project by : Nadolu Adelina – Ionela

Andone Cristian

Cazan Raluca – Larisa

Grigoras Lavinia Georgiana

Olaru Diana

Teacher: Tanasescu Gabriela Violeta

o“Traian” High School

oConstanta, Romania

http://www.golabz.eu/spaces/planeta-marte-un-proiect-pentru-umanitate

MARS - A PROJECT FOR HUMANITY

• Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second

smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury.

Named after the Roman god of war, it is often referred

to as the "Red Planet" because the iron

oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a

reddish apparance. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a

thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent

both of the impact craters of the Moon and the

volcanoes, valleys, deserts, and polar ice

caps of Earth. The rotational period and seasonal

cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth,

as is the tilt that produces the seasons. Mars is the

site of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and

second-highest known mountain in the Solar System,

and of Valles Marineris, one of the largest canyons in

the Solar System.

Cydonia is a region on the planet Mars that has attracted

both scientific and popular interest. The name originally

referred to the albedo feature (distinctively coloured area)

that was visible from Earthbound telescopes. The area

borders plains of Acidalia Planitia and the Arabia Terra

highlands. The area includes the regions: "Cydonia Mensae",

an area of flat-topped mesa-like features, "Cydonia Colles", a

region of small hills or knobs, and "Cydonia Labyrinthus", a

complex of intersecting valleys. As with other albedo features

on Mars, the name Cydonia was drawn from classical

antiquity, in this case from Kydonia, a historic polis (or "city-

state") on the island of Crete. Cydonia contains the "Face on

Mars" feature located about half-way between Arandas

Crater and Bamberg Crater.

Cydonia lies in the planet's northern hemisphere in a transitional

zone between the heavily cratered regions to the south and relatively

smooths plains to the north. Some planetologists believe that the northern

plains may once have been ocean beds] and that Cydonia may once have

been a costal zone.

Cydonia was first imaged in detail by the Viking 1 and Viking

2 orbiters. Eighteen images of the Cydonia region were taken by the

orbiters, of which seven have resolutions better than 250

m/pixel (820 ft/pixel).

Olympus Mons is a very large shield

volcano on the planet Mars. By one measure, it has a

height of nearly 25 km (16 mi). Olympus Mons stands

almost three times as tall as Mount Everest's height

above sea level. It is the youngest of the large

volcanoes on Mars, having formed during Mars's

Amazonian Period. It is currently the biggest

discovered Volcano in the Solar System, and had

been known to astronomers since the late 19th

century as the albedo feature Nix Olympica (Latin for

"Olympic Snow"). Its mountainous nature was

suspected well before space probes confirmed its

identity as a mountain.

Olympus Mons is the result of many

thousands of highly fluid, basaltic lava flows that

poured from volcanic vents over a long period of time.

(The Hawaiian Islands exemplify similar shield

volcanoes on a smaller scale – see Mauna Kea.) The

extraordinary size of Olympus Mons is likely because

Mars lacks mobile tectonic plates. Unlike on Earth,

the crust of Mars remains fixed over a stationary

hotspot, and a volcano can continue to discharge lava

Valles Marineris (Latin for Mariner Valleys, named after the Mariner 9 Mars orbiter

of 1971–72 which discovered it) is a system of canyons that runs along the Martian

surface east of the Tharsis region. At more than 4,000 km (2,500 mi) long, 200 km

(120 mi) wide and up to 7 km (23,000 ft) deep, the Valles Marineris rift system is

one of the larger canyons of the Solar System, surpassed only by the rift valleys of

Earth. Valles Marineris is located along the equator of Mars, on the east side of the

Tharsis Bulge, and stretches for nearly a quarter of the planet’s circumference. The

Valles Marineris system starts in the west with Noctis Labyrinthus; proceeding to

the east are Tithonium and Ius chasmata, then Melas, Candor and Ophir

chasmata, then Coprates Chasma, then Ganges, Capri and Eos chasmata.

There have been many

different theories about the formation

of Valles Marineris that have

changed over the years. Ideas in the

1970s were erosion

by water or thermokarst activity,

which is the melting of permafrost in

glacial climes. Thermokarst activity

may contribute, but erosion by water

is a problematic mechanism because

liquid water cannot exist in most

current Martian surface conditions,

which typically experience about 1%

of Earth’s atmospheric pressure and

a temperature range of 148 K.

Gusev is a crater on the planet Mars

and is located at 14.5°S 175.4°E.

The crater is about 166 kilometers in

diameter and formed approximately

three to four billion years ago. It was

named after Russian astronomer

Matvei Gusev (1826–1866) in 1976.

The rocks on the plains of Gusev are a type of basalt. They contain the

minerals olivine, pyroxene, plagioclase, and magnetite, and they look like

volcanic basalt as they are fine-grained with irregular holes (geologists

would say they have vesicles and vugs). Much of the soil on the plains

came from the breakdown of the local rocks. Fairly high levels of nickel

were found in some soils; probably from meteorites. Analysis shows that the

rocks have been slightly altered by tiny amounts of water. Outside coatings

and cracks inside the rocks suggest water deposited minerals, maybe

bromine compounds. All the rocks contain a fine coating of dust and one or

more harder rinds of material. One type can be brushed off, while another

needed to be ground off by the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT).

•

o project by : Napoli Adelina – Ionela

Andone Cristian

Cazan Raluca – Larisa

Grigoras Lavinia Georgiana

Olaru Diana

o “Traian” High School

o Romania