From the shoreline of an ancient salty sea to the bottoms of deep, flood-carved channels, Mars is scarred with geological signs that indicate liquid water once flowed on the its surface.
These findings, combined with the discovery of tiny, spherical “blueberries” and the detection of water ice in the planet’s polar ice caps, have lead scientists to scour the planet for liquid water in recent years.
The elusive quarry has remained hidden, possibly because it may not exist for more than a fleeting second. Due to Mars’ low temperatures and extremely low atmospheric pressure
November 15th, 2005
Water Could Stay Liquid on Mars
September 13th, 2005
Martian dunes hide water secret
Scientists have found evidence that large amounts of water-ice hide within massive sand dunes on Mars. One of the dunes, called Kaiser Dune, which spans 6.5km and rises 475m above the Martian surface, is among the largest in the Solar System. The icy dunes could be a valuable resource for any future manned missions to the planet, said Dr Mary Bourke.
July 6th, 2005
Geological Finding Shows Mars to Be a Complex Planet that Continues to Evolve Rednova.com
Mars is a rocky planet with an ancient volcanic past, but new findings show the planet is more complex and active than previously believed
July 6th, 2005
Mars More Active and Complex than Expected
On the whole, Mars can seem rather boring. It is covered with basalt, the most basic type of rock, and generally appears to lack geologic diversity. It does not shake or rumble much. And then there’s that red dust everywhere.
But a closer look reveals pockets of rocks that rival the complexity of our own planet.
The finding means Mars is more active beneath the surface than scientists realized.
May 31st, 2005
Scientists Solve Mystery of Mars’ Off-Center South Pole The Planetary Society
For more than 150 years, astronomers and skywatchers have noticed that Mars’ south pole is off center, and Mariner 4 confirmed it in the mid-1960s with the first close-range images of the Red Planet. But why the cap is offset from its geographical pole has remained an enigma all these years — until two summers ago when a group of planetary observers and theoreticians decided to take on the challenge at the first annual Mars Polar Atmospheric Interactions Workshop, held in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Now, with publication of their research earlier this month* the mystery is officially solved — and not so surprisingly Mars’ dynamic topography is at the heart of it.
May 31st, 2005
Olivine on Mars found in vast area The Honolulu Advertiser
A study co-authored by a University of Hawai’i professor has concluded that an area of Mars has much larger than believed deposits of the mineral olivine, offering clues about water
May 23rd, 2005
Significant Runoff on Early Mars Identified in River Channels Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Mars is now a cold, dry desert, but robotic satellites and rovers have returned new evidence of a warmer and wetter climate more than 3.5 billion years ago, when conditions may have been more favorable for life. Geologists at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, working with colleagues at the University of Virginia, have discovered 21 river channels in the dry Martian valleys, which provide new clues to this ancient climate. The researchers have determined that Martian rivers were about the same size as their counterparts on Earth, suggesting similar amounts of runoff from thunderstorms or rapid snowmelt. The findings will appear in the June issue of the journal Geology.
May 15th, 2005
Mystery of Mars’ Mixed Up Poles Solved
Scientists have long wondered why Mars’ southern polar cap is offset from its geographical south pole. Now they’ve solved the mystery. Two different localized climates are to blame, and they can in turn be blamed on two impact craters. Weather generated by the two regional climates creates conditions that cause the southern polar ice to freeze out into a cap whose center lies about 93 miles (150 kilometers) from the actual south pole. “Mars’ permanent south polar cap is offset from its geographic south pole, which was a mystery going back to the first telescopic observations of Mars,” says Anthony Colaprete, a space scientist from NASA Ames Research Center. “We found that the offset is a result of two martian regional climates, which are on either side of the south pole.”
May 11th, 2005
The Magnetic Personality of Ancient Mars
A new study of old rocks on Earth could force a revision of theories about Mars. The results suggest ancient Mars might have been more magnetic than thought, challenging basic assumptions about the evolution of the red planet. Unlike modern Earth, Mars has almost no magnetic field today. Evidence has suggested Mars didn’t have a very strong magnetic field early on, either.