Tag Archive for 'Mars'

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.

Curiosity Sheds New Light on Martian Methane Mystery

Jul 1, 2021 by News Staff

The Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) in the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) chemistry lab onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected atmospheric methane...

This composite image, taken by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft, shows Venus. Image credit: JAXA / ISAS / DARTS / Damia Bouic.

Clouds of Venus Too Dry to Sustain Even Extremophile Life Forms, Study Says

Jun 29, 2021 by News Staff

The recent suggestion of phosphine gas in the atmosphere of Venus has regenerated interest in the idea of life in clouds; however, such analyses usually...

Curiosity captured these clouds just after sunset on March 19, 2021, the 3,063rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission. The image is made up of 21 individual images stitched together and color corrected so that the scene appears as it would to the human eye. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Curiosity Spots Carbon Dioxide-Ice Clouds in Martian Skies

May 28, 2021 by News Staff

In March 2021, NASA’s Curiosity rover observed clouds made of carbon dioxide (CO2) ice at high altitudes in the atmosphere of Mars. Curiosity captured...

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.

Phobos and Deimos are Fragments of Larger Martian Moon, Study Suggests

May 19, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Phobos and Deimos, two satellites of Mars, originated from disintegration of a much larger moon between 1 and 2.7 billion years ago, according to new computer...

Perseverance used its dual-camera Mastcam-Z imager to capture this (enhanced) image of Santa Cruz, a hill within Jezero Crater, on April 29, 2021, the 68th Martian day of the mission. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS.

Perseverance Begins to Study Floor of Jezero Crater

May 13, 2021 by News Staff

NASA’s Perseverance rover is focusing its science instruments on rocks that lay on the floor of Jezero Crater, which is located on the western edge of...

Horvath et al. found strong evidence for geologically recent volcanic activity in Elysium Planitia, Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL / MSSS / Murray Lab.

Mars Could Still Be Volcanically Active, Planetary Scientists Say

May 11, 2021 by News Staff

Volcanic activity on Mars peaked during the Noachian and Hesperian periods, between 3 and 4 billion years ago, with smaller eruptions in isolated locations...

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter was captured after landing on May 7, 2021, by the Mastcam-Z imager aboard the Perseverance rover. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS.

Ingenuity Completes Its Fifth Flight on Mars

May 10, 2021 by News Staff

On May 7, 2021, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter successfully completed its fifth flight with one-way journey from the ‘Wright Brothers Field’ to a new...

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter (above center to the right) is viewed by one of the hazard cameras aboard the Perseverance rover during the helicopter’s fourth flight on April 30, 2021. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Listen to NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter in Flight

May 7, 2021 by News Staff

NASA’s Perseverance rover used a microphone on its SuperCam laser instrument to listen as the Ingenuity helicopter flew for the fourth time on April...

Hubble photo of Mars taken when the planet was 50 million miles (80 million km) from Earth on May 12. The photo reveals details as small as 20 - 30 miles (32.2 - 48.3 km) across. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / J. Bell, ASU / M. Wolff, Space Science Institute.

High-Altitude Ice Clouds Caused Greenhouse Effect on Early Mars, New Study Suggests

Apr 27, 2021 by News Staff

Mars is cold today but once had water lakes and flowing rivers. The early warm climate cannot be explained by basic models of the early Mars greenhouse...

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter can be seen hovering during its third flight on April 25, 2021, as seen by the left Navigation Camera aboard the Perseverance rover. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Ingenuity Helicopter Sets New Records during Its Third Flight

Apr 26, 2021 by News Staff

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter took off at 4:31 a.m. EDT (1:31 a.m. PDT), or 12:33 p.m. local Mars time, on April 25, 2021, rising 5 m (16 feet); then it...

This image was taken by the WATSON camera on the robotic arm of Perseverance on April 6, 2021 (46th Martian day, or sol, of the mission). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Perseverance Extracts Pure Oxygen from Carbon Dioxide-Rich Martian Air

Apr 23, 2021 by News Staff

On April 20, 2021, the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover converted some of carbon...

NASA’s Perseverance rover acquired this image on April 22, 2021, using its left Mastcam-Z camera. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Completes Its Second Flight on Mars

Apr 22, 2021 by News Staff

Lasting 51.9 seconds, Ingenuity’s experimental flight on April 22, 2021, added several new challenges to its first flight, including a higher maximum...

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.

Martian Climate Fluctuated between Drier and Wetter Periods Before It Went Dry

Apr 19, 2021 by News Staff

Mars had drier and wetter eras before drying up completely in the Hesperian period, about 3 billion years ago, according to an analysis of observational...

NASA’s Perseverance rover acquired this image using its onboard Right Navigation Camera (Navcam). The camera is located high on the rover’s mast and aids in driving. The image was taken on April 19, 2021 at the local mean solar time of 12:33:35. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Successfully Demonstrates Powered, Controlled Flight on Mars

Apr 19, 2021 by News Staff

On April 19, 2021, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter made history, hovering above Jezero Crater on Mars, demonstrating that powered, controlled flight on another...

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Snaps Selfie with Ingenuity Helicopter

Apr 8, 2021 by News Staff

Perseverance took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here 4 m (13 feet) away in this image from April 6, 2021. This image was taken by the WATSON...

An artist’s impression of the InSight lander on Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s InSight Lander Detects Two Strong, Clear Marsquakes

Apr 2, 2021 by News Staff

On March 7 and 18, 2021, NASA’s InSight lander detected 3.3- and 3.1-magnitude marsquakes originating in a location called Cerberus Fossae, further supporting...

Visible images with sketch maps showing major geologic features within as-yet unnamed crater mapped by Boatwright & Head: (a) the 54-km-diameter crater in the southern highlands of Mars (20.3°S, 42.6°E); no inlet or outlet breaches are observed; ridge networks (blue) begin near the crater wall base, where they are coincident with upslope-facing scarps (dashed lines) and crater wall alcoves; ridges terminate in two paleolake basins (cyan and green); (b) morphology of the eastern ridge network transitions downslope from dense proximal ridges to more widely spaced medial ridges; several medial ridges then converge into a single trunk ridge; (c) the southern ridge network terminates at three separate points along the margin of basin II. One of the ridges also displays an anabranching morphology. Image credit: Boatwright & Head, doi: 10.3847/PSJ/abe773.

New Type of Paleolake Spotted on Mars

Mar 31, 2021 by News Staff

A 54-km- (33.5-mile) diameter Noachian-aged crater with neither inlet nor outlet channels is distinct from previously documented crater basin lakes on...

Hernández-Bernal et al. reveal the daily and seasonal behavior of the AMEC cloud, using new observations from the Visual Monitoring Camera on ESA’s Mars Express, along with data from other Mars orbiters. Image credit: ESA.

Martian Orbiters Observe Extremely Elongated Cloud over Arsia Mons Volcano

Mar 19, 2021 by News Staff

In September and October 2018, ESA’s Mars Express orbiter observed a spectacular water ice cloud — named the Arsia Mons Elongated Cloud (AMEC)...

The map of Tharsis region of Mars from the Pocket Atlas of Mars 36. Image credit: NASA / JPL / GSFC / ESA / DLR / FU / H. Hargitai.

Planetary Scientists Create Pocket Atlas of Mars

Mar 17, 2021 by News Staff

The 84-page atlas of Mars, currently available in English, Hungarian and Czech, was developed as a part of a public outreach project supported by the Europlanet...

Computer model of the Antikythera Mechanism’s display: in the center, the dome of the Earth, the phase of the Moon and its position in the Zodiac -- then rings for Mercury, Venus, true Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Date, with ‘little sphere’ markers and smaller markers for oppositions. Scale marks and index letters for the synodic cycles of the planets are inscribed on the planet rings. Surrounding these, the Zodiac and the Egyptian Calendar. The true Sun ring has a ‘little golden sphere’ with ‘pointer.’ When the Moon and Sun pointers coincide, the Moon sphere shows black for New Moon; when the pointers are on opposite sides, the Moon sphere shows white for Full Moon. The Head of the Dragon Hand shows the ascending lunar node; the Tail the descending node. Small triangles on the true Sun ring, near the pointer, show wider and narrower eclipse limits. Eclipses are possible if the Dragon Hand is within these limits. When the Moon pointer is before the Head of the Dragon, the Moon is South of the node; after, it is North of the node -- conversely for the descending node. A Date pointer is attached to a narrow date ring, showing the date in the Egyptian Calendar. Image credit: Freeth et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-84310-w.

Scientists Step Closer to Understanding Full Capabilities of Antikythera Mechanism

Mar 15, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers from University College London and the Cyprus Institute’s Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center has...

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