What I Think I Know About Mars

Questions

1. What do you know about NASA's plans to visit Mars?
2. How long will the trip take?
3. What supplies and equipment will the astronauts need to survive there?
4. What do you think are the risks of traveling to such a distant planet?
5. What would you want to bring with you?

Answers

1. I don't know that much only that they want to be the first nation to get people on Mars.  
2. The trip will take 2.5 years including 18 months on the surface of Mars. 
3. Since it is very cold they will need to have insulated suits and they will also need food and water.  They will also need to bring some way to get oxygen because the air on Mars is not breathable.  
4. There are a lot of things that can go wrong.  The rocket could break down or they could not have enough oxygen.  Virtually everything could go wrong.  
5. I would want to bring a lot of food and water and also a way to get oxygen.  I would also want to bring a way to keep warm and rubik's cubes to keep me occupied.  

Notes

• It is only a third of the size of earth
• Some of it's volcanoes are as big as the state of Missouri
• It's gravity is less than half of that on Earth.  
• It's so cold that all of it's water is locked up in the polar ice caps or frozen beneath the surface.
• A meteor was found that came from Mars and it had minerals that can only form in water as well as things that could have been made by bacteria
• Scientists tested rocks to see if there was life on Mars and three out of the four tests came up positive but the last one, and most important, was negative. 
• Ancient river channels showed that once Mars had water everywhere not just in the ice caps
• Most of the fuel was in first stage rocket to be fired as soon as they leave Earth's orbit.
• They will send a rocket to Mars before the real deal to get fuel for the return trip.
• On the way out of orbit they will transfer to a bigger ship for more leg room.  
• They are growing plants 10-20% as dense as they are on Earth.  
• The color of light could effect how the plant grows.
• The greatest risk might be the weightlessness because the weightlessness lets your muscles relax because they aren't competing against gravity.
• They are experimenting with laying down treadmill.   
• Sometimes they would fight or get mad at each other.  
• Nearing the surface of Mars the speed would go down and the Gs would go up.  
• First priority was to check and make sure that return ship was still functionable.