Mysterious Mars LEVELED BOOK • O

A Reading A–Z Level O Benchmark Book

Word Count: 589
Mysterious
Mars

Written by Chuck Garofano

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 Glossary
asteroids (n.) Irregularly shaped rocks Mysterious
Mars
that orbit the Sun (p. 5)
astronomers (n.) scientists who study
planets, stars, galaxies,
and other objects in
space (p. 7)
canals (n.) waterways dug across
land (p. 7)
Martian (adj.) of Mars, on Mars, or
from Mars (p. 5)
microbial (adj.) a microscopic organism,
such as a bacteria (p. 11)

Written by Chuck Garofano

www.readinga-z.com

12
Photo Credits:
front cover, pages 7, 11: courtesy ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/G. Neukum; back cover: In 2003, tests showed that methane gas
courtesy Microsoft/NASA; title page, page 10: courtesy NASA/JPL/University
of Arizona; pages 3, 9, 12: courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech; pages 4, 6: courtesy was escaping through the rocky crust of
NASA/JPL; page 8: courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.
Mars. But what was producing the gas?
Front cover: The collapsed rim of a large impact crater, approximately 35 km in
diameter (about 22 miles), shows erosion evidence of earlier flowing water. The
Was it a byproduct of simple, microbial
source of the once-flowing water was located in Echus Chasma, about 850 km
(528 miles) to the southwest of the crater.
forms of life that existed deep
Title page: A small crater filled with ice straddles a high mountain ridge that divides underground? It’s one of the many
two areas of distinctly different surface textures. Scientists think the smoother texture
on the left of the ridge was caused by wind erosion. The more pitted texture on the questions scientists hope to answer with
right side may have been caused by the movement of glaciers.
the new Mars Science Laboratory rover,
Back cover: The southern polar ice cap of Mars

Table of Contents: Three generations of robotic Mars rovers show a dramatic

Curiosity. It should land on Mars in 2012.
increase in size. The tiny Sojourner rover (center) landed on Mars in 1997.
Sojourner was only 24 inches long. Twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity (left) landed
in 2004. In 2010, Opportunity was still returning data. In comparison, the Mars
Curiosity will have a chance to earn its
Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, due to begin its Mars mission in 2012, is 9 feet
wide, 10 feet long, and 7 feet high. name by solving some of the greatest
mysteries on Mars.

Mysterious Mars
Level O Leveled Book Correlation
© Learning A–Z LEVEL O
Written by Chuck Garofano Echus Chasma may have been one of the largest water source
Fountas & Pinnell M
All rights reserved.
regions on Mars. Scientists debate whether waterfalls once carved
Reading Recovery 20
these canyons and flowed over cliffs that are 4 kilometers high
www.readinga-z.com DRA 28 (approx. 2.5 miles).

Mysterious Mars • Level O 11

 Table of Contents

Introduction........................................... 4
The Basics............................................... 5
Deep gullies carved into a crater rim are typical of channels
caused by water flowing over rock.
The Surface of Mars.............................. 6
Signs of Water and Life Exploring Mars...................................... 7
More satellite pictures were looked at,
Signs of Water and Life...................... 10
and more tests were done. Many
scientists felt certain that Mars used to Glossary................................................ 12
be warmer, with rivers and oceans. They
saw long canyons and deep gullies that Road Trip to Mars!
could have been carved by flowing The Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, landed
on Mars in 2004 for a three-month mission. But
rivers and waterfalls. If these ideas are they didn’t stop. In 2010, these “robot geologists”
true, then why did all the water, and its were still digging up important clues—and
Opportunity was still roving the red planet.
life forms, disappear?

10 Mysterious Mars • Level O 3

Reddish-orange Mars,
with its prominent
northern and
southern polar
ice caps and
swirling
water-ice
clouds.

Scientists test the newest and largest Mars rover, Curiosity.

Curiosity is expected to launch late in 2011 and drive onto the
surface of Mars in summer of 2012.

Mars Viking landed on the planet in

1976. It scooped up dust and tested
it for organic materials, the remains
Introduction from living things. It didn’t find
What is it about Mars that makes any. Mars Pathfinder landed in 1997.
us so curious about it? The ancient Its tests failed to find proof of life
Romans liked the planet’s rusty red either. But it did find pebbles that
color. They named it Mars, after their may have been Probe Date Landed

god of war. Mars has starred in books worn down by Viking 1 July 20, 1976
Viking 2 September 3, 1976
and movies. Scientists wonder what liquid water. Mars Global Surveyor September 11, 1997

type of living things might exist there. Mars Pathfinder

/Rover Sojourner July 4, 1997
These space probes
New satellite images show us the landed on Mars. Many Mars Odyssey October 23, 2001

dramatic surface. Soil tests by Mars others orbited Mars and

returned images and data.
Mars Rover Spirit June 10, 2003
Mars Rover
rovers tell us what’s underneath. But Other missions failed at Opportunity July 7, 2003
launch, missed Mars, or
Mars still has many mysteries. crashed on landing.
Mars Phoenix August 4, 2007

4 Mysterious Mars • Level O 9

Later Mars missions tested its The Basics
atmosphere. These tests showed the Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun
atmosphere was so cold that any liquid and is about half the size of Earth.
water would freeze or evaporate. As far A Martian day is about as long as an
as we know, all life needs liquid water Earth day, but its year is 687 days long.
to exist. Without proof there was water, Mars has a thin atmosphere of carbon
it seemed nothing could be living there. dioxide, the gas you breathe out. Like
Earth, Mars has a hot center and a
Mariner 9 orbited Mars in 1971. It took
rocky surface. It has two polar ice
new pictures that showed plains,
caps. Mars’s caps are mostly frozen
volcanoes, and valleys. It also showed carbon dioxide, with some water ice.
landforms that looked like dry riverbeds In 2008, rover Spirit’s onboard lab
and oceans. Could that be true? “tasted” water in soil for the first time.
Mars has two small, potato-shaped
moons. They may have been asteroids
trapped by Martian gravity.

Mars Earth
Diameter 6,780 kilometers (4,213 mi) 12, 756 kilometers (7,926 mi)
Distance from Sun 228 million kilometers 150 million kilometers
(142 million mi) (93 million mi)
Moons 2 1
Length of Day 24 hours, 40 minutes 24 hours
Length of Year 687 Earth days 365 Earth days
Average Surface –63° Celsius 15° Celsius
Temperature (–81° F) 59° F
Water Ice, liquid, and vapor Ice, liquid, and vapor
Ius Chasma, in the western area of the Valles Marineris canyon, has
Life UNKNOWN Yes
sloping bluffs from basalt lava flows and a rippled valley floor.

8 Mysterious Mars • Level O 5

 The Surface of Mars
Mars is cold. Its average temperature is
-63° Celsius (-81° F). In winter, Mars’s
polar caps can be -125 degrees Celsius
(-195 degrees F). Its thin atmosphere
can’t block the Sun’s rays from baking
its dry surface. Melas Chasma, in the vast Valles Marineris canyon, is 9 kilometers
deep (approx. 5.5 miles). The flow patterns on its surface show it
Heavy dust may once have been covered by liquid water or water ice.

storms can
blanket large Exploring Mars
areas of the Early scientists looked at Mars
planet. through weak telescopes. They noticed
a network of long lines on its surface.
The southern
An Italian astronomer named them
half of Mars
“channels,” but someone read the
has craters like
word as “canals.” So for many years,
our moon. The
Mars Global Surveyor satellite over many people thought intelligent
the largest volcano in the solar system, northern half is
Olympus Mons beings had built canals all over Mars.
smoother. It has
In 1965, Mariner 4 orbited Mars and
broad plains and deep valleys. Mars
took clear pictures. The pictures
also has dozens of huge volcanoes.
proved the “canals” were just the
One, called Olympus Mons, is the
natural landscape of ridges, gullies,
largest in the Solar System.
and canyons.

6 Mysterious Mars • Level O 7