Post by momof6 on Jan 1, 2005 12:19:20 GMT -5
Mars
By Sharon Fabian
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1 There is a story called The War of the Worlds. It's about an invasion of aliens from Mars. At one time, The War of the Worlds was made into a radio play. As people everywhere turned on their radios and heard what sounded like a news broadcast about a Martian invasion, they began to panic. For a long time, people had wondered whether there was life on Mars, and now suddenly it seemed that not only were there creatures living on Mars, but the creatures were coming to attack us here on Earth.
2 Well, that was only a story, but people do have good reasons to wonder whether there might have been life forms on Mars at one time. Mars is next to the earth in the solar system, and may be more like Earth that the other planets. It has some of the same chemicals that Earth has on its surface and in its atmosphere. It has some water vapor in its air, and ice caps at the poles. Mars gets lots of sunlight, and has a solid surface to walk on.
3 However, in other ways, Mars is very different from our planet. Its atmosphere is very thin; it gets so much solar radiation that any creatures on Mars would get an instant sunburn. It is a dry and dusty planet, much of it coated with red, rusty Martian dust. The average surface temperature on Mars is about -60 degrees centigrade, way below freezing. The biggest difference of all is that Mars has no water on its surface.
4 Scientists believe that water may be one of the best signs of life on another planet, and so Mars explorations have focused on finding out whether there is, or was, any water on Mars' surface. In 1971, a spacecraft named Mariner 9 orbited Mars and found out that Mars had valleys and channels on its surface. Perhaps they were carved out by water a long time ago. In 1975, the Viking landers, Viking I and Viking II, searched for any signs of life on Mars' surface. Their results were inconclusive; they weren't able to prove whether or not there had ever been life on Mars.
5 Most scientists today probably lean towards the belief that there is no life on Mars. One of their main arguments is that, with Mars' thin atmosphere, any water on its surface would probably begin to boil away immediately. Other scientists think that water might freeze before it boiled away in Mars' strange atmosphere. There are always two sides to the question of whether there is life on Mars.
6 An interesting piece of the Mars puzzle was found in a place you would probably never expect -- Antarctica. A meteorite was found in Antarctica that was believed to have come from Mars. This meteorite had what looked like really tiny fossils. Could they be the fossils of some ancient microscopic forms of Martian life? No one knows for sure. However, the Antarctica meteorite does bring up an important point about life on Mars. If it turns out that there was life on Mars at one time, it is much more likely that it was some type of microscopic creature, something like a bacteria or a virus, rather than a movie-style space alien.
7 Now in 2004 a new Mars exploration is underway. NASA has launched two rovers into orbit around Mars in the hope that at least one will have a successful landing on Mars. Scientists point out that a Mars landing is very tricky, and in fact there have been more Mars missions so far that have failed than missions that have succeeded. On this mission, one of the rovers so far has had very good luck. On January 3, 2004, the rover "Spirit" parachuted safely to Mars surface. There it bounced on its giant air bags before finally settling down in the red dust. Slowly and carefully, Spirit began to exit from its nest of air bags. Spirit is scheduled to send back high-definition pictures of the surface of Mars, and it will explore the rocks and dust to determine their chemical makeup. In the meantime, people here on Earth keep wondering, "Could there really be life on Mars?"
Copyright © 2004 edHelper
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Name _____________________________
Date ___________________
Mars
1. This article is mainly about _____.
The solar system
The search for life on Mars
The chemicals in Mars' soil
The Viking spacecrafts
2. "Spirit" is _____.
An orbiting spacecraft
A rover
A booster rocket
An astronaut
3. Mars is _____.
Covered by oceans
A giant planet like Jupiter
A planet with a solid surface like Earth
The smallest planet in our solar system
4. Which happened first?
The War of the Worlds aired on radio
Mariner 9 orbited Mars
The rover Spirit landed on Mars
Viking I landed on Mars
5. The word inconclusive means _____.
Giving no definite proof
Negative
False
Positive
6. At the time this article was written, Spirit _____.
Was on its way to Mars
Had not been heard from
Was on its way back to Earth
Was on Mars and ready to explore
7. If Mars never had any _____, it most likely never had any life forms as we know them.
Volcanoes
Clouds
Trees
Water
8. What do you think scientists might learn from the rocks and dust that Spirit is exploring. List several ideas.
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Mars - Answer Key
1 The search for life on Mars
2 A rover
3 A planet with a solid surface like Earth
4 The War of the Worlds aired on radio
5 Giving no definite proof
6 Was on Mars and ready to explore
7 Water
8 Answers will vary.
By Sharon Fabian
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 There is a story called The War of the Worlds. It's about an invasion of aliens from Mars. At one time, The War of the Worlds was made into a radio play. As people everywhere turned on their radios and heard what sounded like a news broadcast about a Martian invasion, they began to panic. For a long time, people had wondered whether there was life on Mars, and now suddenly it seemed that not only were there creatures living on Mars, but the creatures were coming to attack us here on Earth.
2 Well, that was only a story, but people do have good reasons to wonder whether there might have been life forms on Mars at one time. Mars is next to the earth in the solar system, and may be more like Earth that the other planets. It has some of the same chemicals that Earth has on its surface and in its atmosphere. It has some water vapor in its air, and ice caps at the poles. Mars gets lots of sunlight, and has a solid surface to walk on.
3 However, in other ways, Mars is very different from our planet. Its atmosphere is very thin; it gets so much solar radiation that any creatures on Mars would get an instant sunburn. It is a dry and dusty planet, much of it coated with red, rusty Martian dust. The average surface temperature on Mars is about -60 degrees centigrade, way below freezing. The biggest difference of all is that Mars has no water on its surface.
4 Scientists believe that water may be one of the best signs of life on another planet, and so Mars explorations have focused on finding out whether there is, or was, any water on Mars' surface. In 1971, a spacecraft named Mariner 9 orbited Mars and found out that Mars had valleys and channels on its surface. Perhaps they were carved out by water a long time ago. In 1975, the Viking landers, Viking I and Viking II, searched for any signs of life on Mars' surface. Their results were inconclusive; they weren't able to prove whether or not there had ever been life on Mars.
5 Most scientists today probably lean towards the belief that there is no life on Mars. One of their main arguments is that, with Mars' thin atmosphere, any water on its surface would probably begin to boil away immediately. Other scientists think that water might freeze before it boiled away in Mars' strange atmosphere. There are always two sides to the question of whether there is life on Mars.
6 An interesting piece of the Mars puzzle was found in a place you would probably never expect -- Antarctica. A meteorite was found in Antarctica that was believed to have come from Mars. This meteorite had what looked like really tiny fossils. Could they be the fossils of some ancient microscopic forms of Martian life? No one knows for sure. However, the Antarctica meteorite does bring up an important point about life on Mars. If it turns out that there was life on Mars at one time, it is much more likely that it was some type of microscopic creature, something like a bacteria or a virus, rather than a movie-style space alien.
7 Now in 2004 a new Mars exploration is underway. NASA has launched two rovers into orbit around Mars in the hope that at least one will have a successful landing on Mars. Scientists point out that a Mars landing is very tricky, and in fact there have been more Mars missions so far that have failed than missions that have succeeded. On this mission, one of the rovers so far has had very good luck. On January 3, 2004, the rover "Spirit" parachuted safely to Mars surface. There it bounced on its giant air bags before finally settling down in the red dust. Slowly and carefully, Spirit began to exit from its nest of air bags. Spirit is scheduled to send back high-definition pictures of the surface of Mars, and it will explore the rocks and dust to determine their chemical makeup. In the meantime, people here on Earth keep wondering, "Could there really be life on Mars?"
Copyright © 2004 edHelper
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name _____________________________
Date ___________________
Mars
1. This article is mainly about _____.
The solar system
The search for life on Mars
The chemicals in Mars' soil
The Viking spacecrafts
2. "Spirit" is _____.
An orbiting spacecraft
A rover
A booster rocket
An astronaut
3. Mars is _____.
Covered by oceans
A giant planet like Jupiter
A planet with a solid surface like Earth
The smallest planet in our solar system
4. Which happened first?
The War of the Worlds aired on radio
Mariner 9 orbited Mars
The rover Spirit landed on Mars
Viking I landed on Mars
5. The word inconclusive means _____.
Giving no definite proof
Negative
False
Positive
6. At the time this article was written, Spirit _____.
Was on its way to Mars
Had not been heard from
Was on its way back to Earth
Was on Mars and ready to explore
7. If Mars never had any _____, it most likely never had any life forms as we know them.
Volcanoes
Clouds
Trees
Water
8. What do you think scientists might learn from the rocks and dust that Spirit is exploring. List several ideas.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mars - Answer Key
1 The search for life on Mars
2 A rover
3 A planet with a solid surface like Earth
4 The War of the Worlds aired on radio
5 Giving no definite proof
6 Was on Mars and ready to explore
7 Water
8 Answers will vary.