NASA scientists have discovered what might form some of the weirdest landscapes on Mars, winding channels carved into the Martian surface that scientists have dubbed “spiders,” “lace” and “lizard skin.”
The unusual landscape features form in an area of Mars’ south pole called cryptic terrain because it once defied explanation.
But new observations from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, presented here today at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union, bolster theories that the intricate patterns may be sculpted by springtime outbursts of carbon dioxide gas from underneath the frozen-carbon dioxide polar ice cap.
December 12th, 2007
Strange Shapes Seen on Mars
December 7th, 2007
Mars Clouds Drier Than Thought
Clouds over Mars contain less water than previously thought, according to new research using simulated clouds in a lab here on Earth.
The clouds under study are made of water ice, like some clouds on Earth, said Tony Colaprete of NASA’s Ames Research Center.
“However, they are forming at very cold temperatures, often below minus 100 degrees Celsius (minus 212 degrees Fahrenheit),” Colaprete said “What we have found in our laboratory studies is that it is much harder to initiate cloud formation at these cloud temperatures than what we thought.”
November 19th, 2007
Inflatable Moon Base Prototype Heads to South Pole
An inflatable habitat designed for explorers on the moon or Mars is headed for an Antarctic test run, NASA said Wednesday.
The habitat – built by ILC Dover and resembling an inflatable backyard bounce for children – will make its South Pole debut early next year. NASA demonstrated the inflatable prototype on Wednesday at ILC Dover’s Frederica, Del., facility.
“We deflated [and inflated] it in about ten minutes,” said Larry Toups, habitat lead for NASA’s Constellation Program Lunar Surface Systems Office, in an interview.
November 13th, 2007
Martian Sand Dunes Are Slowpokes
The sand dunes of Mars are in no rush to move across the red planet’s surface, new research shows.
It can take up to 1,000 years for dunes to move just a few meters on Mars, largely due to the planet’s apparent lack of moving surface water, weak winds and thin atmosphere, said the study’s author Eric Parteli.
“Mars dunes move much slower than Earth’s dunes,” said Parteli, a researcher at the University if Stuttgart in Germany, in an e-mail interview.
Parteli and colleague Hans Hermann, of Brazil’s Federal University of Ceará, used computer simulations to reproduce actual Martian dunes observed by the Mars Orbiter Camera aboard NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. The images were taken before Mars Global Surveyor went silent last year, ending its 10-year study of the red planet’s surface.
November 12th, 2007
Cosmic Illusion: Mars to Move Backward
We’re now coming into the home stretch of the last good apparition of Mars until 2016. Now blazing in the late-evening east-northeast sky like an eye-catching yellowish-orange “star,” Mars is less than six weeks away from its closest approach to Earth during this apparition.
At the beginning of the year, the red planet was 221 million miles (356 million kilometers) from Earth. This week, it will be 63 million miles (102 million kilometers) away and it now shines some 10 times brighter than it did on New Year’s Day.
Since Jan. 1, Mars has progressed more than halfway around our sky and now is on an easterly course through the background stars of the Zodiac. It currently resides smack in the middle of the constellation of Gemini, the Twins.
But on Thursday, Nov. 15, that steady eastward course is going to come to a stop.
October 17th, 2007
Martian Volcanoes May Not be Extinct
Mars appears to be a calm and desolate planet, but scientists now think something big is brewing beneath its wind-swept surface.
New research on Hawaiian volcanoes, combined with satellite imagery of Mars, suggests that three Martian volcanoes may only be dormant—not extinct. Instead of Mars’ crust moving over stationary magma “hot spots,” as occurs on Earth, researchers think the plumes travel.
“On Earth, the Hawaiian islands were built from volcanoes that erupted as the Earth’s crust slid over a hot spot—a plume of rising magma,” said Jacob Bleacher, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “Our research raises the possibility that the opposite happens on Mars; a plume might move beneath stationary crust.”
October 12th, 2007
NASA Scopes Winter Homes for Mars Rovers
The Mars Exploration Rovers have weathered two drab winters on the Martian surface, and mission managers are already looking ahead to yet a third chilly season. All this from a mission that was only designed to last 90 days.
The Spirit rover is searching for a spot to stick it out during the upcoming Martian winter, which will last from March 2008 through October 2008, according to a statement from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
Although Mars has a tilt similar to Earth’s, Martian seasons last longer because the planet takes almost twice as long to circle the Sun—almost 687 Earth days.
September 24th, 2007
New Mini-Series, Documentary Target the Red Planet
The first astronauts to explore Mars will undoubtedly face challenges, some of which may mirror those depicted in a new mini-series and documentary chronicling humanity’s initial steps on the red planet.
“Race to Mars,” a martian multimedia event orchestrated by the Discovery Channel Canada, follows the efforts of six spaceflyers on a 600-day mission to reach the red planet and hunt for life before China’s unmanned probes. The first installment of the four-hour miniseries airs tonight for viewers in Canada.
“This will be the definitive story of the human mission to Mars,” said Paul Lewis, president and general manager for Discovery Channel Canada, in a statement.
A six-part documentary “Mars Rising” – narrated by veteran space actor William Shatner – will follow the mini-series beginning Oct. 7 to present an in-depth look at the inherent hurdles facing a human expedition to Mars. A companion book and multimedia Web site further explore issues raised in the $20 million television events.
September 24th, 2007
Space Makes Bacteria More Dangerous
A germ that causes food poisoning and other illnesses can be three times more dangerous in space than on the ground, an experiment has shown.
The finding spells out tougher challenges for astronauts taking trips to the moon or Mars, as recent work also hints that the body’s immune system weakens during extended stays in space.
“Space flight alters cellular and physiological responses in astronauts including the immune response,” said Cheryl Nickerson, a microbiologist at Arizona State University and leader of the experiment. “However, relatively little was known about microbial changes to infectious disease risk in response to space flight.”
September 24th, 2007
Mars Orbiter Back at Full Strength
A NASA probe circling Mars is back at full strength as researchers ponder its past views of possible cave entrances on the red planet’s surface.
The agency’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft resumed science operations this week after spending several days in ‘safe mode’ due to a Sept. 14 software glitch. While in safe mode, a precautionary configuration designed to preserve the orbiter’s health during a glitch, engineers on Earth methodically restored Odyssey’s onboard systems.
“The spacecraft reacted exactly as it was designed to for this condition,” said Robert Mase, NASA’s Odyssey mission manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., earlier this week.