Red Planet Geography

Black Swan

78,000 persons have volunteered for a one-way trip to colonise Mars, yet I wonder if they are any more familiar with the planet's geography than they are with Earth's?

One interesting fact. Olympus Mons is 25 kms high, and has been claimed to be the tallest volcano in the Solar System.

Many thought the Red Planet was long since dead, but recent research suggests that Mars experiences plate tectonics, although not as frequently as Earth.

Do you have other interesting geographic observations to help the future colonists?

astonaidan

Which ever of them go can look foward to colleges being named after them

Black Swan

"Sheepbed" soil samples collected by rover Curiosity suggested that favourable conditions once existed for the support of microbial life.

Will colonists someday terraform Mars to make it habitable for humans?

JupiterKid

If you really want to learn about the intimate details of the surface of Mars and the history of its mapping, there is no better book than Oliver Morton's Mapping Mars. :cool:

Black Swan

JupiterKid wrote: »

If you really want to learn about the intimate details of the surface of Mars and the history of its mapping, there is no better book than Oliver Morton's Mapping Mars. :cool:

It's an interesting read for a 2002 publication about Mars. Our future colonists should keep in mind that the planet's surface evidences asteroid impacts far larger than the one said to have led to species extinction of many dinosaurs.

Black Swan

Will the Mars colonists need a better mouse trap? "Mars Rat" photographed by the Curiosity rover was actually a "rock that bears a passing resemblance to a rodent."

antomorro-sei

Just reading this thread now. I took a module called Planetary Geomorphology this Semester in college. Think its one of the first of its kind in the country. It was pretty amazing. An awful lot of the module was about the geography of Mars, and its pretty interesting. My project focused on the chaotic landscapes on the red planet.

There's plenty of free information on Mars out there, but my favorite resource was Google Mars on Google Earth, which is incredible I think!

Black Swan

Geomorphology sounds grand. Using the geography of Mars and its "chaotic landscapes" would be of interest indeed.

Any surprises about Mars?

JupiterKid

antomorro-sei wrote: »

Just reading this thread now. I took a module called Planetary Geomorphology this Semester in college. Think its one of the first of its kind in the country. It was pretty amazing. An awful lot of the module was about the geography of Mars, and its pretty interesting. My project focused on the chaotic landscapes on the red planet.

There's plenty of free information on Mars out there, but my favorite resource was Google Mars on Google Earth, which is incredible I think!

I wish I could have done a module like that back when I was in college! Sounds fascinating!

Black Swan

The discovery of esperance clay on Mars suggests that fresh clear water once flowed on the surface, one condition for the support of life. Earlier soil samples were considered too acidic.

dogmatix

Black Swan wrote: »

"Sheepbed" soil samples collected by rover Curiosity suggested that favourable conditions once existed for the support of microbial life.

Will colonists someday terraform Mars to make it habitable for humans?

I doubt it. You'd need to find some way to 'thicken' the atmosphere of mars and make it breathable. And mars does not seem to have a strong magnetic field making it prey to solar flares and cosmic radiation. Another issue would be gravity - at just one third, it would mean that after a few generations, people born there would probably not be able to return to or survive on Earth and the low gravity would mean holding onto a denser atmosphere would be a constant struggle. It would probably not be economically viable to terraform mars.

Black Swan

Curiosity in "Rocknest" exhibits first zoomable image exceeding 1 billion pixels.