Category Archives: Terrestrials

includes Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

Ballooning on Venus

Posted on April 2, 2017 by Nick Belsten

After their launch in 1984, the identical spacecraft Vega 1 and Vega 2 launched from a Russian Proton Rocket for their double mission of flying through the tail of Halley’s Comet and landing scientific payloads on the surface of Venus. In addition to a regular parachuted lander, the Vega spacecraft each carried a 22-kilogram balloon … Continue reading Ballooning on Venus → Continue reading →

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Formation of the Solar System

Posted on March 20, 2017 by josiezd

Approximately 13.8 billion years ago, an interstellar cloud of gas known as the solar nebula collapsed under its own gravity due to some cataclysmic event… Continue reading →

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Where did all the dinosaurs go?

Posted on April 7, 2016 by sarabkeller

I think one of the more fascinating topics in Earth’s past is the mystery of the dinosaurs. They were here 65 million years ago (for a shockingly long time—if you remember, they were here for almost a week in the “calendar” of the universe!) and then suddenly disappeared. So, what happened to them? It is […] Continue reading →

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Terraforming Venus: An Alternative Look At Terraforming

Posted on March 15, 2016 by andyastronomer

After exploring terraforming on Mars and finding a good amount of information on Venus in the process, I thought it would be interesting to explore the prospects of terraforming Venus in the hopes of one day making it habitable. As I mentioned in my previous blog, Carl Sagan published an article in 1961 advocating for […] Continue reading →

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Terraforming Venus: An Alternative Look At Terraforming

Posted on March 15, 2016 by andyastronomer

After exploring terraforming on Mars and finding a good amount of information on Venus in the process, I thought it would be interesting to explore the prospects of terraforming Venus in the hopes of one day making it habitable. As I mentioned in my previous blog, Carl Sagan published an article in 1961 advocating for […] Continue reading →

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Atmosphere of Mars

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Alex Pratte

  For my 5th blog post, I decided to write about what the atmosphere of Mars is like. All the information I write about can be found in this link. According to Space.com, Mars’ atmosphere is about 100 times thinner than Earth’s atmosphere and is pretty much all carbon dioxide. There are some other elements […] Continue reading →

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Look Back at It

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Sofia

The surfaces of the terrestrial planets tell us a lot about their histories. The geological surface features of the planets give insight into the geological processes that have occurred in the planets’ pasts. There are four main processes that have lasting geological impacts on the terrestrial planets in our solar system. The processes are impact … Continue reading “Look Back at It” Continue reading →

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Why We Should All Love Earthquakes

Posted on March 15, 2016 by 2016spaceodyssey

Earthquakes are one of the most obvious consequences of Earth’s plate tectonics.  The crust slowly moves along the with the “current” of the mantle as the Earth surface constantly rearranges itself.  Without plate tectonics, it is very possible that life could not have taken a foothold on Earth.  On Mars, which does not have plate […] Continue reading →

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The Atmosphere of Venus

Posted on March 14, 2016 by sarabkeller

I have always been oddly fascinated by Venus. Not only is it the Roman name for arguably the most interesting (and controversial) Greek Goddess, Aphrodite, but it also has a lot of really fascinating characteristics. The surface of Venus is so hot that robotic probes wouldn’t be able to last for very long on it, […] Continue reading →

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Terraforming Mars: Exploring The World Of Cosmic Cosmetics

Posted on March 10, 2016 by andyastronomer

If there is anything we have learned from observing the universe, it’s that Earth is incredibly unique. Of course, we could find out soon enough how utterly ordinary we are should we discover Earth-like planets bearing life beyond our Solar System, but until, we seem to be pretty special. Nasa’s Kepler Mission has discovered tens of […] Continue reading →

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