A FINNISH FILMMAKER TAKES US ON A BREATHTAKING JOURNEY ACROSS THE SURFACE OF MARS – WITH THE HELP OF IMAGES FROM NASA’S HIGH RESOLUTION
IMAGING SCIENCE EXPERIMENT, OR HIRISE. THE HIRISE CAMERA, CURRENTLY ORBITING THE RED PLANET ABOARD THE MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER; HAS SNAPPED ROUGHLY 50,000 HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGES OF THE MARTIAN LANDSCAPE.
FILMMAKER JAN FRÖJDMAN COLORIZED THESE IMAGES AND STITCHED THEM TOGETHER TO CREATE THIS AMAZING 3D VIEW OF THE TERRAIN. THE PAINSTAKING PROCESS TOOK 3 MONTHS, BUT THE STUNNING AND DETAILED IMAGES OF CRATERS, MOUNTAINS, AND VALLEYS, WERE WELL WORTH IT.
IT’S A BETTER VIEW THAN YOU’D GET IF YOU MADE THE 33 MILLION-MILE JOURNEY IN REAL LIFE. EVEN IF YOU GOT A WINDOW SEAT, THE LARGE AMOUNT OF DUST IN THE RED
PLANET’S ATMOSPHERE WOULD CLOUD YOUR VIEW OF THE BEAUTIFUL ROCKY SURFACE.
ONE FIXTURE OF THE RED PLANET’S TERRAIN IS A MASSIVE VOLCANO JUST SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR.
IT’S CALLED ARSIA MONS.
A VOLCANO IS A MOUNTAIN THAT OPENS DOWNWARD TO A POOL OF MOLTEN ROCK BELOW THE SURFACE OF THE PLANET. VOLCANOES FREQUENTLY ERUPT LAVA, BUT -
-- SHHHH! -- THIS VOLCANO IS ASLEEP. IT HASN’T ERUPTED SINCE DINOSAURS WENT EXTINCT – ABOUT 50 MILLION YEARS AGO!
NASA SAYS ARSIA MONS ERUPTED EVERY ONE TO THREE MILLION YEARS DURING ITS FINAL PEAK OF ACTIVITY. SCIENTISTS WERE ABLE IT FIGURE THIS OUT BY ANALYZING PHOTOS OF THE VOLCANO AND COUNTING THE CRATERS AROUND IT.
IT’S IMPORTANT TO STUDY THE VOLCANIC ACTIVITY ON MARS BECAUSE IT HELPS RESEARCHERS UNDERSTAND THE HISTORY AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE RED PLANET.
Instructional Links
Video: Vimeo, A Fictive Flight above the Real Mars | Video with explanation by filmmaker
Website Article: NASA, HiRISE, High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment
Video: BrainPOP, Mars. | Includes activities, games & quiz
Interactive Activity: NASA, Be a Martian | May need to register. Learn about Mars by exploring site.
Video: PBS LearningMedia, DragonFlyTV, Mars Imaging | Discusses volcanoes on Mars.
Website Article: Space.com, Mars Volcano Died at Same Time As Dinosaurs | Includes video
Magazine Article: EBSCOhost Explora, Boys' Life, Fast Facts, Volcanoes, May 2016 | May need password.