The Mars rover Opportunity has taken the first close-up pictures ever of Martian bedrock, and these reveal important new details of the intriguing strata. The rover’s earlier observations revealed layering, as well as round grains in the soil, both highly suggestive of sedimentary rocks deposited in water. The new close-up images show that the thinness of the parallel layers of the rock continues down to the smallest scales the images are capable of showing. Furthermore, the small bead-like spheres seen earlier on the soil turn out to be heavily concentrated in the bedrock itself.
January 23rd, 2004
First data from Mars Express confirms ice water New Scientist
Direct measurement of water on the surface of Mars – in the form of ice on the southern polar cap – tops the list of the first scientific data returned by the European Space Agency
January 20th, 2004
Europe’s orbiter reveals savage Martian landscape New Scientist
A landscape gashed with valleys is revealed in the first image from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter. It shows an aerial view of part of the Solar System’s grandest canyon, the Valles Marineris. The true-colour image was taken from 275 kilometres above the surface. It shows details as small as 12 metres wide in a view that stretches across 65 kilometres of the Red Planet’s surface.
January 19th, 2004
Hollow mystery for Mars rover New Scientist
The Mars rover Spirit has completed its first full set of scientific measurements with the instruments on its robotic arm, revealing mysterious hollow grains in the soil. The one-metre arm used its microscope to take a close-up image of an undisturbed patch of soil next to the NASA rover. It shows mostly sand-sized particles, but with a large number of apparently hollow spheres or tubes. The image resolution is about 30 microns per pixel – about the width of a human hair.
January 15th, 2004
Scientists examine first images from Mars Express New Scientist
Mission scientists for the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft saw the first images and data from the orbiter on Thursday. Mike McKay, flight operations director at mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, told New Scientist: “They blew me away.” The images will be released to the public on 20 January, with the first scientific results and 3-D videos expected to follow three days later.
December 17th, 2003
Mars dust storm ‘no big deal’ for landers New Scientist
A regional dust storm is currently sweeping across Mars. But is not a major concern for the three landers approaching the red planet, even if it were to grow into a global storm, scientists have told New Scientist. Joy Crisp, mission scientist for NASA’s two Mars rovers, says the storm is unseasonal. Dust storms usually occur from spring to early summer, but it is now late summer to early autumn in Mars’ southern hemisphere. They also usually die out within a week. “We’re probably going to be okay,” says Crisp, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
December 10th, 2003
Nuclear probe to journey to Jupiter’s moons New Scientist
Details of a proposed mission to Jupiter and its moons to search for hints of life have been announced by NASA scientists. The Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) will be the first spacecraft to be powered by a uranium nuclear reactor. NASA plans to launch the vessel after 2011 to sniff out life or its potential toeholds on Jupiter and three of its moons. JIMO will also be the largest spacecraft ever sent to the outer Solar System, and the first in a series of nuclear-powered spacecraft that form “Project Prometheus,” a programme NASA initiated earlier in 2003.
November 30th, 2003
Bear bones hint at osteoporosis treatment New Scientist
Hibernating bears have a unique ability to stop their bones from degenerating during long periods of inactivity, a finding that is stimulating the search for new treatments for osteoporosis. In humans, rapid bone loss is the inevitable consequence of a lack of physical activity from whatever cause, maybe enforced rest or even space flight. Bone production decreases at such times, while the rate at which bone breaks down increases.
August 22nd, 2003
Mars was ‘always cold and frozen’ New Scientist
The idea that Mars was once a warm place, awash with oceans that could harboured early life has taken a knock – new data suggests it was always cold, frozen and probably lifeless. A survey of the Red Planet’s surface has revealed only traces of carbonates, minerals that should have formed in abundant quantities if Mars once had expansive seas. On Earth, the mineral is found in limestone and chalk deposits around the world.
July 25th, 2003
Martian warm spots could be towers of ice New Scientist
Unusual warm spots on Mars might represent “ice towers” similar to those seen in Antarctica, say researchers. They could even harbour life, Nick Hoffman of Melbourne University told a conference on Thursday. Hoffman detected warm spots in the Hellas Basin after scrutinising infrared images taken with THEMIS, the heat-sensing camera on the Mars Odyssey orbiter. The spots are between 20 and 40 degrees warmer than their surroundings both night and day, and irrespective of whether they are being hit by sunlight.