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Contents. SECTION 01. / MOON 04. MOON 06. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MOON 08. THE SURFACE 10. INSIDE THE MOON 12. APOLLO 11 SEISMIC EXPERIMENT 14. ORBIT AND ROTATION 16. MOON’S GRAVITY 19. ICE CONFIRMED AT THE MOON’S POLES 20. SAMPLING THE MOON 22. EXPLORATION 24. THE FUTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF LUNAR EXPLORATION.
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SECTION 02. / MARS 28. MARS 30. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RED PLANET 32. THE SURFACE 34. INSIDE MARS 35. INSIGHT - STUDYING THE ‘INNER SPACE’ OF MARS 36. ORBIT AND ROTATION 38. MARS’ ATMOSPHERE 40. MARTIAN MOONS 43. WATER ON MARS 44. MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS 47. IRON-NICKEL METEORITE ZAPPED BY MARS ROVER’S LASER 48. THE SAND DUNES OF MARS 50. BANG AND WHOOSH 51. THE MARTIAN NORTH POLAR CAP ON SUMMER 52. THE FUTURE OF MARTIAN EXPLORATION
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“
I think we’re going to the Moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul. We’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.
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- Neil Armstrong
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“Only a handful of people have visited the Moon’s surface, and the longest stay lasted three days”
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Characteristics_of_the_Moon. The brightest and largest object in our night sky, the Moon makes Earth a more livable planet by moderating our home planet’s wobble on its axis, leading to a relatively stable climate. It also causes tides, creating a rhythm that has guided humans for thousands of years. The Moon was likely formed after a Mars-sized body collided with
Earth several billion years ago. Earth’s only natural satellite is simply called “the Moon” because people didn’t know other moons existed until Galileo Galilei discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610. In Latin, the Moon was called Luna, which is the main adjective for all things Moonrelated: lunar.
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Size_and_Distance.
Earth’s Moon is the only place beyond Earth where humans have set foot, so far.
With a radius of 1,079.6 miles (1,737.5 kilometers), the Moon is less than a third the width of Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, the Moon would be about as big as a coffee bean. The Moon is farther away from Earth than most people realize. The Moon is an average of 238,855 miles (384,400 kilometers) away. That means 30 Earth-sized planets could fit in between Earth and the Moon. The Moon is slowly moving away from Earth, getting about an inch farther away each year.
Speed of light in real-time
Earth
Surface to surface in 1.255 seconds
Average distance
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238,855 miles | 384,400 kilometers
Moon
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The diameter of the Moon is a bit more than one-fourth the size of Earth. The Moon has about 2% of Earth’s volume. To fill Earth’s volume, it would take around 50 Moon’s volumes
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W
ith too sparse an atmosphere to im-pede impacts, a steady rain of asteroids, meteoroids and comets strikes the surface of the Moon, leaving numerous craters behind. Tycho Crater is more than 52 miles (85 kilometers) wide. Over billions of years, these impacts have ground up the surface of the Moon into fragments ranging from huge boulders to powder. Nearly the entire Moon is covered by a rubble pile of charcoal-gray, powdery dust and rocky debris called the lunar regolith. Beneath is a region of fractured bedrock referred to as the megaregolith.The light areas of the Moon are known as the highlands. The dark features, called maria (Latin for seas), are impact basins that were filled
with lava between 4.2 and 1.2 billion years ago. These light and dark areas represent rocks of different composition and ages, which provide evidence for how the early crust may have crystallized from a lunar magma ocean. The craters themselves, which have been preserved for billions of years, provide an impact history for the moon and other bodies in the inner solar system. If you looked in the right places on the Moon, you would find pieces of equipment, American flags, and even a camera left behind by astronauts. While you were there, you’d notice that the gravity on the surface of the Moon is one-sixth of Earth’s, which is why in footage of moonwalks, astronauts appear to almost bounce across the surface.
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Formation.
The leading theory of the Moon’s origin is that a Mars-sized body collided with Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. The resulting debris from both Earth and the impactor accumulated to form our natural satellite 239,000 miles (384,000 kilometers) away. The newly formed Moon was in a molten state, but within about 100 million years, most of the global “magma ocean” had crystallized, with less-dense rocks floating upward and eventually forming the lunar crust.
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// Long ago the Moon had active volcanoes, but today they are all dormant and have not erupted for millions of years.
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Crust
Mantle
Partial melt
Outer core
Inner core
(50 km)
(1,200 km)
(150 km)
(90 km)
(240 km)
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Inside the Moon . The Moon is a differentiated world. This means that it is composed of different layers with different compositions. The heaviest materials have sunken down into the Moon’s center, and the lightest materials have risen to the outermost layer. Seismic, rotational, and gravity measurement studies have allowed us to gain insights into the different layers within the Moon. At the center is the Moon’s dense, metallic core. The core is largely composed of iron and some nickel. The inner core is a solid mass about 480 km in diameter. Surrounding the solid inner core is a fluid outer core, that brings the total diameter of the core to about 660 km. The Moon’s core is small (about 20% of the Moons diameter) as opposed to other terrestrial worlds (like the Earth) with cores measuring closer to 50% of their diameters. Above the core are the mantle and crust. Differences in compositions between these layers tell a story of the Moon being largely, or even completely, composed of a great ocean of magma in its very early history. As the magma ocean began to cool, crystals began to form within the magma. Crystals of denser mantle minerals, such as olivine and pyroxene sank down to the bottom of the ocean. Lighter minerals, notably anorthositic plagioclase feldspar, crystalized and floated to the surface to form the Moon’s crust. The mantle, with a thickness of roughly 1350km is more extensive than the crust, which has an average thickness of about 50 km.
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Interestingly, the crust of the Moon seems to be thinner on the side of the Moon facing the Earth, and thicker on the side facing away. Researchers are still working to determine why this might be. Seismometers left on the surface of the Moon by the Apollo astronauts have revealed that the Moon does experience moonquakes. Deep moonquakes, occurring broadly around 700 km beneath the lunar surface are tidal events, caused by the pull of Earth’s gravity tugging and stretching the internal structures of the Moon. Moonquakes originating on or near the surface can be caused by meteoroid impacts. Another type of extremely shallow moonquake can come from thermal expansion and contraction of rock on or near the surface as it goes from the extremely frigid lunar night to the very hot lunar daytime. A fourth type of moonquake originates at the moderately shallow depths of 20-30 km, can register up to a startling 5.5 on the Richter scale, and can last for over 10 minutes! The causes of this fourth type of moonquake are still being investigated.
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Mountains of the Moon. Most mountains on the Earth are formed as plates collide and the crust buckles. Not so for the Moon, where mountains are formed as a result of impacts as seen by NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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Apollo_11_Seismic_Experiment.
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Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin with the seismic experiment. Solar panels have deployed on the left and right and the antenna is pointed at Earth. Credit: NASA
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he Passive Seismic Experiment was the first seismometer placed on the Moon’s surface. It detected lunar “moonquakes” and provided information about the internal structure of the Moon. This experiment studied the propagation of seismic waves through the Moon and provided the first detailed look at the Moon’s internal structure. This instrument contained four seismometers powered by two panels of solar cells, which converted solar energy into electricity. It used three long-period seismometers and one short- period vertical seismometer for measuring meteorite impacts and moonquakes, recording about 100 to 200 hits by meteorites during its lifetime. Data regarding the strength, duration, and approximate direction of the seismic event were relayed to tracking stations on Earth. Because it was powered by solar cells, the experiment only operated during the lunar days. During the 340 hour lunar night, when temperatures can plummet to minus 170ºC the instrument was kept to a minimum of minus 54ºC by a
radioisotope heater, the first major use of nuclear energy in a NASA manned mission. Any temperature below this could damage the instrument. At the other end of the scale the scientists tried controlling the daytime heat on the electronic components by a series of power ‘dumps’, cutting off the systems electrical power. Then, just before the lunar night began, the seismometer automatically shifted into stand-by mode, stopping transmission of all data. The seismic instrument stopped
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ISOTOPE HEATER
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responding to commands at 0400 UT August 25 1969, probably from overheating from the hot midday sun. The Apollo 11 seismometer returned data for just three weeks but provided a useful first look at lunar seismology. More advanced seismometers were deployed at the Apollo 12, 14, 15, and 16 landing sites and transmitted data to Earth until September 1977. Each of these seismometers measured all three components of ground displacement (up-down, north-south, and east-west).
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CARRY HANDLE
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Orbit_and_Rotation.
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The Moon is rotating at the same rate that it revolves around Earth (called synchronous rotation), so the same hemisphere faces Earth all the time. Some people call the far side — the hemisphere we never see from Earth — the “dark side,” but that’s misleading. As the Moon orbits Earth, different parts are in sunlight or darkness at different times. The changing illumination is why, from our perspective, the Moon goes through phases. During a “full moon,” the hemisphere of the Moon we can see from Earth is fully illuminated by the sun. And a “new moon” occurs when the far side of the Moon has full sunlight, and the side facing us is having its night.
The Moon makes a complete orbit around Earth in 27 Earth days and rotates or spins at that same rate, or in that same amount of time. Because Earth is moving as well — rotating on its axis as it orbits the sun — from our perspective, the Moon appears to orbit us every 29 days.
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(2-12 June 1998) Russia’s Mir space station and the moon share a 70mm frame exposed by one of the STS-91 crew members aboard the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Discovery as it passed over a line of heavy thunderstorms on Earth.
(24 Oct. 2007) Backdropped by the blackness of space and Earth’s horizon, the Harmony node in Space Shuttle Discovery’s payload bay, vertical stabilizer and orbital maneuvering system (OMS) pods are featured in this image photographed by a STS-120 crewmember during flight day two activities. Earth’s moon is visible at center.
(19 Oct. 2013) Distant view of the Moon over Earth limb taken by the Expedition 37 crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). An ISS solar array is also visible.
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Moon’s_Gravity.
Earth’s average surface gravity is about 9.8 meters per second per second. The Moon’s surface gravity is about 1/6th as powerful or about 1.6 meters per second per second. The Moon’s surface gravity is weaker because it is far less massive than Earth. In other words, if you weighed 100 kg on Earth, you would weigh a mere 16.5 kg on the Moon.
GRAIL_Primary_Mission_Gravity_Maps.
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The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission comprises a pair of satellites launched in September, 2011 and placed in orbit around the Moon in January, 2012. The two satellites, named Ebb and Flow, used radio signals to precisely measure their separation as they flew in formation, one following the other in the same nearly circular polar orbit. These measurements allowed mission scientists to build up an accurate and detailed gravity map of the Moon. If the Moon were a perfectly smooth sphere of uniform density, the gravity experienced by the spacecraft would be exactly the same everywhere. But like other rocky bodies in the solar system, including the Earth, the Moon has both a bumpy surface and a lumpy interior.
As the spacecraft fly in their orbits, they experience slight variations in gravity caused by both of these irregularities, variations which show up as small changes in the separation of the two spacecraft. While aiding navigation for future lunar missions, GRAIL’s gravity measurements reveal information about the internal structure of the Moon, improving our understanding of the origin and development of not just the Moon, but also the Earth and the rest of the inner solar system.
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SURFACE GRAVITY MOON
EARTH
1.624 m/s2
9.80665 m/s2
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The image above show the GRAIL Gravity map of the lunar globe, centered on 120 degrees west longitude.
The image on the left features a free-air gravity map of the Moon’s southern latitudes de-
The map shown here extends from the south pole of the Moon up to 50°S and reveals the
veloped by S. Goossens et al. from data returned by the Gravity Recovery and Interior
gravity for that region in detail. The image illustrates the very good correlation between the
Laboratory (GRAIL) mission. The free-air gravity map shows deviations from the mean
gravity map and topographic features such as peaks and craters, as well as the mass con-
gravity that a cueball Moon would have. The deviations are measured in milliGals, a unit of
centration lying beneath the large Schrödinger basin in the center of the frame. The terrain
acceleration. On the map, purple is at the low end of the range, at around -400 mGals, and
in the image is based on Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) altimeter and camera data.
red is at the high end near +400 mGals. Yellow denotes the mean. Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio
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The image shows the distribution of surface ice at the Moon’s south pole (down) and north pole (up), detected by NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument. Blue represents the ice locations, plotted over an image of the lunar surface, where the gray scale corresponds to surface temperature (darker representing colder areas and lighter shades indicating warmer zones). The ice is concentrated at the darkest and coldest locations, in the shadows of craters. This is the first time scientists have directly observed definitive evidence of water ice on the Moon’s surface. -
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Credit: NASA
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By Frank Tavares
With enough ice sitting at the surface – within the top few millimeters – water would possibly be accessible as a resource for future expeditions to explore and even stay on the Moon, and potentially easier to access than the water detected beneath the Moon’s surface. The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on August 20, 2018.
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Learning more about this ice, how it got there, and how it interacts with the larger lunar environment will be a key mission focus for NASA and commercial partners, as we endeavor to return to and explore our closest neighbor, the Moon.
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In the darkest and coldest parts of its polar regions, a team of scientists has directly observed definitive evidence of water ice on the Moon’s surface. These ice deposits are patchily distributed and could possibly be ancient. At the southern pole, most of the ice is concentrated at lunar craters, while the northern pole’s ice is more widely, but sparsely spread. A team of scientists, led by Shuai Li of the University of Hawaii and Brown University and including Richard Elphic from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, used data from NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument to identify three specific signatures that definitively prove there is water ice at the surface of the Moon. M3, aboard the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, launched in 2008 by the Indian Space Research Organization, was uniquely equipped to confirm the presence of solid ice on the Moon. It collected data that not only picked up the reflective properties we’d expect from ice, but was able to directly measure the distinctive way its molecules absorb infrared light, so it can differentiate between liquid water or vapor and solid ice. Most of the newfound water ice lies in the shadows of craters near the poles, where the warmest temperatures never reach above -250 degrees Fahrenheit. Because of the very small tilt of the Moon’s rotation axis, sunlight never reaches these regions. Previous observations indirectly found possible signs of surface ice at the lunar south pole, but these could have been explained by other phenomena, such as unusually reflective lunar soil.
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Ice_Confirmed_at_the_Moon’s_Poles.
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Sampling_the_Moon.
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Apollo astronauts had many tasks to perform during their brief moonwalks. They erected scientific equipment, made precise observations of conditions on the lunar surface, and collected samples of the Moon’s soil and rocks. The pressure suits worn by the Apollo astronauts restricted their mobility, particularly their ability to bend over, while on the Moon. For this reason, special tools were designed to allow them to collect rocks
and soil for return to Earth. The various experiments placed on the surface provided information on seismic, gravitational, and other lunar characteristics. But perhaps the most dramatic result of the missions was returning a total of more than 800 pounds of lunar rock and soil for analysis on Earth. These samples of the Moon offered a deeper appreciation of the evolution of our nearest planetary neighbor.
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Apollo 11 lunar sample. A moon rock brought to Earth by Apollo 11, human’s first landing on the moon in July 1969, is shown as it floats aboard the International Space Station. Part of Earth can be seen through the window. The 3.6 billion year-old lunar sample was flown to the station aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-119 in April 2009 in honor of the July 2009 40th anniversary of the historic first moon landing. The rock, lunar sample 10072, was flown to the station to serve as a symbol of the nation’s resolve to continue the exploration of space. It will be returned on shuttle mission STS-128 to be publicly displayed.
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Astronaut Harrison Schmitt collects lunar rake samples during EVA (11 Dec. 1972) Scientist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot, collects lunar rake samples at Station 1 during the first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. This picture was taken by astronaut Eugene Cernan, commander. The lunar rake, an Apollo lunar geology hand tool, is used to collect discrete samples of rocks and rock chips ranging in size from one-half inch (1.3 centimeter) to one inch (2.5 centimeter).
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Exploration.
The Moon was first visited by the Soviet Union’s uncrewed Luna 1 and 2 in 1959, and, as of April 2019, seven nations have followed. The U.S. sent three classes of robotic missions to prepare the way for human exploration: the Rangers (1961–1965) were impact probes, the Lunar Orbiters (1966–1967) mapped the surface to find landing sites, and the Surveyors (1966– 1968) were soft landers. The first human landing on the Moon was on July 20, 1969. During the Apollo missions of 1969–1972, 12 American astronauts walked on the Moon and used a Lunar Roving Vehicle to travel on the surface After a long hiatus, lunar exploration resumed in the 1990s with the U.S. robotic missions Clementine and Lunar Prospector. Results from both missions suggested that water ice might be present at the lunar poles. The U.S. began a new series of robotic lunar missions with the joint launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) in 2009. In 2011, a pair of repurposed spacecraft began the ARTEMIS mission. In 2012, the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) twin spacecraft studied the Moon’s gravity field and produced the highest-resolution gravity field map of any celestial body. In March 2019, NASA Administrator J. Bridenstine announced plans to send U.S. astronauts back to the surface of the Moon by 2024. The European Space Agency, Japan, China and India all have sent missions to explore the Moon. China has landed 2 rovers on the surface, including the first-ever landing on Moon’s far side in 2019. In another first, a private company from Israel sent a spacecraft to land on the Moon in April 2019. Israel’s Beresheet successfully orbited the Moon, but was lost during a landing attempt.
Liftoff of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. The image on the left show the huge, 363-feet tall Apollo 11 (Spacecraft 107/Lunar Module S/Saturn 506) space vehicle is launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), at 9:32 a.m. (EDT), July 16, 1969. Credit: NASA
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(13 Dec. 1972) Scientist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt is photographed seated in the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) at Station 9 (Van Serg Crater) during the third Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. This photograph was taken by astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, commander. Schmitt, lunar module pilot, and Cernan explored the moon while astronaut Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules in lunar orbit.
A message for all mankind delivered to the Mare Tranquilitatis region of the Moon during the historic Apollo 11 mission, where it still remains today. This photograph is a reproduction of the commemorative plaque that was attached to the leg of the Lunar Module (LM), Eagle, engraved with the following words: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July, 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all of mankind.� It bears the signatures of the Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module (CM) pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., Lunar Module (LM) pilot along with the signature of the U.S. President Richard M. Nixon. With the success of Apollo 11, the national objective to land men on the Moon and return them safely to Earth had been accomplished.
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By Paul D. Spudis, Lunar and Planetary Insitute
(13 Dec. 1972) Astronaut Harrison Schmitt next to deployed U.S. flag on
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lunar surface.
Now we are preparing for humanity’s return to the moon. Over the next couple of years, at least four international robotic missions will orbit the moon, making global maps of unsurpassed quality. We will soft land on the moon, particularly the mysterious polar regions, to map the surface, examine the volatile deposits and characterize the unusual environment there. Ultimately, people will return to the moon. The goals of lunar return this time are not to prove that we can do it (as Apollo did) but to learn how to use the moon to support a new and growing spacefaring capability. On the moon, we will learn the skills and develop the technologies needed to live and work on another world. We will use this knowledge and technology to open the solar system for human exploration. The story of the moon’s history and processes is interesting in its own right, but it has also subtly shifted perspectives on our own origins. One of the most significant discoveries of the 1980s was the giant impact 65 million years ago in Mexico that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, allowing the subsequent rise of mammals. This discovery (made possible by recognizing and interpreting the telltale chemical and physical signs of hypervelocity impact) came directly from the study of impact rocks and landforms stimulated by Apollo. Scientists now think that impacts are responsible for many, if not most, extinction events in the history of life on Earth. The moon retains this record and we will read it in detail upon our return. By going to the moon, we continue to obtain new insights into how the universe works and our own origins. Lunar exploration revolutionized understanding of the collision of solid bodies. This process, previously thought to be bizarre and unusual, is now viewed as fundamental to planetary origin and evolution – an unexpected connection. By returning to the moon, we anticipate learning even more about our past, and equally importantly, obtaining a glimpse into our future.
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Astronaut Russell Schweickart photographed during EVA. (6 March 1969) Astronaut Russell L. Schweickart, lunar module pilot, stands in “golden slippers” on the Lunar Module porch during his extravehicular activity on the fourth day of the Apollo 9 Earth-orbital mission. This photograph was taken from inside the Lunar Module “Spider”. The Command and Service Modules were docked to the LM. Schweickart is wearing an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). Inside the “Spider” was astronaut James A. McDivitt, Apollo 9 crew commander. Astronaut David R. Scott, command module pilot, remained at the controls of the Command Module, “Gumdrop.”
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Apollo 10 Command/Service Modules seen from Lunar Module after separation (22 May 1969) The Apollo 10 Command and Service Modules (CSM) are photographed from the Lunar Module (LM) after CSM/LM separation in lunar orbit. The CSM was about 175 statute miles east of Smyth’s Sea and was above the rough terrain which is typical of the lunar far side. The eastward oblique view of the lunar surface is centered near 105 degrees east longitude and 1 degree north latitude. The horizon is approximately 600 kilometers (374 statute miles) away. Numerous bright craters and the absence of shadows show that the sun was almost directly overhead when this photograph was taken.
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Astronaut Edwin Aldrin descends steps of Lunar Module ladder to walk on moon (20 July 1969)
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Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, descends the steps of the Lunar Module
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(LM) ladder as he prepares to walk on the moon. He had just egressed the LM. This photograph was taken by astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, commander, with a 70mm lunar surface camera during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA). While Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the LM “Eagle” to explore the moon, astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) in lunar orbit.
Close-up view of astronauts footprint in lunar soil (20 July 1969) A close-up view of an astronaut’s bootprint in the lunar soil, photographed with a 70mm lunar surface camera during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA) on the moon. While astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander, and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, descended in the Lunar Module (LM) “Eagle” to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the moon, astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained with the Command and
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Service Modules (CSM) “Columbia” in lunar orbit.
MOON / SECTION 01.
“It’s a brilliant surface in that sunlight. The horizon seems quite close to you because the curvature is so much more pronounced than here on earth. It’s an interesting place to be. I recommend it.” — Neil Armstrong, describing the Moon
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View of the Moon rising over Earth’s horizon taken by the Expedition 29 crew
View of Earth rising over Moon’s horizon taken from Apollo 11 spacecraft
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“Scientist thought Mars was a dead planet. But subsequent mission revealed that there’s much more to it than meets the eye”
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The diameter of Mars is slightly more than half the size of Earth. Mars has about 15% of Earth’s volume.
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To fill Earth’s volume, it would take over 6 Mars volumes
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Characteristics_of_the_Red_Planet. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second smallest planet with a thin atmosphere, having the surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon, and the valleys, deserts and polar ice caps of Earth. It is the most widely searched planet for life.
Mars_and_Earth.
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Geologically, Mars and Earth share a lot of common traits, and they are both known as terrestrial (or rocky) planets. The majority of the rocks at the surface of both planets are of the igneous variety, known as basalt (although on Earth most of this makes up the ocean floor). The layers that make up both planets are also similar: Like Earth, Mars has an atmosphere, crust, mantle, and a core. The rocky layers are similar in composition. In fact, all of the rocks and all of the minerals identified on Mars to date are also found on Earth. Like Earth, Mars has four seasons and weather. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos. Of course, there are a lot of ways that the two planets are different too. Mars is smaller, has no active plate tectonics and no currently active global magnetic field. Liquid water is generally not stable on Mars, so there currently are no standing bodies of water (rivers, lakes or seas) and the atmosphere is very thin and composed mostly of carbon dioxide. Mars has more craters still scarring its surface than Earth (where, because of plate tectonics and weathering, lots of the surface is changed over time).
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We know a lot about Mars from data collected by telescopes and spacecraft as well as by examining meteorites that have come from Mars. Most of the meteorites from Mars are igneous rocks known as basalt. The oldest Mars meteorite is ALH84001, which is 4.1 billion years old. It is a rock type known as an orthopyroxenite. It also has minerals that formed by reactions between the original material and water that formed 3.9 billion years ago. The oldest known minerals from Mars are 4.4 billionyear-old zircons from a 2.1 billion-year-old meteorite (NWA 7034) found in Northwest and its pairings, which are analogous to the ancient Jack Hills zircons on Earth. The youngest known rocks from Mars are basaltic meteorites, rocks known as shergottites, the youngest of which are about 180 million years old.
Rocks_and_Minerals.
On Mars and in meteorites from Mars, we see a variety of rock types: igneous basalt, sedimentary sandstone, mudstone, impactites, evaporites. These rocks are composed of minerals such as olivine, pyroxene, amphiboles, feldspar, carbonates, sulfates (jarosite, gypsum), silica, phyllosilicates, phosphates, and iron oxides (hematite).
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Surface_Features.
Some familiar places on Earth are often used by scientists as analogs for the kinds of environments that exist on Mars. Examples include Iceland (the basalt rocks in Iceland contain more iron, like the basalts on Mars do, and Iceland has volcanoes that erupt into glaciers), Antarctica (which, like Mars is very cold and dry), the Atacama Desert in Chile (where it is very dry with similar rocks), Arizona (which has basaltic volcanism on eroded, stratified rock sequences), and Hawaii (made up of large basaltic shield volcanoes like Olympus Mons on Mars).
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We also see a variety of familiar landforms, like wind-formed dunes. Other kinds of sedimentary deposits are present as well, known by names such as Transverse Aeolian Ridges (or TARs) and Polar Layered Deposits (PLDs). One of the more intriguing features found on Mars is known as Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL). These features appear and fade in gullies and crater walls as the seasons and temperatures change on Mars. One theory suggests the dark streaks may be made by very salty, liquid water seeping to the surface and quickly evaporating.
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Inside_Mars.
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Like Earth, this planet has undergone differentiation, resulting in a dense, metallic core region overlaid by less dense materials. Current models of the planet’s interior imply a core region about 1,794 km (1,115 mi) ± 65 km (40 mi) in radius, consisting primarily of iron and nickel with about 16–17% sulfur. This iron sulfide core is partially fluid, and has twice the concentration of the lighter elements that exist at Earth’s core. The core is surrounded by a silicate mantle that formed many of the tectonic and volcanic features on the planet, but now appears to
Crust
be dormant. Besides silicon and oxygen, the most abundant elements in the Martian crust are iron, magnesium, aluminum, calcium, and potassium. The average thickness of the planet’s crust is about 50 km (31 mi), with a maximum thickness of 125 km (78 mi). Earth’s crust, averaging 40 km (25 mi), is only one third as thick as Mars’s crust, relative to the sizes of the two planets. The InSight lander planned for 2016 will use a seismometer to better constrain the models of the interior
Mantle
Partial melt
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InSight - Studying_the_‘Inner Space’_of_Mars. -
InSight_Science_Goals. -
The InSight mission seeks to uncover how a rocky body forms and evolves to become a planet by investigating the interior structure and composition of Mars. The mission will also determine the rate of Martian tectonic activity and meteorite impacts MOON TO MARS | VOL. 01
InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to give the Red Planet its first thorough checkup since it formed 4.5 billion years ago. It is the first outer space robotic explorer to study in-depth the “inner space” of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core. Studying Mars’ interior structure answers key questions about the early formation of rocky planets in our inner solar system - Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars - more than 4 billion years ago, as well as rocky exoplanets. InSight also measures tectonic activity and meteorite impacts on Mars today. The lander uses cutting edge instruments, to delve deep beneath the surface and seek the fingerprints of the processes that formed the terrestrial planets. It does so by measuring the planet’s “vital signs”: its “pulse” (seismology), “temperature” (heat flow), and “reflexes” (precision tracking). This mission is part of NASA’s Discovery Program for highly focused science missions that ask critical questions in solar system science.
InSight Collecting Mars Weather Data (Artist’s Concept) This artist’s concept shows NASA’s InSight lander with its instruments deployed on the Martian surface. InSight’s package of weather sensors, called the Auxiliary Payload Subsystem (APSS), includes an air pressure sensor inside the lander -- its inlet is visible on InSight’s deck -- and two air temperature and wind sensors on the deck. Under the deck’s edge is a magnetometer, provided by UCLA, to measure changes in the local magnetic field that could also influence SEIS. InSight’s air temperature and wind sensors are actually refurbished spares built for Curiosity’s Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS). Called Temperature and Wind for InSight, or TWINS, these two eastand west-facing booms sit on the lander’s deck and were provided by Spain’s Centro de Astrobiología (CAB). Credit: NASA
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Orbit_and_Rotation. Axial_tilt.
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One rotation/day on Mars is completed within 24.6 hours while a whole trip around the Sun or year, is completed within 669.6 days. Mars has a relatively pronounced orbital eccentricity of about 0.09. Of the seven other planets in the Solar System, only Mercury has a larger orbital eccentricity. It is known that in the past, Mars had a much more circular orbit. At one point, 1.35 million Earth years ago, Mars had an eccentricity of roughly 0.002, much less than that of Earth today. It is believed that the closest distance between Earth and Mars will continue to mildly decrease for the
Mars’s axis of rotation is tilted 25.2 degrees similar to Earth which has an axial tilt of 23.4 degrees. It has seasons though they last longer than on Earth since Mars takes longer to orbit the Sun. The seasons vary in length due to Mars’s elliptical, egg-shaped orbit around the Sun.
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Sunset in Mars Gale Crater NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover recorded this view of the sun setting at the close of the mission’s 956th Martian day, or sol (April 15, 2015), from the rover’s location in Gale Crater. This was the first sunset observed in color by Curiosity. The image comes from the left-eye camera of the rover’s Mast Camera (Mastcam). The color has been calibrated and white-balanced to remove camera artifacts. Mastcam sees color very similarly to what human eyes see, although it is actually a little less sensitive to blue than people are. Dust in the Martian atmosphere has fine particles that permit blue light to penetrate the atmosphere more efficiently than longer-wavelength colors. That causes the blue colors in the mixed light coming from the sun to stay closer to sun’s part of the sky, compared to the wider scattering of yellow and red colors. The effect is most pronounced near sunset, when light from the sun passes through a longer path in the atmosphere than it does at mid-day. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates the rover’s Mastcam. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project’s Curiosity rover.
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Mars’_Atmosphere.
September 12, 2017
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By Tim Sharp
Mars is a planet that shows climate change on a large scale. Although Mars’ atmosphere used to be thick enough for water to run on the surface, today that water is either scarce or non-existent. The atmosphere today is also too thin to easily support life as we know it, although life may have existed in the ancient past. The climate of Mars comes from a variety of factors, including its ice caps, water vapor and dust storms. At times, giant dust storms can blanket the entire planet and last for months, turning the sky hazy and red.
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What_is_Mars’ atmosphere_made_of?
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The atmosphere of Mars is about 100 times thinner than Earth’s, and it is 95 percent carbon dioxide. Here’s a breakdown of its composition, according to a NASA fact sheet: - Carbon dioxide: 95.32 percent - Nitrogen: 2.7 percent - Argon: 1.6 percent - Oxygen: 0.13 percent - Carbon monoxide: 0.08 percent - Also, minor amounts of: water, nitrogen oxide, neon, hydrogen-deuterium-oxygen, krypton and xenon
Clouds over Mars! This is the first color image ever taken from the surface of Mars of an overcast sky. Featured are pink stratus clouds coming from the northeast at about 15 miles per hour (6.7 meters/second) at an approximate height of ten miles (16 kilometers) above the surface. The clouds consist of water ice condensed on reddish dust particles suspended in the atmosphere. Clouds on Mars are sometimes localized and can sometimes cover entire regions, but have not yet been observed to cover the entire planet. The image was taken about an hour and forty minutes before sunrise by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 16 at about ten degrees up from the eastern Martian horizon. Sojourner spent 83 days of a planned seven-day mission exploring the Martian terrain, acquiring images, and taking chemical, atmospheric and other measurements. The final data transmission received from Pathfinder was at 10:23 UTC on September 27, 1997. Although mission managers tried
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to restore full communications during the following five months, the successful mission was terminated on March 10, 1998.
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Climate_and_weather.
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The atmosphere of Mars is also roughly 100 times thinner than Earth’s, but it is still thick enough to support weather, clouds and winds. There is also radiation at its surface, but it shouldn’t be enough to
stop Mars exploration. Giant dust devils routinely kick up the oxidized iron dust that covers Mars’ surface. Dust is also a permanent part of the atmosphere, with higher amounts of it in the northern fall and winter, and lower amounts in the northern spring and summer. The dust storms of Mars are the largest in the solar system, capable of blanketing the entire planet and lasting for months. Strong winds lift more dust off the ground, which in turn heats the atmosphere, raising more wind and kicking up more dust. At times, it even snows on Mars. The Martian snowflakes, made of carbon dioxide rather than water, are thought to be very small particles that create a fog effect rather than appearing as falling snow. The north and south polar regions of Mars are capped by ice, much of it made from carbon dioxide, not water. Today, NASA says seasonal changes are due to the waxing and waning of the carbon dioxide ice caps, dust moving around in the atmosphere, and water vapor moving between the surface and the atmosphere. (Most of the water comes from the north water ice cap, which is exposed and sublimates during the Martian summer when carbon dioxide evaporates off the cap.)
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Early in its history (particularly in periods older than 3.5 billion years ago) Mars had a thick enough atmosphere for water to run on its surface. Orbital pictures show vast river plains and possible ocean boundaries, while several Mars rovers have found evidence of water-soaked rocks on the surface (such as hematite or clay). However, for reasons that are still poorly understood, the Martian atmosphere thinned. The leading theory is that Mars’ light gravity, coupled with its lack of global magnetic field, left the atmosphere vulnerable to pressure from the solar wind, the constant stream of particles coming from the sun. Mars’ thin atmosphere and its greater distance from the sun mean that Mars is much colder than Earth. The average temperature is about minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit (- 60 degrees Celsius), although it can vary from minus 195 F ( - 125 C) near the poles during the winter to as much as a comfortable 70 F (20 C) at midday near the equator.
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Martian_Moons.
Mars has two small moons: Phobos and Deimos. Phobos (fear) and Deimos (panic) were named after the horses that pulled the chariot of the Greek war god Ares, the counterpart to the Roman war god Mars. Both Phobos and Deimos were discovered in 1877 by American astronomer Asaph Hall. The moons appear to have surface materials similar to many asteroids in the outer asteroid belt, which leads most scientists to believe that Phobos and Deimos are captured asteroids
Deimos
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(Panic)
Martian Moon Deimos
Deimos is the smaller of the two Martian moons and is less irregular in shape. The largest crater on Deimos is approximately 2.3 km in diameter, 1/5 the size of the largest crater on Phobos. Although both moons are heavily cratered, Deimos has a smoother appearance caused by the partial filling of some of its craters. When impacted, dust and debris will leave the surface of the moon because it doesn’t have enough gravitational pull to retain the ejecta. However, the gravity from Mars will keep a ring of this debris around the planet in approximately the same region that the moon orbits. As the moon revolves, the debris is redeposited as a dusty layer on its surface.
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Another interesting feature about Phobos is the duration of its orbit. Phobos revolves around Mars at an astounding rate. In fact, it revolves around Mars 3 times during one Martian day! As a result, Phobos appears to rise in the west, and set in the east!
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(Fear) Phobos is the larger of the two heavily-cratered Martian moons and is dominated by three large craters. The largest of Phobos’ craters, Stickney, was named after the wife of Asaph Hall, the astronomer who discovered the moons of Mars. Stickney crater is 10 km in diameter, which is almost half of the average diameter of Phobos! The crater is so large relative to the size of Phobos that the satellite probably came close to breaking up. Radiating away from Stickney are sets of parallel grooves or striations. These fractures undoubtably formed as a result of the impact that produced Stickney.
Martian Moon Phobos The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment HiRISE camera on NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took two images of the larger of Mars two moons, Phobos, within 10 minutes of each other on March 23, 2008. This is the first.
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Gullies at the Edge of Hale Crater, Mars The image below from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows gullies near the edge of Hale crater on southern Mars. The view covers an area about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) across and was taken on Aug. 3, 2009. Scientists are excited to study these features because, on Earth, they usually
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form through the action of liquid water; long thought to be absent on the Martian surface.
Frosty Gullies on the Northern Plains Seasonal frost commonly forms at middle and high latitudes on Mars, much like winter snow on Earth. However, on Mars most frost is carbon dioxide dry ice rather than water ice. This image shows frost in gully alcoves in a crater on the Northern plains. Rugged rock outcrops appear dark and shadowed, while frost highlights the upper alcove and the steepest route
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down the slope.
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Water_on_Mars.
Liquid water may still flow on Mars, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to spot. The search for water on the Red Planet has taken more than 15 years to turn up definitive signs that liquid flows on the surface today. In the past, however, rivers and oceans may have covered the land. Where did all of the liquid water go? Why? How much of it still remains? Observations of the Red Planet indicate that rivers and oceans may have been prominent features in its early history. Billions of years ago, Mars was a warm and wet world that could have supported microbial life in some regions. But the planet is smaller than Earth, with less gravity and a thinner atmosphere. Over time, as liquid water evaporated, more and more of it escaped into space, allowing less to fall back to the surface of the planet. MOON TO MARS
NASA has big plans for returning astronauts to the Moon in 2024, a stepping stone on the path to sending humans to Mars. But where should the first people on the Red Planet land?
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A new paper published in Geophysical Research Letters will help by providing a map of water ice believed to be as little as an inch (2.5 centimeters) below the surface. Water ice will be a key consideration for any potential landing site. With little room to spare aboard a spacecraft, any human missions to Mars will have to harvest what’s already available for drinking water and making rocket fuel. NASA calls this concept “in situ resource utilization,” and it’s an important factor in selecting human landing sites on Mars. Satellites orbiting Mars are essential in helping scientists determine the best places for building the first Martian research station. The authors of the new paper make use of data from two of those spacecraft, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and Mars Odyssey orbiter, to locate water ice that could potentially be within reach of astronauts on the Red Planet. “You wouldn’t need a backhoe to dig up this ice. You could use a shovel,” said the paper’s lead author, Sylvain Piqueux of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “We’re continuing to collect data on buried ice on Mars, zeroing in on the best places for astronauts to land.”
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Mars_Exploration_Rovers.
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Theoretically, Mars is populated by robots since we sent so many there. In January 2004, two robotic geologists named Spirit and Opportunity landed on opposite sides of the red planet. With far greater mobility than the 1997 Mars Pathfinder rover, these robotic explorers have trekked for miles across the Martian surface, conducting field geology and making atmospheric observations. Carrying identical, sophisticated sets of science instruments, both rovers have found evidence of ancient Martian environments where intermittently wet and habitable conditions existed.
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First among the mission’s scientific goals was to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils for clues to past water activity on Mars. The rovers were targeted to sites on opposite sides of Mars that looked like they were affected by liquid water in the past. Spirit landed at Gusev Crater, a possible former lake in a giant impact crater. Opportunity landed at Meridiani Planum, a place where mineral deposits suggested that Mars had a wet history. The rovers bounced onto the surface inside a landing craft protected by airbags. When they stopped rolling, the airbags were deflated and the landing craft opened. The rovers rolled out to take panoramic images. These images gave scientists the information they needed to select promising geological targets to tell the story of water in Mars’ past.
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Mars Rover Curiosity in Artist Concept This artist concept features NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars past or present ability to sustain microbial life. Curiosity is being tested in preparation for launch in the fall of 2011.
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lasted 20 times longer than its original design until its final communication to Earth on March 22, 2010. Opportunity continues to operate more than a decade after launch. In 2015, Opportunity broke the record for extraterrestrial travel by rolling greater than the distance of a 26-mile (42-kilometer) marathon.
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eralogical makeup of Martian rocks and soil. Special rock abrasion tools, never before sent to another planet, have enabled scientists to peer beneath the dusty and weathered surfaces of rocks to examine their interiors. Spirit and Opportunity each found evidence for past wet conditions that possibly could have supported microbial life. by Both rovers exceeded their planned 90-day mission lifetimes by many years. Spirit
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Then, the rovers drove to those locations and beyond to perform close-up scientific investigations. Since leaving their landing sites, the twin rovers have sent hundreds of thousands of spectacular, high-resolution, full-color images of Martian terrain as well as detailed microscopic images of rocks and soil surfaces to Earth. Four different spectrometers have amassed unparalleled information about the chemical and min-
Tracks of a Climb on Opportunity Sol 3485 NASA Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity captured this image as the rover ascended Murray Ridge above Solander Point on the western rim of Endeavour Crater.
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MISSION TYPE: Rover Pair: “Spirit” and “Opportunity” LAUNCH LOCATION: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Launch: June 10, 2003 UTC
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Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7925
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SPIRIT
Landing: January 4, 2004 Landing Site: Gusev Crater End of Mission: March 22, 2010
OPPORTUNITY Launch: July 8, 2003 UTC Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7925H (Delta II Heavy) Landing: January 25, 2004 Landing Site: Meridiani Planum End of Mission:
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February 13, 2019
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Iron-Nickel_Meteorite Zapped_by_Mars_Rover’s_Laser. The dark, golf-ball-size object in this composite, colorized view from the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover shows a grid of shiny dots where ChemCam had fired laser pulses used for determining the chemical elements in the target’s composition.
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The analysis confirmed that this object, informally named “Egg Rock,” is an iron-nickel meteorite. Those meteorites are a common class of space rocks found on Earth, and previous examples have been found on Mars, but Egg Rock is the first on Mars to be examined with a laser-firing spectrometer. The laser pulses on Oct. 30, 2016, induced bursts of glowing gas at the target, and ChemCam’s spectrometer read the wavelengths of light from those bursts to gain information about the target’s composition. The laser pulses also burned through the dark outer surface, exposing bright interior material. The view of the previous page combines two images taken later the same day by ChemCam’s remote micro-imager (RMI) camera, with color added from an image taken by Curiosity’s Mast Camera (Mastcam).
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Egg Rock’s dimension
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Martian sand dunes are blowing in the wind — but slowly, and based on factors that don’t affect sand movement here on Earth. Scientists tracked the movement of nearly 500 individual dunes, all using data gathered by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. By studying the movement of all that sand, the researchers were able to compare the interaction between wind and sand on the Red Planet with the same interaction on Earth. “On Mars, there simply is not enough wind energy to move a substantial amount of material around on the surface,” lead author Matthew Chojnacki, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona, said in a statement. “It might take two years on Mars to see the same movement you’d typically see in a season on Earth.” Chojnacki and his colleagues used images taken by HiRISE, a specialized camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that images the surface of Mars with incredibly detailed photographs. Those photographs include plenty of scenes of sand dunes rippling across the planet. Scientists are particularly interested in the sand dunes because they represent areas where the surface is changing enough that the same material isn’t getting constantly blasted by the harsh environment. “If you don’t have sand moving around, that means the surface is just sitting there, getting bombarded by ultraviolet and gamma radiation that would destroy complex molecules and any ancient Martian biosignatures,” Chojnacki said. ThE analysis suggests that Martian sand dunes move at a fraction of the speed of those found on Earth — which makes sense given how much thinner an atmosphere the Red Planet boasts than Earth. What was less predictable was that just a handful of spots would sport significantly faster sand movement: Syrtis Major, the Hellespontus mountains and a region called the north polar ergs. The researchers think that the relatively fast sand movement here may be caused by dramatic changes in surface elevation and temperature that arise where different types of surface features neighbor each other. That’s not a situation that prompts winds here on Earth.
The_Sand Dunes_of Mars.
Hanging Sand Dunes within Coprates Chasma. This image was acquired on January 2, 2014 by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Dune fields located among canyon wall slopes are also known as “wall dune fields” and are further identified as either climbing or falling. Falling dunes are defined as large bedforms with lee faces on the downhill side-indicating that this is the direction of their migration-and on moderate slopes greater than 10 to 12 degrees. (A lee face is the the down-wind side of a dune.) On Earth and Mars, these types of dunes are largely controlled by what is called “microtopography.” Physical obstacles can accelerate and decelerate airflow, create turbulence, potentially enhancing erosion, deposition, and/or transport of dune sediment. This class of dune morphology is relatively rare across Mars. However, falling dunes (like these) and climbing fields are frequently located among the spurand-gully walls in the Melas and Coprates chasmata. Here is one example, of active falling dunes on this large massif in east Coprates Chasma. Credit: NASA
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Dramatic Dune Destination. Especially bright patches, bluish in enhanced color, are due to seasonal frost that is accumulating as this hemisphere approaches winter. This image of a sand dune field in a Southern highlands crater was acquired by NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Patches of Snow. In early Martian summer, at the time NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) acquired this image, the dunes are almost free of their seasonal ice cover. Only pockets of ice protected in the shade most of the day remain. The North Pole of Mars is surrounded by a vast sea of sand dunes. In this dune field, the dunes are covered by a seasonal cap of dry ice in the winter.
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Bang and Whoosh. A Spectacular New Martian Impact Crater A dramatic, fresh impact crater dominates this image taken on Nov. 19, 2013. The crater spans approximately 100 feet (30 meters) in diameter and is surrounded by a large, rayed blast zone. Because the terrain where the crater formed is dusty, the fresh crater appears blue in the enhanced color of the image, due to removal of the reddish dust in that area. Debris tossed outward during the formation of the crater is called ejecta. In examining ejecta’s distribution, scientists can learn more about the impact event. The explosion that
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excavated this crater threw ejecta as far as 9.3 miles (15 kilometers).
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Impact-Induced Dust Avalanches
In this scene we see what appears to be a new impact cluster and, extending downhill from the craters, new dark slope streaks. These slope streaks are formed by dry dust avalanches.
Impact Near the South Pole This image shows a new impact crater that formed between July and September 2018. It occurred in the seasonal southern ice cap, and has apparently punched through it, creating a two-toned blast pattern. The impact hit on the ice layer, and the tones of the blast pattern tell us the sequence. When an impactor hits the ground, there is a tremendous amount of force like an explosion. The larger, lighter-colored blast pattern could be the result of scouring by winds from the impact shockwave. The darker-colored inner blast pattern is because the impactor penetrated the thin ice layer, excavated the dark sand underneath, and threw
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it out in all directions on top of the layer.
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The_Martian_North Polar_Cap_in_Summer. This is a wide angle view of the martian north polar cap as it appeared to the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) in early northern summer. The picture was acquired on March 13, 1999, near the start of the Mapping Phase of the MGS mission. The light-toned surfaces are residual water ice that remains through the summer season. The nearly circular band of dark material surrounding the cap consists mainly of sand dunes formed and shaped by wind. The north polar cap is roughly 1100 kilometers (680 miles) across.
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The_Future of_Mars_Exploration.
Opportunity Catches its Shadow on Sol 180. This self-portrait of NASA Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity comes courtesy of the Sun and the rover front hazard-avoidance camera. The dramatic snapshot of Opportunity shadow was tak-
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en as the rover continues to move farther into Endurance Crater.
We are not done studying Mars. In 2020, NASA will send the Mars 2020 rover to continue seeking the signs of life on Mars. Another aspect of the Mars 2020 rover mission will be to collect carefully documented rock and soil samples that we hope to return to Earth for study. Other countries (and even some private companies) have also become very interested in Mars and will be sending spacecraft there. In 2020 alone, five other spacecraft are currently scheduled to launch: the ExoMars rover (European Space Agency), the United Arab Emirates Hope Orbiter, a Japanese orbiter, a Chinese rover and a SpaceX Dragon capsule. NASA is also planning to send humans to Mars sometime in the future. Preparations are being made, primarily through our robotic exploration in collaboration with the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) and the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). The Mars 2020 rover will help us understand the current weather, winds, radiation, and dust environment, and will demonstrate technologies that will help humans once there.
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Stunning Image of Rosetta above Mars taken by the Philae Lander Camer. Stunning image taken by the CIVA imaging instrument on Rosetta Philae land-
planet’s disk. Mawrth Vallis is particularly relevant as it is one of the areas
er just 4 minutes before closest approach at a distance of some 1000 km from
on the Martian surface where the OMEGA instrument on board ESA’s Mars
Mars on Feb. 25, 2007. A portion of the spacecraft and one of its solar arrays
Express detected the presence of hydrated clay minerals -- a sign that water
are visible in nice detail. Beneath, the Mawrth Vallis region is visible on the
may have flown abundantly on that region in the very early history of Mars.
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There are many plans for Mars, including terraforming and sending people on it, but it remains to be seen, hopes are high and missions continue.
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Credits Free University of Bozen-Bolzano Faculty of Design and Art
Bachelor in Design and Art – Major in Design WUP 19/20 | 1st-semester foundation course
Project Modul: Editorial Design
Design by: Stefano Lattuada Magazine | Moon to Mars
Supervision: Project leader: Prof. Antonino Benincasa
MOON TO MARS
Project assistants: Maximilian Boiger, Andreas Trenker
Photography: NASA
Paper: Inside pages – SERIMAX, 190 g/m2
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Cover – CURIOS Skin black, 270 g/m2
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Format: 220xy x 280xy mm
Fonts | Font Sizes & Leading: Body Text
Module proportion:
Helvetica Neue Regular
1.428 : 1
9/10,8 pt CPL | Character per line - Body Text: Caption Text
70 characters including spaces
Helvetica Neue Regular 6/7,2 pt
Binding: Saddle stitch binding
Title Text
Glue binding
Helvetica Neue Bold
Staple Binding
30/36 pt
Japanese Binding Or whatever Binding you used
Subtitle Text Helvetica Neue Medium 12/13 pt
Printed: Bozen-Bolzano, January 2020
Layout Grid:
Inside pages – Digital Print | Canon
6 Column Grid
Cover – Digital Print | Roland UV
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