The Red Planet: Learning about Mars Missions

By: Meghan Thoreau, OSU Extension Educator, Community Development & STEM, Pickaway County

Access the Red Planet: learning about Mars Missions presentation here.

Students learned about the Red Planet and the history of Mars exploration that date back to the early 1960s. We saw the first close-up photographs of Mars lunar-type impact craters in 1964 from NASA’s Mariner 4 and started studying its solar winds. Six decades later we are witnessing another phase of global exploration of Mars. Last July 2020 approximately 7 months ago three spacecraft launched to Mars.

Why did they all launch around the same time?

Launches to Mars are best attempted every 26-months when our two planets align in their orbits for the shortest trip.

February’s Mars Missions

The first mission to reach Mars was the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Hope Mission. The country has never launched a mission beyond Earth’s orbit before and hopes to drive a new economy around science and not oil. Hope’s pro entered Mars’ orbit on February 9, 2021, and will stay in orbit between 12,430 and 26,700 miles above the surface, completing a revolution of Mars once every 55-hours studying the atmosphere of Mars and the AMrtian weather.

UAE photo source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanocallaghan/2020/07/13/the-united-arab-emirates-is-about-to-launch-its-first-ever-mission-to-mars/?sh=15af8fbd3a60

The second interplanetary mission to reach Mars came from China’s Tianwen-1 (Heavenly Questions) robotic spacecraft consisting of an orbiter, deployable camera, lander, and rover. The spacecraft entered Mars’ orbit on February 10, 2021. China may become the third nation to reach the surface of Mars! The science objectives its mission hopes to achieve:

  • create a geological map of Mars
  • explore the characteristics of the soil and potentially locate water-ice deposits
  • analyze the surface material composition
  • investigate the atmosphere and climate at the surface
  • understand the electromagnetic and gravitational fields of the planet

Photo sources: https://www.cnet.com/news/chinas-tianwen-1-mars-mission-is-arriving-at-the-red-planet-what-you-need-to-know/ and https://www.cnet.com/news/chinas-tianwen-1-mars-mission-is-arriving-at-the-red-planet-what-you-need-to-know/

The NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover landed in Jezero Crater on Mars on February 18, 2021, and will search for signs of ancient microbial life, which will advance NASA’s quest to explore the past habitability of Mars. The rover has a drill to collect core samples of Martian rock and soil, then store them in sealed tubes for pickup by a future mission that would ferry them back to Earth for detailed analysis.

Perseverance will also test technologies to help pave the way for future human exploration of Mars, including deploying the first Mars helicopter, Ingenuity, a technology demonstration to test the first powered flight on Mars.

Earth Benefits from Space Exploration

Private companies and government space programs are shaping the future of space exploration. The research and engineering effects going into these missions have a direct benefit to Earth as many of the technologies and uses can also be applied here on Earth. Read this Culture Trip article, The Earthly Benefits of a Mission to Mars, to learn more.

Hands-on Virtual Mars Base Camp Challenges

Each club member received Mars Base Camp Kit and together we explored Mars challenges together virtually through Zoom. The Landing Zone Surveyor challenge allows youth to discover features on the surface of Mars that are important, selecting a safe landing site, learning about the Martian landscape, and determine where to set up a future base camp.

NASA lives and breaths the engineering design process. There have been over a dozen surface landing attempts to land on the surface of Mars, but with each attempt, a learning process occurs through the successes, failures, and re-engineering for future space missions.

Image from Planetary.org

Together we all dropped parachutes onto a grided Mars surface. This involved some skills and unknown variables in the parachute deployment. There were several possible outcomes, some failures, and some successful rover landings.

Together we identifying the different landing sites both visually through photographs and imagery. We shared reading out loud the associated landing site cards and gained a better understanding of the varied Martian landscape. We learned a lot of essential geography terms, such as channel, dune, fault, ice cap, impact crater, lander, lava flow, orbiter, remote sensing, rover, and volcano, and learned how they compared to the geography of Earth.

STEM club member participating virtually in Landing Zone Surveyor Challenge

The second Mars challenged we tackled was the Red Planet Odyssey. This activity involved learning more about simple circuits, simple motors, power, mechanical gears, and how they all work together with using the engineering design process to build a STEM rover and solve basic mechanical problems.

Online Learning: Ask a Scientist at the Mars Base Camp Scientists Panel

Get a chance to listen to world-renowned space scientists behind innovative Mars research and the scientists who created the Mars Base Camp Challenge. If you missed this opportunity make some popcorn and click here to watch the recorded webinar now!

Meet the Scientists for the Thursday, October 1st, 7-8 PM Panel!

Dr. Juliane Gross is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Rutgers University. Her academic interests are focused on understanding the formation of history and geochemical evolution of differentiated celestial bodies and early Solar System processes. Currently, she is investigating the mineralogy, petrology, and geochemistry of extraterrestrial planetary samples using a variety of experimental and microanalytical techniques. Dr. Gross is also a NASA Early Career Fellow.

Dr. Shaunna Morrison is a Carnegie Research Scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Earth and Planets Laboratory, is co-director of the 4D Deep Time Data-Driven Discovery Initiative, and is a CheMin co-investigator on the NASA Mars Science Laboratory Mission. Her research centers around mineralogy, crystallography, planetary science, and data science applications therein. Her recent work has focused on characterizing Earth’s mineralogy through deep time and its correlation with geologic processes, its co-evolution with the biosphere, and its relationship to other planetary bodies, particularly Mars.

Dr. Lujendra Ojha is a NASA, Co-Investigator of the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) and Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), a NASA science team member of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission to Mars, the co-investigator of the NASA Mars Data Analysis Program on Martian Dust Devil Tracks: Albedos, Lifetimes, and Dust Deposition Rates, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Rutgers University.

Need Help thinking of a Question?  Here are some Tips 

You have heard the phrase “there are no dumb questions”.  This is very true when we are trying to encourage your creativity and passion for science.

Most youths are curious about what it’s like to be a NASA or space scientist – the challenges, daily routines, and technology.  In addition, you may want to know more about scientists’ motivation, career path, and inspiration.  We definitely encourage these types of questions! Please prepare for this unique experience by reviewing these websites to help think of a question:

NASA – Mars Exploration Program
Video of the Launch of Perseverance Rover

Get a Close up Look at the Rover

A quick look at what we know about Mars

Images from Mars

Please note, registration is first come first served, so do not wait! Register for the panel and our 4-H STEM Mars Basecamp Challenge! You MUST register for the Oct 1st panel to attend the Oct 3rd challenge. Once you register, the Mars kits will be mailed to you directly!

Invite a Friend!  Use these flyers to spread the word about this event

The 2020 4‑H STEM Challenge will explore sending a mission to Mars with the activity, Mars Base Camp. Developed by Google and Virginia Cooperative Extension, Mars Base Camp is a collection of activities that teaches kids ages 8-14 STEM skills like mechanical engineering, physics, computer science, and agriculture.

 

The Scientist Panel is Co-sponsored by the Free Public Library of New Brunswick, NJ


ENIGMA: Searching for Life on Other Planets

Are we alone in the Universe? To answer this fundamental question, scientists from Rutgers University and NASA are going all the way back to Earth’s beginning — back before there were people, dinosaurs, or even plants!

Video Lecture Coming Soon!

Figuring out how life developed on this planet will be key to discovering if or how life could have formed on other planets, including Mars. As part of the 2020 4-H Mars Base Camp STEM Challenge, ENIGMA’s goal of finding where, how, and why the key ingredients of life develop will be a critical part of any Mars mission.

Learn More About the 2020 4-H STEM Challenge

More ENIGMA resources for students and educators

World Ocean Week

On our blog, we posted a week-long series of activities in celebration of World Ocean Day 2020. Those activities have been archived here for use during any time of the year. The activities have been bundled together as an interactive slide deck, which you can check out below!

Click here to get started

Virtual STEP Clubs

Join us for a STEM-related virtual Short Term Exploratory Program (STEP).  Young people in grades 5-8 are invited to join us for three consecutive sessions to explore a science theme with a real scientist. Sessions are limited to 30 youth to engage in interactive science activities developed from current research projects.  Youth will join the fun online via Zoom videoconferencing for these one-hour sessions.

Explore Life in the Southern Ocean

Help identify some of the amazing marine organisms that live in Antarctica!  Join Andrew Corso, a Ph.D. candidate at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and identify “mystery” creatures from his recent research cruise off the coast of the Western Antarctic Peninsula.  Youth will learn how to use a dichotomous key and will receive at-home challenges to explore and discuss with their family, friends, and online STEP club participants.

*This program has concluded – but you can follow along by using the resources and recordings posted below. The slide deck is a visual, Internet-powered walkthrough of the activities listed on the table.

Have fun exploring the Southern Ocean!

ID Antarctica Slide Deck

Date Adventure
April 1; 3pm-4:15pm EDT Observing predators and prey in Antarctica

Before you get started, get oriented: Antarctica Worksheet

Then, check out this photo and see if you can identify the predator and prey using the key: Week 1 Mystery Creature and Dichotomous Key

Watch the recording to learn more and find out the answers: Link to Recording of Andrew Corso’s Science Talk

April 8; 3pm-4:15pm EDT Exploring the Penguin Populations at Palmer Station Antarctica

Download this week’s mystery creature and see if you can identify the two circled species: Week 2 Mystery Creature and Dichotomous Key

Watch the recording to learn more and find out the answers: Link to Recording of Andrew Corso’s Science Talk

Explore more penguin data: What can penguins teach us about the ocean? – Project SWARM

Penguin Propulsion Video from BBC Wonder of Animals series

April 15; 3pm-4:15pm EDT Fish of Antarctica

Download this week’s mystery creature and see if you can identify this larval fish: Week 3 Mystery Creature and Identification Key

Watch the recording to learn more and find out the answer:  Link to Recording of Andrew Cross’s Science Talk

Explore more about these unusual Antarctic fishes with this Polar Data Story!

Mystery Doug invites you to another LIVE SCIENCE SHOW

‘Mystery Doug’ has been apart of our STEM Club programming, so we wanted to share an educational opportunity coming up!

Next week, Mystery Doug invites you to another LIVE SCIENCE SHOW. Doug is excited to answer kids’ questions with the help of astronaut Jessica Meir, who filmed videos for us while she was in space! (Seriously!)

Thursday, May 21 (10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 11am Mountain / 12pm Central) mysteryscience.com/live

Mystery Doug Livestream

See you on Thursday!

– The Mystery Science Team