Did other terrestrial Planets experience

a similar history as Earth?

Diversity of the Planets

85% lava flow

Moon

Surface Temperature: -233 to 123 C; no atmosphere

Light: lunar highlands (80% surface), Older age
Dark: Mare (plural Maria); sea of basalts, younger

Did our Earth also experience

similar bombardment early on?
3

Impact Craters on Earth

Rare on Earth compared with the other terrestrial planets. Why?

4

Venus: Magellan spacecraft (Aug 1990)

(3 km high and 500 km across)

FIGURE 9.14 This topographic map of Venus, 19901994

Magellan mission. The highlands (tan), the uplands (green),
and the lowlands (blue). Vast lava plains are found in the
lowlands. Less craters suggests many craters may have been
covered by lava -> recent tectonic activity.

Venus is a surprisingly diverse and tectonically active

planet with mountains, plains, volcanoes, and rift valleys.

Mars Rocks!
o
o
o
o
o
o

EARLY MISSIONS: MARINER (19651971) AND VIKING (19761980).

PATHFINDER (1997)
MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR (19962006) AND MARS ODYSSEY (2001)
Mars Exploration RoversSpirit and Opportunity (2003-2004)
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL): Curiosity (2011)
Recent Missions: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (2006) and Phoenix
(MayNovember 2008)

2011:
Mars
Science
Laboratory (right) Curiosity
rover is about the size of a
small car, took this SELFIE.
Landed in Gale crater on
Mars in Aug 2012. Powered
by decay of Plutonium.
Spirit (left), one of the Mars Exploration Rovers,
is about the size of a golf cart. Spirit is standing
next to a twin of Sojourner, a rover that was
sent to Mars in 1997.

Mars: Red Planet- Quest for extraterrestrial life

lava
scarp

Olympus Mons is the tallest volcano in the

solar system, with a summit almost 25 km
high. An outward-facing scarp 550 km in
diameter.

Vallis Marineris Canyon: the longest (4000 km)

and deepest (up to 10 km; 8km average) canyon
in the solar system. Five times deep than Grand
Canyon. Evidence of glaciation found recently. 8

channel

FIGURE 9.25: Mars Exploration Rover landing sites. (a) Spirit

explored Gusev Crater, ~160 km in diameter, which is thought to
have been filled with water, forming an ancient lake.
(b) Opportunity was sent to an area of Meridiani Planum where
hematite is abundant. The ellipse- permissible landing area.

Was there once water on Mars?

This image acquired by Mars Global Surveyor shows clear evidence of meandering
patterns within sediments deposited inside Eberswalde Crater. Liquid water appears
to have flowed across the Martian surface and entered the crater, where it deposited
sediments in meandering channels similar to those seen in the Mississippi River on
10
Earth today.

The first outcrop studied on another

planet (Mars). This outcrop is made of
sedimentary rocks formed partly from
sulfate minerals, including jarosite.
Jarosite (K-Fe sulfate) can form only in
waterand only in acid-rich water.

A sedimentary sequence exposed along the flank

of Endurance Crater, photographed by the rover
Opportunity. The vertical succession of layers in
the outcrop preserves an excellent record of early
Martian environments.
11

12

Indian Missions: ISRO

Chandrayaan-1 Launched (by PSLV- C11) in Oct 22, 2008, operated until Aug 2009. Orbited
around the Moon at a height of 100 km from the lunar surface for chemical, mineralogical and
photo-geologic mapping of the Moon. Satellite made more than 3400 orbits around the moon.
Provided evidence of water on moon. http://www.isro.gov.in/pslv-c11-chandrayaan-i/ch1gallery

Chandrayaan-2: Orbiter, Lander and Rover configuration to be launched by GSLV in 2017-2018;

cost ~ 430 crore. Lander and Rover are expected to perform mineralogical and elemental studies
of the lunar surface. Totally Indian Mission.
MARS ORBITER MISSION spacecraft aboard a PSLV C-25 rocket on Nov 5, 2013: explore and
observe Mars surface features, morphology, mineralogy and the Martian atmosphere.
PSLV-C25: the vehicle that launched the Indian Mars Orbiter. Nampoothiri et al., CURRENT
SCIENCE, VOL. 109, NO. 6, 25 SEPTEMBER 2015.
13

Origin of Life
o From what materials did life originate?
o When, where, and in what form did life first appear?
The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin (1859) hypothesized that new species arise by the
modification of existing onesthat the raw material of life is life.
Louis Pasteur: life springs always from life

Somehow and somewhere, the tree of life had to take root from nonliving precursors.

Top-down approaches (favored by biologists): look at complex molecular machinery of living

cells for clues about simpler antecedents on the early Earth.
Bottom-up approaches (chemists): investigate the pathways by which lifes chemical building
blocks could have formed from simple inorganic constituents of early environments.
14

Prebiotic Soup: The Original

Experiment on the Origin of Life

How did chemical reactions between water

and the early crust shaped the chemistry of
early environments.
chemical synthesis of organic molecules is
possible in interstellar clouds, and amino acids
have been found in meteorites (1969,
Murchison, Australia)
15

16

Stromatolites

Modern stromatolites
Ancient stromatolites
grow in the intertidal zone. form columns.

Sedimentary structures formed

by the interaction of microbial
communities and the physical
processes of sedimentation.
A cross section reveals
layering similar to that seen
in ancient stromatolites.

Microbes live on the

surface of the stromatolite.
Sediment is deposited
on the microbes,...
...which grow
upward through
the sediment,
forming a new
layer.

17

When did Life arise?

All living organisms are descended from a

common ancestor that lived nearly 4 Ga ago.
2.76 Ga old stromatolite in Pilbara, Australia
(Ohmoto et al. 2005).
18

When did Life arise?

19

Microbial mats are

layered microbial
communities.

20

Where did Life arise?

some scientists have speculated that terrestrial life was seeded from afar,
most likely from Mars (Weiss et al., 2000). But, was Mars ever a biological
planet?

21

22

demise of dinosaurs

23