NASA's Mars Exploration Program

There's been much in the news about Mars recently. NASA is there, and the Europeans are on the way. There are some of the really nice educational resources associated with all this activity on the Hot Topics page, where you'll find regular updates on current issues and events. The Hot Topics are at: http://www.teachersfirst.com/hot.htm

The following information comes from SurfnetKids Newsletter:

On January 3, NASA landed Spirit, a six-wheeled robot, on Mars.

Its identical twin, Opportunity, is scheduled to follow on January 24. The unmanned rovers, each weighing about 384 pounds, are robotic geologists. Their mission is to look for evidence of water. If found, it could suggest that the now dry and dusty Mars was once wet enough to support life.

Mars 2001 Odyssey
http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html

Exploring Mars
http://www.exploremarsnow.org/

Mars Exploration Rovers Web sites for Spirit and Opportunity, NASA's Mars rovers landing in January 2004. Mars Express Take a look ...

CNN.Com: Exploring Mars http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9706/pathfinder/

Lunar and Planetary Institute This web site provides access to a variety of educational products about Mars that have been developed at the Lunar and Planetary Institute. These include classroom activities, image collections and slide sets, descriptive text, and references for further study. All documents included in this web site are written at a general level.
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/expmars/expmars.html

The Rationale for Exploring Mars
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/marswhy.htm

BBC News: A Race for Mars
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2003/race_for_mars/default.stm

Google News:Mars Exploration
http://news.google.com/news?q=mars+exploration

Because traditional search engines takes days or weeks to add new sites, the best way to track a breaking news story is through the wire services. And Google's beta News site is one of the best. This link will display news stories 'culled from approximately 4,500 news sources worldwide' and sorted by relevance. To receive Mars Exploration e-mail alerts either daily or in real time, click on News Alerts in the left hand menu.

Mars Exploration Rover Mission
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/

NASA is well-known for the quality and quantity of their sites, and their coverage of the Mars rover missions is no exception.

Best clicks are the educational animations (look for Multimedia in the lower right-hand side of the page) and Mars for Kids (in red, on the left). Mars for Kids is a fun site for elementary students, complete with games (collect rock samples against the clock in 3D Mars Rover) and activities (create a topographic map).