2016
NoCoAstro
INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS | NASA
Nine Real NASA Technologies in ‘The Martian’
OUR JOURNEY
Mars seems to be the most talked about, read about, dreamed
about planet in our solar system. Is it simply a matter of proximity? Or perhaps
it’s something deeper? The more we learn about Mars, the more we fantasize
about taking the next big step in human exploration:
colonizing another world.
Humans have been watching Mars for thousands of years…
and we’re just getting started.
EDITOR
Amanda Bell
May
CONTACT
Questions, comments, submissions, photos or just to say ‘hello’:
ObjView at NoCoAstro dot org
NoCoAstro
JUNE
NOCOASTRO MEETING
Join us for our monthly awesomely-nerdy astro talk:
Date: Thursday, June 2nd, 6:15-7:45pm
Speaker: Dr. Joseph DiVerdi
Radio Astronomy at Table Mountain
DID YOU KNOW…? All meetings are FREE & open to the public!
Just stop by the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery.
NOCOASTRO OUTREACH
4th, Saturday
10th and 24th, Friday
11th, Saturday
18th, Saturday
25th, Saturday
Jackson Lake, 9pm
RMNP (park fee req’d), 8:30pm
Fossil Creek Reservoir, 9pm
Boyd Lake SP (park fee req’d), 9pm
Bobcat Ridge (free pre-register req’d), 9pm
May
SUPERIOR MARS
ORIGIN OF NAME: Mars was named after the Roman god of war, most-likely due to the ancient idea that the red
planet was bloody. Interestingly, many ancient cultures named the red planet after their own gods of war.
ATMOSPHERE TYPE: With less than 1% Earth’s atmosphere, Mars receives no protection from solar radiation nor
does it retain any heat. Where did the atmosphere go and why? Composition: 95% carbon dioxide. It is also filled with tiny iron
oxide particles that give Mars its distinctive color.. but has Mars always been red?
MOONS: Two moons, Phobos (meaning fear) and Deimos (meaning panic), orbit extremely close to the Martian surface.
Phobos orbits at a mere 5,826 miles and Deimos at only 14,576 miles. Compare this to our own moon which orbits
~238,855 miles from Earth’s surface!
SIZE:
EQUATORIAL CIRCUMFERENCE: ~13,233 miles [53% Earth].
VOLUME: ~39 billion cubic miles [15% Earth volume].
MASS: ~6.42 * 10^23 kg [11% Earth mass].
MEAN DENSITY: ~3.9 g/cm cubed [71.4% Earth density].
UNCOMPRESSED DENSITY: 3.8 g/cm cubed. Mars’ density also increases as you move
from the surface toward the core because its outer layers are made of silicates and the core
made of iron and nickel, like the Earth. [Mars is the least dense of our terrestrial worlds. Do
you know why?] Uncompressed density is the average density if the planetary materials were
at zero pressure. Higher uncompressed density indicates greater metal content.
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May
MAGNETIC FIELD: Just because Mars no longer has a magnetic field doesn’t mean this was
always the case. Evidence from the Mars Global Surveyor shows powerful magnetic crustal fields on the
planet’s surface which were far more powerful than those found on Earth!
NoCoAstro
SURFACE GRAVITY: ~.71 m/s squared [38% Earth surface gravity]. A 100-lb person on Earth would weigh - you
guessed it - 38-lbs on Mars. NASA has even created an awesome new Mars gravity map to aid future exploration.
SURFACE AREA: ~55 million square miles [28% Earth surface area]. Interestingly, Mars’ entire surface area is about
the same size as Earth’s exposed land surfaces.
PLANETARY COMPOSITION: Mars is the last terrestrial (rocky) planet in our solar system. So, why isn't Mars
gaseous? Its red surface, famed in song and story, is covered in hundreds of volcanoes that erupted for millions of years. This is
why we call it the red planet: millennia of volcanic eruptions have covered the surface in iron-rich basalt which
oxidized in the Martian atmosphere.
DISTANCE FROM SUN: ~141 million miles [152% Earth distance].
ORBIT: The orbit of Mars has been observed & documented for thousands of years. Mars has a very
eccentric orbit of 0.09339, second only to Mercury [and 5.589x Earth orbital eccentricity]. Did you
know that over time orbital eccentricity will change due to the gravitational influence of nearby
planetary bodies? As recently as 1.35 million years ago Mars was in a nearly-circular orbit!
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EQUATORIAL INCLINATION: ~25.19 degrees [less than 2 degrees more than Earth]. As a
terrestrial world with a tilt similar to Earth, Mars also experiences seasons. However, they’re twice as long
because a Martian year is about twice as long as an Earth year.
PLANETARY ALBEDO: With an albedo of 0.16, Mars is only a little more reflective than Mercury or Earth’s moon.
A value of 0 is a black object absorbing all light while reflecting none; value of 1 is a white object reflecting all light while
absorbing none. Rocky objects usually have low albedos while reflective planets or satellites with clouds have high albedos.
TEMPERATURE CHANGES: You’ve probably guessed that with an atmosphere 100x thinner than Earth’s, Mars
NoCoAstro
May
lacks the ability to retain heat. Night at the planetary poles may reach -225 degrees F while a summer day on the equator may
climb to a mere 70 degrees F at noon. Another interesting effect of such a thin atmosphere is that water on Mars can boil at
temperatures as low as 0 degrees. Rather interestingly, liquid water on Mars exists only as a boiling liquid with an unexpected
effect on the surface: ejecting sediment and causing dry avalanches!
THE ROVER THAT
COULD:
Curiosity rover climbing a
mountain despite wheel damage.
HOW TO GROW
FOOD ON MARS &
THE MOON:
Holes and punctures were
accumulating in the robot’s aluminum
wheels, whose skin is just half as thick
as a dime. Curiosity’s handlers
responded by routing the rover over
gentler terrain to the extent possible.
How do scientists practice growing
food in real lunar and Marian soil?
Despite the damage, officials think the
rover should still be able to make it to
the three key sites team members have
been targeting.
Even though these experiments are
being conducted in the non-sterile
conditions of Earth, scientists have
learned a lot.
“We must regard a plant as a piece of
technology and understand exactly what
happens to it first… We cannot take
risks.”
May
MAKE MARS
GREAT AGAIN:
Can the 2016 election save NASA’s
journey to Mars?
“It will cost a hell of a lot of money to
do it NASA’s way and it's going to take
a commitment like the nation hasn’t
seen since the Apollo program. NASA
presently has neither the money nor
the commitment from Washington, “
says NASA Administrator Charlie
Bolden.
What will our next president do? Keep in
mind that what (s)he may want to do
isn’t always what (s)he is able to.
T E R R E S T R I A L C O M PA R I S O N
Orbital eccentricity: Mercury
has the most
eccentric orbit (by a lot!) of the inner planets at
0.2056. Mars is a distant second place with 0.0934.
Values closest to zero are more circular.
Mass: Earth,
the most massive terrestrial world,
wasn’t even known to be ‘just another planet’ until the
1 6 t h c e n t u r y. D o e s m a s s a f f e c t c h a n c e s f o r l i f e ?
Escape velocity: Mars
has the smallest escape
velocity of our terrestrial planets but not when you
consider the gas giants. Do you know why?
Density: Earth
is the most dense planet in the solar
system, squeaking in just ahead of Mercur y; using
uncompressed density for comparison makes Mercur y
more dense than Ear th. Confused?
completely covered by
toxic clouds, has an incredible albedo. No, that doesn’t
mean Venus likes the other planets a lot.
May
Planetar y albedo: Venus,
PRESIDENT
Trevor Moriarty: pres at NoCoAstro dot org
VICE PRESIDENT
Bob Michael: vp at NoCoAstro dot org
TREASURER & OUTREACH
Greg Halac: treas at NoCoAstro dot org
SECRETARY
Dave Karp: sec at NoCoAstro dot org
NEWSLETTER EDITOR
Amanda Bell: ObjView at NoCoAstro dot org
WE
WA
NT
TO
HE
AR
FR
OM
YO
U!
May
WEBSITE
Paul Fleming: web-edit at NoCoAstro dot org
NoCoAstro
“We have your satellite.
If you want it back send
20 billion in Martian money.
No funny business or
you will never see it again.
”
J aM
n uaayr y
Mars Polar Lander official website
Launched: Jan 3, 1999 | Lost: Dec 3, 1999
― Joke reportedly
written on a wall at
NASA’s JPL, CA, after
losing contact with the
Mars Polar Lander in
December 1999
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