Studying Martian Soil

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Studying Martian Soil
Studying Earth can help us Understand Mars. An
Exercise in data collection.
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What Would We Need to Settle on Mars

• Air
• Water
• Soil
• Rocks

• Minerals
• Organic materials
• Sunlight

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Since the early 60s NASA and scientists from
around the world have been sending spacecraft to
orbit, fly by or land on Mars. Most recently
NASA has sent a robotic lab, the Phoenix Surveyor
lander, to Mars to help conduct experiments.
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Phoenix will dig down to an ice-rich layer that
scientists calculate lies within inches of the
surface. It will check samples of soil and ice
for evidence about whether the site was ever
hospitable to life.
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Then What?

• We Test our materials.
• We Organize our results.
• We Report our data.

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Todays Simulation

• You are in charge of robotic testing done on the
  Phoenix Surveyor.
• Your Job is to remotely test some samples
  obtained by the Martian lab.
• Design a spreadsheet to record the data obtained
  by your testing.

Excel Example
Rocks and Soil Flash