# Presentation: 470426

## Slide 1

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  [This image is a placeholder to be projected while guests are coming in.   Presenters can use it for introductory remarks about human fascination with Mars and what we’re learning through time.]

SLIDE DESCRIPTION: The composite Mars shows Lowell’s canals on the bottom half, and the Mars Global Surveyor Mars image on the top.  An artist’s conception of the Mars Exploration Rover is in the right, and an artist’s conception of possible human explorers lines the bottom.
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EXTRAS:
A quote from John Noble Wilford: Author of “Mars Beckons”
Mars tugs at the human imagination like no other planet.  With a force mightier than gravity, it attracts the eye to its shimmering red presence in the clear night sky.  It is like a glowing ember in a field of ethereal lights, projecting energy and promise.  It inspires visions of an approachable world.  The mind vaults to thoughts of what might have been (if Mars were a little closer to the warming Sun) and of what could be (if humans were one day to plant colonies there).  Mysterious Mars, alluring Mars, fourth planet out from the Sun: so far away, and yet, on a cosmic scale, so very near (John Noble Wilford)

## Slide 2

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  Early peoples were fearful of Mars given its red color and strange path in the sky.
Early skywatchers believed that Mars would stop, go in reverse, and move forward again.  That seemed really strange and ominous to them.  Today, we know Mars' strange path in the sky is due to its elliptical orbit.  It's really an optical illusion--called retrograde motion--that occurs when the faster-moving Earth overtakes and passes slower Mars in their orbits.  You can connect with these ancient skywatchers this summer if you go camping.  Mars will be in retrograde July 29 through September 27, so you can even plot its path yourselves!
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
An artists conception of early people watching the sky wondering about the odd movements of the strange red light in the sky.
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EXTRAS:
If questions arise afterwards, an explanatory chart is included at the back of this presentation (p . 61)
The Greek astronomer Hipparchus, in the second century B.C., recognized that Mars did not always move from west to east when seen against the fixed stars.  Sometimes it moved in the opposite direction.  This was a peculiar planet that bore watching.  In 1609, Johannes Kepler finally solved the riddle of the planet’s strange motions.  Earth completes a solar orbit in 365 1/4 days, an Earth year.  Mars, farther out, takes 687 days to orbit the Sun.  As Kepler figured it, the faster moving Earth overtakes and passes the slower Mars in the course of their separate orbits.  To an observer on Earth, Mars appears to be slowing down, stopping, and then reversing course.  

The planet Mars turns retrograde about every two years for a period of about two and a half months. 

## Slide 3

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:	Early civilizations connected Mars with war and aggression.
Mars is named after the Roman god of War.  The Greek word for Mars is Ares.  Even the two moons of Mars are associated with bad tidings:  Phobos means fear, and Deimos  is panic.
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION:
An artist’s conception of Mars with its two moons Deimos and Phobos.  To the left a Reubens painting of the Roman God of War: Mars.  The Greek statue in the foreground is Ares.  
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EXTRAS:
Astronomers acknowledged the planet’s association with battle by using  a symbol for Mars that represents a shield and a spear, the ancient implements of war.  

Greek and Roman mythology tells of the god of war, the son of Zeus and Hera, who was  despised by his parents. The Greeks portrayed him as hateful and murderous, yet a coward, as shown in Homer's Iliad. The Romans, who glorified war, considered him a mighty warrior.  Some Romans worshipped him, even leaving human sacrifices at his altar. 

## Slide 4

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	Telescopes brought beliefs of canals and the Martians who could have 	built them.
The canal craze began in 1877, when a man named Schiaparelli looked up into the sky with his telescope and saw lines he called "canali," which means grooves or channels in Italian.  Many people thought he meant canals, and assumed intelligent beings must have created them. 
At the turn of the century, an extremely rich man named Percival Lowell set out to prove the existence of the canals, and built his own observatory in Flagstaff, AZ.  He believed the canals were an irrigation network that carried water from the melting polar ice caps to the Martians.  He also believed that seasonal changes in light and dark regions on Mars reflected changes in their crops.  
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
Artist’s conception of Martians.  The upper right-hand image is a map of the grooves or “canali” seen by Schiaparelli.  The bottom right-hand image is a line drawing from Lowell’s observations of the “canals” 
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EXTRAS:
In 1877, the Suez and Erie Canals had just been completed and the Panama Canal was on its way.  At the time, canal building was seen as the logical way for intelligent beings to alter the environment to suit their needs. 

## Slide 5

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	The dawn of the space age has brought a more accurate 		understanding of Mars.
	We've gone from the science fiction of canals, to channels 	carved by rushing water long ago on the surface of Mars, to 	the potential ability to find evidence of water close up...for 	instance minerals that may have formed in the presence of 	water.  
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
The late 19th-century canal drawings of Schiaparelli are seen on the left followed by a Mars Global Surveyor image of Nanedi Vallis (MGS Release # MOC2-73 on 1/8/98).  The picture on the right is an artist’s concept of what the Mars Exploration Rover might look like on Mars.  

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EXTRAS::

Channel is 2.5 km wide.

## Slide 6

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	...and a Mars on Earth!
	Notice how channels in an Earth volcano can also be seen on Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system.  The Earth image of Iceland shows runoff channels similar to those seen in gullies on Mars.  Some deserts, like the dry  Atacama, have very few apparent signs of life.   NASA and university rover tests in the Atacama are studying life detection techniques here first, before on Mars someday.
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
As above and on slide.
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EXTRAS:
Olympus Mons would fill the state of Arizona if on our planet.  Because the crust on Mars doesn't move the way it does on Earth, the total volume of lava piles up into one, very large volcano. 
And while we are quite impressed with our Grand Canyon on Earth, Mars has the largest canyon in the solar system.  It is 7 times deeper and 5 times longer than our  canyon.  In fact, if Valles Marineris were on earth, it would stretch across the entire United States.  

## Slide 7

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	Did Mars ever have an environment that could have supported life?  Much as in real estate, the answer is:  Location, location, location!
Most planets able to support life probably need to be in the "Goldilocks zone"--where it is not too close to the sun (too hot) and not too far away (too cold).  Earth has a prime real estate location...Mars is on the outer fringe of the habitable zone. 
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
This is an artists conception that documents where in the Solar System the “Goldilocks Zone” falls.  It should be noted that the planets are never lined up in this way in nature.  Their fictional formation is simply to illustrate the concept.
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EXTRAS:
Besides geologic similarities pointing to a similar past, Mars and Earth share a favorable position in the solar system that may have contributed to an early, more “earthlike Mars.”  Venus Earth and Mars can all be found in  “The Goldilocks Zone” which is a unique section of the Solar System where the sun’s rays are neither too strong or too weak.  Planets found in this section boast less extreme temperature variations than the outer planets, and are therefore more likely to be able to sustain life.  While Earth is dead-center in this habitable zone, Mars and Venus are both on the edge, and are still considerably more hot and cold than our home today.    

## Slide 8

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	Mars seems like a hostile environment...a sterile, alien 		desert, too extreme for life.
These two pictures were taken by the Viking landers, which unsuccessfully tested for the presence of life.  Mars seemed so sterile that the U.S. "got bored" and took a long break before it sent another mission to Mars!
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
These images of the Martian Landscape were taken by the Viking Landers. Viking Lander 2 took the lower image depicting frost covering the desert rocks.  Viking one took the upper image - notice the large rock on the left - Viking was fortunate not to land on it.  
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EXTRAS:

## Slide 9

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	Mars is hostile, but we find life in extreme environments everywhere we 	look on Earth.  
    	Even in a volcanic environment like Mount St. Helens, sulfuric rocks, 		when examined by a microscope, reveal the presence of living organisms.  	We find life in hot springs (like those at Yellowstone, in deep sea 		underwater vents far from sunlight, and even in the most desolate of 		deserts in the rocks.  In fact, when life has few habitats, small organisms 	live a few centimeters down inside of rocks.
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
Upper left: Mount St. Helens Volcano site.  Middle left: Hot sulfur rock from Mount St. Helens  Lower left: Indication of life within the hot volcanic deposit from Mount St. Helens Upper right: Thermal Springs in Yellowstone National Park  Middle right: Underwater Vent found in the most extreme depths of  the ocean.  Lower right: Desolate Desert 
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EXTRAS:
Hot thermal pools on Earth  might be a good place to find new life forms on our planet -- and glean clues to possible life on others. Microbiologists have repeatedly explored these springs to study primitive bacteria.  So far, we don’t see any signs of hot springs on Mars.  In hot gas vents being released into the bottom of the ocean, microbes exist at extreme temperatures and pressures.  In volcanoes: where the high-nutrient, low-oxygen conditions exist at extreme temperatures,  we find similar conditions that existed during the early stages of the evolution of life on earth and maybe even Mars.  

## Slide 10

## Slide 11

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	Robot Geologists!  Mars Exploration Rovers are ideally 		equipped to "read the rocks."
	The rover twins will determine what the planet’s conditions 	were like when the Martian rocks and soils at their landing 	sites were formed. You can see the rover on the left about to 	analyze a rock., while the rover on the right is taking a look 	around to see what might be interesting to drive over and 	examine.
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
Artist’s concept sof the Mars Exploration Rover using its “arm” to get up-close to a Martian rock and exploring the surface of Mars.
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EXTRAS:

## Slide 12

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	And the winners are...Meridiani and Gusev Crater.
One rover's job will be to look for the presence of hematite, a mineral that frequently forms in the presence of water.  Its twin will be looking at layered deposits that might provide evidence of an ancient lake.
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
Sample of gray hematite from Earth, artist’s rendering of sediments at the bottom of a crater wall.  MOLA elevation map of Mars  from Mars Global Surveyor.
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EXTRAS:

The first rover, scheduled for launch May 30, will be targeted to land at Gusev Crater, 15 degrees south of Mars' equator. The second, scheduled to launch June 25, will be targeted to land at Meridiani Planum, an area with deposits of an iron oxide mineral (gray hematite) about two degrees south of the equator and halfway around the planet from Gusev.  

Sediment Definition:  Solid fragmental material that originates
from weathering of rocks and is transported or deposited by air, water,
or ice, or that accumulates by other natural agents, such as chemical
precipitation from solution and that forms in layers on the planet's
surface at ordinary temperature in a loose, unconsolidated form.

## Slide 13

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:	Since humans can't yet go, the rovers are our eyes, ears, 	hands, and brains.
We depend on our rover partners for exploring Mars.  You can see here the Mars Exploration Rover greeting Marie Curie, test rover twin of the Mars Pathfinder rover named Sojourner.  Their sizes alone should show you that we're getting more sophisticated with each new mission.   
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
[As above]
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EXTRAS:

## Slide 14

**Notes:**
SCRIPT:  	The rover's "eyes" are its cameras.  Each rover has 9 "eyes."
It needs so many eyes because it has a lot to do!  Its panorama camera eyes take pictures of the surrounding landscape.  The rover’s “head” stands about 5 feet tall, so these eyes are at roughly human height, providing the kind of view we might see if we were standing on the surface.  The navigation and hazard avoidance cameras enable the rover to maneuver safely across the surface.  The microscopic imager gets up-close views of rocks to analyze their interior structure.  
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
This slide shows an artist’s concept of one of the Mars Exploration Rovers on Martian surface. The embedded picture is a close up of one of the two panoramic cameras.
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EXTRAS:
Engineering Cameras:
Engineering Navcams (Navigation Cameras):
Mounted on the mast (the rover "neck and head), these black-and-white cameras support ground navigation planning by scientists and engineers. They work in cooperation with the Hazcams by providing a complementary view of the terrain.
Engineering Hazcams (Hazard Avoidance Cameras)
Mounted on the lower portion of the front and rear of the rover, these black-and-white cameras safeguard against the rover getting lost or crashing. 
Science Cameras:
Two Science Pancams (Panoramic Cameras):
This color, stereo pair of cameras is mounted on the rover mast and delivers three-dimensional panoramas of the Martian surface. 
One Science Microscopic Imager:
This science camera is mounted on the robotic arm to take extreme close-up pictures of rocks and soil. 

## Slide 15

## Slide 16

## Slide 17

## Slide 18

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	The rovers have an arm and a scraping tool that perform the same function as a geologist's rock hammer.
Much like a human arm, the robotic arm has flexibility through three joints: the rover's shoulder, elbow, and wrist. A tool called a "RAT"(a rock abrasion tool) at the end of the arm will scrape off the rock's surface.  Then, the microscopic imager can get a clear picture of the rock's interior structure, and other tools can tell us what kind of rock it is. 
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
Left: Artist’s concept of the Mars Exploration Rover extending its arm to investigate a rock.  
Upper Right:  Close up of the microscopic imager that is housed at the end of the arm.
Lower Right: Image taken with the Microscopic Imager
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EXTRAS:
The rover arm holds and maneuvers the instruments that help scientists get up-close and personal with Martian rocks and soil. The arm enables a tool belt of scientists ́instruments to extend, bend, and angle precisely against a rock to work as a human geologist would: grinding away layers, taking microscopic images, and analyzing the elemental composition of the rocks and soil. At the end of the arm is a turret, shaped like a cross. This turret, a hand-like structure, holds various tools that can spin through a 350-degree turning range.
The four tools, or science instruments, on the robotic arm are:   
The Microscopic Imager: provides close-up images of rocks and soil.
The Mössbauer Spectrometer:  analyzes the iron in rocks and soil.
The Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer: analyzes the elemental composition of rocks and soil.                                                              
The Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT:) grinds away the outer surface of rock to expose fresh material.  This instrument is a powerful grinder, able to create a hole 45 millimeters (about 2 inches) in diameter and 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) deep into a rock in the martian surface.  The RAT is able to grind through hard volcanic rock in about two hours.  

## Slide 19

## Slide 20

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	We don't know if the rovers will succeed...!
	The international community has made 41 attempts to reach Mars successfully, 	and Mars has proved to be a powerful opponent.
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
Artist’s concept of difficulty of getting to another planet.
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EXTRAS:
	USA	USSR/Russia*	Successful	Failure
Orbiters/Flyby	12	-	8	4 (2 LV)
	-	15	4	11 (5 LV)			
Landers	6	-	3	3
	-	8	0** 	8 (2 LV)
Totals	18	23	15	26
			37%	63%
*   Japanese Nozomi mission is expected to arrive in Dec 2003
** Mars 3 in 1971 apparently transmitted for 20 sec after landing but no significant information was returnedU	(worked)
	Lander Record
	Mars Polar Lander	1999 	(crashed)
	DS-2 Microprobes	1999 	(crashed)Russia/USSR:
	MARS 2	1971 	(crashed)
	MARS 3	1971 	(20 sec)
	MARS 6 	1974 	(touched?)
	MARS 7 	 1974 	(missed)
	Mars96:Small Station 1996 	(failed)

## Slide 21

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	To help ensure success, we have to test...
What you see here is the spacecraft in a test known fondly as "shake and bake." In this large chamber, the spacecraft were exposed to temperatures from -320 degrees F to about 200 degrees F.  Other environmental tests include vibration testing to ensure that the rovers can withstand the rigors of launch and acoustic testing to verify that the rovers can endure the intense sound reverberations of launch that can shake them too.  

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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 

Spacecraft in environmental testing.

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## Slide 22

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	...and then test everything again and again!
This series of images reflects months and months of testing on various aspects of the rovers, including their mobility.
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
[As above.]
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EXTRAS:

The photo on the upper right was taken during the MER 2 mobility testing in early November 2002.  The rover is being driven by flight avionics and flight software over staggered ramps (20 degree angle) to exercise the rocker-bogie suspension's range of motion. The overall purpose of this series of tests was to test the functionality of the drive and steering system as well as to insure that the suspension could move freely without contacting any other part of the rover. 

## Slide 23

## Slide 24

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	Entering the atmosphere is a nail-biting time!  
The entry angle of about 11 degrees is critical:  Any steeper and you get to the ground too fast!  Any shallower and you "skip out" back into space.
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
The background image is a Viking orbiter image of Mars, where the atmosphere can be seen in dark orange.  The diagram shows features of Mars landing.
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EXTRAS:
Entering the atmosphere is the beginning of the Entry, Decsent and Landing phase of the mission. It begins when the spacecraft reaches the Mars atmospheric entry interface point about 2,113 miles from the center of Mars and ends with the lander on the surface of Mars in a safe state. 

## Slide 25

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	Imagine having to be this accurate!  [The landing ellipse--	the spacecraft's target--is] only 62 by 12.5 miles.
Remember, we're trying to hit this target from hundreds of millions of miles away!
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
Rover landing ellipse superimposed on maps of east and west coast cities.
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EXTRAS:
By zooming out one from the default on Mapquest, you get a scale of 10 miles/10 kilometers.. If you’d like to make a map of your region, try that approach and make a properly sized landing ellipse 100 kilometers by 20 kilometers.(62 miles by 12.5 miles).

## Slide 26

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	Hey rovers!  Buckle up for the ride of your life!  
The challenge for all Mars landers is to take three zeroes off of the entry velocity in less than six minutes.  That's going from 12,000 miles per hour down to 12 in that short amount of time.
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
Artist’s concept of entry, descent, and landing.
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EXTRAS:
Entry, descent, and landing for the Mars Exploration Rover mission is an adaptation  of the Mars Pathfinder method: An aeroshell and a parachute decelerate the lander through the Martian atmosphere. Prior to surface impact, retro-rockets are fired to slow the lander ́s speed of descent, and airbags are inflated to cushion the lander at surface impact. 

## Slide 27

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## Slide 30

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	Then it's time to explore! 
What is a day in the life of a rover like?  It works from sunrise to sunset.  It wakes up with an on-board alarm clock.  The rover then listens to human commands through its antennas and receives its tasks for the day.  In the afternoon, communication between Earth and the rover is reversed.  The rover sends back the data it has gathered and also lets Earth know how its health is.  When the sun sets, the rover rests, giving scientists time to analyze the information from the rover and send it tasks for a new day of exploration.  During its 90 sol mission each rover will drive 600 meters or more. 

What will the rovers uncover?  Tune in, January, 2004!
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SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
Artist’s concept of the rover at work.
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## Slide 31

**Notes:**
SCRIPT: 	For more information, here’s the website.
	Introduce short video (Dan Maas animation).

## Slide 32

**Notes:**
Placeholder for cueing video (Dan Maas animation as sendoff) and break between slides that may help with some FAQs.

## Slide 33

## Slide 34

**Notes:**
If you plot the motion of Mars against the background stars of the night sky it will seem to move east, stop, move west (retrograde), stop, and finally begin moving east again. This is called retrograde motion. The planet moves in its elliptical orbit just as the rest of the planets but our view from Earth causes this illusion of the planet stopping. As the Earth catches up with Mars the planet seems to stop and go backwards just as you view another car that you overtake and pass on the highway. The loop is because the two orbits are not in exactly the same plane. All of the outer planets have some degree of retrograde motion relative to Earth.

It was this weird motion of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn that was hardest for early astronomers to explain. It was only after Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, Gallileo, and others discovered the various laws relating to motion and gravity that the mystery was solved.

## Slide 35