Abstract
Students will review tectonic and erosional features prior to a treasure hunt to find them on the Martian surface using new data from the MOLA instrument on the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft. They will be able to ground truth their work to online images.

Outcome
Learners will:

• Have opportunity to utilize data from two spacecraft, Viking and MGS.
  
• Strength their knowledge of the latitude & longitude mapping system.
  
• Be able to view Mars images and profiles of surface structural tectonic and erosional features.
  
• Hypothesize answers to the mystery of Mars’s planetary size vs. surface feature size.
  
• Develop insite as to how instruments retrieve and represent distant planet data.
  
• Have opportunity to ground truth recent Mars profiles to Viking maps.
  

Grade Level and Duration
Grades 9-12
Time 2-3 50 minute periods, varies with approach to instruction. Longer if extentions are used.

Materials Needed By Students
Copies of the following sheets
Procedures
Selected Profiles (6)
Viking Maps (6) (Printable from the website provided.)
Treasure Hunt Summary Sheet
Metric Ruler
Pencil
Protractor

Printed Materials
Procedures
Selected Profiles
Viking Maps
Treasure Hunt Summary Sheet

Teacher Tip
If your location affords you access to a lab of on-line computers, this investigation can be done as written. If you only have access to 1 or 2 computers with internet connectivity, you can still do the investigation with small modifications. The background & tutorial could be done in teams at the computer or taught by the teacher to the class as a whole. If you can project the computer screen or bring it up on a larger television, you can display the links in the tutorial section.

Important: use a laser printer when printing images and be sure to print at 150% horizontally or “Landscape”.