Mars Exploration Mind Map | Mind Map

The Red Planet

Mars Overview

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Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. Arid, rocky, cold and apparently lifeless, the Red Planet offers few hospitalities. Fans of extreme sports can rejoice, however, for the Red Planet will challenge even the hardiest souls among us. Home to the largest volcano in the solar system, the deepest canyon and crazy weather and temperature patterns, Mars looms as the ultimate lonely planet destination.

Why Mars

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There are several strategic, practical and scientific reasons for humans to explore Mars. Among them we know that Mars is the most accessible place in the solar system. Additionally, exploring Mars provides the opportunity to possibly answer origin and evolution of life questions, and could someday be a destination for survival of humankind. In the strategic sense, exploring Mars demonstrates our political and economic leadership as a nation, improves the quality of life on Earth, helps us learn about our home planet, and expands US leadership in the peaceful, international exploration of space.

Mar Facts

Average distance from Sun

Earth: 93 million miles

Mars: 142 million miles

Average Speed in Orbiting Sun

Earth: 18.5 miles per second

Mars: 14.5 miles per second

Diameter

Earth: 7,926 miles

Mars: 4,220 miles

Length of Year

Earth: 365.25 Days

Mars: 687 Earth Days

Temperature

Earth: Average 57 degrees F

Mars: Average -81 degrees F

Atmosphere

Earth: nitrogen, oxygen, argon, others

Mars: mostly carbon dioxide, some water vapor

Number of Moons

Earth:1

Mars: 2

Martian Moon

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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

Phobos

Mission to Mars

Flyby

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MISSION FACTS : Design lander mission is to conduct experiment of particle in space. To provide an image that has the lowest range most appropriate for the surface. The mission is to provide experience in operation technique and engineering for Martian long term mission.

Orbiter

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MISSION FACTS : Orbiter allows us to understand the planet as a whole. A lot of information about the planet discovered such as the atmosphere, the Earth, gravity, magnetic fields, mineral deposits, the internal structure of the planet and the weather.

Lander

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MISSION FACTS : Lander is a wheeled vehicle with scientific equipment for research purposes Martian surface. Today, we not only landed in one place, but it has been proven that we can move on the surface of Mars.

Rover

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MISSION FACTS : Mars rover is an automated motor vehicle that moves itself on the surface of Mars after landing. Rover has several advantages over a stationary lander. Rover can check the wider area

Meet The Rovers

Sojourner

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Sojourner is a rover that landed on Mars in 1997 in a location called Ares Vallis where it explored and took many photos.

Spirit & Opportunity

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Spirit and Opportunity are twin rovers that were made to learn more about the planet Mars.

Curiosity

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Curiosity is a rover that was sent to Mars to determine if the Red Planet ever had the proper conditions for microbial life to survive.

Preseverance

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Perseverance is a rover that landed on Mars on February 18, 2021. It is studying a region of Mars called Jezero Crater. This rover will answer lots of questions about the Red Planet and search for signs of past microbial life.

Mission Timeline

Past

Mars provides an ideal landscape for understanding the early history of the solar system and how small planets transform over time. The terrestrial planets Venus, Earth, and Mars formed over 4.5 billion years ago from similar building blocks of minerals and elements. Nevertheless, their transformation over time to the present has followed dramatically different paths. Venus presently has a thick atmosphere made primarily of carbon dioxide with surface temperatures and pressures ~450 C and 92 atmospheres. Although Venus may once have had an ocean its present surface is dry. Mars, on the other hand, has surface pressures that are only around 1 % of the surface pressure at Earth and surface temperatures that seldom reach the melting point of ice and plunge dramatically at nighttime even in mid-latitude regions. Early on, we now know that Mars had rivers and large lakes and perhaps even a northern ocean. The history of Mars since this point is one of dehydradation, gradual loss of a significant portion of its atmosphere, and near surface water turning into ice. Were the early wet conditions favorable for the emergence of life and how long could this life persisted if it did form? Microbial life on Earth that emerged early in its geological history occupies nearly every available niche that provides sufficient energy in the form of transportable nutrients and even Earth’s atmosphere currently bears the stamp of life with most of the oxygen present in the atmosphere produced over time by microbes. Likewise, methane in the atmosphere that can be destroyed by photochemistry over periods of several hundred years is constantly replenished by a variety of biological sources. We have not yet found evidence of past or present life on either Venus or Mars or on any extraterrestrial body for that matter, although this fundamental question motivates our missions of exploration and programs such as the MEP.

Present

Despite the fact that Mars may once have been warm and wet, it is now a cold, dry, barren place. The atmosphere is thin and mainly carbon dioxide. Ultraviolet and other forms of intense radiation bathe the surface, because Mars has a thin atmosphere and no active magnetic field to protect it. The primary geological processes currently shaping its surface are impact cratering, wind-driven transport of sediment, condensation/sublimation of water and carbon dioxide ice, and landslides. However, there are many things we do not yet know about Mars, or do not know very well. The presence of very large volcanoes at the surface indicates that Mars through time has been getting rid of heat. How warm is the interior of Mars? Is there seismic activity (Marsquakes)? Is there life on Mars today? The Mars Exploration Program currently has five operating missions at Mars to help address these questions. Additionally, other countries and space agencies have missions at Mars right now too!

Future

We are not done studying Mars. NASA will be launching the Insight mission in 2018 to study the interior of Mars. For the first time, we'll get sophisticated geophysical measurements from the interior, including heat flow and measurement of seismic activity. In 2020, NASA will also 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.

Mars Gallery

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