Mars Definition and 499 Threads

Homework Statement You are an astronaut-in-training for the first mission to Mars by humans. You are about to go into a Mars simulator and need to know the answers to the following questions to complete the simulation correctly. You already have memorized basic information about Mars such as...

I am trying to determine approximately how much fuel it would take to launch a bi-propellant rocket from Mars and Earth such that they escape each planet's respective gravity. Unfortunately, my orbital mechanics is a little rusty, and the solution I'm getting does not make much sense. Here's...

Might Mars serve as a pre-tectonic model for Earth? For example, no continents, no mountain building nor deep oceans? And does homogeneity of Valles marinaris, as opposed to Grand Canyon, suggest homogeneity for Earth's pre-tectonic environment?

Homework Statement This is not a homework assignment, its more of a personal project. An object (Mass undecided yet) is launched from the North pole of Mars towards the North pole of Sun. It is assumes that Sun, Earth and Mars are in a perfect linear alignment in front of one another and that...

I am researching for a sci-fi screenplay that I am writing for fun. To keep bone density from losing the estimated 1.5% per month on Mars I want to simulate Earth gravity by having the colonists live aboard condominiums that are fitted with a rail car suspension and travel in a perfect circle in...

Homework Statement A train on the planet surface of Mars is traveling along a banked track shaped as large circle with a radius of 500m. Q. Assuming Mars gravity is 3.8m/s^{2} what Velocity v must the Martian train travel to simulate a total artificial gravity equal to Earth's...

Hi all, If we find some fossils there, will we be able to tell if it's DNA-based? Similarly if we find fossils (or even current life) on Europa what is it likely to be based on? I'm very curious if extraterrestrial life is like what we have here on Earth or not. It seems clear that...

Beautiful animation. Landing system is novel and elegant. Hovering rocket platform lowers the vehicle on a cable to the the ground and then goes away. A lot of the deceleration work at Mars is done by the planet's atmosphere, saving fuel weight. Great stuff. Launch of "Curiosity" is...

Is there clay on Mars; if so what might it suggest?

Currently Jupiters moon's Io, Europa, and Ganymede are in a Laplace resonance. If Mars's moon's Phobos and Deimos were in such a Laplace resonance (1:1, 2:1, 4:1, 8:1) would it affect Mars? If yes, please explain how you feel it would...

Consider a very long conveyor belt from Earth to Mars. If we turned on the conveyor belt from Earth, would its opposing end instantly move on Mars? Or would the timing be slowed somehow from relativity? Thanks

Hi. So what'ya think? I've always been fascinated by this! The main problems are: Temperature Air Pressure Air composition Very weak magnetosphere The temperature and air-pressure problems are linked and could be solved by a heating up the planet. Any good ideas? But, the main obstacle is...

How did Kepler knew that the time of Mars' orbit was 687 days ? It doesn't seem to me a simple task to determine that timing because after 687 days, Earth is at a different place in the solar system and Mars seems to be also in a different place in the solar system. How was that 687 days...

Hi, As you can see, I'm new to this forum, but i saw some of the other questions being posted and hoped someone might be able to answer my question: essentially, if a second Mars were to be constructed (lets say in a few hundred years) so that it has the same density as Mars I and is in...

Homework Statement A pendulum has a period of 4.50s on Earth. What is its period on Mars, where the acceleration of gravity is about 0.37 that on Earth? (2 sig figs) Homework Equations T= 2Pi(L/g)^.5 The Attempt at a Solution first must solve for the length on earth L =...

I'd like to have two main questions about it. 1. Radiation protection : theoretically, were thick leaded glass domes for settlements be enough for it, or you need to build underground anyway? 2. Temperature : I read, that heat conditions on Mars equator is similar to Antarctica. We...

Can we start planting trees on Mars now? Considering that there are so many tree species on Earth that lives in extreme conditions, at least one of them would survive on Mars right? Imagine what Mars would be like in 50 years if we started doing this now.

Tonight; July 5th, 9 pm central time. I just happened to look up and catch a gorgeous view (perfectly clear) of the quarter moon with a tiny "star" just barely visible above the terminator about 1/4 moon diameter, grabbed my binoculars, then googled it, and realized it was Mars sitting about...

In 1889 and 1909 Roberto Mantovani published a hypothesis of Earth expansion and continental drift. He assumed that a closed continent covered the entire surface of a smaller Earth. He believed thermal expansion led to volcanic activity, which broke the big continent into smaller continents. The...

Some article made mention of intense radiation on Mars. Does that mean Mars lacks a magnetosphere? I figured it would be about like earth, with a molten iron core.

Hi! I would like to know two things: 1. Is it possible to use radiometric dating on samples of rocks collected from Mars? 2. If so, in which situations would such method be impossible to use or would wield inaccurate results? Thanks a lot for your help!

Hello all, I need your help. (I believe this si the correct forum) Between 2011 and 2013, i read a news in internet, that the dust that coveres rocks in Mars seem to be very uniform, like all rocks that was drilled by Mars science laboratory twin rovers, seem to have the same thickness of...

Roflmao this article is too hilarious not to share. http://www.space.com/24529-mars-mystery-rock-nasa-lawsuit.html

6 minute video. Long on visuals, short of science details... but I found myself watching to the end. Lots of explosions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRCIzZHpFtY

If we were much more serious and backed into the space program, we could get make some serious progress, and could probably get a sizeable colony started on Mars by 2025 or so, but how could we make this happen, and it should happen soon, because this planet can't support too many more people...

NASA's horizon system shows the angle (S-O-T) of Sun and planet from the view of Earth. Could you please tell me how one measure the angle of Sun and Mars when opposition nearly takes place. In other words, if S-O-T approaches 175/176/178 degrees, how does one from the view of Earth measure this...

Lets say Earth lost its magnetic field 4 billion years ago and lacked geological activity like mars. Would the atmosphere of Earth be comparable to Mars atmosphere? How thin could it have been without a magnetic field and constant geological activity? Thank you.

OK, before I get into the main question, I figure I should give a little background. First off, this is not something that is going to be made for real. It's for a flight simulator called Orbiter (found here), and in particular for a personal project to update and improve upon the existing...

Homework Statement What should be the temperature of a spherical asteroid located between Mars and Jupiter, twice as far from the Sun as Earth? The asteroid has no atmosphere and its albedo is .15. Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution The asteroid is twice as far from...

Hello again :), I have to solve a rather extensive task. Most important are questions a) and c). I appreciate any help :)! Homework Statement The task: Determine characteristics of a Hohmann transfre towards, when circular planetary orbits around the Sun with R_E = 149.6 \cdot 10^6 km...

I've pretty much ignored all this but increasingly I hear people talking about a company sending people to Mars as though it was a done deal. No one seems to stop and think how a company with no resources to speak of will perform the R&D and set up a Mars base in ten years. Now they claim...

Homework Statement The force of attraction between Mars and its moon, Phobos, which has a mass of 1.072 x 10^16kg and a radius of 11.1km is 5,18 x 10^15 N Find the height of Phobos above the surface of the moon. Homework Equations f=G(m1)(m2)/d^2 d(mars-phobos surfaces)= d (moon-phobos...

Homework Statement Flight to Mars. To send a satellite from Earth to Mars, a rocket must accelerate the satellite until it is in the correct elliptical orbit around the sun. The satellite does not travel to Mars under rocket power, because that would require more fuel than it could carry. It...

Homework Statement Moon's gravity is 5.31ft/sec^2 An object has the weight of 3.5 lb-f on the moon. What is its lb-m What is the lb-m and lb-f on Mars with gravity of 12.1 ft/sec^2. Homework Equations w=mg=mg/gc gc= gravitational constant----> 32lbm*ft/sec^2 for earth The...

Mars current atmosphere is 0.006 bar. It is theorized that the atmosphere was thicker in the past possibly thicker than Earths 1 bar atmosphere. There are many processes that could have done this such as having no magnetic field, lack of geological activity, a planetoid crashing into it and...

Is the experiment to find water on Mars by NASA is most idiotic experiment ever conducted by mankind. I mean, spacecraft send to Mars use hydrocarbons or hydrogen as fuel; this fuels byproduct is water. So there is a greater chance that after some exploration if NASA find traces of water on...

Homework Statement Question: In 2004 two Martian probes successfully landed on the Red Planet. The final phase of the landing involved bouncing the probes until they came to rest (they were surrounded by protective inflated "balloons"). During one of the bounces, the telemetry (electronic data...

I been wondering something. What would Mars be like in the next 1-3 billion years. As I understand Mars has CO2 and other gases in the polar ice caps and in the Martian soil. So would the increase of the suns heat sublime the polar caps and release gases buried in the Martian soil to temporarily...

Homework Statement On high 150km above the surface of Mars, there is satelite That is ciculating arround Mars. What's his bypass time? Radius of Mars is 3400km. Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution I found equation like this : t= (2*r(R+h)^(3/2))/(sqrt(g0*R^2)) R=r+h r=3400km h=150km...

If you have a craft parked at the Phobos-Mars Lagrange point, it's stable. I get that. But, what if you move, horizontally with respect to Mars? I assume you're no longer balanced out by Phobos' gravity, and will therefore fall towards Mars and end up in an elliptical orbit? If so, how far would...

I read on the Mars One website that Bas Lansdorp (the director of Mars One) will talk about the design of their Martian habitats during the ISDC conference in San Diego, California next Thursday: http://mars-one.com/en/mars-one-news/presentations-events They also expect to start building a...

1) The problem: Mars orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.3 * 10^10 m with a speed of 24000 m/s. If it's speed were increased to 30000 m/s, at a time when no other planet was nearby, would Mars leave the Solar System. 2) Fc=Fg Orbit formulas and such 3) I'm assuming you have to find the escape...

How can I determine Mars' orbital position in February 2009? Is there a website that tracks past positions? By position, I want to know where in its rotation around the Sun it was radians or degrees.

I'm a huge space colonization and enterprise enthusiast. one thing i have noticed about most of the Mars habitat plans is they all plan to live on the surface, which is at 38% of Earth's gravity. this would lead to similar if not the same medical problems with astronauts that we already face in...

So I hope you have all heard of the possible manned mission to the red planet or... MARS! I believe Nasa said something around the lines of hopefully having a manned mission to Mars around 2030 and before that the so called stepping stone by capturing an asteroid around 2020. Now my question is...

Besides low gravity and high doses of radiation, one of the more intractable difficulties in terraforming Mars is that if we build its atmosphere back up, then presumably it would lose it again via the same mechanisms it lost it the first time (ie solar wind, warmth, and low gravity)...

From observation I believe that the moons of Mars may provide a landing and lift off platform . The moon Deimos is near to geosynchronous orbit and drops a tether to dangle over the orbit of Phobos above the surface of Mars . From Phobos a shoe swing is tethered out and dropped onto Mars as...

Hi, I read something interesting about some amateur astronomers lasing the ISS with a blue-light laser, and the astronauts were able to spot it. How powerful would a laser have to be to be seen by the human eye from Mars? It would be shone from the dark side of Earth of course. Are we...

Hello, For a little project I'm doing for fun, I want to know what kind of mileage would be realistic for a light, minimalistic lunar-rover type vehicle that seats six. Using Wiki, I've found the energy density per kg of methane at 1 bar at 15*C. Unable to find it for liquid methane (my fuel...

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20130312.html