Mars

1. Mars' magnetic field is most similar to that of

a. Mercury

b. Venus*

c. Earth

d. Jupiter

e. Saturn.

2. The major constituent of the Martian atmosphere is

a. water

b. carbon dioxide*

c. nitrogen

d. oxygen

e. none of the above since they are about equal in abundance.

3. The residual north polar ice cap remaining in the summer is ___, while the seasonably variable cap (deposited in winter) is composed of ___.

a. water ice, water ice

b. carbon dioxide ice, carbon dioxide ice

c. water ice, carbon dioxide ice*

d. carbon dioxide ice, water ice.

4. The Martian plains are plentiful in the ___ hemisphere; craters are plentiful in the ___ hemisphere.

a. northern, northern

b. southern, southern

c. southern, northern

d. northern, southern.*

5. The flow patterns found on the surface of Mars suggest

a. that Mars is a water-rich world.

b. that the climate on Mars was different in the past. *

c. that volcanism is occurring on Mars.

d. that the polar caps are made of water.

e. all of the above

6. How do the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River in Arizona and the African Rift Valley compare in size to Valles Marineris on Mars?

a. All of them are about hundreds of miles long.

b. All of them are about thousands of miles long.

c. The Grand Canyon and Valles Marineris are about hundreds of miles long whereas the Rift Valley of Africa is about thousands of miles long.

d. The Grand Canyon is about hundreds of miles long whereas the Rift Valley of Africa and Valles Marineris are about thousands of miles long.*

e. None of the above.

7. Which one of the following statements is correct?

a. there has never been any running water on Mars

b. space probes have found small amounts of running water in the bottom of some deep canyons

c. water ice probably exists below the surface*

d. the polar caps consist entirely of water ice.

8. In which one of the following ways does the chemical composition of Martian surface materials differs from that of the Earth?

a. more oxygen and nitrogen

b. less oxygen and nitrogen

c. more silicon and iron*

d. less silicon and iron.

9. Which of the following conditions will probably exist on a planet that has living organisms?

a. Surface temperatures ranging between -50°C to 100°C.

b. An atmosphere.

c. Water.

d. All of the above.*

e. None of the above.

10. Which of the following materials can be found in the polar caps of Mars?

a. Water ice.

b. CO₂ ice ("dry" ice).

c. Dust.

d. All of the above.*

e. None of the above.

11. The Viking life-detection experiments were designed to

a. analyze amino acids from living organisms

b. look for large organisms moving across the Martian landscape

c. look for signs of metabolic activities*

d. examine the decay products of dead organisms

e. do all of the above.

12. The interpretation of the Viking biology experiments on Mars that there is currently no evidence of life on the planet is based on the fact that

a. the mass spectrometer experiment found no evidence for organic material.*

b. the gas-exchange experiment found no gases released by Martian soil.

c. the pyrolytic-release experiment found no evidence of radioactive CO₂ released by living organisms.

d. All of the above.

e. None of the above.

13. Which of the following observations did the Viking spacecraft make on the surface of Mars?

a. Seismographic experiments.

b. Surface mapping.

c. Optical spectroscopy.

d. All of the above.*

e. None of the above.

14. The Mars Rover mission has shown that

a. there is clear geologic evidence of past surface water on Mars. *

b. it is impossible to do remote surface exploration of Mars.

c. landing spacecraft on Mars in a bouncing cocoon will not work.

d. Mars is too complicated to understand by remote exploration.

e. none of the above.

15. Even though no spacecraft have retrieved samples from Mars, we have samples of Mars here on the Earth from

a. cosmic dust slowed down in the Earth’s atmosphere

b. comets picking up material from Mars and bringing it to Earth

c. meteorites that originated on Mars*

d. asteroids picking up material from Mars and bringing it to Earth

e. none of these

16. Mars has ___ known satellites

a. 0

b. 1

c. 2*

d. 3

e. 4.

17. Which one of the following statements about the Martian satellites is true?

a. both are large satellites (nearly the size of the Moon)

b. both are small satellites*

c. one is large, while the other is small

d. Mars has only one small satellite.

18. The moons of Mars are believed to be

a. composed primarily iron and nickel.

b. composed primarily of frozen gases of water and carbon dioxide.

c. orbiting Mars in a direction opposite to the direction that Mars rotates.

d. formed from material ejected from Olympus Mons and other large volcanoes on Mars.

e. captured asteroids. *