Current Event: New Eyes on Mars

Recently, two new spacecraft slid into orbit around Mars. One of the probes, named Mangalyaan, is from India and is the first probe from an Asian country to reach Mars. Mangalyaan carries a camera and four scientific instruments for studying the planet’s surface and atmosphere. One part of its mission will be a search for atmospheric methane. The presence of the quickly disappearing gas in the Martian atmosphere could be a sign of microbial life there. NASA’s Mars Atmospheric and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft was the other spacecraft to recently enter Mars’s orbit. MAVEN will be the first probe to focus on Mars’s thin upper atmosphere in an effort to learn how and why Mars changed from a warm, wet planet to the cold, dry world it is today.

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission approaches Mars in an artist’s conception. (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center)

Objective:

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. The planet is named for the ancient Roman god of war because its color resembles the color of blood. Mars owes its color to iron-rich minerals in its soil. The planet is much colder than Earth–the average temperature on Mars is about –80 °F (–60 °C). Mars has two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, both of which were discovered in 1877. Recently, scientists found strong evidence that water once flowed on the surface of Mars. Mars might once have harbored life, and living things might exist there even today. While space probes have carried telescopes and other instruments to Mars, no human being has ever set foot on the planet. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore Mars and other astronomical topics.

Words to know:

• Astronomy
• India
• Indian Space Research Organisation
• Mars
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• Planet
• Solar system
• Space exploration

Discussion Topics:

1. Ask your students if they can name the seven other planets, besides Mars, in the solar system. (The other planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.) See if your student can come up with a mnemonic for remembering the names of the planets.

2. Ask your students what they know about India. (Students might say that it is in Asia; it is the world’s second-largest country in population; New Delhi is its capital, and Mumbai is its largest city; a large majority of its population is Hindu; it became an independent country in 1947.)

3. Ask your students to debate “People will one day be able to live on other planets.”

4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the Advances in Space Exploration timeline. (Students may wish to use World Book’s Space exploration article for help.)