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Mission to Mars: Scavenger Hunt

Do your students want to take part in a Martian mission? Use our Mars scavenger hunt in your next lesson! Students can complete the scavenger hunt activity by reading the selected articles on the NASA Space Place website to find the answers to each clue.

December 04, 2023

Do your students want to take part in a Martian mission? Use our Mars scavenger hunt in your next lesson! Students can complete the scavenger hunt activity by reading the selected articles on the NASA Space Place website to find the answers to each clue.

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This set of images from Mars shows the handiwork of different tools on three missions to the surface of Mars.
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This set of images from Mars shows the handiwork of different tools on three missions to the surface of Mars.
Different Tools for Different Purposes on Mars
These images from the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover indicate similarly dark material, but with very different chemistries, in mineral veins at "Garden City."
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These images from the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover indicate similarly dark material, but with very different chemistries, in mineral veins at "Garden City."
Thick, Dark Veins at 'Garden City,' Mars
The Curiosity rover has taught us a lot about the history of Mars and its potential to support life. Take a tour of its landing site, Gale Crater.
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A Guide to Gale Crater
A Guide to Gale Crater
This false-color map shows the area within Gale Crater on Mars, where NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (Aug. 6, 2012 EDT) and the location where Curiosity collected its first drill...
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This false-color map shows the area within Gale Crater on Mars, where NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (Aug. 6, 2012 EDT) and the location where Curiosity collected its first drilled sample at the "John Klein" rock.
Location of John Klein Drill Site
This graphic compares the radiation dose equivalent for several types of experiences, including a calculation for a trip from Earth to Mars based on measurements made by the Radiation Assessment De...
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This graphic compares the radiation dose equivalent for several types of experiences, including a calculation for a trip from Earth to Mars based on measurements made by the Radiation Assessment Detector instrument shielded inside NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft during the flight from Earth to Mars in 2011 and 2012.
Comparison of Some Radiation Exposures to Mars-Trip Level
Test operators in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., monitor some of the first motions by the robotic arm on the Mars rover Curiosity after installation in August 2...
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Test operators in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., monitor some of the first motions by the robotic arm on the Mars rover Curiosity after installation in August 2010. This photo, taken Aug. 31, 2010, shows the arm in a partially extended position. The arm has a reach of about 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) from the front of the rover body.
Curiosity Mars Rover Flexes Its Robotic Arm
The Curiosity rover is a big nerd at heart, fitted with a science lab to take in the planet Mars. Get the inside scoop on the mission’s many discoveries and dramas after a decade on the Red Planet.
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Back in 2011, before Curiosity had left Earth, an as-yet unreleased song by the musician Will.i.am was added to its computer.
A Ton of Curiosity
This video shows NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover using its Auto-Nav technology to drive 574 feet (175 meters) on Sept. 12, 2021, the 200th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
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This video shows NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover using its Auto-Nav technology to drive 574 feet (175 meters) on Sept. 12, 2021, the 200th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
Perseverance's Sol 200 Auto-Nav Drive
At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians using an overhead crane, move the aeroshell, a component of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), ...
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At the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians using an overhead crane, move the aeroshell, a component of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), back to a work stand after a spin and balance test.
Preparing the Aeroshell
In this image, a large, six-wheeled rover sits on a concrete floor in a laboratory against a light-blue background. The rover's 'legs,' or mobility system are a medium blue color and the large, cle...
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In this image, a large, six-wheeled rover sits on a concrete floor in a laboratory against a light-blue background. The rover's 'legs,' or mobility system are a medium blue color and the large, cleated wheels are shiny silver. On top of the mobility system is a silver-colored triangle that represents where the heart and brains of the rover will go when it is complete.
Mars Science Laboratory Project Changes Respond to Cost Increases, Keep Mars Program On Track
This photograph of the NASA Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, was taken during testing on June 3, 2011. The location is inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Labo...
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This photograph of the NASA Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, was taken during testing on June 3, 2011. The location is inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Mars Rover Curiosity's Arm Held High
This image shows two possible routes (blue and purple) to the fan-shaped deposit of sediments known as a delta for NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars. The yellow line marks a notional traverse explo...
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This image shows two possible routes (blue and purple) to the fan-shaped deposit of sediments known as a delta for NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars. The yellow line marks a notional traverse exploring the Jezero delta.
The Road Ahead for Perseverance
Engineers prepare the Mars 2020 spacecraft for a thermal vacuum (TVAC) test in the Space Simulator Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
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Engineers prepare the Mars 2020 spacecraft for a thermal vacuum (TVAC) test in the Space Simulator Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Mars 2020 Spacecraft Gets Cold
The first flight of an advanced supersonic parachute system for Mars 2020. The test took place on Oct. 4, 2017 at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.
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The first flight of an advanced supersonic parachute system for Mars 2020. The test took place on Oct. 4, 2017 at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.
NASA's Mars 2020 Supersonic Parachute: Test Flight #1
The location where NASA’s Perseverance will begin depositing its first cache of samples is shown in this image taken by the Mars rover on Dec. 14, 2022, the 646th Martian day, or sol, of the missio...
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This enhanced color image was taken by the rover’s Mastcam-Z camera and is not representative of the way the scene would look to the human eye.
Perseverance Views Depot in the Distance
NASA engineers combined three segments from the raw audio file recorded while the Perseverance Mars rover rolled across a section of Jezero Crater on sol 16 of the mission.
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NASA engineers combined three segments from the raw audio file recorded while the Perseverance Mars rover rolled across a section of Jezero Crater on sol 16 of the mission.
Sounds of Perseverance Mars Rover Driving – Sol 16 (90-second highlights)
A full-scale engineering model of NASA's Perseverance Mars rover now resides in a garage facing the Mars Yard at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
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Technicians move engineering model of Perseverance
Twin of NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover Moves Into New Home
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter takes off and lands in this video captured on April 25, 2021, by Mastcam-Z, an imager aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. 
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NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter takes off and lands in this video captured on April 25, 2021, by Mastcam-Z, an imager aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover.
Perseverance Rover's Mastcam-Z Captures Ingenuity's Third Flight
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter takes off and lands in this video captured on April 19, 2021, by Mastcam-Z, an imager aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. This video features only the moments of...
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NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter takes off and lands in this video captured on April 19, 2021, by Mastcam-Z, an imager aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. This video features only the moments of takeoff and the landing and not footage of the helicopter hovering for about 30 seconds.
Mastcam-Z Video of Ingenuity Taking Off and Landing
A model Sample Recovery Helicopter drives and positions itself over a sample tube during a test in the Mars Yard at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
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A model Sample Recovery Helicopter drives and positions itself over a sample tube during a test in the Mars Yard at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Sample Recovery Helicopter Model Gets a Test
Technicians install a Mastcam-Z high-definition camera in the remote sensing mast that will later go on NASA's Mars 2020 rover.
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Technicians install a Mastcam-Z high-definition camera in the remote sensing mast that will later go on NASA's Mars 2020 rover.
NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Gets HD Eyes
In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians work beneath NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission aeroshell, (containing the compact car-s...
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In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians work beneath NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission aeroshell, (containing the compact car-sized rover Curiosity), which has been mated to the cruise stage.
Prepping Curiosity for Launch
This animation shows NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover collecting a rock sample from an outcrop the science team calls “Berea” using a coring bit on the end of its robotic arm. The images were taken b...
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This animation shows NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover collecting a rock sample from an outcrop the science team calls “Berea” using a coring bit on the end of its robotic arm. The images were taken by one of the rover’s front hazard cameras.
Perseverance Cores 'Berea'
Curiosity's EDL team release a timeline for mission milestones surrounding the landing of the Mars rover.
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Curiosity's EDL team release a timeline for mission milestones surrounding the landing of the Mars rover.
Timeline of Major Mission Events During Curiosity's Landing
The left eye of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took this image of the camera on the rover's arm, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), during the 30th Martian day, or sol, of...
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The left eye of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took this image of the camera on the rover's arm, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), during the 30th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 5, 2012).
Camera on Curiosity's Arm as Seen by Camera on Mast

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