Mars

The Radioactive Cow planet

1. Four mission goals:- Determine if life ever existed there- Characterize the climate- Characterize the geology- Prepare for human exploration

2. After a bumpy start, both rovers are working3. Tons of data being sent back to earth using the first non-terrestrial satellite network4. If you have a DirectTV dish, you can tap the line

Rover Review

- Evidence of salty oceans- Evidence that the oceans are gone- Evidence of methane in the atmosphere (CH4)

-(10 ppb)- Daytime Highs = 80o F- Nighttime lows = -200o F- Strange looking spectrographs

What the Rovers Confirmed

What is wrong with this picture? (Hint: Think Actinide)

Strange Spectrograph

What is wrong with this picture? (Hint: Actinides gone)

What NASA released to the Press

a) A common ingredient in toothpasteb) A native from from Actiniac) 15 Radioactive elements Actinium (Ac) to Lawrencium (Lr)

Q: What’s an Actinide?

Q: Why would an Actinide be found on Mars? a) It, like, grows there. Or something. Right?

b) Four words: Radioactive Martian Cow Dung (RMCD)c) The Rover’s brought it with them

Pop Quiz

Q: Why is this even interesting?

a) It is?b) Actinides do not occur naturallyc) If the Rovers didn’t bringActinides, and they exist on Mars…Then perhaps the oceans dried up because of a Nuclear War

a) It’s just like an Etch-a-Sketch, but it comes in a variety of colorsb) A measurement, using a variety of methods, to determine the molecular or atomic composition of a thingc) All the colors of the Rainbow

Q: What is a Spectrograph?

Q: What is the least expensive spectrograph? a) The K-Mart SpectroMaster™

b) I dunnoc) All the colors of the Rainbow

Pop Quiz (Continued)

Q: Why is this even interesting?

a) It is?b) Spectrographic Analysis Rul3z!c) Without spectrographs life would be very, very different

Back to Actinides…Why is Plutonium showing up on the Spectrograph?

1. Mars was once inhabited by an advanced civilization2. The Martians blew themselves to bits in a thermonuclear war that

destroyed their cities and evaporated their oceans3. A few survivors of this catastrophe fled to Earth in a home made space

capsule, killed all of the Dinosaurs, and became your ancestors4. Your government doesn’t want you to know this (and started a war in Iraq

to distract everybody’s attention)

However. Plutonium is carried on board both Rovers. To keep the electronics warm at night.Besides, more than just one type of Actinide would have

shown up had there been a thermonuclear explosion

More Important: Methane in Mars’ Atmosphere:

1. Four atmospheric gasses essential to life:Carbon Dioxide, Oxygen, Methane, and Water vapor

2. Methane gets into a planet’s atmosphere in only one of two ways: Active Volcanoes Living organisms

2. Methane lingers about 300 years on both Mars and Earth (CH 4 gets broken apart by the sun and other chemical reactions)

3. For the last 90 years no observatory, nor any of the 38 U.S. or Soviet Mars probes have detected a single active volcano on Mars

-So… the methane in Mars’ atmosphere is being constantly renewed by something we haven’t found yet.

Two words: anaerobic methanogens

Mars Trivia…

1. How much thinner is Mars’ atmosphere ours?

2. What is one of the largest source of methane here on Earth?

3. What astronomer claimed, in 1877, that canals carrying water existed on Mars?

4. Which planet’s orbit is closer to the sun: Earth or Mars?

5. How many radioactive cows currently reside on Mars, pumping their foul gas into the atmosphere?

Mars Trivia…

1. How much thinner is Mars’ atmosphere ours?• 100 times thinner

2. What is one of the largest source of methane here on Earth?• One word: Moo

3. What astronomer claimed, in 1877, that canals carrying water existed on Mars?• Percival Lowell

4. Which planet’s orbit is closer to the sun: Earth or Mars? • My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas

5. How many radioactive cows currently reside on Mars, pumping their foul gas into the atmosphere? • Exactly None

The End

That is were farts come from is it not?

Which planet?

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Which Planet?

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.