Next Stop: Mars!

1
Next Stop Mars!

• Walter S. Kiefer
• Lunar and Planetary Institute

2
Earth and Mars
3
Basic Facts about Mars

• Diameter
• Mars Day
• Mars Year
• Mass
• Gravity
• Atmosphere
• Atmospheric
• Pressure
• Surface
• Temperature

• 6,794 km (53 of Earth)
• 24 hours 37 minutes
• 687 Earth days
• 11 of Earth
• 38 of Earth
• 95 Carbon Dioxide
• lt 1 of Earth at sea level
• -125 to 20 Celsius

4
Giant Volcanos
5
Valles Marineris
6
An Impact Scarred Surface
7
Ancient Floods
50 km
8
Phobos and Deimos
9
A Desert World
10
A Geologic Time Machine
11
Life on Mars?

• Look for evidence of respiration, response to
  nutrients.
• Results probably indicate unusual soil chemistry.
• No evidence for organic molecules at the parts
  per billion level.
• Claimed evidence for life in martian meteorite is
  not generally accepted.