Mars Landing Site Selection: An exercise in reading geologic maps and other geologic data sets

Tracy K.P. Gregg

University at Buffalo

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Initial Publication Date: May 10, 2006 | Reviewed: June 24, 2014 (see revision history: 2 events)

Summary

Students use available Mars data to select the next rover landing sites, given appropriate engineering, geologic and biologic constraints.

Structural Visualizations, Geologic History, Life on Mars, ...(more) | College Introductory, College Lower (13-14)

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Context

Audience

This is designed as a 2 or 3-hr long lab in introductory geology course, replacing the standard "reading geologic maps" lab.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

Principles of relative dating
General map reading i.e. north, scales, lat/long

How the activity is situated in the course

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

To read geologic maps
To read other forms of spatial data sets
To correlate these data sets without using a computer

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

To interpret geologic maps
To make predictions of what would be found in ground-truthing these maps

Other skills goals for this activity

Working in groups

Description of the activity/assignment

Upon arrival in the lab, students are designated as an engineer, a biologist, or a geologist. Working in these groups, each group uses available Mars data (including, but not limited to, Mars geologic maps, topography, thermal inertia data) to identify their top three landing sites on the basis of provided criteria. In jig-saw fashion, new groups are generated consisting of one geologist, one engineer, and one geologist. These new groups must agree on their top three landing sites. Finally, the entire class must agree on a landing site.

Determining whether students have met the goals

After selecting their landing site, students are provided with documentation (available on-line) from NASA's landing site selection committees, to see how well the student-selected sites compare with the NASA-selected sites. Each team member grades the team as a whole; each team member also anonymously grades the other individuals in the team.

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