Tear-drop shaped islands on Mars suggest ancient oceans
Tear-drop shaped mesas on Mars suggest ancient oceans to scientists.
Tag: Mars
Flying over Mars
An evening pause: Yesterday we went down into the Earth. Now let’s go to Mars.
Magnetic bubbles at the edge of the solar system
Magnetic bubbles at the edge of the solar system.
Opportunity Heads Toward ‘Spirit Point’
Opportunity’s target on the rim of Endeavour crater has been dubbed “Spirit Point” by the science team in honor of the now defunct rover.
Mars 500 mission passes one year
The Russian/ESA Mars 500 mission has completed a year of its 520-day simulated flight to Mars.
The crew, who spent 250 days working on maintenance and scientific experiments before a 30-day stint performing tasks on a simulated Martian surface, are currently on their “return trip” to Earth.
This simulated all-male flight is going better than the last:
In 1999, an experiment in the same Moscow warehouse fell to pieces after a Russian team captain forced a kiss on a Canadian woman, and two Russian crewmembers had a bloody fistfight.
Opportunity Passes Small Crater and Big Milestone
Opportunity’s travels on Mars have now exceeded 30 kilometers.
Opportunity spots an outcrop
Opportunity’s journey across the deserts of Mars continues; with pictures.
Mars Science Lab Seems OK After Mishap
A bullet dodged? The next Mars rover, the Mars Science Lab, appears to be okay after last week’s mishap.
NASA to abandon trapped rover Spirit
NASA has decided to abandon efforts to contact the rover Spirit, incommunicado for more than a year.
Mars Science Lab Hardware Damaged
Facing a launch window that ends December 18, the next rover mission to Mars was damaged last week upon arriving at the Kennedy Space Center.
New craters on Mars.
Mars Express sees deep fractures on Mars
Deep fractures on Mars, some more than 1500 feet deep.
A Dragon to Mars
“We’re going all the way to Mars, I think… best case 10 years, worst case 15 to 20 years.”
I believe him when he says he’ll launch his first manned mission in three years. However, I think he seriously underestimates the challenges of a mission to Mars, based on our present engineering abilities to build interplanetary spaceships.
Scientists find previously unknown deposits of CO2 on Mars
Scientists find a gigantic and previously unknown deposit of CO2 at Mars’ south pole.
“We already knew there is a small perennial cap of carbon-dioxide ice on top of the water ice there, but this buried deposit has about 30 times more dry ice than previously estimated,” said Roger Phillips of Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo. Phillips is deputy team leader for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Shallow Radar instrument and lead author of the report. . . . “When you include this buried deposit, Martian carbon dioxide right now is roughly half frozen and half in the atmosphere, but at other times it can be nearly all frozen or nearly all in the atmosphere,” Phillips said.
What this discovery means is that, depending on Mars’ orbital circumstances, its atmosphere can sometimes be dense enough for liquid water to flow on its surface.
Budget chaos at NASA causes ESA to halt work on its own Mars orbiter and rover
Sounds crazy, but it’s true: The budget chaos at NASA has caused the ESA to halt work on its own Mars orbiter and rover.
Picking the landing spot for the next Mars rover is down to four finalists
Picking the landing spot for the next Mars rover: down to four finalists.
Martian Mud Volcanoes
Neighbouring volcanoes on Mars
NASA To Make Last Effort To Communicate With Mars Rover ‘Spirit’
NASA’s last effort to re-establish contact with the Mars rover “Spirit.”