science objectives that the mission hopes to
accomplish.
- To obtain precise measures
of solar isotopic abundances.
- (Genesis will measure
isotopic compositions of oxygen, nitrogen, and
noble gases. These data will enable scientists to
better understand the isotopic variations in
meteorites, comets, lunar samples, and planetary
atmospheres.)
- To obtain greatly
improved measures of solar elemental abundances.
- To provide a
reservoir of solar matter for 21st century
science research, eliminating the need for future
solar wind sample return mission.
What this means is that
the mission scientists want to learn exactly what the sun
is made of. They believe that the sun holds some
clues as to what other objects in space are made of,
including meteors, comets, and the like.
Have you visited Genesis
Kids? There are several good stories about the sun
and the Genesis mission, as well as some online
activities. You will find it at: http://www.genesismission.org/product/genesis_kids/index.html
Jacinta Behne
Senior Consultant
Genesis Education and Public Outreach
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QUESTION:
What is the significance of the Genesis rock found by the
Apollo 15 astronauts?
ANSWER
from Larry Kellogg on 11 July 2002
It gives us an idea of just how old the Moon is.
Looking at the Moon
through a telescope let geologists get an idea of what
happened on the surface we could see. Craters, lava
flows, craters, overlapping rays of debris from meteor
impacts, let them say one place might be older or younger
than another.
Just how old and of what
materials, might give a better idea of how the Moon was
formed. Finding a rock on the Moon that came from
down deep inside the Moon would let us date that rock
sample and find out how old the Moon really was.
On Earth most of the rocks
are newer than when the Earth was first formed because we
have volcanoes that bring molten rock to the top that
gives a new date for forming when it cools. Water
then breaks it down and washes it away to form new
sedimentary rock. Earthquakes and tectonic plates
moving cause folding of the rock that then pushes
surfaces down. This gives us a renewing surface
over geologic time.
The Moon doesn't have this
activity. What was there in the beginning has only
been disturbed by incoming meteors and some early lava
flows. Knowing how the Moon was formed might help
tell us how the Moon was formed and what it was like back
at the beginning of our solar system.
So how old is the
Moon? The "Genesis Rock," collected on
Apollo 15, is almost pure anorthosite, a type of rock
that on Earth would be formed at great depths. It
is believed to represent a piece of the Moon's early
crust. Argon-argon dating found an age of
crystallization of approximately 4.0 billion years.
This type of dating can produce lower than actual ages;
so the "Genesis Rock" may be older -- closer to
4.4 to 4.5 billion years. This puts the Moon's
beginning back to the time when it is thought our solar
nebula began to clump and form planets and would put the
formation of the Moon at about the same time Earth was
formed.
You can see how excited
the astronauts were in finding the "Genesis Rock"
if you look at the transcripts from the Apollo 15 mission:
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a15/a15.spur.html
Here are two views of the
picture of the "Genesis Rock":
http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/images/pao/AS15/10075776.htm
http://www.apolloexplorer.co.uk/photo/html/as15/10075775.htm
More information on the
web:
http://euromin.w3sites.net/Nouveau_site/gisements/extra/GISEXTe.htm
Lunar mineralogy
http://silver.neep.wisc.edu/~neep602/lecture12.html
Larry Kellogg
Senior Systems Engineer
NASA Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, California
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