UNIT III. RACE TO MARS
What is the human limit?
Theme: Scientific innovation & Responsibility
FINAL TASK III
The following exercise will be done in pairs at the end of the chapter.
You will be divided into two groups: Journalists and Candidates for the first human mission to Mars.
The format of the live interview will have to be respected, however, no written script will be allowed. That means no paper to read.
Journalists will be allowed to prepare questions and candidates will have enough time to work on their characters but once the interview starts, there’s no stopping it.
Keep in mind that the journalists will have to provide help however they can if the interviewee is getting stuck.
One additional piece of information : You won’t know who you will work with before the D-Day. Every candidate will be randomly matched with a journalist.
Good luck!
LESSON 1. MARS & ITS NEIGHBOURS
According to the IAU (International Astronomical Union), a planet is a celestial body that meets the following criteria:
1 - is in orbit around the Sun,
2 - has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and
3 - has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.
The different planet names:
Mercury (Hermes) is the god of commerce, travel and thievery in Roman mythology. The planet probably received this name because it moves so quickly across the sky.
Venus (Aphrodite) is the Roman goddess of love and beauty. The planet is aptly named since it makes a beautiful sight in the sky, with only the Sun and the Moon being brighter.
Earth (Gaia) is the only planet whose English name does not derive from Greek/Roman mythology. The name derives from Old English and Germanic. There are, of course, many other names for our planet in other languages.
Mars (Ares) is the Roman god of War. The planet probably got this name due to its red color evoking blood.
Jupiter (Zeus) was the King of the Gods in Roman mythology, making the name a good choice for what is by far the largest planet in our solar system
Saturn (Cronus) is the Roman God of agriculture, of time & Wealth and the father of Jupiter.
Uranus is the ancient Roman deity of the Heavens, the earliest supreme god, grandfather of Zeus and father of Cronus
Neptune (Poseidon), was the Roman god of the Sea. Given the beautiful blue color of this planet, the name is an excellent choice!
Pluto (Hades) is the Roman god of the underworld in Roman mythology. Perhaps the planet received this name because it's so far from the Sun that it is in perpetual darkness.
Fun facts about Mars:
The gravity on Mars is only 0.375 percent of Earth’s gravity. This means that if you weigh 200 pounds (90 kilograms) on Earth you would weigh only 75 pounds (34 kilograms) on Mars.
The human circadian rhythm is better suited to life on Mars than on Earth - A Martian day is 24 hours 39 minutes and 35 seconds.
Over 100,000 people have applied for the Mars One project which claimed to be the first one-way trip to colonize Mars. (now abandoned)
The duration of the trip from Earth to Mars is from six to nine months
BONUS: On its first anniversary NASA’s Curiosity Rover sang “Happy Birthday” to itself on Mars.’
LESSON 2 – WHY IS MARS SO FASCINATING?
NASA is developing the capabilities needed to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars in the 2030s
Mars is a rich destination for scientific discovery and robotic and human exploration as we expand our presence into the solar system. Its formation and evolution are comparable to Earth, helping us learn more about our own planet’s history and future. Mars had conditions suitable for life in its past. Future exploration could uncover evidence of life, answering one of the fundamental mysteries of the cosmos: Does life exist beyond Earth?
While robotic explorers have studied Mars for more than 40 years, NASA’s path for the human exploration of Mars begins in low-Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station. Astronauts on the orbiting laboratory are helping us prove many of the technologies and communications systems needed for human missions to deep space, including Mars. The space station also advances our understanding of how the body changes in space and how to protect astronaut health.
Our next step is deep space, where NASA will send a robotic mission to capture and redirect an asteroid to orbit the moon. Astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will explore the asteroid in the 2020s, returning to Earth with samples. This experience in human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit will help NASA test new systems and capabilities, such as Solar Electric Propulsion, which we’ll need to send cargo as part of human missions to Mars.
(NASA's Journey to Mars | NASA)
Present Participles
Verbs ending in –ING are called Present participle and can be used in different situations
As an adjective used to modify a noun (participial adjective):
The pouring rain / Walking shoes / Leading topic of conversation / Missing keys
As a participial phrase (adjective phrase) modifying a noun or a pronoun:
Arriving late (Sam), Sam apologised. / Looking at the sea (he), he started thinking. / Raising our glasses (we), we toasted the bride and groom.
As a noun (gerund), it can also be modified by an adjective:
Shopping/Howling/Cheering/Timing – We could hear the distant howling of a wolf.
LESSON 3 – THE SKY IS THE LIMIT
This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth.
Called the Cosmic Cliffs, Webb’s seemingly three-dimensional picture looks like craggy mountains on a moonlit evening. In reality, it is the edge of the giant, gaseous cavity within NGC 3324, and the tallest “peaks” in this image are about 7 light-years high. The cavernous area has been carved from the nebula by the intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from extremely massive, hot, young stars located in the center of the bubble, above the area shown in this image. (NASA)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a lush, highly detailed landscape – the iconic Pillars of Creation – where new stars are forming within dense clouds of gas and dust. The three-dimensional pillars look like majestic rock formations, but are far more permeable. These columns are made up of cool interstellar gas and dust that appear – at times – semi-transparent in near-infrared light. (NASA)
PREFIXES REMINDER
Anti- (against) Antisocial/Antifreeze
De- (opposite) Demotivated/Decipher/
Un- (not) Unbearable/Unhappy/Unavailable
Dis- (not/opposite of) Dismembered/Disagree/Disobey
Im- (not) Impolite/Immature/Impossible
Mid- (middle) Midday/Mid-eighteenth century
Mis- (wrongly) Mislead/Misunderstand/Mistype
Over- (over) Overenthusiastic/Overestimate
Pre-/pro- (pre) Prehistoric/Predict/Prologue
Re- (again) Redo/Rewrite/Replay
Super- (Above/beyond) Superhuman/Supernatural
Under- (Under) Underambitious/Underestimate
Self- (itself) Self-sustainable/Self-isolate/