Speaking of Current Events...

I found this article summary I wrote for Mr. Swanson's 6th Grade Science class:

Next Stop: Mars

"Take us to your leader..." Kind of reminds you of last summer's movie "Independence Day." Yes, there has been a martian invasion--but not quite what you would expect. In August, geologists and biologists found a potato-sized meteorite in Antarctica--which turned out to be from the Red Planet--Mars. Scientists think that the rock--along with other martian meteorites--was blasted into space by an asteroid, that hit Mars. They know that it was alien, because when cutting it open, they found materials that were, well, not of this Earth.

The most exciting discovery from the rock were a group of chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. When bacteria die, they become PAHs. Scientists also found fossils of possibly worms and bacteria, buried deep in the rock. The martian invader has dated back to 3 to 4 billion years ago, when the Red Planet may have had rivers flowing with water!

Sometime this November and December, two space probes will blast off from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on their way to Mars. Now we're the invaders. The first probe will orbit the planet, and the second, called the Mars Pathfinder, will actually land there. The Pathfinder is carrying a 6-wheeler robot called Sojourner. It will then test the soil and rocks of Mars, but will, however, not test for any life. Sojourner wil move at a rate of 2 ft. a minute, which is slower than a turtle. The two probes are the first to study Mars since the Viking, which was launched 20 years ago.

If the interest in Mars continues, Congress may fork over some funding to NASA, allowing the National Aeronautics Space Administration to send round trip probes to Mars in 2005, or possibly sooner. If NASA gets the money, humans could be on board.

Don't get your hopes up, though. Scientists are still a little uncertain if any life on Mars. PAHs are sometimes found in regular, ordinary meteors. The so-called bacteria in ALH84001 may not be what it seems, and could be just rock formations.

The probes are also only making one-way trips, and besides for transmitting data back to Earth, they won't be bringing any specimens back. So much for Independence Day, and as for next summer, don't expect to see any flying saucers.

It's a little sensationalist, but because it was a California school system, I got an inflated 12 out of 10 (A+ for "Superior writing skills" I might add, probably for my advanced mastery of the m-dash and italics!). The sweet heady days of middle school indeed.

And when is that 2005 Mars probe coming back?