Showing posts with label Mars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mars. Show all posts

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Mars - Pathfinder, Opportunity, Spirit & Curiosity


We just learned about the exploration of Mars with the Viking missions.

We've learned about the spacecrafts that flew near the planet Mars, and the ones that landed on the planet to take measurements.

The latest and best spacecrafts to visit Mars have been rovers.
These are types of spacecrafts that travel to the planet, then a small thing like a car drives around the planet studying it and sending information back to scientists on Earth.

The US has had some really good luck sending rovers to Mars!

1997 - Mars Pathfinder
2003 - Two rovers: Opportunity and Spirit
2012 - Curiosity

These rovers have really helped us learn about the planet Mars, the dirt and air and send back lots of great pictures!
curiosity rover
(from: wikipedia - curiosity (rover))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Black Dwarf

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Mars 2 - 6, Viking 1 & 2


We've learned about the space exploration of Mars and the spacecrafts that got near the planet.
There have also been space crafts that have landed on Mars and studied the planet.

The Russian space program had their Mars program:

Mars 2 was launched May 19, 1971, and crash landed on the planet.
Mars 3 was launched May 28, 1971, landed on the planet and sent back information for 14.5 seconds before it stopped working.
Mars 6 was launched August 5, 1973, and crash landed on the planet.

The US NASA space program had their Viking program:

The Viking 1 was launched August 20, 1975
The Viking 2 was launched September 9, 1975
Both of these spacecrafts had orbiters and landers. The orbiters circled the planet taking pictures, and then launched landers to the ground.
The landers then did scientific experiments on the ground to test the dirt and the air.

viking program
(from: wikipedia - viking program)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: White Dwarf

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Mars - Mars 1, Mariner 4, 6, 7 & 9


We've learned about the space exploration of Mercury and Venus, next up is Mars!

The first missions to explore Mars were to take pictures and science measurements as the spacecraft flew by the planet.

Russia was first in 1962 with the Mars 1.

The US sent the Mariner 4 in 1964, the Mariner 6 and 7 in 1969, and the Mariner 9 in 1971.
The Mariner 9 was the first spacecraft to take pictures of the Mars moon Phobos.
mariner 9 launch
(from: wikipedia - mariner 9)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Red Giant

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Mars


The first planet on the other side of Earth further from the sun is Mars.

Mars is sometimes called the red planet, and you can see why!
mars
(from: wikipedia - mars)

Mars is the second smallest planet in our solar system,
the temperatures are as cold as −225°F and hot as 95°F.
but it's possible that astronauts could survive in space suits on the planet's surface.

Scientists have been very curious about Mars, since it's so close.

There are two robotic machines on Mars right now:

NASA's Opportunity rover, which landed on January 25, 2004
opportunity rover
(from: wikipedia - opportunity rover)

NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on August 6, 2012
curiosity rover
(from: wikipedia - curiosity rover)