Cornwall Sea to Stars has commissioned a print run of the Mars 36 Pocket Atlas to give a copy to every school in Cornwall.
The atlas uses geographic techniques developed for terrestrial maps to reveal a wealth of information about the surface of the Red Planet, as well as its climate and cloud cover.
Cornwall Sea to Stars has produced activities and resources (see below) to support educators in teaching parts of the science and geography curricula through the Mars Atlas.
Online access to the Mars Cartographic Quadrangles
Activities for Schools
Introduction to the Mars Atlas. Find out what’s in the Mars Atlas and use the ‘Mars Atlas Bingo’ and ‘Odd One Out’ activities to familiarise your class with the symbols used to represent features on the mpas.
Where would you site a Mars Base? Where on Mars would be best to set up a permanent human settlement? What are the pros and cons of different locations and environments?
A Return Trip or A Permanent Settlement? Is a return trip possible? If a return trip is not possible, what would be needed for a permanent settlement?
Experiment: How do we determine if material contains living organisms? How would we know if we’ve found life on Mars? How reliable or clear-cut are the results?
UK outline. Tucked inside your Mars Atlas, you should find an outline of the UK on a transparent sheet at the same scale as the Mars Quadrangles.
About Mars
Find out more about Mars in this article by Director of Cornwall Sea to Stars and Roseland Observatory, Brian Sheen.
What’s happening in Mars Year 36?
Find out more about current missions to Mars and what’s happening in Mars Year 36 (2021-2022 on Earth).
Find out more about current missions to explore Mars.
About the Mars 36 Pocket Atlas
The Mars 36 Pocket Atlas is edited by Henrik Hargitai, a professor of planetary geomorphology, planetary cartography, typography and media history at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE).
Mars Teaching Resources
Want to know more? Here are some other Mars-related activities for your classroom.
The Cornwall Sea to Stars print-run of the Mars 36 Pocket Atlas is funded through the RAS200 programme.