Video 4: Missions to Mars

From ancient times Mars' reddish color and erratic motion in the sky have made the "Red Planet" easy to recognize and an object of fascination. This video contrasts earlier, mistaken assumptions based on 19th-century telescopic observations with new ideas and data from recent spacecraft.

  •  "The Red Planet: Fiction Becomes Fact" tells how early observations of Mars were misinterpreted as revealing "canals" built by alien civilizations to transport water around an arid, desert planet.

  •  "The Triumphs of Mars Pathfinder and Global Surveyor" shows how the invention of rocketry by the American, Robert H. Goddard (along with others in Russia and Germany), led to the development of the spacecraft that have replaced our fuzzy, distant pictures with crisp close-ups.

  •  "Water on Mars" presents recent evidence of "gullies" possibly caused by sudden flows of liquid water, which MGS Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) scientists say could have happened quite recently.

    • Through the video and related activities your students will:

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