mars1

We have now identified our research theme for the year: Ice on Mars. Your first assignment will be to join the wiki. Next, you must generate and post 2 questions about ice on Mars. They can be original questions, or you can write a question about someone else’s thought or questions. You may not post the same question that someone else has already posted. I invite you to go beyond an elementary school level of thinking, such as “what color is the ice?” Our purpose here is to develop a direction for our research. Ultimately, what do we want to know or study about the ice on Mars? Are we more interested in ice in the polar caps, on glaciers, in clouds? Do we want to somehow compare martian ice to ice on Earth, and if so, for what reason? Are we including both carbon dioxide __and__ water ice in our study?
 * ** HES Mars Assignment 1 **

In your comments don't simply post a question, but express what most interests you about something you have learned about martian ice, or ideas you have for research. Ultimately we will organize this into several research threads and then vote on a more specific research direction. Develop your thoughts first by learning some about ice features on Mars and reading some articles about Martian ice. Here are some links to get started- read through the list before you begin. Mrs. Villegas will no doubt have some other good ideas about where to look. When you post your questions, reference what article or website you read to get the idea. It does not have to be on the list below. Others may be interested in what you found and may want to visit that website, too!

__**//Getting Started// links:**__ HiRISE is a new very high resolution imager on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It is currently in orbit around Mars and produces new images weekly. It also has an extensive image gallery.http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/HiRISE/science_themes/polar_geology.html peacethroughmusic:  In the picture on this website (above), what are the different lines supposed to be? What type of ice is it? What evidence can be found in the piece of land in the picture? 

THEMIS stands for the Thermal Emission Imaging System. This is the camera that made the large images we used in the Mars surface images lab and it's the one that we will use to take our image of Mars. This link takes you to the ice images gallery. http://themis.asu.edu/theme-polar_ice [|**Reaper05826**] now if there was life on mars wouldnt we be able to use thermal imaging to see it, that is to say if we point thermal imaging at a major city itll glow wouldnt the same apply to mars and any potential "martians"

Mars Odyssey is the spacecraft that contains the THEMIS imager. It has its own image gallery.http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/gallery/latestimages/index.html  Tim1415- Could there really be ice under Mars? Could Mars have snow just like Earth? How much ice will form on Mars? ballerinawriter- Okay, so on this site they have pictures showing my layers of ice on Mars. Looking at these pictures what can learn about Mars past? How these are similar to analyzing Earth's ice cores?  Phoenix discovers ice on Mars - one of the many new articles from the June 2008 discovery. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=red-planet-alert-massive

atz50: Is the ice on Mars carbon dioxide ice or water ice? If it's carbon dioxide ice, how would it snow? Is it possible that it would be carbon dioxide snow?

__iamyourfather:__it could be carbon dioxide ice on mars but if there was it would have to be the temperature of dry ice saying this what is the temperature or average temperature that is of ice on mars?

iamyourfather: also is there a polar cap on mars? __MUSiiCxxLOVER:__
It said that a "Phoenix" spotted falling snow. Doesn't that mean that mars would have to have an atmosphere? And if Mars **does** have an atmosphere does that mean the atmposphere could sustain life? Maybe not human life, but like bacteria or small life forms. Also if below the surface of Mars there is ice, could life be living in that ice? On Earth thousands of micro-organisms live in water and ice so does that mean that the same thing is possible on Mars? Have scientists on Earth been able to get a concentrated sample of ice from Mars? If they have, is there some distinct difference between it and the ice on Mars? And have they found life in the water? Even small life forms?  xDAHx10 Wait I thought that Mars didn't have an atmosphere... How can it snow without and atmosphere?

**__kimivampireprincess:__** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255,255,255);">**If there really is ice on Mars, then is there actual water on Mars? Like rivers or oceans?**  <span style="color: rgb(255,0,58); font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; background-color: rgb(11,10,10);"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(255,0,84); background-color: rgb(255,255,255);">**And if there is actual water…can it support life? Like microscopic organisms or marine life? But then again, if there IS marine life in the water on Mars, how is it being supported? Would they take in oxegen released by underwater plants or would they breathe different gases? (Now I'm spitballing...!!)

[|**Reaper05826**]** <span style="color: rgb(0,0,0);">one would assume that the water would run off underground, and is it possible there is life with that water much like fish that may inhabit underground pools KingBantien012-if there was underwater life on mars would we be able 2 bring them back to Earth, dead most likely?

<span style="color: rgb(0,205,255); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">xDanix: <span style="font-size: 90%; color: rgb(65,62,62); font-family: Georgia,serif;">Have scientists gotten any ice samples from mars? If so what are they like and whats the difference from earth and if they did what did they find out about the ice? <span style="color: rgb(0,205,255); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">xDanix: If they found information on the ice did they prove/disprove any theroies about martain glaciers?

Phoenix home page- "snowing on Mars". The Mars Phoenix spacecraft landed on Mars last spring near the south pole. Its main purpose was to verify that there was water ice on Mars. This link discusses the snow that is now taking place at the lander site. http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/ <span style="color: rgb(198,0,255); font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;"> xKxMxRx: <span style="color: rgb(28,249,21); font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">it says that mars' axis had a greater tilt before than it does now. does that mean that the climate had been warmer or cooler? peacethroughmusic : Is a warmer climate or colder climate better for living conditions on Mars?

Glaciers on Mars. recently helped Phoenix to make the discovery of large buried glaciers on Mars. http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/06_20_pr.php Hariboman: How far have humans dug into martain ice/land? What did they find? Did what they found have any significance at all? Did what they find spark scientists idea of life on mars? sarcasmeetsChrist: Are there large craters or caverns in the ice? If Mars did support life, would any of these caverns house life??

Stacycsws: Could there be some kind of body of water underneath some of the ice on mars? Martian ice ages? http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/05/the-ice-ages-of.html <span style="color: rgb(141,14,205);"><span style="color: rgb(134,15,210);"><span style="color: rgb(148,0,255); font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(12,198,116); font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">xKxMxRx: could studying mars' climate changes and 'ice ages' potentially help us figure out Earth's climate change i.e. global warming?

<span style="color: rgb(141,14,205);"><span style="color: rgb(134,15,210);"><span style="color: rgb(148,0,255); font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">xD<span style="color: rgb(182,30,241); font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">AHx10:: <span style="color: rgb(0,0,0); font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(182,30,241); font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(141,14,205);"><span style="color: rgb(134,15,210);">Because there is ice and there could be flowing water on mars and that organisms can live on Mars, does that mean that humnas could potentially live on the red planet? <span style="color: rgb(247,34,34);">**__<span style="background-color: rgb(0,0,0);">kimivampireprincess: __** I doubt there could be humans on Mars, because there is no oxegen. :/ Unless you're talking about //marine homo-sapien beings// than I'd have to say "no." __MUSiiCxxLOVER:__ Kimi. I agree, because of the lack of oxygen on Mars, I doubt humans could live there. But couldnt some type of small micro-organism be living on Mars? Something that lives in the ice/water on Mars. Of course I'm not saying that it's something as monumental as humans but I definitly think that **some** sort of life is one Mars.

Mars Ice Consortium http://www.mars-ice.org/ Stacycsws: Can there be ice on all areas of mars? Or are there some areas of mars where ice cannot be found?

Ice and flooding on Mars http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2013114.stm <span style="color: rgb(251,14,17); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">CMLiv: Though we don't know if Mars has had life in the past, if the ice on Mars were somehow to melt, would it be possible for the planet to sustain some form of life again?

Polar Trek is an online web journal site that allows students and teachers to interact with researchers who are now doing work in Antarctica. One of the researchers there is working in an area that has been compared to Mars.http://www.polartrec.com/ancient-buried-ice-in-antarctica CMLiv: Looking at the organisms in Antarctic ice, would it be anything similar to what we would expect the life in Mars ice to be like IF mars ever did contain life?

<span style="color: rgb(245,168,229); background-color: rgb(250,250,250);">**ballerinawriter: What can we apply about Martian ice from looking and studying Antartic Ice?** <span style="color: rgb(0,17,255);">Tim1415- I think this website has good information for our project: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080620-phoenix-ice-update.html **__ SevonFiveOne __** : This is an article off of MSNBC's website showing that ice is not only found on the surface of mars but down further, even further than most scientists expected. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27827606/ Also there is a website on mars ice. http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Mars/MarsThePlanet/MarsIce.html What could be trapped inside mars ice? Objects that came into mars through space? What could theese objects tell us about not only mars but mabye other planets? <span style="display: block; color: rgb(18,44,186); font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; text-align: left;"> KingBantien012- if we could get a sample of Martian ice and bring it back for research, what would the significant differences be between the martian ice and arctic ice?

Invasian94- Would it be possible for Mars to be going through a similar ice age that was forsaken upon Earth, giving that there is a large amount of ice on Mars plus a temperature drop in Mars.

Invasian94- If we looked at records of Mars ice and we were to notice a drop of ice in Mars, could we imply a possible //Natural// Global Warming on Mars, as we had on earth hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Sara2012- since theres ice on mars wouldn't there have to be water also? if so then wouldn't the water be able to support life? ||