AST330
Topics in Astrophysics: Mars Seminar
Mount Holyoke College, Fall 2003

Web site for this class: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/mdyar/ast330/
Site will be frequently updated: please check it regularly!

Faculty:
M. Darby Dyar
217 Kendade Hall, Mount Holyoke College
538-3073 or 538-3220
mdyar@mtholyoke.edu or mddyar@amherst.edu

In case of bad weather on Mondays, call Darby's office (the first number listed above) and check the recording there AND/OR check your email. Modifications to the course schedule will be made on the web site; be sure to check it frequently for changes.

Class meets 4:30-7:30, Monday afternoon at Mount Holyoke, room 107 Kendade Hall.

Click here for a list of students in the class.

What I expect of you in this class:

Be professional and participate actively in the course.
Do the reading.
Bring calculators to class every day. You will use them.
Do the reading.
Keep up with the work.
Do the reading.
Know the syllabus and be aware of important dates.
Do the reading.
Get help promptly if you need it.
Do the reading.
Seek me out if we can help you with problems of any kind, or if you just want to talk!
Do the reading.

Attendance:

You do not want to miss this class! If you have to be absent, please contact Darby via e-mail or telephone before the class to let her know where you are. Your assessment in this class will be based largely on your participation in class on exercises and discussions, so it's absolutely necessary for you to attend every class.

Weekly Assignments:

Weekly readings will be posted below as we progress through the year. Once you have done your assigned reading, pick some aspect of it and write a short, one-page summary, to be handed in at the beginning of each class. Hopefully this write-up will help you focus yor thoughts, and guarantee that you do the reading each week!

This link has a set of nice papers describing tips on how to read scientific writing.

Assessment:

Assessments in this course will be based on the following:
40% on participation and weekly write-ups as part of in-class discussions and exercises
20% on a mid-semester paper/project (click here for details)
20% on an in-class presentation and discussion that you will lead
20% on the written report of your presentation

Student projects:

Click here for the guidelines of the paper. For ideas, check out the Mars articles on this website:
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/PSRdiscoveries/Archive/Contents.html
I've also compiled a bibliography of some recent articles about Mars.
Other resources for science fiction and fictional accounts of Mars:
http://www.spaceref.com/redirect.html?id=0&url=www.scifan.com/science/mars/

Some examples of term papers from previous years can be found here...
Kay Achenbach 2002
Courtney Baird 2002
Solomon Granor 2002
Elizabeth Fenstermacher 2002
Katie Caperton 2002

Click here for a list of past student presentations:

Ever-Changing Schedule:

Sept. 8. Introduction
Introduction, discussion about discussions!
Triangle exercise
Mars Exploration Rover video

Sept. 15. Missions to Mars
Mariner missions
Mars Viking
Mars Polar Lander
Mars Climate Orbiter
Mars Pathfinder

Sept. 22. More Mars Missions
Reports on Mariner 1-4 and 9-12, Beagle
Read handout from class on future exploration of Mars
Also read: Safe on Mars and Can People Go to Mars?
Read and be prepared to discuss BOTH the handout and Safe on Mars
Hand in at start of class: 1 page write-up on one of the two readings

Sept. 29. History of Mars Exploration
Discuss final project topics.
READING: The Planet Mars, by William Sheehan
Hand in at start of class: 1 page write-up

Oct. 6. Crater Counting on Mars
READING: Stratigraphy of Mars (Tanaka, 1986)
READING: NASA Tech. Memo 79730 Crater Size-Frequency Data
Discussion of martian stratigraphy
Hand in at start of class: 1 page write-up on reading AND 1 paragraph (separate sheet) discussing your ideas for your final project topic.
BRING: pencils, rulers, calculators
Lesson in crater counting
Crater counting
Here's the spreadsheet of everyone's data
Note: this will be the mid-term project : simply to write a no more than 4 page paper explaining your crater counting results. Compare the age of the overall quadrangle with thh ages of the N, S, and W craters.

Oct. 13 No class: MHC October Break

Oct. 20 Mars Meteorites
Crater Counting assignment due.
READING chapters from the Mars Meteorite Compendium
Pleas prepare a 1-2 page handout for distribution to the class; email it to Darby before class so she can make copies!

Everyone read: I. Introduction, and Appendix I
Note the following issues when reading your chapter:
1. How do we know these rocks come from Mars?
2. How do the rocks get from Mars to Earth?
3. In what ways are all the martian meteorites chemically similar?
4. What's the total weight of martian samples we now have for study?

Other reading assigned as follows (let Darby know if your name doesn't appear below):
Vanessa: III. Lafayette
Nicole: IV: Governador Valadares
Emi: VIII. ALHA 77005
Yarrow: XIV. Dar al Gani
Kevin: VI. Zagami
Becky: VII. Chassigny
Kelly: X. ALH 84001
Ashwin: XVII. Dhofar and XVIII. NWA480
Marc: IX. EETA 79001
Meltem: VIII. ALHA 77005
Chris: XV. Los Angeles and XIX. NWA 817
Selby: IX. EETA 79001
Wendy: XII. QUE94201
Meghan: XVI. Sayh al Uhaymir and XX NWA856
Jared: XIII. Y793605
Ben: V. Shergotty
Ryan: II. Nakhla
Anthony: XI. LEW 88516

Study questions (be prepared to answer these for your rock!):
1. Where did it land, and how long has it been on Earth?
2. What minerals does it contain?
3. What rock type is it (look under the title on the first page)?
4. How old is it?
5. What isotopes were used to obtain this age?
6. What is its exposure age?
7. Anything else significant about this sample?

Oct. 27: Water on Mars
Special guest presentation by Jay Dickson, Hampshire College '01
Everyone read: Baker (2001)
Anthony, Ryan, Ben, Jared, Meghan: Smith et al. (1999) and Boynton et al. (2002)
Wendy, Chris, Selby, Meltem: Jakosky and Phillips (2001) and Laskar et al. (2002)
Marc, Ashwin, Kelly, Becky: Smith et al. (1998) and Mitrofanov et al. (2003)
Kevin, Yarrow, Emi, Nicole, Vanessa: Malin and Edgett (2000) and Christensen (2003)

Nov. 3: The Case for Mars Exploration by Humans, and Terraforming...
READING: "The Case for Mars", Zubrin and Wagner (Free Press)
Hand in at start of class: 1 page write-up

Nov. 10: Landing Sites for Mars Exploration Rovers
Hand in: a one-page summary explaining why your site is the best! Please come to class prepared to defend why your site should be (or should have been) selected. Here is the list of sites and their assignments:
Gusev: Ashwin, Kevin, Becky, and Selby
Jematite: Emi, Meltem, Ben, Anthony, Nicole
Elysium: Jared, Wendy, Kelly, Meghan
Isidis: Vanessa, Marc, Ryan, Chris, Yarrow

Here are some resources to look at:
3rd Landing Site Selection Workshop Minutes
Final Landing Site Selection Workshop Minutes
Landing Site Selection Web Site

Nov. 17: class cancelled to prepare for student presentations

Nov. 24: Student Presentations: Selby, Vanessa, Chris, Becky, Marc
NOTE: the week that you present, you don't have to do the summary.
READ and write a one-page summary of at least one of the following:
Selby: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/marsmissions_991020.html
Vanessa: Tharsis article
Marc: http://humbabe.arc.nasa.gov/mgcm/fun/pop.html
Ashwin: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/mpf/realtime/edlstatus.html
Becky: http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/teachers/mars_packing.pdf
Chris: http://bex.nsstc.uah.edu/RbS/PAPER/NFFP03/nffp2003.doc

Dec. 1: Student Presentations: Wendy, Jared, Ben, Nicole, Emi, Yarrow, Ashwin
NOTE: the week that you present, you don't have to do the summary.
READ and write a one-page summary of at least one of the following:
Emi: http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Aug97/InsideMars.html
Jared: http://members.aol.com/garypos2/Hoagland.html
Yarrow: Bandfield et al. article (read at least the summary)
Wendy: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~mfogg/haynes.htm
Ben: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2009318.stm

Dec. 8: Student Presentations: Kevin, Meghan, Kelly, Anthony, Ryan, Meltem
NOTE: the week that you present, you don't have to do the summary.
READ and write a one-page summary of at least one of the following:
Kevin: http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Tech/Space/mars.html
Ryan: Nature paper

Term papers are due Dec. 8.

Requisites of a Good Discussion
The single most important fact to remember is that the class discussion is a cooperative effort--a collective good. Good discussions are not at the expense of someone else, and are susceptible to the problems of free riders. It is important to treat all comments with respect. If there is a point of disagreement, you have an obligation to raise it--but its purpose should be to assist the discussion, not to score points. This is an extraordinarily important point. Any other attitude will lead to the disintegration of the class. A few other points:

First, to have a good discussion, the participants must listen carefully to each other. Your colleagues have much to say, they generally are insightful, and their point of view deserves careful attention. You should respond directly to their comments.

Second, be precise in what you say. If there is ambiguity in the discussion, ask that it stop in order to clarify a muddled point. Definitions are important, and you should expect to be able to give them when necessary.

Third, be concise in your statements. This does not mean that you should necessarily limit your comments to one or two sentences. It does, however, mean that you should not ramble or develop peripheral points at great length. There is one outstanding characteristic of oral discussion: people begin to think about what you have said in your first or second sentences, which means that they are listening less attentively to any subsequent sentences. If you do not make your point early, it will not have the force or impact that you desire. You should therefore always try to have your conclusion up front--working inductively to a conclusion very rarely works.

Fourth, do not be intimidated by the prospect of having to speak in a class of twenty people. There is plenty of time for everyone to say what she thinks. Moreover, your evaluations will be based on what you say, not on how much you say. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that to do well in the course you need to hold the floor for a very long period of time.

Fifth, and this is most important, you should be prepared to make an argument and not just drop comments where they seem appropriate. Essentially reactive statements serve a useful clarifying purpose, but they do not constitute an argument. The best way to build an oral argument is to have one prepared before class that can be presented very quickly, and then to use the discussion as a foil for amplifying your basic argument. Do not think that you can "build" an argument while the class is running. The conversation is too fast, too complex, and too unorganized for you to figure out what you want to say while you are saying it. The class is extremely demanding in this respect, but its difficulty is matched by its rewards: having made a solid argument in a group discussion, with helpful and constructive criticisms from others is one of the most exhilarating experiences you can have in a classroom.

Finally, do not attempt to intimidate or dominate. This is not an exercise in debate or public speaking. Extended monologues, orations, and harangues are to be avoided, and will be negatively evaluated. Remember, however, that the primary responsibility for preventing such misfortunes remains in your hands--either to not do them yourself, or to gently remind others to avoid them.