Question

Problem 1 Comments: Our understanding of the solar system has been totally transformed since the onset of the space age. Here we review the spectac- ular achievements of one of the earliest interplanetary missions Mariner 9. I expect you will have to do a few minutes of web-searching to answer this question. Mariner 9 was the first spacecraft to orbit Mars. Although Mariners 4, 6, and 7 had pre- viously flown by Mars, Mariner 9 made the most spectacular discoveries of the Mariner- Mars series; it changed forever our understanding of this planet. List at least three major aspects of the Martian surface that were discovered by Mariner 9 [10 Points]

Answer 1

Mariner 9's cameras snapped close-up views of the planet's major features, including Mars' polar caps, the vast Valles Marineris canyon, and the Martian moons (Phobos and Deimos). It also spotted evidence of flowing water sometime in the ancient past.

astronomers had suspected these dust storms existed-from picture

It meant NASA had to wait to take pictures of the surface. Only the top of the massive Olympus Monsvolcano as well as the three Tharsis volcanoes, could be seen peeking through the dust.

Some of the observed features included ancient river beds, craters, massive extinct volcanoes, canyons, layered polar deposits, evidence of wind-driven deposition and erosion of sediments, weather fronts, ice clouds, localized dust storms, morning fogs

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