The face on Mars has been spotted again, this time in a nighttime infrared image that tells a bit more about its mysterious geological origins. The “face” is actually a three-kilometer long knob of sediments in the northern Cydonia region that is littered with similar knobs and mesas, said Arizona State University’s Philip Christensen, who led the investigation into the new thermal images from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. But that doesn’t mean the features aren’t important.
October 23rd, 2002
Mars Water Debate Rages Discovery News
There’s no end in sight for the debate over whether Mars was once wet, warm and Earth-like, or forever a frigid world where water never had a chance to thaw and flow. In the latest foray, Mars researchers Sarah T. Stewart of the California Institute of Technology and Francis Nimmo of NASA Ames Research Center argue not only that the gullies running down crater walls must have been created by water, but that the alternative theory
October 17th, 2002
1st Mars Words Contest Results In Discovery News
There is now at least one good reason for even the most avid space nut NOT to covet the honor of the first footstep on the Red Planet: there’s not much original left to say. Over the last ten days 1,547 people around the world (Earth) entered 3,673 possible “First Words” that might be fitting to say upon taking that next small step. The winning entries ranged from enraptured soliloquies to snappy one-liners.
October 9th, 2002
Race Is On for First Mars Words Discovery News
They may not be needed for years, but the race is on this week to come up with the first words to be spoken on Mars. In celebration of the United Nations World Space Week, the Mars Society International is hosting a “First Words” competition to get people thinking about the future Mars landing
April 16th, 2002
Gas in Rocks May Sustain Alien Life Discovery News
Huge colonies of Earth microbes are living off of hydrogen gas released by common rocks, raising the possibility of similar life forms on Mars, says a NASA researcher. “The hydrogen comes from a subtle chemical reaction that occurs within rocks that were once hot or even molten,” said Friedemann Freund, a physicist, geologist and chemist at NASA’s Ames Research Center whose work appears in the current issue of Astrobiology Journal.