The Cosmic Perspective (9th Edition)
9th Edition
ISBN: 9780134874364
Author: Jeffrey O. Bennett, Megan O. Donahue, Nicholas Schneider, Mark Voit
Publisher: PEARSON
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Chapter 7, Problem 34EAP
Why Wait? To explore a planet, we often send first a flyby, then an orbiter, then a probe or a lander. There’s no doubt that probes and landers give the most close-up detail, so why don’t we send this type of mission first? For the planet of your choice, based just o the information in this chapter, give an example of why such a strategy might cause a mission to provide incomplete information about the planet or to fail outright.
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Why Wait? To explore a planet, we often send first a flyby, then an orbiter, then a probe or a lander. There’s no doubt that probes and landers give the most close-up detail, so why don’t we send this type of mission first? For the planet of your choice, based just on the information in this chap- ter, give an example of why such a strategy might cause a mission to provide incomplete information about the planet or to fail outright.
Pretend you are a NASA executive or a legislator. Design a new mission in our solar system.
Pick any object in the system and decide whether you want to send an orbiter, a lander, a
rover, some combination or those, a manned mission, or something else. What interests you about
this object? What science questions can we answer? In basic terms, what kind of scientific
instruments might you want to include on your mission? Justify your decisions with what you
know about the scientific method, astronomy techniques, and the object itself from this class.
In Table 2, there is a list of 15 planets, some of which are real objects discovered by the Kepler space telescope, and some are hypothetical planets. For each one, you are provided the temperature of the star that each planet orbits in degrees Kelvin (K), the distance that each planet orbits from their star in astronomical units (AUs) and the size or radius of each planet in Earth radii (RE). Since we are concerned with finding Earth-like planets, we will assume that the composition of these planets are similar to Earth's, so we will not directly look at their masses, rather their sizes (radii) along with the other characteristics. Determine which of these 15 planets meets our criteria of a planet that could possibly support Earth-like life. Use the Habitable Planet Classification Flow Chart (below) to complete Table 2. Whenever the individual value you are looking at falls within the range of values specified on the flow chart, mark the cell to the right of the value with a Y for…
Chapter 7 Solutions
The Cosmic Perspective (9th Edition)
Ch. 7 - Prob. 1VSCCh. 7 - Use the following questions to check your...Ch. 7 - Use the following questions to check your...Ch. 7 - Use the following questions to check your...Ch. 7 - What do we mean by comparative planetology? Does...Ch. 7 - What would the solar system look like to your...Ch. 7 - Briefly describe the overall layout of the solar...Ch. 7 - For each of the objects in the solar system tour...Ch. 7 - Briefly describe the patterns of motion that we...Ch. 7 - What are the basic differences between the...
Ch. 7 -
7. What do we mean by hydrogen compounds? In...Ch. 7 -
8. What are asteroids? What are comets? Describe...Ch. 7 - What kind of object in Pluto? Explain.Ch. 7 - What is the Kuiper belt? What is the Oort cloud?...Ch. 7 - Describe at least two “exceptions to the rules”...Ch. 7 - Describe and distinguish between space missions...Ch. 7 - Does it Make Sense? Decide whether the statement...Ch. 7 - Does it Make Sense? Decide whether the statement...Ch. 7 - Does it Make Sense? Decide whether the statement...Ch. 7 - Does it Make Sense? Decide whether the statement...Ch. 7 - Does it Make Sense? Decide whether the statement...Ch. 7 - Does it Make Sense? Decide whether the statement...Ch. 7 - Does it Make Sense? Decide whether the statement...Ch. 7 - Does it Make Sense? Decide whether the statement...Ch. 7 - Does it Make Sense? Decide whether the statement...Ch. 7 - Does it Make Sense? Decide whether the statement...Ch. 7 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 7 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 7 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 7 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 7 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 7 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 7 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 7 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 7 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 7 - Choose the best answer to each of the following....Ch. 7 - Why Wait? To explore a planet, we often send first...Ch. 7 - Prob. 35EAPCh. 7 - Prob. 37EAPCh. 7 - Patterns of Motion. In one or two paragraphs,...Ch. 7 - Solar System Trends. Answer the following based on...Ch. 7 - Comparing Planetary Conditions. Use both Table 7.1...Ch. 7 - Prob. 41EAPCh. 7 - Size Comparisons. How many Earths could fit inside...Ch. 7 - Asteroid Orbit. Ceres, the largest asteroid, has...Ch. 7 - Density Classification. Calculate the density of a...Ch. 7 - Comparative Weight. Suppose you weigh 100 pounds....Ch. 7 - New Horizons Speed. On its trajectory to Pluto,...Ch. 7 - Planetary Parallax. Suppose observers at Earth’s...
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- Calculate the escape velocity to an orbit of 243 km height from a planet with the radius of 2000 km and the density of 3400 kg m-³. Give your answer in Sl units. Answer: Choose...arrow_forwardImpact Energy. Consider a comet about 2 kilometers across with a mass of 4 × 1012 kg. Assume that it crashes into Earth at a speed of 30,000 meters per second (about 67,000 miles per hour). a. What is the total energy of the impact, in joules? (Hint: The kinetic energy formula tells us that the impact energy in joules will be 1 × m × v2, where 2 m is the comet’s mass in kilograms and v is its speed in meters per second.) b. A 1-megaton nuclear explosion releases about 4 × 1015 joules of energy. How many such nuclear bombs would it take to release as much energy as the comet impact? c. Based on your answers, comment on the degree of devastation the comet might cause.arrow_forwardWe believe that all of the terrestrial planets had similar histories when it comes to impacts from space. Explain how this idea can be used to date the formation of the martian highlands, the martian basins, and the Tharsis volcanoes. How certain are the ages derived for these features (in other words, how do we check the ages we derive from this method)?arrow_forward
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- Let's use Kepler's laws for the inner planets. Use the following distances from the sun to calculate the orbital period for each of these planets. Express your answer in terms of Earth years to two significant figures. Note: Use Kepler's law directly. Don't just Google the answers, as they will be a little bit different. When you have calculated them, only submit the value for Mercury. Planet Distance from the sun Period of orbit around the sun Earth 150 million km ___ Earth years Mercury 58 million km ___ Earth years Venus 108 million km ___ Earth years Mars 228 million km ___ Earth yearsarrow_forwardFor which of the following reasons (select all that apply), is it useful/important to send rovers to other planetary bodies in our solar system? O a. The engineering innovations developed to produce successful/viable rovers and landers on other planets can help lead to developments in the technology used here on Earth that may have taken far more time to develop without the limitations provided by space travel to foreign worlds. O b. The data collected can help improve our understanding of the evolution/development of our solar system. O. Rovers/landers can be outfitted with various tools and equipment that can be used to inform of us of the geological histories of each of the planets they visit. O d. More direct probes of the planetary surface are possible to detect signs of the building blocks of life. O e. Rock samples can be used to calibrate our estimations of the age of the solar system.arrow_forwardThe closest approach distance between Mars and Earth is 56 million km. Assume you can travel in a spaceship at 58,000 km/h (which is the speed achieved by the New Horizons space probe that went to Pluto and is the fastest speed so far of any space vehicle launched from Earth). How long would it take you in hours to get to Mars at the time of closest approach?arrow_forward
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