Project Gallery - Texas Aerospace Scholars Program

Although the world gazes to the night sky, the month of June yields a new central maxim: Mars. Understanding this mysterious celestial body will prove vital to the exploration of it. Analyzing data concerning the atmosphere, geology, and poles will only add to what we know today. One of the first observers of Mars was Galileo Galilei. In 1609, he used a primitive telescope to observe the foreign satellite of the Sun. In 1610, he documented this sight in a letter to a friend, describing it as "a spherical body illuminated by the sun." This was one of the first citations of the red plant. The Dutch Astronomer Christian Huygens sketched Mars for the first time in 1959. The sketch is believed to have been Syrtis Major. At the time, Huygens named the spot "Hourglass Sea." This observation lead to one of the first scientific discoveries related to the Marsian habitat Huygens tracking of the spot allowed him to approximate a twenty four hour Marsian Day. Continuing the advances of the data collected about Mars, Glan Domenico Cassini made 20 sketches about Mars. His observations that a spot, that was rotating, would return forty minutes the next day, making the Marsian day about twenty-four hours and forty minutes. Before modern technology, Honere Flaugergues achieved one of the final milestones related to the observation of Mars. He noted that the polar ice caps on Mars where rapidly melting. He also observed "yellow clouds" which where later identified as dust storms. With out such progress to pioneer this once unknown field, advancements in the space programs of today would not be possible. Now, with missions such as the Viking, Mars Observer and Pathfinder, actual conditions on Mars can actually be studied. Mars Atmosphere is very unaccommodating. In addition to the -53 degree Celsius temperature, hundred miles an hour wind, and carbon dioxide atmosphere, a manned mission to Mars would require the most up to date accounts of conditions on the surface. Fog, dust storms, and frost are common to the red planet. The highest mountain is twice the height of Mt. Everest. The largest canyon system is almost five times as deep and ten times as long as the Grand Canyon. The most important aspect to understand about Mars is the atmosphere and climate, which the astronauts will have to work in. The 25.2 degree axis tilt that Mars rotates on gives it seasons just like on Earth, but with the Lunar year of 649 days the term spring, summer, autumn, and winter would not completely fit the Mars Climate change. However climate occurs on Mars it is similar to that on Earth. Just recently with the NASA Hubbell Telescope, scientist have discovered an enormous cyclones storm similar to that observed on Earth. In 1985, Typhoon Odessa was one of the most power full storms up to one hundred kilometers wide near the tightly formed eye wall. A similar system was observed near the northern part of the pole region of Mars. The size of the storm was almost one thousand miles across, with an eye diameter nearly two hundred miles. Understanding pole storms on Earth could suggest a reason for a storm of this size. Polar cyclones appear with the opposition of oceanic and atmospheric temperature in a low-pressure system. The actual composition of Mars atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide and nitrogen. The Marsian air contains only one one-thousandth as much water as our air, yet their is still morning fog, dew, and polar ice caps. The Viking orbiter showed that the polar ice caps contain about two kilometer cubic of ice water; in comparison the Earth's atmosphere contains about thirteen thousand kilometers cubic of water. The Marian atmosphere can not sustain water in liquid form. The two main factors why it can not are because of the small atmospheric pressure of six millibars and the low surface temperature of -60 degrees Celsius. Although this sounds harsh, there is evidence that water could have existed on Mars millions of years ago.

The History of volcanic and systemic activity will also need to be studied once a manned crew can venture to the far reach of Mars. There are Mons Olympus is the largest volcano on the planet. There are less that twenty named volcanoes on Mars, and only five of these are giant shield volcanoes. The highest concentration of lava deposits and main cluster of volcanoes is located in the Tharsis region. The Elysium region has a group of three smaller volcanoes, and the last few are near Hellas impact basin. From studying these volcanoes, scientists have discovered that the plains of Mars are composed primarily of lava and layers of dust. The age of most of these volcanoes range from three to three point five billion years old. Recent lava flow comes from the youngest shield volcanoes; one of the most recent lava flows comes from Olympus Mons. This volcano erupted anywhere from twenty to two hundred years ago; it has a gradual incline of only six degrees or less and a diameter of 500 kilometers. The actual height of the long dead volcano is twenty-one kilometers high. Volcanic rocks, or bisalts, have been identified on Mars. The reddish, rusty soil on Mars has also been identified as formed from volcanic bisalts. There are three types of volcanoes on Mars: montes (mountains), tholi (domes), and paterae complex, collapsed shields). The motes are shields that are made up of basaltic layers and are vary large; an example would be Olympus Mons. Tholi volcanoes are generally convex and have somewhat steeper flanks of eight degrees. An explanation for that could be that the lava flows where more viscous or the eruptions could have been smaller, thus leading to the pile-ups closer to the source; an example would be Tharsis Tholus. Lastly, the paterae volcanoes are old volcanoes that have gone through a great deal of erosion; again, an example would be Uranus Patera. These Mars "hot spots" could prove vital to the search for life. The likelihood of water and life around the volcanoes is one of the highest on Mars. The Mariner canyon system is the largest on Mars. The expansion of the system is mostly due to the past water and landslides. Now the only natural augmentation of the system is the wind. As stated before, the largest canyon system on Mars supersedes the size of the Grand Canyon greatly. The Valles Mariner Canyon System on Mars is very extensive; the system would span the United States of America. The creation of the Mariner system was due to tectonic forces. The tension of the plates cracked the crust of Mars in a radial pattern centered on the Tharisis plateau. The likely hood of finding traces of water and river systems inside the canyon is almost guarantied. The exploration of this area will be one of the top priorities of a manned mission to Mars; vital clues to its past are waiting to be discovered. Riverbeds and Oceans are also essential to the study of Mars's climactic history. The evidence NASA has retrieved comes from the Viking Orbiter and the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. The formation of river systems on Earth prove to help aid in the hypothesis that there where river systems on Mars. Twelve thousand years ago the finger of the continental ice sheet in the United States reached the panhandle of Idaho. Once the sheet broke, all the water damned in the ancient lake of Missolua rushed out, widening the Columbia Gorge, reveling the wonderful cliffs present today known as streamlined landforms. The twisted maze forged by the rush of water can still be seen today from space. Such landforms are present today on Mars. Examples can be seen at the mouth of Tiu Villis and Aers Villis. Other possible situations supports the formation of rivers is small springs. Scattered throughout subsurface terrain, the small brooks formed massive channels by joining. Now, all that is left is ice in the frozen face of Mars; any ice that does melt is instantly transformed in to water vapor. Other evidence that water might have existed on Mars is the "muddy" ejecta that can range up to 4 kilometers away from impact. Other ejecta near the poles have diameter of one kilometer with the "muddy" characteristics. This suggests that there was a harder surface still soaked in water like a permafrost layer. Other evidence of water being present on a past Marsian surface is the feature that defines two shorelines. This leads scientist, like Tim Parker, to believe that there were once two oceans; covering one third of the planet. Parker also believes that there could have been a second body of water nested within a continent. One of the largest discounting factors of Parker’s belief is that the Mars Global Surveyor mapped the shoreline with in a forty two-foot accuracy and the sea level varied greatly. Still, possibility of a shore as recent as two billion years ago is possible. Colige Stephen Clifford agrees, and proposes that some of the water could still be there, frozen in the northern plains; just under a thick layer of volcanic dust. Ice Caps will also be vital in study of not only of Mars’s geological history, but also to the possibility that there could have ever been life on Mars. Like at home, Mars's north and south polar caps grow and recede with time. With the aid of a laser, the ice cap was measured to be about one thousand two hundred kilometers across, and a maximum of 3 kilometers thick. In comparison to the Earth, the Marsian ice is only about four percent of our Arctic sheet, and represents about a tenth of the water that existed on ancient Mars. Originally, the caps where thought of as frozen carbon dioxide, but recent discoveries prove that they are actually part water. The temperature of Mars was recorded at the South Pole at minus one hundred and twenty degrees Celsius. This is well above the freezing point of carbon dioxide; leaving that the frost must be water. The northern pole is believed to be also mostly carbon dioxide and water surrounded by sand duns. These ice caps will be essential for the possibility of frozen fossils or even specimens of primitive life on Mars. A mad crew would only need to excavate the site. With all of this information already available, only further advancement could be made with continued study of the Marsian terrain. With a manned mission, more information could be gathered on this foreign terrain.

http://www.Lpi.usra.edu/education/MarsMillennium/storm_adv.pdf
http://www-mgcm.arc.nasa.gov/mgcm/faq/faq.html
http://barsoom.msss.com/http/ps/volcanoes.html
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/MarsMillennium/canyons_adv.pdf
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/MarsMillennium/island_adv.pdf
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/intro/gornitz.03/
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/marsoceans990528.html
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/MarsMellennium/icecaps.pdf
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9908/03/mars.pics/

Final Project