Tag Archive for 'Mars'

This image from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows a hill with a central crater. Such features have been interpreted as both mud volcanoes (really a sedimentary structure) and as actual volcanoes (the erupting lava kind). They occur on the floor of Valles Marineris below a closed topographic contour that could have held a lake, and the compaction of wet sediments may have created mud volcanoes. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona.

Martian Mud Volcanoes May Look Similar to Lava Flows Found on Earth

May 19, 2020 by News Staff

Mud flows exposed to the low atmospheric pressures found on Mars will behave similar to lava flows in Hawaii or Iceland, also known as pahoehoe flows,...

This image from ESA’s Mars Express shows a beautiful slice of the Red Planet from the northern polar cap downwards, and highlights cratered, pockmarked swathes of the Terra Sabaea and Arabia Terra regions. It comprises data gathered on June 17, 2019. This image was created using data from the nadir and color channels of Mars Express’ High Resolution Stereo Camera. The nadir channel is aligned perpendicular to the surface of Mars, as if looking straight down at the surface. North is up. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin.

Pockets of Salty Water May Exist on Present-Day Mars

May 14, 2020 by News Staff

A new study shows that pockets of brine can form and persist from the equator to high latitudes on the Martian surface for a few percent of the year for...

Channel-forms preserved in sedimentary layers in Hellas Planitia on Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona / Matt Balme.

Deep, Perennial or Semi-Perennial Rivers Flowed on Early Mars

May 7, 2020 by News Staff

While the present-day Martian surface is generally dry and cold, its sedimentary rocks contain compelling evidence for the former presence of liquid water....

Orange-colored carbonate grains in the ALH 84001 meteorite. Image credit: Koike et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15931-4.

Researchers Find Nitrogen-Bearing Organics in Ancient Martian Meteorite

May 1, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Four-billion-year-old carbonates in a Martian meteorite called Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 contain nitrogen-bearing organic molecules, according to a new study...

$Illustration showing the present-day hydrogen reservoirs in and on Mars. The mass fractions (pie chart) of Martian water are based on the mass of water in the bulk crust (C), the mantle (M) and the combined inventory (A) of the atmosphere and polar ice deposits (PID). The mantle mass fraction is the combination of depleted shergottites (DS) and enriched shergottites (ES). Image credit: Barnes et al, doi: 10.1038/s41561-020-0552-y.$

Early Mars Had Multiple Water Sources, New Study Shows

Mar 31, 2020 by News Staff

An analysis of two Martian meteorites — Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034 and Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 — shows that Mars likely received water from...

This selfie was taken by Curiosity on February 26, 2020; the crumbling rock layer at the top of the image is the Greenheugh Pediment, which the rover climbed soon after taking the image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Curiosity Sends New Selfie from Red Planet

Mar 25, 2020 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured a stunning new selfie on February 26, 2020 (the 2687th Martian day, or sol, of the mission). This selfie was taken...

Perspective view of the Moreux crater. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Mars Express Sees Intriguing Geological Features in Moreux Crater

Mar 10, 2020 by News Staff

The High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express orbiter has captured stunning images of Moreux crater, a huge impact crater in the Terra Sabaea...

This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance on the surface of the Red Planet. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s Next Mars Rover Gets Official Name: Perseverance

Mar 6, 2020 by News Staff

Perseverance is the latest in a long line of Red Planet rovers to be named by school-age children, from Sojourner in 1997 to the Spirit and Opportunity...

Curiosity captured this panorama of the Martian surface between November 24 and December 1, 2019. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Curiosity Captures 1.8-Billion-Pixel Panorama of Martian Surface

Mar 5, 2020 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has captured its highest-resolution panorama (high-resolution file, 2.43 GB) yet of the Martian surface. The new panorama...

An artist’s impression of a terraformed Mars. Image credit: Daein Ballard / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Martian Thiophenes May Be Biological in Origin, Astrobiologists Say

Mar 5, 2020 by News Staff

NASA’s Curiosity rover recently discovered various classes of organic matter in the Martian sediments. One intriguing group of detected organic compounds...

NASA’s InSight Mission to Mars Releases Preliminary Results

Feb 25, 2020 by News Staff

More than a year after NASA’s Mars InSight lander touched down in ‘Homestead hollow,’ a sand-filled impact crater on the western side of a flat,...

Graphic illustrating NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft encountering plasma layers at Mars. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / CI lab.

MAVEN Detects Sporadic ‘Layers’ and ‘Rifts’ in Martian Ionosphere

Feb 3, 2020 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft has detected sporadic ‘layers’ and ‘rifts’ in the ionosphere — the electrically...

This HRSC image shows plumes of dust clouds over the ice cap at Mars’ north pole. The landscape here is a rippled mix of color. Dark red and ochre-hued troughs appear to cut through the icy white of the polar cap; these form part of a wider system of depressions that spiral outwards from the very center of the pole. Visible to the left of the frame are a few extended streams of clouds, aligned perpendicularly to a couple of the troughs. These are thought to be caused by small local storms that kick up dust into the Martian atmosphere, eroding scarps and slopes as they do so and slowly changing the appearance of the troughs over time. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

ESA’s Mars Express Orbiter Sees Dust Clouds over Martian North Pole

Jan 17, 2020 by News Staff

The High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft has captured a new image of the icy cap at the Martian north pole, complete...

Martian moon Phobos. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona.

Mars Express Captures New Views of Martian Moon Phobos

Dec 17, 2019 by News Staff

On November 17, 2019, ESA’s Mars Express orbiter made a close flyby of Phobos, the larger and inner of the two natural satellites of Mars. The probe...

Computer-generated visualization of the orbital paths (white dots) taken by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft as it mapped winds (blue lines) in the Martian upper atmosphere; red lines coming from the white dots represent local wind speed and direction, measured by MAVEN’s Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer instrument. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / MAVEN / SVS / Greg Shirah.

NASA’s MAVEN Orbiter Maps Martian Upper Atmospheric Winds

Dec 13, 2019 by News Staff

Using NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, a team of planetary researchers have measured the speed and direction of winds...

On Earth, the Northern and Southern lights occur when the solar wind (electrically charged particles from the Sun) follow our planet’s geomagnetic field lines to the poles and collide with the upper atmosphere. Mars lacks a global magnetic field, so instead the solar wind piles up in front of Mars in a bow shock, which blocks charged particles from reaching the bulk of the atmosphere. However, in a process first observed by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft, some solar wind protons can slip past the bow shock by first bonding with electrons from the Martian upper atmosphere to form hydrogen atoms. Because these hydrogen atoms are electrically neutral, they can pass through the bow shock and go on to create an ultraviolet proton aurora on the dayside of Mars. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

‘Proton Aurora’ is Most Common Type of Aurora on Mars, Researchers Say

Dec 13, 2019 by News Staff

Proton aurora, a type of Martian aurora first identified in 2016, forms when protons from the solar wind interact with hydrogen in the extended portions...

This map shows near-surface water ice on Mars; cool colors represent less than one foot (30 cm) below the surface; warm colors are over two feet (60 cm) deep; sprawling brown zones on the map represent areas where a landing spacecraft would sink into fine dust; the outlined box represents the ideal region to send astronauts for them to be able to dig up water ice. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU.

New Map Shows Near-Surface Water Ice on Mars

Dec 12, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey orbiter, a team of planetary researchers have crated a map of the water ice depth...

The yellow-white cloud in the bottom-center of this image, taken on November 30, 2010 by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, is a ‘dust tower’ -- a concentrated cloud of dust that can be lofted dozens of miles above the surface. The blue-white plumes are water vapor clouds. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

‘Dust Towers’ Spotted on Mars

Nov 28, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter observed a high number of ‘dust towers’ — concentrated clouds of dust that warm in sunlight and rise high...

This image shows a region of Mars named Deuteronilus Mensae. The oblique perspective view was generated using a digital terrain model and Mars Express data gathered on February 25, 2018. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

ESA’s Mars Express Orbiter Spots Fractured Ice Sheets

Nov 26, 2019 by News Staff

The two Martian hemispheres are drastically different; the smooth northern lowlands sit up to 3 km below the rugged southern highlands, and the surface...

Wing of Mars insect caught on the rover; inset: enlarged portion of wing. Image credit: William Romoser, doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.12363.95520.

NASA Photos Show Insect- and Reptile-Like Life Forms on Mars, Entomologist Says

Nov 21, 2019 by News Staff

Ohio University Emeritus Professor William Romoser has analyzed photos from NASA’s various Mars rovers, mostly from the rover Curiosity, and found insect/arthropod-...

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