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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Which of the following is NOT one of the missions that observed Venus using radar telescopes?
(a) Magellan.
(b) Vesta.
(c) Venera.
(d) Pioneer.

3. What is the primary way that humans add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere?
(a) Heavy industry byproducts.
(b) Carburetor emissions.
(c) Burning fossil fuels.
(d) Drilling for natural gas and oil.

4. Sagan suggests that the Apollo missions were primarily about what?
(a) Military strategy.
(b) Politics.
(c) Science.
(d) Technology.

5. Sagan cautions that the beliefs he endorses could lead to an overabundance of what?
(a) Pride.
(b) Technology.
(c) Population.
(d) Confidence.

Short Answer Questions

1. At the time this book was written, how many Mars Observers had been flown successfully?

2. Sagan estimates that intelligent life might arise on average in one out of how many stars?

3. How does Sagan characterize most of the benefits gleaned from the space programs of the 60s and 70s?

4. When did the belief that Venus was a "sister planet" to Earth become dispelled?

5. When did a "disrupted" comet famously fall into Jupiter?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is unusual about the surface of Venus?

2. Why does Sagan believe that America sent men to the moon?

3. What does Sagan say that it is probably the fate of humanity to "live in the dark"?

4. How does Sagan believe that humanity will progress in the next hundred or so generations?

5. How is Venus different from Earth?

6. What does Sagan think were the major upsides of the Apollo missions?

7. What resources does Sagan believe that carbon asteroids have that make them suitable for human habitation?

8. What does Sagan believe would be necessary for the safety of the human race to be secured?

9. What profit motivations exist in a manned mission to Mars?

10. What does Sagan conclude about the morality of terraforming and planetary colonization?

(see the answer keys)

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