OPENING QUESTION: Take a few moments and view <actual> pictures from the surface of Mars.

Pick one you think is particularly interesting/compelling and share that with us on our BIG BOARD

LEARNING GOAL: I will develop a general understanding of the surface of the planet Mars during today's class.

WORDS O' THE DAY:

WORK O' THE DAY

What are 5 (count 'em FIVE) essentials that humans MUST have in order to survive and thrive on the planet Mars. Please turn and talk and be prepared to share your thoughts with the class.

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Let's review some very general features of the planet Mars:

  • Mars is about about 150 million miles from the sun. The Earth is (roughly) 100 million miles from the sun. Obviously Mars gets less sunlight than the Earth.

    • How much less?
    • Is there a mathematical relationship here?

  • Mars' Gravity is roughly 1/3 of Earth's Gravity of 9.8 m/s/s (or m/s2 if you prefer)

  • Mars' barely even has an atmosphere, in fact it's atmosphere is only about 1% that of Earth. That means your blood would boil if you walked on the Martian surface without a space suit. Oh, and what little atmosphere there is on Mars is almost totally carbon dioxide (CO2)

  • Martian Soil is toxic. Many of those of us who LOVE the movie The Martian were recently *MOST* disappointed with the discovery of a chemical compound in the soil of Mars that makes growing things in Martian dirt WITHOUT treating it first... well... impossible. The good news is that we can treat Martian soil to use it, but of course that takes work, time, energy and resources to do that.

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