Lakewood High School
Mars Student Imaging Project
Introduction:
Observations and Thoughts
❖ Started with polar ice caps
❖ Lead us to think if life on Mars could be found in glacial
areas
❖ Looked at background information about conditions for
life
❖ Compared conditions for life on Earth and Mars
❖ Deduced what some similar features on Earth and Mars
are
Big Picture Question
❖Has there ever been life on Mars?
➢ Can it exist?
➢ Has it existed before?
➢ Where can it be found?
Research Question & Hypothesis
Can we find locations on Mars that have frozen water and
indications of possible conditions for life?
Hypothesis: If there could be water in pockets which are located
underneath the surface of Mars then could there be life inside of
them?
Working Hypothesis
If there is or ever has been life on Mars we need to find
❖ habitable conditions as far a temperature goes (-15 to 20 degrees C)
❖ places with glacial landforms that contain hematites,
carbonates, as well as chlorides
Background
❖ The main reason why we picked the subject of polar ice caps is so that we
can learn more about it and our class thought that this was the most
interesting subject for us to learn more about.
❖ Our data includes variables such as latitude, longitude, hematite.
Mars
Earth
Methods; Criteria
Glacier like forms that can hold life in small ice chunks. Below, are the most reliable places to find life.
45.5°E, 44.0 °N
51.0°E, 40.81°N
305.0°E, -45.5°N
102.0°E -39.1°N
These are just some places where there could or have been life. In these ice chunks we could find
microorganisms that can give and tell a lot of information about Mars past.
Methods;
Data Collection Plan
Data Collection Plan
We researched:
❖ Carbonate
❖ Temperature
❖ Hematite
❖ Chloride
❖ HEND Layer
Because these are favorable elements for life.
Data
Area
Temperature
Latitude
Longitude
HEND
layer
Hematite
Carbonate
Chloride
1
190° kelvin
40.0° N
45.5 °E
2
1
1
2
2
437.1° kelvin
40.81°
N
51.0 °E
2
1
1
0
3
215° kelvin
-45.5
°N
305.5 °E
2
0
0
1
4
218.6° kelvin
-39.1°N
102.0° E
2
1
1
1
5
190.1° kelvin
40.81 N
51.56 E
2
1
1
2
6
213.01°
kelvin
-42.5 N
108.6 E
2
1
1
0
7
187° kelvin
42.5 N
50.28 E
2
1
1
1
8
208.06°
kelvin
-48.0 N
42.2 E
2
1
1
2
Graph
Results
Throughout this experiment, we collected data on the HEND layer, hematite, carbonate,
chloride, and what the temperature was like. To collect that data we looked at what the
color of the area was, which gave a score as to how much of each substance was in
each of the eight glacier like forms we looked at. The scale we used was 0, 1, and 2. 0
means that it is not present at all. One means the color was blue and purple, which is a
low amount. Then 2 is green and yellow, a medium amount of the substance. After all
the research we did, we can’t definitely say that there has been life on Mars, mostly
because we can’t conduct any real experiment there, but hope in the future that scientist
will tunnel underground at the glacier like forms that we choose, and take water ice from
below the surface and test it for microbes. The areas though that we believe will be best
fit for further research are areas 1,5 and 8 due to their overall totals, being the highest.
Therefore if the experiment is conducted further , then we recommend scientist look at
areas 1,5 and 8.
Potential error
Temperature of area 2 (437.1 Kelvin)
Potential for human error
Wrong interpretation of the data
Wrong numbers corresponding with colors
Next Step
The next step that we can take with our presentation to state our ideas and our
understandings is…
Look into the possibility the Wire-line Analysis Tool for Substance Observations
of Northern-ice-sheets (WATSON) has to find life on Mars and maybe finding
microbes in the water
Look at biosignatures or heat signatures on Mars to possibly find life
References
“Overview I Mars Exploration Program.” NASA. 14 March 2017.
“Four Conditions for Bacterial Growth.” LIVESTRONG.COM. 20 February 2017. 14 March 2017.
“How does water on Mars and the moon differ from water on Earth?” HowStuffWorks Science. 09
August 2010. 14 March 2017
“Polar Regions - Page 3.” Phoenix Mars Mission - Education - Mars 101 - Polar Regions. 14 March
2017.
“These Ultra-Small Bacteria May Be The Tiniest LIfe Forms on Earth.” The Huffington Post. 02
March 2015. 14 March 2017.
“New 3-D map of Mars’ ice caps reveal hidden structures.” AOL.com. 05 January 2017. 14 March
2017.
“Nightingale Rose Diagram Excel Template” Excel How To. N.p., 19 May 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2017.