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Olympus Mons on Mars
Name: williamh
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 1993 - 1999
Question:
We are a third grade class at Hunting Ridge School. We just
saw a computer image of mars on a scientific visualization tool.
We saw Olympus Mons and measured its diameter to be abvout 550 km
This is a very interesting feature on Mars. How many volcanos does it have?
Could there have been water on Olympus Mons at one time? what is
the gravity on Mars? How deep is Olympus Mons? What was the first
space ship to go to Mars?
Replies:
Olympus Mons is about 80,000 ft high, *much* taller than any
terrestrial mountain or volcano.
Many planetary scientists believe there once was surface water on
Mars, enough to cause the extensive surface erosion we see today,
not just the small polar icecaps (that are mostly frozen CO2,
dry ice).
Planetary probes sent to Mars: Mariner 4, 6, and 7 did fly-bys in
the late 60s; Mariner 9 and the Soviets' Mars 2 and 3 began orbiting
Mars in 1971-- the Soviet craft ejected soft landers; the first
Viking landed in 1976 (hehehe, sounds like Eric the Red..), the two
Viking landers sent back all those famous close-ups of the surface.
If you check NASA's website, you should find much more info on
Mars and lots of stuff about the upcoming Mission to Mars.
Hawley
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Update: June 2012
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