Spots on a Rock: teacher key

Mars, grade 10 edition, written for 10th grade. In July 2024 Perseverance found a rock with small leopard spots. As of November 2026, NASA calls the spots a potential biosignature and not proof of life.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. Ingenuity was built for five test flights. How many more flights than that did it make?
   • 72
   • 77
   • 67 (answer)
2. The crust at the InSight landing site was measured. Could it be 60 kilometers thick there?
   • No, it is 15 to 47 kilometers thick there (answer)
   • Yes, anywhere on Mars
   • Only near the poles
3. What does NASA call the leopard spots on the Cheyava Falls rock, as of November 2026?
   • Proof of life
   • A potential biosignature (answer)
   • A kind of dust
4. What did Mariner 4 see where canals had been drawn?
   • None (answer)
   • Rivers
   • A lake
5. What happened to the air of Mars, according to scientists?
   • Volcanoes added to it
   • The solar wind and the Sun's radiation stripped most of it away (answer)
   • Rovers used it up
6. What does biosignature mean in this book?
   • A thing that might have a biological origin (answer)
   • A kind of rover wheel
   • A signed name

Words

• biosignature: possible life sign
• seismometer: quake listener
• canals: dug waterways
• lakebed: old lake floor
• magnetic: like a magnet