EAPS 105 HW & QUIZ 10, EAPS HW and Quiz 11 , EAPS HW and quiz 12
Which factor is considered in the calculation of an exoplanet's Earth Similarity Index?
. Its radius b. Its escape velocity c. Its surface temperature d. All the above
Which of the following are available on the Voyager Golden Record for aliens to enjoy?
. Music by Chuck Berry b. Sounds of whales c. Pictures of human anatomy and our DNA d. All the above
how many stars are out there
150,000 times the number of grains of sand on Earth
Which of the following was the New Horizons Spacecraft the first to accomplish?
A flyby of Pluto
To find exoplanets, how does the radial velocity detection method work?
A star with a planet will wobble in response to the planet's gravity, causing it to change the speed at which it moves toward or away from the Earth.
North American Aviation had suggested using an oxygen/nitrogen mixture for the Apollo capsules, but NASA overruled this. What did NASA judge to be the advantages of using a pure oxygen environment?
It was safer b. It was less complicated c. It was lighter in weight d. All the above
Which planet did Mariner 10 not fly by?
Mars
According to the Roger's commission, what administrative failures within the Space Shuttle program led to the Challenger disaster?
NASA's organizational culture and decision-making processes were flawed. b. Test data revealed a potentially catastrophic flaw in the design of the boosters and neither NASA nor SRB manufacturer Morton Thiokol addressed the issue. c. NASA managers disregarded engineers' warnings about the dangers of launching in cold temperatures and did not report these technical concerns to their superiors. d. All the above
Which of the following did the Pioneer plaque contain for aliens to learn about us?
Nude figures of a man and woman b. Information on where the spacecraft originated from c. Information on when the spacecraft was launched d. All the above
Which of the following did Jerry Cobb accomplish in her lifetime?
She was also part of the Mercury 13, a group of women who underwent physiological screening tests at the same time as the original Mercury Seven astronauts. b. She set numerous aviation records and became a consultant for NASA. c. She conducted over 30 years of missionary work in South America and was honored by 5 governments. d. All the above
Which of the following was information contained on the Golden Records placed on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft?
Sounds of humans and Earth b. Pictures of humans and Earth c. Our location in the galaxy and when the spacecraft was launched d. All the above
Why do so few exoplanets have similar orbital characteristics as the planets in our Solar System?
Telescopes aren't sensitive enough to tell
Which of the following was the Huygens spacecraft not the first to accomplish?
The first to land on a moon without a parachute.
Which of the following was Hayabusa the first to accomplish?
The first to return a sample of an asteroid to Earth
Which of the following was information contained on the plaque placed on the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft?
The size and shape of humans b. Where the to find Earth c. When the spacecraft were launched d. All the above
Why was MESSENGER inserted into a highly elliptical orbit?
The surface of mercury radiates too much heat, and this gives the spacecraft time to cool
What killed the Space Shuttle Columbia astronauts?
The vehicle disintegrated during reentry
True or False: The three crew members of Soyuz 11 are the only humans to have died in space.
True
Which country was the first to return a soil sample from the Moon using a robotic spacecraft?
USSR
What did the Mariner 4 spacecraft first accomplish?
What did the Mariner 4 spacecraft first accomplish?
What is the solar wind?
a. A stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun.
Which situations might generate a lava planet?
a. A young terrestrial planet just after its formation. b. A planet that has recently suffered a large collision event. c. A planet orbiting very close to its star. d. All the above
What is a super-Earth?
a. An exoplanet with a mass higher than Earth's, but substantially below those of an ice giant.
What did the Viking spacecraft measure on Mars that was key to identifying the origin of the Lafayette Martian Meteorite?
a. Atmospheric chemistry
To find exoplanets, how does the direct imaging detection method work?
a. Blocking the light of a star reveals the reflected light of orbiting planets.
What will the Mars 2020 rover Perseverance do on Mars besides searching for evidence of past life?
a. Collect rocks for another spacecraft to return to Earth
Which of the following is a science objective of the Perseverance rover?
a. Identify past environments that were capable of supporting microbial life. b. Seek signs of possible past microbial life in those habitable environments. c. Collect core rock and soil samples for delivery to a future sample return rocket. d. All the above
In what ways is the James Webb Space Telescope superior to the Hubble Space Telescope?
a. It has a much higher resolution (sharper images). b. It can observe high-redshift objects that are too old and too distant for Hubble. c. It enables more detailed atmospheric characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets. d. All the above
If a radar return from the surface of a planet to a spacecraft is dark, what does it tell us about the surface?
a. It is smooth
Which of the following is unique to the Voyager 2 spacecraft?
a. It is the only spacecraft to ever visit Uranus and Neptune
Which of the following did the Rosetta spacecraft accomplish?
a. It orbited comet 67P b. It flew by Earth, Mars, and the asteroids 21 Lutetia and 2867 Steins. c. It dropped off a lander (Philae) onto the surface of 67P d. All the above
What records did the Dawn spacecraft accomplish?
a. It was the first to orbit two extraterrestrial bodies. b. The first to visit either Ceres or Vesta c. The first to orbit a dwarf planet d. All the above
Which types of planets does the direct imaging method detect better than other methods?
a. Planets far from their stars
Which of the following are weaknesses of the transit detection method?
a. Small exoplanets far from their stars will not cause significant dimming of the star's light. b. Planetary transits are observable only when the planet's orbit happens to be perfectly aligned from the astronomers' vantage point. c. False detections can be common requiring verification from longer duration observations and other detection methods. d. All the above
Which of the following can a gravity assist not do?
a. Speed up your spacecraft b. Slow down your spacecraft c. Change the direction of your spacecraft d. It can achieve all of the above
For which of the following are there more of these than grains of sand on Earth?
a. Stars b. Planets c. Earth-like planets d. All the above
How is the James Webb Space Telescope an improvement over the Hubble Space Telescope?
a. The James Webb is 100 times more powerful b. It can see through dust c. It can see objects that have redshifted beyond the visible spectrum d. All the above
What milestones did the Soviet Union's Luna 1 spacecraft achieve?
a. The first spacecraft to achieve escape velocity from the Earth. b. The first spacecraft to reach the Moon. c. The first spacecraft aimed at the Moon that missed. d. All the above
How does the transit method determine the diameter of an exoplanet?
a. The size of the drop in the star's brightness
What killed the Space Shuttle Challenger astronauts?
a. The vehicle exploded early in its flight.
What did the Hayabusa, Hayabusa 2, and OSIRIS-REx spacecraft all have in common?
a. They each brought back (or are in the process) samples from an asteroid.
in addition to being bigger, how are super-Earth's likely different from our planet?
a. They likely have significantly more water
The Fermi paradox is the conflict between the lack of clear, obvious evidence for extraterrestrial life and various high estimates for their existence. Which of the following are possible solutions to the Fermi Paradox?
a. Transmissions from alien civilizations are too weak to pick up because of vast distances. b. Civilizations always die out and thus at any even given time there are not enough to be detected. c. We are alone. d. All the above
Which of the following are possible solutions to the Fermi Paradox?
a. We are not looking in the right places — space is vast, and we can only listen in a few directions at a time. b. Alien civilizations do not communicate in the radio spectrum like we do, and thus we do not know how to recognize their signals yet. c. Transmissions from alien civilizations are too weak to pick up because of vast distances. d. All the above
How many planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system are potentially hospitable to life, having orbits in the star's habitable zone?
b. 4
How long did Venera landers survive on the surface or Venus?
b. A maximum of 2 hours
How does a Whipple shield (meteor bumper) protect a spacecraft from micrometeoroid impacts?
b. An outer thin foil film vaporizes the micrometeoroid, diffusing its energy before it impacts with the spacecraft outer wall.
Which statement of the 2009 satellite collision is true?
b. By 2011 over 2000 large debris fragments were catalogued.
If a star is larger than our Sun, where would its habitable zone be located compared to our Solar System.
b. Farther away from the star
If a star is much larger/brighter than our Sun, where will the habitable zone be located relative to our Sun's habitable zone?
b. Farther from the larger/brighter star.
To find exoplanets, how does the transit detection method work?
b. If a planet crosses in front of its parent star, then the observed visual brightness of the star drops by a small amount.
What is unique about the exoplanet Proxima b?
b. It is the closest potentially habitable planet we'll ever find.
Jezero crater is the landing site for the Perseverance rover. Which of the following is true about Jezero crater?
b. It is thought to have once been flooded with water.
When a spacecraft uses a gravitational assist from a planet, if the planet is moving in the opposite direction of the spacecraft, what happens to the speed of the spacecraft?
b. It slows down.
The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope or WFIRST, now named after the former NASA Chief of Astronomy, provides a significant improvement over the Hubble Space Telescope in what manner?
b. It will have 100 times the imaging field of view.
What do the colors missing from the spectrum of starlight that passes through its atmosphere tell us about that atmosphere?
b. Its chemistry
What do variations in the gravity field tell us about a planet?
b. Its internal structure
What did the InSight robotic lander not attempt to measure on the surface of Mars?
b. Soil chemistry
The Earth Similarity Index (ESI) characterizes how similar an exoplanet is to Earth. It has a scale from zero to one, with Earth having a value of one. Which of the following factors does the ESI not consider?
b. The exoplanet magnetic field
What milestones did the Cassini spacecraft achieve?
b. The first spacecraft to orbit Saturn.
What milestones did the Rosetta spacecraft achieve?
b. The first spacecraft to orbit a comet.
What milestones did the Galileo spacecraft achieve?
b. The first spacecraft to orbit an outer planet.
Which of the following was the Galileo spacecraft the first to accomplish?
b. The first to orbit an outer planet
With the Doppler Effect, what changes when there is relative motion between the source of a wave and the observer?
b. The frequency of the wave
What can only be determined by combining observations from the radial velocity method with observations from the transit detection method?
b. The mass of the exoplanet
What phenomena does the gravitational microlensing method take advantage of?
b. The presence of a mass along its path causes light to bend.
How does the transit method determine the time it takes for an exoplanet to orbit its star?
b. The time between drops in the star's brightness
What killed the Apollo 1 astronauts?
c. A cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test.
What is a hot Jupiter?
c. A gas giant like Jupiter that orbits extremely close to its star.
Why was Jezero Crater chosen as the landing site for the rover Perseverance?
c. Because the crater was once filled with water.
What does the Drake equation calculate?
c. How many active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy.
Why is Mars the most explored planet?
c. It holds the greatest chance of finding evidence of past or present extraterrestrial life
Looking at the absorption spectrum of sunlight passing through our atmosphere, which of the following would aliens not be able to detect?
c. Nitrogen
Which types of planets does the gravitational microlensing method detect better than other methods?
c. Planets around very distant stars, they're so far away
What are the most abundant types of exoplanets found so far?
c. Super Earths and mini Neptunes
Why is Mercury the most difficult planet to orbit?
c. The Sun accelerates any approaching objects, so it takes a lot of fuel to slow down.
What was the cause of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster?
c. The failure of O-ring seals in a joint in one of the solid rocket boosters.
What was MESSENGER the first spacecraft to accomplish?
c. The first spacecraft to orbit Mercury
Which of the following was the Juno spacecraft the first to accomplish?
c. The first to spacecraft sent to the outer planets powered by solar sails.
Which of the following quantities can be obtained by combining information from the radial velocity and transit methods?
c. The mass of an exoplanet
What is the danger of micrometeoroids to space exploration?
c. Their extremely high velocity
Which is not a danger of a solar flare?
c. They can scorch the Earth (set forests on fire)
Which of the following was not an objective of InSight?
c. To search for signs of ancient life
When is a planet considered to be in the habitable zone?
c. When it has the right temperature to support liquid water on its surface
The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF) is an image of a small region covering only one twenty-six-millionth of the total sky — equivalent to the area of a tennis ball viewed 110 meters away. The region chosen is one of the darkest patches of sky in any direction, i.e., very few stars from our own galaxy. How many galaxies are visible in the HUDF?
d. 10,000
Compared to the US Annual Average of radiation exposure (Dose Equivalent), how much more radiation will an astronaut experience by traveling to Mars or living on its surface for 500 days (note that this plot is logarithmic)?
d. 100 times
How many galaxies are there estimated to be in the visible universe?
d. 4 trillion
Who named the two spacecraft (Ebb and Flow) that comprised the GRAIL spacecraft.
d. Fourth grade students at Emily Dickinson Elementary School
Dawn did not carry a laser altimeter or radar to measure topography. So how did the Dawn team generate topographic maps of Vesta and Ceres?
d. From the movement of shadows in surface photos
What is so special about the exoplanet Proxima Centauri b?
d. It is the closest Earth-like exoplanet to our Solar System we will ever find.
What milestones did the Juno spacecraft achieve?
d. The first spacecraft sent to the outer planets powered by solar sails.
What did the Viking 1 spacecraft first accomplish?
d. The first spacecraft to land on Mars
With the Doppler effect, what changes when there is relative motion between the source of a wave and the observer?
d. The frequency of the wave
To find exoplanets, how does the gravitational microlensing detection method work?
d. The gravitational field of a star acts like a lens, magnifying the light of a distant background star. If a planet is orbiting the foreground lensing star, it will make a detectable contribution to the lensing effect.
What is the notable disadvantage of the gravitational microlensing method?
d. The lensing observation cannot be repeated
What do the Pioneer 10 & 11, Voyager 1 & 2, and New Horizons spacecraft have in common?
d. They all achieved escape velocity from the Sun
After the oxygen tank explosion damaged the service module, how did the astronauts survive the return back to Earth?
d. They used the lunar module as a lifeboat.
Which planet is most likely to be habitable?
need more information
What killed the Apollo 13 astronauts?
Actually, the astronauts survived an oxygen tank explosion.
What type of planets does the transit method detect most easily?
Big planets close to their stars
