Arizona State University’s Center for Meteorite Studies has acquired a significant new sample for its collection, a rare martian meteorite that fell in southern Morocco in July 2011. It is the first martian fall in around fifty years.
Since the observed fall of the famed Ensisheim meteorite in 1492, there have been around 1,200 recovered meteorite falls. A “fall” is a meteorite that was witnessed by someone as it fell from the sky, whereas a “find” is a meteorite that was not observed to fall but was later found and collected. Only a handful of witnessed meteorite falls occur each year.
The chance of finding a meteorite is exceedingly small. The chance of witnessing a meteorite fall and finding it is even smaller – and the probability that the fall is a martian meteorite is smaller yet.
ASU’s Center for Meteorite Studies acquires exotic piece of Mars Arizona State University
NASA Selects ASU-Directed SCIM Proposal as One of Four Finalists for Mars Scout Mission Arizona State University
NASA has selected a proposal for a mission that would collect samples of martian atmospheric dust as one of four finalists for the first Mars Scout mission. The proposal, directed by Arizona State University geologist and cosmochemist Laurie Leshin, will receive a $500,000 grant to complete its development prior to the agency
Smithsonian displays ASU Arizona State University
Visitors to the Smithsonian Institution
Students to Release First Mars Image, Science Findings From Next Generation Arizona State University
A new generation of Mars student scientists will release their first results at a press briefing scheduled for noon EST (10 a.m. Arizona Time) on Wednesday, March 20 at the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University. Eighteen students, including 11 sixth and seventh graders from Danvers, Illinois, and 7 high school students from Nogales, Arizona, will talk about their experiences and show their results as the first of thousands of participants in NASA’s Mars Student Imaging Project. The project is a NASA-funded science education program that allows elementary, middle and high school classes to do real-life planetary exploration and study using NASA’s Mars Odyssey’s Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) visible light camera.
Exploring Mars with TES: A Data User’s Workshop Arizona State University
There is an emerging community of scientists interested in the use of Thermal Emission Spectrometer data for exploring the surface and atmosphere of Mars. The TES data sets are both rich with potential for exciting discoveries and daunting in their scope and utilization. The tools, techniques, and knowledge that are necessary for working with TES data have been evolving since before the MGS mission and now are at a level of maturity that can be shared with the community. It is our goal to present our experience with TES data and laboratory thermal IR spectroscopy in a way that will encourage the use of both. The planned 2-day workshop is intended to be both a short course and a forum for the presentation of current TES data analysis by the community. A third (optional) day will allow attendees to visit the Granite Wash Mountains in western Arizona as part of a demonstration on the combined use of thermal IR remote sensing, field spectroscopy, and lab spectroscopy with an eye toward present and upcoming Mars missions.
Meteorite research indicates Mars had Earth-like oceans Arizona State University
Thanks to NASA’s unmanned planetary exploration program, evidence of the existence of past oceans on Mars has been accumulating for years, but no one had ever been able to say what the overall chemical composition of those oceans might actually have been like * until now. A recent analysis of the interior of a 1.2 billion-year-old Martian meteorite known as the Nakhla Meteorite has shown the presence of water-soluble ions that are thought to have been deposited in cracks by evaporating brine, according to a study by Arizona State University Regents Professor of Chemistry and Geology Carleton Moore, Douglas Sawyer of Scottsdale Community College, ASU graduate student Michael McGehee and Julie Canepa of Los Alamos National Laboratory. The finding, announced in the July issue of the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science, indicates that ancient Martian oceans had a chemical composition similar in variety and concentration to Earth oceans.