NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity rovers continue to send back photos from Mars, some offering tantalising geological evidence that water once flowed across the red planet’s surface. But researchers caution that there are other explanations.
February 9th, 2004
How to Wind a Martian Watch Astrobiology Magazine
Time keeping on two sides of another planet turns out to be a challenge, at least when calibrated from our own rhythms. On Earth, it took thousands of years for navigators to get terrestrial time on some reliable global standards. But when not on our globe, the familiar clock ticks need a sun calibration. Some of the first interplanetary clocks started during the 1976 Viking Mars mission, but since then interplanetary time-keeping has moved on. NASA’s Michael Allison describes how to wind a Martian watch.
February 5th, 2004
Mars Dust Storms Detectable from Earth? Discovery News
Martian dust storms might be detectable from Earth, say researchers who suspect electrical signals from banging dust particles ought to be detectable as radio and microwave noise. If they are correct, it could reveal a lot about the atmosphere of the Red Planet and create a new and inexpensive way to monitor its climate.
February 4th, 2004
UI project will search for elusive water on Mars The Daily Iowan
The UI plans to participate in the highly publicized search for water on Mars in April, when a university-constructed radar will bounce radio waves over the Martian surface and analyze the returning signals for signs of water. The process, one UI scientist says, is like “hitting the Liberty Bell with a sledgehammer and nanoseconds later hearing a pin drop.”
February 4th, 2004
Professor questions possible premature conclusions The Daily Campus
When the data from NASA
February 4th, 2004
Round Mars grains excite NASA
Nasa’s robot rover Opportunity has found spherical grains in the soil of Mars, suggesting they could have been rounded by the action of water. But scientists say meteorite collisions can also produce rounded grains by melting Martian rock on impact.
February 3rd, 2004
The Growing Case for Water on Mars
After more than a century of wild speculation, decades of serious searching, and years of collecting increasingly compelling evidence, there is suddenly a scientific and media buzz over whether Mars is a planet sculpted by water. Thing is, that question is already answered in the minds of most Mars experts. The latest news — a previously unheralded mineral called hematite has been detected by NASA’s Opportunity rover — dribbled out late last week and over the weekend. It might turn out to be a key moment in Mars exploration history, but some scientists think it is more likely to represent just another piece in a huge puzzle of a planet that could remain largely enigmatic for years to come.
January 27th, 2004
Scientists Thrilled to See Layers in Mars Rocks Near Opportunity AScribe Newswire
New pictures from NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity reveal thin layers in rocks just a stone’s throw from the lander platform where the rover temporarily sits. Geologists said that the layers — some no thicker than a finger — indicate the rocks likely originated either from sediments carried by water or wind, or from falling volcanic ash. “We should be able to distinguish between those two hypotheses,” said Dr. Andrew Knoll of Harvard University, Cambridge, a member of the science team for Opportunity and its twin, Spirit. If the rocks are sedimentary, water is a more likely source than wind, he said.
January 27th, 2004
Mars rocks may be ‘sedimentary’
Nasa scientists have discovered what might be the most compelling evidence yet of rocks formed in water on Mars. The Opportunity rover has sent back pictures of rock slabs that appear to contain thin layers, say researchers. On Earth, this feature is suggestive of sedimentary rocks that are the product of material deposited by water or wind.
January 25th, 2004
Mars canyon truly grand Arizona Daily Sun
The Grand Canyon has been getting mentioned in a number of recent articles about Mars this month, as Arizona and Mars have something in common: a very big ditch. The first images sent back from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter showed a deep, nearly unending gorge that is referred to by many as the “Martian Grand Canyon.” Called Valles Marineris, it often gets comparison to Arizona’s top attraction in order to put into perspective the sheer scale of features on Mars.