AST-184L - Lab 7 - Exploring Mars -Samantha Glaberman

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Northern Arizona University *

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184L

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Geography

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Jan 9, 2024

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Name: Samantha Glaberman Lab Instructor: Helen Eifert Lab Section: 001 AST-184L - Lab 7 - Exploring Mars Objectives The objective for this lab is to learn about and explore Mars through readily available datasets. Students should understand basic remote sensing processes and tools. Materials Laptop Introduction Mars has interested humans for millennia. The length of its day, presence of an atmosphere, occurrence of seasons, seasonal variations in its polar caps, and strong evidence that water once existed on the surface led early astronomers to surmise that Mars was Earth-like, perhaps even harboring life. However, the first successful spacecraft mission to Mars (NASA’s Mariner 4, launched in 1964) revealed a world with no liquid water, a thin carbon-dioxide atmosphere, and indications of an ancient, geologically dead surface. Orbiter missions in the 1970’s (NASA’s Mariner 9, Viking 1 & 2, and the USSR’s Mars 2, 3, & 5) showed that while some areas of Mars are ancient, other regions were geologically active in much more recent times. These early missions showed channels that had been carved by flowing water in the past suggesting a more aqueous history. As of October 2016, no confirmed evidence of past or present Martian life has been found, but the search continues. A large amount of data taken at different wavelengths now exists for Mars. Observing planets in different wavelengths of light can tell us an enormous amount of information about a planet. Some of this data is available through a free computer program, Google Earth Pro. Google Earth Pro has many features and views with which to observe Mars, though we will only use a small portion of what the program is capable of.

Name: Samantha Glaberman Lab Instructor: Helen Eifert Lab Section: 001 Exercises Google Mars Open up Google Mars using the link below: https://www.google.com/mars/ Using the Controls You can navigate around the globe around by clicking and holding down the left mouse button and then dragging the Martian globe around. Do this until you find yourself back where you started. You can zoom in or out by scrolling (e.g., mouse scroll wheel) or via the +/- button located in the bottom-right corner of the screen. If you zoom in too much the image will look pixelated as our image quality is not limitless. If you zoom out to much, you will see repeating Mars maps side by side. Exercise 1: Elevation Map The first map we are going to take a look at is an elevation map, the default map on Google Mars. This map uses color to indicate which features are higher or lower relative to other parts of the surface of the planet. To view the elevation map: Notice the color legend titled Elevation located in the bottom-left corner of the window. The legend tells you how to interpret the colors you see on the Martian globe. Zoom out so you can see all of Mars. Notice Mars is mostly composed of two different colors. 1. What are the two different colors (roughly)? Blue and orange 2. What do you think this bimodal distribution (two peaks of data, e.g. lots of high elevations AND lots of low elevations) tells us about Mars or its history? Note that there is not a “right answer” to this question! Just speculate as to why there are primar ily two different color regions on Mars. How could this have happened? Mars has two different-colored regions because a long time ago, it went through all kinds of changes. It got hit by big stuff, which made some parts go high up and other parts go

Name: Samantha Glaberman Lab Instructor: Helen Eifert Lab Section: 001 low down. There were also volcanoes that added to the high parts. And sometimes, Mars had water, which affected the low parts, making them look different. So, it's a mix of events from way back that shaped the planet. 3. Do you think Earth has the same (or similar) bimodal distribution of elevation? If so, where do those differences exist? If not, why do you think Earth and Mars are different in this respect? I think Earth’s evaluation is more diverse than Mars. It’s all over the place with high mountains and deep ocean trenches. Earth has a lot more going on when it comes to its surface. 4. Using the elevation colors, locate the highest point on Mars. Describe the feature using colors and the texture of the terrain. The highest point on Mars is the volcano Olympus Mons. It has a reddish color. It appears to have a relatively smooth and gently sloping terrain. 5. Olympus Mons , the tallest feature on Mars, is about 22 km tall. The San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff are about 4 km tall. How much taller is Olympus Mons than the San Francisco Peaks ? 162.00

Name: Samantha Glaberman Lab Instructor: Helen Eifert Lab Section: 001 6. What type of geological feature do you think Olympus Mons is? (Hint: Field trip!) Shield Volcano 7. Using the elevation colors locate the lowest point on Mars. Describe the feature it is within using colors and the texture of the terrain. The lowest elevation on Mars is within Hellas Planitia. The region has shades of blues and purples on the elevation map The terrian texturevariers from smoother, older impact craters relatively flat plains. 8. Hellas Planitia , the lowest point on Mars, is about 8 km deep. The Grand Canyon in northern Arizona is just under 2 km deep. How much deeper is Hellas Planitia than the Grand Canyon ? Hellas Planitia on Mars is approximately 6 kilometers deeper than the Grand Canyon in Northern Arizona. 9. What type of geologic feature do you think Hellas Planitia is? (Hint: Field trip!) Impact basin

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