The Mars 2020 rover has six wheels, each with its own individual motor. The two front and two rear wheels also have individual steering motors. This steering capability allows the vehicle to turn in place, a full 360 degrees. The four-wheel steering also allows the rover to swerve and curve, making arcing turns.
Solar Panel
The Mars 2020 rover requires electrical power to operate. Without power, the rover cannot move, use its science instruments, or communicate with Earth. Mars 2020 carries a radioisotope power system. This power system produces a dependable flow of electricity using the heat of plutonium's radioactive decay as its "fuel." The power source is called a "Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator" or MMRTG for short. The MMRTG converts heat from the natural radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity. This power system charges the rover's two primary batteries. The heat from the MMRTG is also used to keep the rover's tools and systems at their correct operating temperatures.
Laser
Mars 2020's 7-foot-long robotic arm can move a lot like yours. It has a shoulder, elbow and wrist "joints" for maximum flexibility. The armlets the rover work as a human geologist would: by holding and using science tools with its "hand" or turret. The rover's own "hand tools" extract cores from rocks, take microscopic images and analyzes the elemental composition and mineral makeup of Martian rocks and soil.
Camera
The rover has several cameras focused on engineering and science tasks. Some help us land on Mars, while others serve as our “eyes” on the surface to drive around. We use others to do scientific observations and aid in the collection of samples.
Also, there are:
Engineering cameras: 9 Science cameras: 7 Entry, descent and landing cameras: 7 Total cameras: 23
Shovel, rock pick,drill
The rover body is called the warm electronics box, or "WEB" for short. As a car body, the rover body is a strong, outer layer that protects the rover's computer and electronics (which are basically the equivalent of the rover's brains and heart). The rover body thus keeps the rover's vital organs protected and temperature-controlled. The warm electronics box is closed on the top by a piece called the Rover Equipment Deck. The Rover Equipment Deck makes the rover like a convertible car, allowing a place for the rover mast and cameras to sit out in the Martian air, taking pictures with a clear view of the terrain as the rover travels.
2. In groups of 3 you will Design, Draw and Make a Mars Rover out of Lego Technics. Materials:
Lego Technics
A4 paper
Pencil
Ruler
Eraser
The drawing and model must have:
6 wheels
1 camera
1 tool at the front than includes a shovel, pick and drill.
1 solar panel
1 laser that points at the ground
3. Mars Facts Link: Facts You will need to find out the following:
Fact
Earth
Mars
Picture of planet
Length of 1 year
365 days
687 days
Length of 1 day
23 hours 56 minutes
24 hours 37 minutes
Distance from the sun
149.6 million km
227.9 million km
Distance from Earth.
----
54.6 million km
Gravity:
9.807 m/s²
3.711 m/s²
Colour:
Blue and Green
Golden, Brown, Tan, and Reddish
Temperature
-88 to 57 C
-140 to 30 C
Rainfall
Average of 100cm
No Rainfall
Atmosphere
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Argon
Others
Mostly carbon dioxide
Some water vapour
Surface
510.1 million km²
144.8 million km²
Moons and names
Moon
Phobos
Deimos
Conclusion: Write about what you have learnt.
I learnt heaps of new information from the tables. I really like learning about space, but I didn't know that much information. It was really fun and cool to blog about this topic. I mostly learnt about the parts of the Mars 2020 rover. I was astonished by the cameras of rover Mars 2020. They have 23 cameras!!
Mars 2020 rover has 23 cameras.
Mars 2020 rover has 6 wheels.
The distance of Earth and Mars is 54.6 million km.
The gravity of Earth is 9.807 m/s².
The gravity of Mars is 3.711 m/s².
The temperature of Earth is from -88 to 57 C.
The temperature of Mars is from -140 to 30 C.
The average rainfall of Earth is 100cm.
Most of Mars' atmosphere is carbon dioxide and some of water vapour.
On the 19 December, NASA had posted about InSight placing its first instrument on the surface of Mars. Most of my posts in this holidays is about the Summer Learning Journey, so I think that you haven't seen my last InSight post, 'It's First Selfie!'. It is about InSight taking a selfie, it shows the solar panels and deck. The post wasn't that long because of the Summer Learning Journey.
There are new images of the SEIS (seismometer) on the ground. InSight Project Manager Tom Hoffman said, "InSight's timetable of activities on Mars has gone better than we hoped." "Getting the seismometer safely on the ground is an awesome Christmas present."
On the top of the post, there is a GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) where there are a set of images which makes an animated video. In the GIF, it shows how InSight places the seismometer on the Martian surface. The image was taken on 19 December, with InSight's Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC), which is on the lander's arm.
On the right, is one of the images in the GIF. This was the first time where a spacecraft robotically placed a seismometer onto the surface of another planet.
I will remind you what is InSight's seismometer. A seismometer which is also called Seismic Explorations for Interior Structure (SEIS), which will measure the seismic waves caused by marsquakes (mars because it is in Mars, not earthquakes because it is on Earth), meteorite strikes and other phenomena. These waves go through Mars' interior and will let scientists know how the planet's crust, mantle and core are layered. Also, it will inform more about how all rocky planets were formed, which includes Earth and its Moon.
The InSight team has been working toward the science instruments in Mars' soil since the landing (26 November).
I hope you like my post about the seismometer placing on Mars. Comment down below if you learnt something new. Have a cool night. Bye!!
Yesterday, I had posted about the update of NASA's InSight lander. I had read an article today afternoon and decided to create a post about it. If you haven't seen the post, click on the link and please comment it, I will know your opinions.
Well, today, NASA had posted about when InSight senses Mars' wind. Listen to Mars' wind blow across NASA's InSight lander. InSight's seismometer (information in my last post) and air pressure sensor picked up vibrations from 16-24 kph winds as it blew across Mars' Elysium Planitia on 1 December 2018.
Below is a video from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) about the sounds of wind on Mars, which includes a short preview of the sound. If you want to hear the sound of Mars' wind, click on this link, the clip is only 20 seconds long. If you want to download the clip, use the shortcut key, 'Ctrl + S' and your clip is downloaded.
I hope you like my post about the Wind Sound of Mars. Have a cool day!! Bye!!
Just a few posts ago, I had posted about InSight's landing, it was called 'Touchdown!'. I have made a post of what has happened since the landing. It has facts, mission goals, images after landing and videos about InSight.
On the day that InSight landed, there were three images taken (two from Instrument Context Camera (ICC) and one from Instrument Context Camera (ICC)). Now, there are 46 images taken! The latest image is below from the Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC). There are 17 images taken on Sol 10 - 7 December 2018. The image was taken on Sol 10 (day 10 on Mars = 20 Earth days), on 7 December 2018, 12:52:42 PM.
Let's know about InSight's instruments. InSight has three instruments, the first one is a Seismometer.
InSight's Seismometer, SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure) is a round, dome-shaped instrument that sits on the surface of Mars, which takes the pulse or seismic vibrations of Mars. The measurements provide information about Mars' internal activity. The Seismometer waits to sense the marsquakes (mars instead of earth - earthquakes) and seismic waves. SEIS measurements inform scientists about the nature of the material that formed the rocky planets of our Solar System. This reveals what is beneath Mars, also, the Seismometer might even inform if there are active volcanoes, liquid water or plumes which are underneath the surface of Mars. The main job of the Seismometer is to measure the pulse of Mars, by studying waves created by Marsquakes.
Below is a video from National Geographic. Knowing about InSight taking Mars' pulse.
Did you know that the SEIS seismometer is so sensitive, it can detect surface movements smaller than a hydrogen atom!?
Here are five facts that you need to know:
The seismometer can sense weather phenomena like, dust storms that produce seismic waves.
Scientists expect from the seismometer to detect five to ten meteor impacts over the InSight mission.
The InSight lander delivers the first seismometer to Mars in the first 40 years. The last time seismometers travelled to Mars was with the Viking landers.
InSight's SEIS seismometer is like a doctor's stethoscope, like a doctor listening to the patient's heartbeat, SEIS listens for marsquakes.
The SEIS is ultra-sensitive that can tune in to tremors smaller than a hydrogen atom!
So these are some five amazing facts about the SEIS. We all know what are Earthquakes, right? But, do you know what are Marsquakes? Here is a video from JPL from the series, Mars in a Minute, about Marsquakes. It's just only a minute long.
The next instrument is called the Heat Probe. The Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe, (HP3). Which makes a hole down to almost five meters. The HP3 takes Mars' temperature, which reveals how much heat is flowing out of the inside of the planet. The mass of HP3 is just over 3 kilograms. The maximum power of the HP3 is about 2 watts while digging underneath the surface.
Here are five facts that you need to know about the HP3.
HP3 tells scientists how heat flows inside Mars.
HP3 takes the temperature of the interior of Mars.
Information from the heat flow reveals if Earth and Mars are formed from the same stuff, also, how active Mars is.
HP3 package has a probe that digs down up to 5 meters below the surface. That's deeper than previous instruments to any other moon, planet or asteroid, which have only dug up the upper inch of rock or soil.
HP3 pulls the ribbon-shaped cable behind it, that's jam-packed full of temperature sensors.
Our third and final instrument is called the Radio Science Experiment. The Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE), 'tracks the location of the lander to decide just how much Mars' North Pole wobbles as it orbits the sun.' This observation will include detailed information about the size of Mars' rich core. The main job of RISE is an apostrophe. The location of RISE is two Medium-Gain 'horn' Antennas (MGAs) on InSight's deck. The mass is about 7.3 kilograms. The antennas are about 1.4 kilograms.
Here are five things that you need to know:
RISE tracks the location of InSight lander every day, which also knows its location to within a few centimetres.
RISE simply sends back the signal sent to the lander from Earth, via the Deep Space Network, revealing InSight's location.
As the seasons change on Mars, carbon dioxide controls and shortens at the poles, causing tiny changes in the rotation rate of Mars, affecting the length of Mars' day. RISE will be able to measure these changes.
RISE will help control if Mars has a solid metal core, like a hard-boiled egg, or a molten, liquid metal core, like a soft-centred, raw egg.
RISE uses the same principle that causes the sound from a fast-moving siren to change as it moves away, to study Mars' core.
That's a lot of information about instruments that InSight has and I hope you learnt heaps of information about InSight's instruments. If you want to see how the instruments work. There is a 3D view of InSight by NASA named 'Experience InSight'. You can move the camera and more other fun things.
NASA has a press-kit which shows information that I don't have. The press-kit includes the following:
Introduction
Media Services
Quick Facts: Landing Facts
Quick Facts: Mars at a Glance
Mission: Overview
Mission: Spacecraft
Mission: Science
Mission: Landing Site
Program & Project Managment
Appendix: Mars Cube One Tech Demo
Appendix: Gallery
Appendix: Science Objectives, Quantified
Appendix: Historical Mars Missions
Appendix: NASA's Discovery Program
The press-kit has heaps and heaps of information, that you might even don't know about.
If you haven't seen the landing of InSight. It had streamed one week ago. Below is a 1 hour, 30-minute live stream video about the landing. It's a long video, right? Below the live stream, there is a video, which is just only 1 minute 38 seconds long.
So before I wrap it up, I will tell what I've learnt and it is a lot of information that I've learnt.
What I've Learnt
Now there are 46 images taken since the landing.
The latest image is below from the Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC).
There are 17 images taken on Sol 10 - 7 December 2018, 12:52:42 PM.
InSight has three instruments: Seismometer, Heat Probe and Radio Science Experiment.
InSight's Seismometer, SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure) is a round, dome-shaped instrument that sits on the surface of Mars, which takes the pulse or seismic vibrations of Mars. The measurements provide information about Mars' internal activity.
The Seismometer waits to sense the marsquakes (mars instead of earth - earthquakes) and seismic waves.
SEIS measurements inform scientists about the nature of the material that formed the rocky planets of our Solar System.
This reveals what is beneath Mars, also, the Seismometer might even inform if there are active volcanoes, liquid water or plumes which are underneath the surface of Mars.
The main job of the Seismometer is to measure the pulse of Mars, by studying waves created by Marsquakes.
The SEIS seismometer is so sensitive, it can detect surface movements smaller than a hydrogen atom!?
The seismometer can sense weather phenomena like, dust storms that produce seismic waves.
Scientists expect from the seismometer to detect five to ten meteor impacts over the InSight mission.
The InSight lander delivers the first seismometer to Mars in the first 40 years. The last time seismometers travelled to Mars was with the Viking landers.
InSight's SEIS seismometer is like a doctor's stethoscope, like a doctor listening to the patient's heartbeat, SEIS listens for marsquakes.
The SEIS is ultra-sensitive that can tune in to tremors smaller than a hydrogen atom!
The Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe, (HP3).
Which makes a hole down to almost five meters.
The HP3 takes Mars' temperature, which reveals how much heat is flowing out of the inside of the planet.
The mass of HP3 is just over 3 kilograms.
The maximum power of the HP3 is about 2 watts while digging underneath the surface.
HP3 tells scientists how heat flows inside Mars.
HP3 takes the temperature of the interior of Mars.
Information from the heat flow reveals if Earth and Mars are formed from the same stuff, also, how active Mars is.
HP3 package has a probe that digs down up to 5 meters below the surface. That's deeper than previous instruments to any other moon, planet or asteroid, which have only dug up the upper inch of rock or soil.
HP3 pulls the ribbon-shaped cable behind it, that's jam-packed full of temperature sensors.
The Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE), 'tracks the location of the lander to decide just how much Mars' North Pole wobbles as it orbits the sun.'
This observation will include detailed information about the size of Mars' rich core.
The main job of RISE is an apostrophe.
The location of RISE is two Medium-Gain 'horn' Antennas (MGAs) on InSight's deck.
The mass is about 7.3 kilograms.
The antennas are about 1.4 kilograms.
RISE tracks the location of InSight lander every day, which also knows its location to within a few centimetres.
RISE simply sends back the signal sent to the lander from Earth, via the Deep Space Network, revealing InSight's location.
As the seasons change on Mars, carbon dioxide controls and shortens at the poles, causing tiny changes in the rotation rate of Mars, affecting the length of Mars' day. RISE will be able to measure these changes.
RISE will help control if Mars has a solid metal core, like a hard-boiled egg, or a molten, liquid metal core, like a soft-centred, raw egg.
RISE uses the same principle that causes the sound from a fast-moving siren to change as it moves away, to study Mars' core.
I hope you like my post about the update on InSight Robotic Lander. Comment down below if you've learnt something on my post. Stay tuned to see my posts in the holidays (starts from 17 November) about the Summer Learning Journey 2018-19. Have a cool day!! Bye!!
NASA's Insight Lander as landed on the surface of Mars. It landed at 9:00 AM, New Zealand Daylight Time (3:00 PM, Eastern Time). Let's know some facts and information about the spacecraft.
Launch Date: 5 May 2018, 11:05 PM NZST (New Zealand Standard Time)
Launch Location: Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Here is an image which shows facts about NASA's InSight.
There are two goals in the mission
To understand how rocky planets have formed and involved and know about the structure:
The size of the core, what it is made of, if it is liquid or not.
Thickness and structure of the crust.
Structure of the mantle and what it is made of.
How warm the structure is and how much heat is still flowing through.
How tectonically active Mars is today, how often meteorites impact it. It would measure:
How often meteorites hit the surface of Mars.
How powerful and frequent internal seismic activity is on Mars. Where it is located within the structure of Mars.
Some people might be thinking, why Mars? Why is the spacecraft viewing Mars?
Well, spacecraft which have been to Mars have investigated the history of Mars' surface by features like volcanoes, canyons, soil and rock. Comparing other terrestrial (rocky) planets, Mars has been never too big or too small. This could mean that it could have a record of the formation and how terrestrial planets formed. Landers like NASA's InSight can reveal how active Mars is.
NASA's Insight had landed 7 minutes and one second before prediction, 9:52:59 AM (New Zealand Daylight Time), 11:52:59 AM (Pacific Time), 2:52:59 AM (Eastern Time). The mission is going to last for 1 Mars year; 709 sols (the name for 'day' in Mars), that means ~ 2 Earth years; 728 Earth days.
Images There are three images taken, from the landing.
First image token after landing - Instrument Context Camera (ICC)
Instrument Context Camera (ICC)
Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC)
Below is a video from SciNews about the Landing. Watch the whole video. Landing Video | SciNews
The spacecraft was launched at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
The spacecraft's landing location: Elysium Planitia, Mars
The cost is 828.8 million USD.
The manufacturer was Lockheed Martin Space Systems.
The contractor was the United Launch Alliance.
There are two goals in the mission
To understand how rocky planets have formed and involved and know about the structure:
The size of the core, what it is made of, if it is liquid or not.
Thickness and structure of the crust.
Structure of the mantle and what it is made of.
How warm the structure is and how much heat is still flowing through.
How tectonically active Mars is today, how often meteorites impact it. It would measure:
How often meteorites hit the surface of Mars.
How powerful and frequent internal seismic activity is on Mars. Where it is located within the structure of Mars.
The spacecraft which have been to Mars have investigated the history of Mars' surface by features like volcanoes, canyons, soil and rock.
Comparing other terrestrial (rocky) planets, Mars has been never too big or too small.
This could mean that it could have a record of the formation and how terrestrial planets formed.
Landers like NASA's InSight can reveal how active Mars is.
NASA's Insight had landed 7 minutes and one second before prediction, 9:52:59 AM (New Zealand Daylight Time), 11:52:59 AM (Pacific Time), 2:52:59 AM (Eastern Time).
The mission is going to last for 1 Mars year; 709 sols (the name for 'day' in Mars), that means ~ 2 Earth years; 728 Earth days.
I hope you like the post. Comment down if you have learnt anything new. Have a cool day!! Bye!!
For this post, we are looking at our solar system. Not just the solar system we also made a model of the solar system, with polystyrene. It took some periods, but it was awesome. It was fun. First, I got some polystyrene balls and coloured them. Next, I let them dry and added skewers and placed them on the polystyrene box. Later I attached the rings to Saturn. When I completed my model it looked outstanding. In this post, we will tell you why do outer planets or gas planets have rings. Comment down what you've learnt. Have a cool day!! Bye!!
The Solar System Finished Product
Me painting Uranus
Me painting Mars
Me with the Solar System
What are the sizes of the Planets
The planets go from smallest to largest in diameter.
Mercury - 4,879.4 km
Mars - 6,787 km
Venus - 12,104 km
Earth - 12,756 km
Neptune - 49,528 km
Uranus - 51,118 km
Saturn - 120,600 km
Jupiter - 142,800 km
Rings
Why do gas planets have rings?
Well the outer planets are of course far away from the sun where they have more debris, (means something wrecked or destroyed) left over when they were formed, so they turned into rings or moons.
Why don't inner planets have rings?
The inner planets are too close to the sun and have more sunlight, the sunlight sublimes the ice (makes solid into gas), which makes the solar wind sweeps the dust away.
What I've learnt?
The outer planets have rings because they have more debris.
The inner planets don't have rings because the planets are too close and the solar wind sweeps the dust away.
Mars is the second smallest planet
Neptune is smaller than Uranus by 2,000 km.
Saturn is x2 the size than Uranus - Uranus, 51,118 km - Saturn, 120,600 km
Jupiter is nearly x3 the than Uranus - Uranus, 51,118 km - Jupiter - 142,800 km
For the 3 weeks we are doing a information report on the topic that we like. I chose the Planets of our Solar System. Here is my information report. This may be a really long report but it has heaps of information about our solar system. I hope you like my information report. Have a cool 😎 day!! Bye!!
Planets of our Solar System
Hello, my name is Khush and I will tell you about the Solar System. Do you know anything about the solar system? I am going to tell you tell you some facts and information that you may or may not know. So listen carefully and come to my space journey.
Let’s discover the history of our solar system. It all started 4.5 billion years ago when a cloud of interstellar gas and dust collapsed resulting in a solar nebula, a swirling disk of material that collided to form the solar system. So that was how the solar system was created or formed. It has 8 planets. Do you know where is the solar system? It is located in the Milky Way’s Orion Star Cluster. Did you know that only 15% of stars in the galaxy host planetary systems, one of those star is our star named the Sun.
Talking of the Sun let’s know some facts about the sun. The sun is our star in our solar system. The sun has been for the last 4.5 billion years ago. It is known that the sun’s temperature is estimated about 15 million celsius. The sun is about 93 million miles away from earth. Do you know how many earth’s can fit the sun? It can fit about more than a 100 earth’s in the sun! How cool! Let’s talk about the categories of our solar system. We have 2 categories in our solar system. One is terrestrial planets. They are the first 4 planets in our solar system. Second, Jovian Planets, they are the last 4 planets in our solar system. 2 of them are gas giants and the other 2 are ice giants, we will talk about them at the end of our report. Jovian Planets have rings. I have one question to you. Have you heard about the smallest planet on this solar system?
Yes, you might guess it. It is Mercury, the smallest and first planet to the sun. Mercury is fast, it takes 88 earth days a year for Mercury. But a day in Mercury is about 59 earth days. It travels 50 km per second. The surface of Mercury is similar than Earth’s Moon. The first spacecraft to Mercury was Mariner 10, it was launched at November 3, 1973. It had it imaged 45% of the surface. Mercury has no moons. Did you know how Mercury got it’s name? In ancient Roman gods, Mercury is the messenger of the gods. I forgot to say one more fact about Mercury. It’s temperature. Mercury’s temperature while facing the sun reaches about 430 celsius (800 fahrenheit), that’s hot! So what happens at nighttime? The temperature drops down to -180 degrees celsius (-290 degrees fahrenheit), I would not like to live in Mercury! Do you know what is the hottest planet in our solar system?
I think you might know it. It’s Venus. The hottest and 2nd planet from the sun. Venus spins the opposite direction to some of the planets. Venus is hot enough to melt Lead. Venus is named after Love and Beauty in ancient Roman gods. As Mercury, Venus has no moon. In 650 BCE, Mayan astronomers had detailed, watching Venus. In 1962, NASA sended Mariner 2 to Venus and releases Venus extraordinary surface temperature. It was the first spacecraft to send back information from a different planet.
A day in Venus is 243 Earth days. So what about the year in Venus, Venus is fast so the year is 225 earth days. Now the extreme temperature of Venus, lets see the graphics. The surface temperature is about 471°C (880°F). The average temperature of Venus is about 864°F (462°C) and Earth’s average temperature is 57°F, that’s about 14°C! Gravity on Venus is 91% as strong as Earth’s gravity. Venus’s atmosphere is mostly Carbon Dioxide (CO2) , with clouds of sulfuric acid droplets. Venus also has mountains, valleys and hundreds of thousands of volcanoes. The highest mountain is named Maxwell Montes, it is 20,000 feet high, it is similar to Mount Everest in Nepal.
No man has been to Venus, but there has been some spacecrafts that had been to Venus’s surface, the spacecraft didn’t last long in Venus. All of the heat in Venus has overheated the electronics in the spacecraft in a really short time. So it means that it is really hard to live on Venus. Venus has a lot of Electric Field Strength, Venus has 10 volts, Earth has <2 (less than 2) volts. Sometimes Venus and Earth are called twins because of their similar sizes and similar mass (weight). Now let’s go to our own planet.
Earth, our own planet. Earth is the 3rd and the 5th largest planet in the solar system. Earth is the only living planet in the solar system. As talking about Venus’ and Earth’s size, Earth is slightly larger than Venus. Let’s talk about Earth’s rotation. A day for Earth is about 23.9 hours, so what about a year, we know what a year is 365 days in a year, but it is really 365.25 days in a year, it adds one quarter in the calendar because every 4 years we have a leap year.
As Venus, Earth has volcanoes, mountains and valleys. Earth’s crust (continental and oceanic), is divided into huge plates that are continuously moving. Example: the North American plate moves west to the Pacific Plate. The water covers up 70% of Earth’s surface. Most of Earth’s mountains are under Earth’s surface. In Hawaii, Mauna Kea is volcano is taller than the summit of Mount Everest.
The longest range of mountains is in South America named, the Andes. The length is 7,000 km long. The Andes goes through, Perú, Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador and Bolivia. The highest point in the Andes is Aconcagua, it’s height is 6,962m high. Aconcagua is the highest mountain out of Asia.
The atmosphere of the Earth. Earth has 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% of other gases (argon, carbon dioxide, and neon).
Earth is the only planet with 1 moon. Our moon is the brightest and familiar object in the night sky. Do you know how the moon was made? When Earth was young, a huge chunk of rock smashed into Earth which made the Moon. The moon is the 5th largest moon in our Solar System (after Ganymede, Titan, Callisto and Io). The moon is far away than we seem. The Moon is estimated about 384,400 km away from Earth. That equals 30 Earth’s that could fit between Earth and the Moon. Let’s see the Red Planet.
The Red Planet, Mars. It is really hard to see Mars’ surface from Earth. Mars is really likely to find more life, and water might exist in polar caps. Mars is the last planet in the terrestrial planets. Mariner 4 is the first spacecraft to Mars. Mars is a rocky planet like the other terrestrial planets. The comparison. Let’s see the distance of Earth and Mars from the sun. Earth is 93 million miles away from the sun, Mars is 142 million miles away from the sun. Now the deepest canyon. Earth’s deepest canyon is Grand Canyon that has 1.1 miles deep. Valles Marinis is 4.35 miles deep. A day in Mars is 24 hours and 37 minute. A year in Mars is 687 Earth days. The highest mountain on Mars is Olympus Mons, which is the highest mountain. Earth’s mountain Mauna Kea is estimated about 6.34 miles high and Mars’ Olympus Mons is estimated about 16 miles high. Mariner 9 was the discovery of Olympus Mons. The largest crater in Mars is named Hellas Crater, it is 1,400 miles deep. Mars has 2 moons, Phobos and Deimos. Mars’ atmosphere is 96% Carbon Dioxide. Mars’ volume: 6 Mars’ could fit Earth. If your weight is 100 pounds (45.3kg) on Earth, on Mars your weight is about 38 pounds (17.2kg)! Mars is 1/10 of the mass of Earth. The average speed of Mars orbiting the sun is about 14.5 miles per second. Did you know that Mars is more tilted than Earth. Now that’s a lot of Mars, do you want to know about the largest planet in our solar system? So check this out.
Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system and the first planet of the Jovian Planets. Jupiter is 11 times wider than Earth. If Earth was a size as a nickel, than Jupiter would be a size of a basketball. Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to cross the asteroid belt and pass Jupiter. If you weigh 100 pounds on Earth than you would weigh 253 pounds (114.7 kg) on Jupiter (you would get more fatter in Jupiter). As knowing the days and the years of each planet in the solar system, Jupiter has the shortest day in the solar system. A day is only 9.9 hours. Would you think that a year is also short? But no, a year is 4,333 Earth days (12 Earth years)! Jupiter’s atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium, Great Red Spot had been created and a giant storm larger than Earth had been going on for hundreds of years. Jupiter has 53 conformed moons, there are 16 provisional moons. So there were about 69 known moons in Jupiter. Talking about the moons in Jupiter, I’ll tell you about the largest moons of Jupiter.
The largest, Ganymede. The largest moon of Jupiter and the solar system. Ganymede is larger than Mercury and Pluto, but it is slightly smaller than Mars. Ganymede would be a planet if it would orbit the sun. The 4 largest moons of Jupiter are, Ganymede, Io, Europa, and Callisto, that were discovered by Galileo Galilei. Jupiter means the king of ancient Roman gods. Jupiter is tilted 3 degrees. That means that Jupiter has no seasons. Scientists says that diamonds rain on Jupiter!
Do you think that Jupiter has rings? If your answer is no, you are wrong. Jupiter’s rings were discovered in 1979 by Voyager 1. In Jupiter’s ring system it has 3 main components, the first outer ring is called, Gossamer Rings, second Main Ring and third Halo. Let’s see the next planet after Jupiter.
Saturn. The second largest and second planet in the Jovian Planets. Saturn’s rings are made of chunks of ice and rock. Like Jupiter, Saturn is made of hydrogen and helium. It is confirmed that Saturn has 53 moons, but there are still 9 provisional moons. The moons like Enceladus, Europa, and Titan has many secrets. Titan is Saturn’s largest moon of Saturn. Titan is a bit bigger than Mercury. Titan is the 2nd largest moon after Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon.
Saturn rotates the same direction as Earth. Saturn is far but it is fast, it spins around the sun in 10.7 hours. Saturn’s axis is tilted 26.73 degrees, which is similar to Earth’s axis, 23.5 degrees. It takes about 29 Earth years or 10,756 Earth days to orbit the sun. Saturn doesn’t have a right surface. The planet is mainly gases and liquids. A spacecraft wouldn’t land on the surface of Saturn. The temperatures and pressures of Saturn would crush and melt the spacecraft, trying to fly around the planet. Saturn is 95 the mass of Earth. Saturn is 764 the volume of Earth. The wind of Saturn is about 1,100 mph (1,750 kph). Saturn’s temperature is about -178 degrees celsius (-288 degrees fahrenheit). Saturn is 1.4 billion kilometres away from the sun (886 million miles).
Saturn’s spacecraft ‘Cassini’ has been traveling for 20 years. Cassini has taken 22 orbits around Saturn. Let’s talk about the rings of Saturn.
Saturn’s rings are believed of pieces of asteroids, comets and broken tiny moon pieces. They are made of billions of small blocks of ice and rock. Some small pieces are as big as a house. Also some of the pieces are are large as a mountain! The rings would look mostly while from Saturn’s cloud tops.
The rings are named alphabetically in order of their discovery. The main rings of Saturn are know as C, B and A. The Cassini Division is is the largest gap between ring B and Ring A. Did you know that there are more rings than A, B, and C.
Scientists have discovered the D, E, F, and G rings. The D ring is the closest ring to Saturn. It is really difficult to see the D ring. No one has seen the D ring from Earth, but it is seen from Voyager spacecraft in the 1980s. This is something weird but the E ring is the farthest ring from Saturn. From the view of the rings the E ring is much wider than the other rings. That’s a lot of talking about Saturn, now the next planet.
Uranus. Uranus is the 7th planet from the sun. Also Uranus is the 3rd largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter and Saturn. Uranus is cold and windy. Uranus is a ice giant. Uranus was found from a aid telescope, it was the first planet to be seen from a aid telescope. Uranus was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel. Before Uranus was discovered he thought that it was comet or a star. But after two years Uranus was officially a new planet. William Herschel tried to make a name for the new planet. But he couldn’t make one. After a few time he named the new planet, Uranus, meaning the Greek god of the sky. Uranus has 27 small moons orbiting Uranus. With size and diameter, Uranus is 4 times wider than Earth. Imagine if Earth was a size of a nickel, Uranus would be a size of a softball. The average distance of Uranus is about 2.9 billion kilometres (1.8 billion miles). One day in Uranus is 17 hours and 14 minutes. But a year is much longer, it is about 84 Earth years! That equals 31,025 days! Uranus is the other planet where it rotates the other direction, Venus and Uranus rotate the opposite direction to other planets. Most 80 percent of Uranus is made up of icy materials which includes, water, methane and ammonia. How about the core of Uranus? It is so hot that it reaches about to 4,982 degrees celsius or 9,000 degrees fahrenheit. Do you know how Uranus’ colour is blue-green? Methane gas in the atmosphere makes the colour blue-green. Uranus’ atmosphere is mainly helium and hydrogen. also it has some amount of methane, some parts of water and ammonia. The methane gives Uranus the blue colour. When Voyager 2 was flying by Uranus it saw a Great Dark Spot while passing by also it saw a small Dark Spot in 1986. Uranus’ minimum surface temperature is about -224.2 degrees celsius (49 Kelvin), it is quite colder than Neptune’s temperature. The wind of Uranus reaches about 560 miles per hour, that means 900 kilometers per hour. Uranus is not a good place for humans to live on. Now the rings of Uranus. Did you know that Uranus’ rings are wied? If you don’t know check this out. All of the Jovian Planets have west to east sides of rings, but Uranus is the only planet with north to south side rings. It is quite weird, right. The inner rings are mostly dark gray rings. Uranus has 2 outer rings, the most inner ring is dusty and reddish. The outer ring is blue like Saturn’s E ring. Let’s tell you the most weirdest things about Uranus. Do you know why Uranus’ rings is facing north to south? It is not the rings fault, but Uranus’ axis is tilted 98° degrees. That’s how the rings are facing north to south. When Voyager 2 was flying around Uranus in 1986, it released that Uranus’ magnetic field was also tilted, by 60 degrees! But Earth’s magnetic field was closely lining up to it’s axis. So Earth’s protective magnetic shield stables. Actually that is not for Uranus. Uranus’ magnetic field always moves around. This doesn’t happen to any other planet in the solar system. From Uranus’ magnetic tilt makes the magnetic shield unstable. Now let’s talk about the 8th planet and last planet in the solar system.
Neptune. Neptune is the last planet in our solar system. From the mathematical calculations, the astronomers discovered Neptune the 8th planet in 1846. Also on the same year Neptune’s largest moon, Triton was discovered as well. In 1984 astronomers were trying to find if Neptune’s rings exist or not. In 1989 Voyager 2 became the first spacecraft to visit Neptune, it flew 4,800 km above Neptune’s north pole. In 2011, Neptune passes the sun at its 165 year orbit from Neptune’s discovery in 1846. Neptune is about 4.5 billion miles away from the sun. Like Uranus, Neptune’s magnetic field is tilted, but it is just by 47 degrees. The magnetic field of Neptune is 27 times powerful than Earth. Neptune’s wind is 3 times stronger than Jupiter and 9 times stronger than Earth. Neptune has 6 known rings. Neptune has 13 known moons, 6 of the moons were discovered by Voyager 2. A new 14th moon was discovered in 2013. Triton, Neptune’s largest moon orbits the opposite directions to other moons of Neptune. Triton is extremely cold than other moons, on it’s surface goes down to -235 degrees Celsius (-391 degrees fahrenheit). Now let’s see how Neptune got it’s name. Neptune was named after the Roman god of the sea. Did you though that was less information about Neptune. But Neptune has less information, but later in the future there will be heaps of information about Neptune. There are the facts and information of the planets of the solar system. Now let’s see the famous dwarf planet, Pluto.
Pluto. Before Pluto was named as a planet (the 9th planet). But in 2006 scientists declared that Pluto will be a dwarf planet. Pluto’s diameter is about ⅔ of Earth’s moon. But Pluto’s mass is about ⅙ of Earth’s moon. Pluto is 49.3 astronomical units away from the sun. One astronomical unit is the distance from Earth to the sun. From 1979 to 1999 Pluto was much closer to Neptune. In 1989, Pluto was 29.8 astronomical units away from the sun. Pluto’s largest moon, Charon is ½ the size of Pluto, that was discovered in 1978. Charon takes 6.4 Earth days to take a orbit of Pluto. Pluto’s orbit takes about 249 Earth years. Let’s wrap up the information report.
