Tag Archive for 'Mars'

An artist’s impression of ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft. Image credit: ESA / ATG Medialab / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Mars Express Finds Huge Reservoir of Liquid Water below Martian Surface

Jul 25, 2018 by News Staff

ESA’s Mars Express orbiter has used radar signals bounced through underground layers of ice to find evidence of liquid water trapped below the south...

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 Discovered on Mars

Jul 24, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft has found a new type of Martian aurora that occurs over much of the day side of the...

This close-up color image of a small-scale dust storm on Mars was acquired by the HRSC instrument on ESA’s Mars Express in April 2018. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

ESA’s Mars Express Orbiter Spots Small-Scale Dust Storm

Jul 20, 2018 by News Staff

A new image from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) aboard ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft shows a local dust storm with a towering cloud front,...

Mosaic of the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft. The distance is 1,550 miles (2,500 km) from the surface of the planet. The mosaic is composed of 102 Viking Orbiter images of Mars. The center of the scene shows the entire Valles Marineris canyon system, over 1,240 miles (2,000 km) long and up to 5 miles (8 km) deep, extending form Noctis Labyrinthus, the arcuate system of graben to the west, to the chaotic terrain to the east. Many huge ancient river channels begin from the chaotic terrain from north-central canyons and run north. The three Tharsis volcanoes (dark red spots), each about 15.5 miles (25 km) high, are visible to the west. South of Valles Marineris is very ancient terrain covered by many impact craters. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Mars’ Atmosphere Acts as Single, Interconnected System

Jul 20, 2018 by News Staff

A new study using data from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) instrument on ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft has...

The Medusae Fossae Formation is one of the largest sedimentary deposits on Mars. This is an infrared image mosaic generated using Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) images from NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter mission; the small colored globe based on the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). Image credit: NASA.

Volcanic Eruptions Spawned Mysterious Medusae Fossae Formation on Mars

Jun 19, 2018 by News Staff

Explosive volcanic eruptions are the likely source of the Medusae Fossae Formation, a massive, unusual deposit of soft rock near Mars’ equator, with...

Curiosity Finds Organic Molecules in Ancient Rocks, Seasonal Methane Releases on Mars

Jun 8, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has detected organic molecules in 3-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks at the base of the Murray formation at Pahrump Hills,...

This artist’s concept depicts the dry environment seen at Mars today versus the early Martian environment. Image credit: Simon Fraser University.

Iron-Rich Rocks are Best Place to Seek Fossil Evidence of Martian Life, Scientists Say

May 29, 2018 by News Staff

Iron-rich rocks near ancient lake sites on Mars are the most promising and best understood astropaleontological targets, according to new research led...

NASA’s InSight spacecraft is on its way to Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s InSight Spacecraft Makes Its First Course Correction toward Mars

May 25, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft is currently cruising to Mars. On May 22, 2018,...

This image from NASA’s MarCO-B (known as ‘Wall-E’ to the MarCO team) CubeSat shows the spacecraft’s unfolded high-gain antenna at right and the Earth and the Moon in the center. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s MarCO-B CubeSat Captures Earth-Moon Image

May 16, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s MarCO-B spacecraft — one of two CubeSats accompanying the space agency’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and...

NASA’s Mars Helicopter. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA to Send Autonomous Helicopter to Mars

May 14, 2018 by News Staff

The Mars Helicopter, a technology demonstration that will travel to the Red Planet with NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, will attempt controlled flight in the...

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off with NASA’s InSight spacecraft, seen through a thick fog blanketing Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Image credit: NASA.

NASA’s InSight Mission Launches to Study Mars’ Interior

May 5, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars InSight mission successfully launched today at 7:05 a.m. EDT (4:05 a.m. PDT) from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California,...

TGO’s CaSSIS camera captured this view of the rim of Korolev crater on April 15, 2018. The image is a composite of three images in different colors that were taken almost simultaneously. Image credit: ESA / Roscosmos / CaSSIS.

ESA’s ExoMars Orbiter Sends First Images from Its New Orbit around Mars

Apr 27, 2018 by News Staff

ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has sent back its first, color images of Mars from its new, near-circular orbit. ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter...

Mars is kept company by two cratered moons -- an inner moon named Phobos and an outer moon named Deimos. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Malin Space Science Systems / Texas A&M University.

Violent Collision May Have Created Martian Moons Phobos and Deimos

Apr 24, 2018 by News Staff

A colossal impact between proto-Mars and a Vesta-to-Ceres-sized object likely produced the two Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, according to new research. Mars...

The early ocean known as Arabia (left, blue) would have looked like this when it formed 4 billion years ago on Mars, while the Deuteronilus ocean, about 3.6 billion years old, had a smaller shoreline; both coexisted with the massive volcanic province Tharsis, located on the unseen side of the planet, which may have helped support the existence of liquid water; the water is now gone, perhaps frozen underground and partially lost to space, while the ancient seabed is known as the northern plains. Image credit: Robert Citron, University of California, Berkeley.

Martian Oceans Formed Earlier than Thought, Geophysicists Say

Mar 20, 2018 by News Staff

A team of geophysicists at the University of California, Berkeley, proposes that Martian oceans originated several hundred million years earlier than thought,...

This image of Phobos was acquired using the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) during Mars Express orbit 17,342 on September 12, 2017. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

ESA’s Mars Express Spacecraft Observes Phobos and Deimos

Mar 13, 2018 by News Staff

New images and video captured by ESA’s Mars Express orbiter show two small Martian moons Phobos and Deimos drifting in front of the giant planet Saturn...

Tiny Martian Moons Hint at Red Planet’s Adolescent Rejection

Feb 13, 2018 by James Romero

Like a teenage diary you can’t throw away, Mars might carry a reminder of its difficult formative years in its tiny moons. A paper published by the Royal...

A view from from ridge in Mars’ Gale Crater. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity Sends Home Spectacular Panorama

Feb 1, 2018 by News Staff

A new panoramic image from Curiosity provides a sweeping vista of the interior and rim of Gale Crater, including much of the rover’s route during its...

Two 2001 images from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor show a dramatic change in the planet’s appearance when haze raised by dust-storm activity in the south became globally distributed. The images were taken about a month apart. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Martian Dust Storms Linked to Atmospheric Gas Escape

Jan 25, 2018 by News Staff

Martian dust storms play a role in the ongoing process of gas escaping from the top of the planet’s atmosphere, according to a new study using observations...

Gale Crater is 96 miles (154 km) in diameter and holds a layered mountain rising about 3 miles (5 km) above the crater floor. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / UA.

Mars’ Turbulent Winds Can Make Mountains in Impact Craters

Jan 15, 2018 by News Staff

In a paper published in the journal Physical Review E, a duo of fluid dynamics experts proposes a solution to one of long-standing Martian mysteries. The...

This high-resolution HiRISE image shows a detailed subsection of an icy scarp on Mars in enhanced color. Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona / USGS.

New HiRISE Images Show 3D Structure of Martian Ice Sheets

Jan 12, 2018 by News Staff

New images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal never-before-observed details...

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