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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 17, Routine Interplanetary Violence, Chapter 18, The Marsh of Camarina.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did ancient people notice about planets that set them apart from the stars?
(a) They had complex motions and were not fixed.
(b) They had unique colors.
(c) They were much larger.
(d) They grew closer from time to time.

2. Which of the following is one of the moons of Mars?
(a) Gilgamesh.
(b) Phobos.
(c) Hecuba.
(d) Orpheus.

3. Which planet was Voyager 2 intended to visit first?
(a) Jupiter.
(b) Mars.
(c) Mercury.
(d) Venus.

4. What criticism does Sagan make of NASA in Chapter 6, "The Triumph of Voyager"?
(a) It is essentially incompetent.
(b) It cannot correct its mistakes.
(c) It has made many engineering mistakes.
(d) It is unconcerned with human safety in spaceflight.

5. Conditions of what type were extremely important in the creation of early life on Earth?
(a) Atmospheric.
(b) Geological.
(c) Littoral.
(d) Aquatic.

Short Answer Questions

1. How well does Sagan say his typical audience handles the practical details of a Mars mission?

2. What was the name of the second mission that sent probes into the atmosphere of Venus?

3. At the time this book was written, about how many asteroids were known to have paths that take them close to the Earth?

4. Sagan suggests that the image of the "pale blue dot" teaches the need for what?

5. What hazard threatened the Voyager craft in Sagan's plan to take a distant picture of Earth?

(see the answer key)

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