Tag Archive for 'Mars'

Artist’s conception of the dust and gas surrounding a newly formed planetary system. Image credit: NASA.

Earth’s Water Explained by Gas Giant Gluttony

Jul 19, 2017 by James Romero

Water on Earth, Mars and everywhere within the inner Solar System can be traced back to the rapid waist-expanding growth of Jupiter and Saturn, which knocked...

An illustration of an asteroid on its way to ancient Mars. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO / Nathan Owen-Price / Sci.News.

Mars’ Two-Faces and Moons Could Result from an Early Cataclysmic Impact

Jul 4, 2017 by James Romero

Mars experienced a single colossal impact during its first 130 million years, the equivalent to the largest body in the today’s asteroid belt slamming...

The exaggerated color makes Curiosity appear bluer than it really looks. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Views Curiosity Climbing Mount Sharp

Jun 22, 2017 by News Staff

Using the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera — the most powerful camera ever to orbit another planet, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance...

This artist’s concept shows MAVEN in orbit around Mars, with a fanciful image of Earth in the background. Image credit: NASA / GSFC.

NASA’s MAVEN Mission Celebrates 1,000 Earth Days in Orbit around Mars

Jun 17, 2017 by News Staff

Today, NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission — sent to Mars to explore its upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions...

Elon Musk’s Vision of Self-Sustaining Martian City, Manned Flights to Mars, Other Planets

Jun 15, 2017 by News Staff

An article entitled ‘Making Humans a Multi-Planetary Species’ presents the vision of Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, for future manned trips to Mars and...

$Pale zones called ‘halos’ border bedrock fractures visible in this 2015 image (colorized) from the Curiosity rover. Measurements overlaid on the image offer a sense of scale for the size of these fractures. The rover team determined that the halos are rich in silica, a clue to the duration of wet environmental conditions long ago. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.$

High-Silica ‘Halos’ Found in Gale Crater Shed Light on Wet Ancient Mars

May 31, 2017 by News Staff

Fracture-associated ‘halos’ of lighter-toned bedrock have been found on the lower north slope of Aeolis Mons (Mount Sharp) in Gale crater, Mars, indicating...

It’s raining on Titan. Image credit: David A. Hardy, AstroArt / NASA.

Planetary Researchers Shed New Light on Origins of Titan’s Topographic Relief

May 19, 2017 by News Staff

Saturn’s hazy moon Titan, Earth and Mars have all hosted rivers at some point in their histories. Planetary researchers from the City University of New...

The young Mars would have had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 140 m deep, but it is more likely that the liquid would have pooled to form an ocean occupying almost half of Mars’s northern hemisphere, and in some regions reaching depths greater than 1.6 km. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO / N. Risinger, skysurvey.org.

Research Reveals How Changes in Rainfall Shaped Early Mars

May 16, 2017 by News Staff

Heavy rain on Mars reshaped impact craters and carved out river-like channels in the planet’s surface billions of years ago, according to a study by...

Spherical bubbles preserved in 3.48 billion-year-old hot spring deposits in the Dresser Formation provide evidence for early microbial life having lived on land. Image credit: University of New South Wales.

Earliest Signs of Microbial Life on Land Found in 3.48-Billion-Year-Old Hot Spring Deposits

May 10, 2017 by News Staff

Fossil evidence of early microbial life has been found in ancient hot spring deposits in the Dresser Formation in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia,...

MAVEN is exploring Mars’ upper atmosphere in detail to understand how Mars changed from a wet planet early in its history to the cold, dry world we see today. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

MAVEN Detects Metal Ions in Martian Atmosphere

Apr 11, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission has made the first detection of the continuous presence of iron, magnesium, and sodium...

Boeing Deep Space Transport vehicle on approach. Image credit: Boeing Company.

Deep Space Gateway & Transport: Concepts for Mars, Moon Exploration Unveiled

Apr 4, 2017 by News Staff

The Boeing Company this week unveiled concepts for the Deep Space Gateway and Transport systems that could help achieve NASA’s goal of having robust...

This image shows ancient Mars capable of supporting liquid water on its surface. Image credit: Michael Lentz / NASA Goddard Conceptual Image Lab.

MAVEN Finds New Evidence that Most of Martian Atmosphere Was Lost to Space

Mar 31, 2017 by News Staff

According to an analysis of new data from NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft, solar wind and radiation are responsible...

This digital-image mosaic of Mars’ Tharsis plateau shows the extinct volcano Arsia Mons. It was assembled from images that NASA’s Viking 1 orbiter took during its 1976-1980 working life at Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL / USGS.

Martian Shield Volcano Arsia Mons Was Last Active 50 Million Years Ago, Research Reveals

Mar 21, 2017 by News Staff

According to new research reported in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, the 10-mile- (16 km) high Martian shield volcano called Arsia Mons...

Perspective view of Mars’ north polar ice cap and its distinctive dark troughs forming a spiral-like pattern. The view is based on images taken by ESA’s Mars Express and generated using elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on board NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / NASA / MGS / MOLA Science Team.

ESA Releases Stunning Mosaic of Mars’ North Pole

Feb 20, 2017 by News Staff

Researchers, using a camera aboard ESA’s Mars Express, have created a stunning mosaic of Mars’ north polar region. Perspective view of Mars’ north...

A large pit valley in Lucaya crater, Mars: (a) exposure of putative crossbeds on windward slope of dunes, and (b) interdune strata exposed in planform showing contrasting albedo and crosscutting relationships similar to that exposed in the dune. Image credit: M.C. Bourke & H.A. Viles.

Researchers Uncover New Evidence for Water on Ancient Mars

Feb 19, 2017 by News Staff

Dr. Mary Bourke from Trinity College Dublin and University of Oxford Professor Heather Viles have discovered a patch of land in an equatorial crater on...

This artist’s concept depicts the early Martian environment (right) -- believed to contain liquid water and a thicker atmosphere -- versus the cold, dry environment seen at Mars today (left). Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Did Ancient Martian Volcanism Provide the Sunblock to Get Life Going?

Feb 8, 2017 by James Romero

Intense volcanism early in Mars history could have aided the emergence of life on the red planet through filtering out harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation...

Hand sample images of the cut NWA 7635 stone and a representative backscattered electron image of the igneous texture of the stone. Image credit: Thomas J. Lapen et al, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1600922.

Rare Martian Meteorite Provides Clues to Red Planet’s Evolution

Feb 2, 2017 by News Staff

Northwest Africa (NWA) 7635 — a Martian meteorite found in Algeria in 2012 — has given planetary researchers information about volcanic activity...

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.

Methane Gas May Have Caused Greenhouse Effect on Young Mars, Planetary Researchers Say

Jan 25, 2017 by News Staff

Methane present in the early Martian atmosphere, together with carbon dioxide and hydrogen may have created a greenhouse effect on the planet 3.5-4.5 billion...

This view of a Martian rock slab called ‘Old Soaker,’ which has a network of cracks that may have originated in drying mud, comes from the Mast Camera on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover. The location is within an exposure of Murray formation mudstone on lower Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater. Mud cracks would be evidence of a time more than 3 billion years ago when dry intervals interrupted wetter periods that supported lakes in the area. Several images from Mast Camera’s left-eye camera are combined into this mosaic view. They were taken on Dec. 20, 2016, during the 1,555th sol of Curiosity’s work on Mars. The Old Soaker slab is about 4 feet (1.2 m) long. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Curiosity Finds Possible Signs of Ancient Drying on Mars

Jan 18, 2017 by News Staff

A grid of small polygons spotted by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover may have originated as cracks in drying mud more than 3 billion years ago, according...

Earth-Moon System as Seen from Mars Orbit

Jan 9, 2017 by News Staff

This image composite combines the best Earth image with the best Moon image from four sets of images acquired on November 20, 2016, by the High Resolution...

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