Amy
Kwok
Citation:
"NASA Mars Spacecraft Reveals a More Dynamic Red
Planet." - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
10 Dec. 2013. Web.
Link:
Scientists
had found dark markings near the equator of Mars, which is probably caused by
salty water. That is surprising because they had always believed that the
equator was dry. Every year, Mars is changing, so NASA uses the Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to track all the different changes, like craters
or storm dust. The markings have been changing seasonally ever since they were
reported two years ago. They are usually less than 16 feet wide and extend down
the steep, rocky slopes from spring to summer. Then, they would fade in winter,
and the cycle would continue. This time however, the slopes had reached over
4,000 feet. They are monitoring five of the sites with the markings in Valles
Marineris, the largest canyon system in the solar
system, and the information that they got from it was that the markings become
visible when the slope faces more sunshine. Alfred
McEwen, principal investigator for the MRO, says that it may be because when
the temperature rises, the salty water is able to flow down the slope. They
were unable to find any water, but they believe that there is salt-water there.
It would make sense since dissolved salt is able to suppress
the water's freezing point, and the markings can be
formed by the water. They also slow down the rate water evaporates, so the salty water
flows farther down the slope. Scientists were able to find ice as well from
comets and asteroids that hit Mars. They have even been able to spot ice
craters down to 39 degrees north, which is more than halfway from the pole to
the equator. This tells us that either the average climate is wetter the
past thousand years or that the water vapor is more concentrated near
the surface than before. Now that the temperature is rising, the ice is
slowly disappearing. Robert Haberle of NASA's Ames Research Center
said that the dust cycle is the main driver of the climate system. Even with so
much more knowledge, the astronomers are mainly asking the question of why dust
storms go around Mars in some years and other times, they don’t. Scientists
have not found the answer yet, but all scientists worldwide are helping each
other find the answers.
This is important because with the new data from Mars, we are
able to map out the way Mars looks and the way it behaves. With the evidence of
the markings, scientists are able to understand more about Mars, and the idea
of salt water on Mars becomes more reasonable. It has been one of the major
findings and can come up with idea of salt water on Mars. It can also tell us
the climate of Mars right now and how it has been changing over the thousands
of years. Mars is better known than ever before and the new sets of data that
we have on it is helping us develop other new ideas of Mars. With the data from
other orbiters, it has provided additional insight about the dynamics of Mars’
atmosphere and its surface. The data will help future human explorers of Mars know where
to find resources such as water, how to prepare for hazards such as dust
storms, and where to be extra careful about contamination with Earth microbes.
The MRO was just launched in 2005, and yet it had collected so much data
already, so they are sure more information and other fascinating parts of Mars
will soon be discovered.
The
article was really interesting, and I felt like I had learned so many new facts
about Mars and the climate of it. It made me think of Mars more as a beauty
rather than a dull planet. I thought it was easy enough for me to read and to
understand everything. They were able to explain the importance of the Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter clearly enough that I was able to appreciate it. The one criticism that
I have for this article is that I don't think
they explained fully about the climate change and how the salt water on Mars
had to relate to the ice found near the surface or the dust storm that
surrounds Mars' equator. Overall, I think I choose a fascinating article, and I
really enjoyed reading it.
I thought that overall, this review was fairly well-written. The most important part about this article that was done well was the introduction. The introduction started off with a hook that got me interested in the article. After that, I wanted to read the rest of it. This review also sums up the important points of this article pretty well. It gives the reader the main idea of the article and includes important key facts. This is important because the whole point of a review is to talk about the article and not just copy it. This review goes very in depth about the idea of salt water on Mars. This review also explains why this article is important to the reader. This is especially important because otherwise the reader would find the review dull.
ReplyDeleteI learned that Mars might have salt-water on its surface, I did not think that salt-water existed on other planets. I also learned that Mars might not be so different from Earth. They seem to have more and more similarities every time. I also learned that Mars has dust storms, this is new to me. Dust Storms interest me because I did not know that such a thing could happen on Mars. Even though the review is interesting and includes many facts, I believe that it might be a bit too long. Other than that, I believe that this was a very well-written review on a very interesting article.
I thought that overall, this review was fairly well-written. The most important part about this article that was done well was the introduction. The introduction started off with a hook that got me interested in the article. After that, I wanted to read the rest of it. This review also sums up the important points of this article pretty well. It gives the reader the main idea of the article and includes important key facts. This is important because the whole point of a review is to talk about the article and not just copy it. This review goes very in depth about the idea of salt water on Mars. This review also explains why this article is important to the reader. This is especially important because otherwise the reader would find the review dull.
ReplyDeleteI learned that Mars might have salt-water on its surface, I did not think that salt-water existed on other planets. I also learned that Mars might not be so different from Earth. They seem to have more and more similarities every time. I also learned that Mars has dust storms, this is new to me. Dust Storms interest me because I did not know that such a thing could happen on Mars. Even though the review is interesting and includes many facts, I believe that it might be a bit too long. Other than that, I believe that this was a very well-written review on a very interesting article.
I thought that this review is well written. The review gives all the important information from the article and is easy to understand. It also includes many interesting details and facts. The review went into depth of how there might be salt water on Mars which interested me because I had no idea that Mars had any water on its surface. I didn't think that it was possible for Mars to have water on its surface. I learned that Mars has a lot more similarities with Earth than I thought. I thought that the review was very interesting and gave a lot of information. It explained why this information was important which makes me want to find more information on Mars. The one thing that I would improve in this review is the length. I think that it should be a bit shorter to get to the point faster. Other than that, I think the review was well written and had a very interesting topic.
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