Sept. 23, 2011: 10am class

1. Sept. 23, 2011: 10am class • Midterm on Wednesday • Will post “Key Concepts” outline by Sunday • Will go over Starry Night Lab on Monday • Today: • Finish up the Moon • Mars

3. The Gemini Program (1963 – 1966) • 10 manned flights • Goals: • long duration flights and the effect of weightlessness • 2 man teams • Rendevous and docking with other space vehicles • First space walks First US Space Walk, in June 1965 by Edward White, Gemini IV

4. The Apollo Program (1968 – 1972) • See movie: Apollo 13 • Missions • Earth Orbit Apollo 7, Apollo 9 • Lunar Orbit Apollo 8, 10 • Lunar Swing-by Apollo 13 • Lunar Landing • Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 See photos on http://images.jsc.nasa.gov

5. The Eagle Lander on the way down from the Command Module, photo by Michael Collins

6. July 20, 1969: Neil Armstrong takes one small step, Followed by Buzz Aldrin:

7. Photo taken on July 20, 1969 by Neil Armstrong: Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, having just planted the American flag.

8. Astronaut Harrison Schmitt standing next to a lunar boulder on Dec. 13, 1972 during Apollo 17

9. The Apollo 14 Lunar Module (LM) as seen by the crew, photographed against the glare of the Sun, February 5, 1971

10. Astronaut James Irwin uses a scoop to sample lunar soil. August 2, 1971, during Apollo 15

11. The Moon trees Apollo 14 took up seeds which were later planted in various locations. One “moon tree” is on the UA campus, a sycamore planted on April 30, 1976 between the Kuiper Space Sciences Building and the Flandrau Planetarium see http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/moon_tree.html

12. Mars

13. Mars = the god of War Terrain is red because of iron oxides (rust) Mars

14. Atmosphere and Weather of Mars • Mars’ atmosphere is tenuous: • air pressure is only 1% of air pressure of Earth • Because of the low air pressure, water can’t exist as a liquid • Mars atmos. is 95% CO2 and 3% N2 • Temperature averages about -50C (way below freezing) • No ozone layer, so the UV solar radiation dissociates H2O into H2 and O. • H2 escapes, O combines with iron  rust, red color • Martian clouds are solid ice crystals of CO2 and H2O

15. Seasons on Mars • Tilt of axis = 24 degrees, similar to Earth  Mars has seasons, as Earth does • One Martian year = 1.88 Earth years • The ellipticity of Mars’s orbit makes seasons more extreme in the southern hemisphere

16. Polar Ice Caps of Mars • Carbon dioxide ice of polar cap sublimates as summer approaches and condenses at opposite pole. (sublimates = goes directly from solid to gas) Late winter Mid-spring Early summer

17. Polar Ice Caps of Mars Residual ice of the polar cap remaining during summer is primarily water ice.

18. Dust Storms on Mars • Seasonal winds can drive dust storms on Mars. • Dust in the atmosphere absorbs blue light, sometimes making the sky look brownish-pink • No trees to stop winds

19. Dust Devils on Marshttp://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20050819a.html

20. Mars Rovers

21. Cyclone on Mars

22. Was Mars’ atmosphere thickerin the past? • Yes – almost certainly • Carbon Dioxide (a greenhouse gas) was produced by volcanos and about 3 billion years ago, the surface of Mars was much hotter • At that time, water probably flowed, and conditions were more similar to Earth

23. Geology of Mars

24. Geology of Mars • Mars has large volcanos and a gigantic rift valley, but no plate tectonics • The crust of Mars is too cold for plate tectonics, and too thick to fracture into plates • Olympus Mons: The largest volcano in the solar system • VallesMarineris: The largest canyon in the solar system • See many features that look like water once flowed on Mars

25. Olympus Mons • Olympus Mons is largest volcano in solar system • What Hawaii would look like if the plates weren’t moving?

26. Olympus Mons Three times as tall as Mt. Everest on Earth

27. Tectonics on Mars • The system of valleys known as VallesMarineris is thought to originate from earthquakes