Challenge: Design a Martian

Mrs. Wyllie/Mr. Penfield's Science class
North Country Union Junior High School
Vermont's NASA Explorer School

Our alien is a plant-like form that lives on the surface of Mars. Because of the extreme conditions on the red planet, our life form needs to have certain special features.

We know that the atmosphere has a high concentration of carbon dioxide and very little oxygen. To overcome this problem our plant takes in the carbon dioxide to make its energy. After "digesting" the CO₂, the plant puts out oxygen, hopefully making the atmosphere friendlier for human habitation in the future. For nutrients our plants root system sucks what little nutrients that are in the ground up to the main part of the plant. Once one set of roots has nearly sucked all the nutrients out of the ground a new root structure starts growing in another location. It is in this form that the plant moves along the surface of the planet. The plant also uses the sun's rays to get some energy by photosynthesis.

The plant's physical structure is very low to the surface and clings to the regolith to avoid the frequent sand storms. The plant covers very large expanses finding nutrients, while only one smaller area is living. The actual plant is a dry, grass-like material with rough thorns covering the plant (just in case one of the other life forms being designed for this challenge wants to eat ours and happens to exist!).

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