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Scholastic Network "Live Chat from Mars" with Dr. Neil Tyson
February 26th, 1996
OnlineHost: It's the year 2000, and the technology has been developed to send humans to Mars. The brave explorer to take on this challenge is Dr. Neil Tyson, Princeton astrophysicist and Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. His only communication with Earth will be today's chat on Scholastic Network. Please welcome Dr. Tyson--live from Mars!Neil Tyson: Greetings from the surface of Mars! It's about 40 degrees below zero here and traveling at the speed of light, my signal takes twenty minutes to reach you.
Question: Dr. Tyson, what did Mars look like as you approached it in your spaceship?
Neil Tyson: It got bigger and bigger and bigger. I got a closer view of the mountains and valleys and dry river beds that cover its surface. I also got to get a close look at the frozen ice caps at its north and south poles. The sun in the sky is smaller than what you see from Earth because Mars is farther away from the sun than Earth is.
Question: If you were to swing a pendulum on Mars, how would it swing?
Neil Tyson: Let's start with how much less I weigh. If any of you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, on Mars you would weigh only 38 pounds. This is an expensive but fast way to lose weight. (chuckle) So pendulums swing much slower. You would have to readjust your grandfather clocks if you wanted to keep proper time on Mars.
Question: Taking into account the change of gravity on Mars when designing an aircraft would the conventional saucer design of a UFO be easier or more difficult to get to fly?
Neil Tyson: Laughs... NASA has done experiments with saucer designs for many years, and none of them are as effective as the conventional designs that you know of today. We suspect that if we were ever visited by aliens they would not come in a spacecraft that would look like a saucer. On Mars the air is very thin so spacecraft do not have to be as streamlined as those that are launched from Earth.
Question: We are designing a spacecraft that could support humans stationed on Mars for short periods of time. We are concerned about the cosmic and ultra violet rays the Mariners discovered. Can you share with us what you know about these rays and how that should influence our design?
Neil Tyson: Great question! On Earth, we are protected from high energy radiation because of our atmosphere -- mostly the ozone in the upper layers. Mars has no such protection so you would have to do most of your work indoors. Or, perhaps wear a thin layer of lead on your spacesuit. Fortunately, since the gravity is so much less, the spacesuit would not be as ungainly as it would be on Earth.
Question: Where on Mars would you land a spacecraft? Would Mt. Olympus be a good landing site?
Neil Tyson: When we landed astronauts on the moon, we had their safety in mind -- above all else -- so they landed in the flat "seas" which are smooth regions on the moon's surface. On Mars, just to remain safe on landing, I would recommend also landing on smooth surfaces -- and then driving the highlands.
Question: From Dunedin Elementary, FL: Are there aliens living there?
Neil Tyson: Hee hee. Haven't seen any yet? But, we suspect there may be very basic single-celled life deep under the surface. Not the kind of life you can shake hands with.
Question: How is NASA going to provide enough food and oxygen for astronauts to get to Mars, explore, and return to Earth?
Neil Tyson: Sometimes the shortest distance to Mars is not the best path to take. Sometimes there are paths that can use a gravity-assist from other planets such as Venus to reach your destination with less fuel. So the total time to get to Mars can be anywhere from one to five years. That's a lot of food! The spacecraft needs to be built in space because it is too large to launch from Earth. We believe there's water on Mars, frozen under the surface -- so we can load up on water supply for the trip home. And we grew a lot of our own plants and vegetables on the trip to Mars.
Question: Why do white clouds appear in Mars' atmosphere?
Neil Tyson: Mars has seasons just the way Earth has seasons. The change of seasons brings changes in climate and also a lot of motion in the atmosphere, otherwise known as winds. The winds can kick up dust from the surface and lift it into the atmosphere the way a tornado can lift dirt into the sky. There are also frozen gases that can evaporate and re-condense.
Question: William from LMS (Louisiana, MO) wants to know what kinds of food are available on Mars.
Neil Tyson: For now we have to bring all of our own food. Most of the food we bring is nasty. :) But my favorite is the freeze-dried ice cream. It may be possible to build a greenhouse on Mars and set up a plant life in this greenhouse. That will be a major project for us. Like Earth, Mars rotates once every 24 hours so it has days and nights. Plants are familiar with this rotation.
Question: In the future will there be colonies on Mars?
Neil Tyson: If there's any place in the solar system where we will set up colonies, it will be Mars. And, so I have high expectations that that will happen. Perhaps you will be in those first colonies.
Question: If you blew bubbles would they pop?
Neil Tyson: (Laugh...) I haven't tried it yet. But, my training in physics tells me that if I blow bubbles, with air from my own lungs, the bubbles would pop immediately. They would pop because in the Martian atmosphere the air pressure is so low. But, if you blew bubbles with Martian air, then bubbles would behave the same way they do on Earth. Carbonated sodas would go flat immediately on the surface of Mars.
Question: Dr. Tyson, do you take any precautions when exploring Mars' surface?
Neil Tyson: I try not to damage my spacesuit because that insulates me from the low temperatures, the high energy radiation and the low pressure of the atmosphere. I only go exploring with other astronauts. If I don't feel well, or if something else happens, then someone can help me. It is very similar to mountain climbing -- it's best to mountain climb with a friend.
Question: Do the stars look the same as they do from Earth?
Neil Tyson: They look exactly the same, except Mars has so many dust storms that often the nighttime sky is hazy, like Los Angeles. I can see both moons in the sky. One is named Phobos and the other is named Deimos. They're not round and pretty like Earth's moon. In fact, they look more like a baked potato. They're oblong shaped and very rocky. They go through phases the way the Earth's moon goes through phases. But, because they have a potato shape, the crescent phase is not very pretty. It appears jagged in the sky. And when the moons are full, they just look like giant potatoes. Each moon is much smaller than Earth's moon; which relates to why they never ended up round, like Earth's moon.
Question: Which moon is larger, Phobos or Deimos?
Neil Tyson: I think Deimos is bigger, but I'm looking out my window right now and... Phobos is actually larger and it is closer to Mars than is Deimos. Deimos is nearly three times farther away. By the way, Phobos orbits Mars quickly and it's the only moon in the whole solar system to orbit its host planet in less time than the planet takes to rotate on its own axis.
Question: How would time be different on Mars?
Neil Tyson: Mars' day last 24 hours and 37 minutes. And it takes 687 Earth days for Mars to go around the sun. So, you would have half as many birthdays on Mars as you have on Earth.
Question: If you yelled on Mars, would there be an echo?
Neil Tyson: In the canyons on Mars, there are echoes, but the echoes are very weak. Mars has canyons that are much bigger than the Grand Canyon.
Question: Could you describe what you see around you? How large are the polar ice caps on Mars?
Neil Tyson: I see nothing but red -- a deep rusty red from the iron in the soil. I see rocks, red rocks, around me. I see the sun in the sky. It's very cold. I saw some polar ice caps when I flew toward the planet, but I'm not near them at the moment. It's 40 below zero where I am now, but it is even colder at the ice caps. I see Olympus Mountains in the distance rising high above the terrain. And I plan to take an expedition up to the top. But it will be a long trip because the mountain is larger than the entire state of New York.
Question: What do you do for entertainment on Mars?
Neil Tyson: Hee hee!! There's no cable at night. So... we rented a lot of videos for the trip. We are reading lots of books and perform geology experiments (actually it's Marsology experiments) to study the composition of the rocks. Because, after, all this is a scientific machine, not a theme park.
Question: If you are gone for say 5 years, what about your family life? And what do you do with all the trash you build up? Do you just release it into space? -- Westport (MA) Middle School (Amanda and Mrs. Brown).
Neil Tyson: My family is waiting for me to come back. I'm on a three-year mission. I phone home at least once a week. And NASA said they would pick up the phone bill. ;) There's not much trash that we create. Most trash that people make is from the packaging of what they consume. So we make sure to reduce the packaging around the food as much as possible. And some trash that is biodegradable we will leave on Mars and the rest we will carry back to Earth. High energy radiation on Mars will decompose almost anything, including most plastics.
Question: I think it's cool that there are going to be colonies on Mars some day. When I grow up, I want to go there. How can I get ready?
Neil Tyson: You first have to enjoy science, take a lot of science classes-- and the language of science is math. Just the way the language of America is English and the language of France is French, the language of science is math. So this will prepare you for the science. You also have to stay healthy. Every year NASA reviews applicants for the space program and this will continue far into the future. And if you happen to be the one who is smart enough, physically fit enough and ready when it's time to go, I would bet that you'll be the one selected. So eat all of your broccoli and do all of your math homework!
Question: Dr. Tyson, now that you've been to Mars -- do you want to stay or are you ready to come home to Earth?
Neil Tyson: It's true in Oz and on Mars that "there's no place like home." I enjoyed this opportunity to communicate with you from Mars. I look forward to communicating with you one day from another solar system entirely. Good luck in school and remember that the greatest achievements of life are what you have accomplished, not because it was easy, but because it was hard.
Neil Tyson: ...Dr. Tyson Signing Off....
OnlineHost: Many thanks to Dr. Neil Tyson for joining Scholastic Network this afternoon. We've learned a lot about our Solar System today. And thanks to our audience for your great questions!
OnlineHost: A special thanks should go to Blackside, Inc. for bringing us Dr. Tyson. He will be featured in their new PBS series "Breakthrough: The Changing Face of Science in America" that is airing in April. The program will profile 20 contemporary African-American, Latino, and Native American scientists.
OnlineHost: To learn more about Dr. Tyson and to meet other interesting guests, stop by our February special event, "Exploring the Solar System," on Scholastic Network. (keyword: Scholastic)
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