Wednesday, April 26, 2006
May 4th Teleconference 3:15 - 4:15
"As the school year is getting ready to come to a close for many of you, I thought I would make our last conference a very special one. We really do enjoy getting connected with as many of you and your students as possible! The title of this conference is: Highlights of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. The focus of this presentation will be to familiarize students with the Mars Exploration Rover mission that has been going on since January 2004. This conference will NOT focus on types of features can be seen in THEMIS visible images nor does it reflect the types of project students can focus on for MSIP. This is a special conference intended to share the excitement of this mission. This conference is recommended for all interested participants." Paige Valderamma, ASU.
This is a great chance for you people to find out what is happening on the surface of Mars. As Paige said, this won't help you with your project, but it is a great chance to hear from one of the scientists who has been working with the rovers over the past two years. Be there if you can.
This is a great chance for you people to find out what is happening on the surface of Mars. As Paige said, this won't help you with your project, but it is a great chance to hear from one of the scientists who has been working with the rovers over the past two years. Be there if you can.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Targeting Information
All except one of our experiments has been accepted by ASU, and hopefully we can get that one corrected by next week. The director has said that she will send us the targeting software next week. We must have our selections back to ASU by May 12th. Each team will be given one day to learn the software and do the targeting. That will happen either late in the week of May 1st, or early during the week of May 8th. This is a real stretch, but it's the only way that each of you can experience using the software, and I don't want you to miss out on that. The two dates will be the 10th and 11th of May. Ten computers will have the necessary software. The way we usually did this was to work in groups of two. That probably will be the plan this time also. I would like to have the "generalists" (those looking for a channel, crater, etc.) to go on the 10th, and the ones who already have a definite location, i.e. Alba Patera to go on the 11th. So far I see only one conflict with that because of the Jazz Band field trip. Let me know your feelings. I've added three PowerPoint presentations to the Index Page at http://www.gatesscience.info/teamescience/msipindex.htm It would really help if you went through these before you went to the computer lab. Click on each part and then either save them, if you want to look at them more than once, or open them to view the presentation.
ASU's Comments on Your Experiments
1. Marsmaticians: They may consider changing their question to "What do the physical characteristics of the floors of channels tell us about the formation and/or subsequent erosion that has taken place. (They will never figure out exactly what formed the channel - but the more doable project looks at the erosional processes that have taken place.)
2. M&Ms: They may consider: What forces have been the most dominant in changing or eroding Valles Marineris? (I added in the most dominant -- I'm sure the telecon on Valles really helped them -- they should have specific categories of what they are looking for - which they do -- but they should also mention or include what these categories "look like" or show samples of them. Even without measurements, they will be fine.)
3. Team Discovery: They may consider: By identifying the beginning or end of a channel, can you identify distinguishing characteristics that can be used to help determine if the channels formed by lava or water? (They would most likely be be better off finding the "beginning" of the channel. They will proably want to use a MOLA map so they can also see how elevation can help them determine the "beginning". As for the part of their question - where the material went - I'm not sure how they would determine this.)
4. Mars Bars: No special comments - sounds interesting!
5. Musicians on Mars: This is the group that really needs a more doable question/project before they can target. They will never be able to identify the type of rocks.
6. Marvelous Mars Women: They may consider: Is it possible to identify distinguishing characteristics between a depression as being created by volcanic or water-related process such as sapping, and if so, what are they. (This sounds interesting).
7. Aurora Boriealis: They may consider: What are the physical differences between the east and west sides of Olympus Mons? (Based on their procedure, they should answer this using crater counts to determine which side E or W of Olympus is older. If these groups decided to do this with Alba - they should still look at crater counts, or in terms of the fractures, cross cutting relationships.)
8. Shooting Stars - same comments as above, if this remains their project.
2. M&Ms: They may consider: What forces have been the most dominant in changing or eroding Valles Marineris? (I added in the most dominant -- I'm sure the telecon on Valles really helped them -- they should have specific categories of what they are looking for - which they do -- but they should also mention or include what these categories "look like" or show samples of them. Even without measurements, they will be fine.)
3. Team Discovery: They may consider: By identifying the beginning or end of a channel, can you identify distinguishing characteristics that can be used to help determine if the channels formed by lava or water? (They would most likely be be better off finding the "beginning" of the channel. They will proably want to use a MOLA map so they can also see how elevation can help them determine the "beginning". As for the part of their question - where the material went - I'm not sure how they would determine this.)
4. Mars Bars: No special comments - sounds interesting!
5. Musicians on Mars: This is the group that really needs a more doable question/project before they can target. They will never be able to identify the type of rocks.
6. Marvelous Mars Women: They may consider: Is it possible to identify distinguishing characteristics between a depression as being created by volcanic or water-related process such as sapping, and if so, what are they. (This sounds interesting).
7. Aurora Boriealis: They may consider: What are the physical differences between the east and west sides of Olympus Mons? (Based on their procedure, they should answer this using crater counts to determine which side E or W of Olympus is older. If these groups decided to do this with Alba - they should still look at crater counts, or in terms of the fractures, cross cutting relationships.)
8. Shooting Stars - same comments as above, if this remains their project.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
April 13th's Teleconference
Our last teleconference will be on Thursday. It will run from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EDT Note the change in time. This will cut into your last class of the day. The topic will be "Volcanoes on Mars." If you are doing volcanoes, or anything associated with volcanic activity on Mars, you should try to attend.
