Footage captures most accurate view during flyovers of Mars
Space enthusiasts can journey across Mars’ mysterious landscape as spectacular new footage reveals the planet’s possible past, with evidence of ancient beaches and flowing rivers – watch it here
READING LEVEL: ORANGE
It’s a virtual mission to Mars.
Humanity’s first mission to the Red Planet may still be a way off, but people can take a virtual tour thanks to a brand new video, the New York Post has reported.
Since its launch 20 years ago by the European Space Agency, the cube-shaped orbiter* Mars Express has been conducting detailed reconnaissance* on the fourth rock from the sun, according to Phys.org.
During that time, Mars Express has created the most comprehensive map of the Martian atmosphere and its chemical composition, examined Mars’s innermost moon (Phobos) in stunning detail, and traced the geographic features that suggest liquid water once flowed freely on the Red Planet’s seemingly hostile surface.
In the latest footage, the orbiter takes armchair astronomers* on a virtual flyover of Xanthe Terra, a highland region just north of the equator.
Highlights of this virtual tour of the Martian landscape include the 100km-wide Da Vinci crater and Shalbatan Vallis, a 1287km outflow channel that scientists believe funnelled water from the Southern Highlands into a planet-wide ocean in the Northern Lowlands.
The researchers created this digital adventure using a mosaic* made from images taken during single-orbit observations by Mars Express’s high resolution stereo camera (HRSC).
The images were then coupled with topography* data from a digital terrain* model (DTM) to construct a 3D view of the Red Planet’s surface, which was apparently home to “vacation-style” beaches and bodies of water that might have been perfect for sun-loving Martians of our imagination.
The breathtaking video comes amid discoveries hinting that the seemingly desolate* planet was once a watery wonderland.
NASA’s Curiosity rover also snapped pictures of a long-sought geological* structure — dubbed “spiderwebs” — on the Red Planet that indicate a history of flowing water.
“The images and data being collected are already raising new questions about how the Martian surface was changing billions of years ago,” NASA said in a statement. “The Red Planet once had rivers, lakes and possibly an ocean. Although scientists aren’t sure why its water eventually dried up and the planet transformed into the chilly desert it is today.”
This article originally appeared in the New York Post and has been reproduced with permission.
WATCH THE VIDEO
POLL
GLOSSARY
- reconnaissance: exploring an area to gain information, often in a military setting
- orbiter: a spacecraft that orbits a planet or other mass in space
- astronomers: scientist who studies the stars, planets and other natural objects in space
- mosaic: a pattern or picture made using many small pieces, traditionally of glass, tile or ceramic
- topography: natural features of land, especially. the shape of its surface, or the science of mapping those features
- terrain: an area of land, when considering its natural features
- desolate: empty, deserted, barren
- geological: relating to the scientific study of the Earth’s structure, composition and history, including its rocks, soil and landforms
EXTRA READING
Black hole find challenges history
Big planet found orbiting tiny star
Space find excites ET believers
QUICK QUIZ
- How many years ago was the Mars Express orbiter launched?
- What is the other name commonly used to refer to Mars?
- What is the name of the innermost moon on Mars?
- Which 100km-wide crater is named for a famous Italian Renaissance artist?
- What were all the elements researchers used to create this digital adventure?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Setting the scene
Write a vivid description of Mars’ surface, as if you were setting the scene of a narrative that takes place on the planet as it is now. Use the words and photographs in the Kids News story to inform your description.
Then, write a second version, describing the scene on Mars as you imagine it was billions of years ago, with the flowing water that scientists now believe may have been present on the planet.
Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science
2. Extension
Does the knowledge that Mars was possibly once a wet planet but is now a “chilly desert” make you feel concerned for life on Earth? Explain your thinking about whether this is something that should concern humans.
Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science
VCOP ACTIVITY
Adjectives
An adjective is a describing word. They are often found describing a noun. Start by looking at the words before the nouns.
Search for all the adjectives you can find in the article.
Did you find any repeat adjectives or are they all different?
Extension:
Pick three of your favourite adjectives from the text and put them in your own sentences to show other ways to use them.
Have you used any in your writing?