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The Washington Post has an article this morning about the Mars rover,
Opportunity. Opportunity is about to reach a huge crater. The article
explains that Steven Squyres of Cornell University, principal
investigator for the rovers' science instruments, said "Exploring
Victoria is something we joked and fantasized about but never really
thought we could realistically get to it... This is the absolutely highest-
priority destination we could have reached." According to the article,
"The scientists think Victoria Crater is the kind of geological formation
that can tell them a great deal about Mars's history, and especially
about whether and when water may have covered parts of the planet.
Water is essential for life as we know it."

Read the Article!!

Lesson Ideas:

  • Tell students that before scientists conduct experiments they
    often try to determine what they might see. This is called a null
    hypothesis. Tell students to pretend that they are working with
    the group of scientists operating the rover Opportunity from
    Earth. They have been asked to develop a null hypothesis as to
    what they will see when they get the pictures that Opportunity
    takes at Victoria Crater. You might ask students to write these
    ideas on a blog.

  • Like all government agencies, NASA needs a lot of money to
    keep operating. NASA administrators often ask Congress for
    allocations of money. Ask students how they think that the
    success of these two Mars rovers might effect NASA's desire
    for an increased budget. You might actually have students
    develop a script of a conversation to take place between the
    chair of the Congressional committee responsible for allocating
    funds and the top NASA administrator concerning the influence
    that the rovers' success should have on NASA's budget.

  • Humankind loves exploring. Tell students to imagine that they
    had the opportunity to explore anywhere in the world. Where
    would they want to explore? Why would they want to explore
    here? You might even give students an opportunity to imagine
    what they would find at this site and draw a map of it. This
    activity could prompt some creativity.

  • NASA has a website full of resources about the Mars' mission.
    Ask students to take a look at two or three of the pictures on
    this site and write a paragraph explaining what they see.
    Students might ask questions to prompt further thinking in the
    paragraph, as well.
Victoria Crater
Google