All articles tagged with #mars
NASA's Curiosity rover photographed a honeycomb-like polygonal pattern on the Martian surface inside Gale Crater, puzzling scientists about its origin; theories range from chunks broken from higher strata or ejecta from ancient impacts to meteorites, and researchers are comparing close-up images with orbital data, with no definitive explanation after almost 14 years on Mars.
ESA's Mars Express HRSC captures a field of bright, sheen-like dunes in Kaiser Crater on Noachis Terra, sculpted by westward winds into transverse and barchan forms; the shiny appearance comes from frost on south-facing slopes, while exposed clay rocks and gullies hint at past water activity in this ancient Martian region.
Reality Check host Ross Coulthart and theoretical physicist Maaneli Derakhshani scrutinize puzzling Mars surface features—the 'face' and nearby geometric formations—using fractal analysis to test whether they’re natural or engineered, while referencing lunar anomalies and Phobos 2’s monolith and Carl Sagan’s life-detection standards. The takeaway is that several patterns remain open questions that merit further study, not conclusions.
NASA's Curiosity rover spotted hexagonal honeycomb-like textures on the Martian surface in Gale Crater, seen up close after an orbital view; with nearby dark rocks and no clear explanation, scientists are weighing ideas from erosion patterns to meteorite fragments and plan further investigations.
Before sunrise on July 12, the waning crescent Moon will appear close to Mars, Saturn and Uranus in the eastern sky, giving skywatchers a rare chance to spot multiple planets near the Moon; Uranus will be faint and require binoculars or a telescope, while Mars and Saturn can be seen with the naked eye. The event is commonly described as a "planet parade" by astronomers.
A NASA-backed Mars plan centers on survival and life-support first each sol, then science—drilling for biosignatures, tracing habitability, and testing in-situ resource use—within architectures like 30-Cargo-300 and 30-30-30 that include sample return; discussions include deep drilling, potential nuclear propulsion (SR‑1 Freedom) and autonomous crews due to long Earth–Mars communications delays, all aimed at answering whether life existed on Mars and how a sustainable outpost could work.
Elon Musk outlines a bold plan to seed space settlements first on the Moon and then Mars, aiming to launch regular missions, use a Moon base as a proving ground, and deploy Tesla Optimus robots to build habitats while a vast satellite network enables AI-powered operations; self-sustaining Martian cities are targeted for 2045–2055, with heavy-lift rockets and orbital refueling as key hurdles.
NASA is recruiting four volunteers for a yearlong Moon and Mars Exploration Analog (MMEA) at the Johnson Space Center to simulate living in space. The program, starting no earlier than August 2027, will place participants in two habitats—a 650-square-foot mock spacecraft and a 900-square-foot surface habitat—for three mission phases that mimic travel, surface living, crop growth, health maintenance, and spacewalk practices, with two months of pre- and post-mission training (14 months total). Applicants must be U.S. citizens or green-card holders aged 30–55, fluent in English, and hold bachelor’s degrees in engineering, biological/physical sciences, or mathematics (advanced STEM degrees or military experience also considered). The study aims to reduce risks and test countermeasures for long-duration space travel and Moon/Mars objectives, including adjustments for Mars time.
NASA awarded Firefly Aerospace a $13 million subcontract to design and manufacture the aeroshell that will shield the SkyFall spacecraft’s descent during its Mars entry and exit, part of NASA’s plan to launch SkyFall in 2028 with three Ingenuity-like helicopters that will be released mid-descent to scout for water ice and potential crewed-landing sites, leveraging Firefly’s Gloworks facility and Blue Ghost heritage while NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory oversees the mission.
In a 3.5-billion-year-old clay-rich rock from Gale Crater, Curiosity detected 21 carbon-based molecules, including a nitrogen-containing ring linked to prebiotic chemistry, demonstrating ancient Martian sediments can preserve complex organics for billions of years. Using the SAM instrument with a TMAH wet-chemistry method, seven molecules were confirmed as new detections on Mars, suggesting these organics may be fragments from larger material and highlighting preservation as a key story for future missions.
NASA’s Perseverance rover studied mudstones in Jezero Crater and found macromolecular carbon in two rocks, Cheyava Falls and Walhalla Glades. The carbon shows similarities to Earth carbon from both biotic and abiotic processes, offering clues about Mars’ ancient habitability but not proof of life; scientists say sample return to Earth is needed for definitive testing.
Olympus Mons on Mars rises about 21 kilometers (70,000 feet) and spans roughly 370 miles, making it the largest volcano in the solar system and, by some measures, the tallest mountain. Its gentle slopes and the thin Martian atmosphere mean the summit rises near space; its last major eruption is dated around 25 million years ago, so it’s considered dormant rather than extinct. The volcano grew large thanks to Mars’s low gravity, lack of plate tectonics, and a long eruptive history within the Tharsis region alongside other giant volcanoes, though the exact origin of its base cliffs and whether it could erupt again remain subjects of active research.
NASA is recruiting a four-person crew for the Moon and Mars Exploration Analog (MMEA), a yearlong Earth-based mission at Johnson Space Center that merges the HERA and CHAPEA habitats to simulate a lunar-to-Mars round trip, including mock surface activities and isolation, with extensive physical and psychological screenings to feed NASA’s Human Research Program.
Mars once had a global magnetic field strong enough to shield its atmosphere from the solar wind, but when the dynamo faded around four billion years ago the atmosphere and surface water were gradually stripped away by solar wind over hundreds of millions to billions of years, turning Mars from a possibly habitable world into the current cold desert; the loss was slow and interlinked with interior cooling and crustal water sequestration, with MAVEN confirming ongoing atmospheric loss today.
Seismic data from NASA's InSight reveal a long-lived magma system beneath Mars' crust, with an upper basalt layer and a deep ultramafic region formed by transcrustal magmatism; this process, not requiring plate tectonics, could have helped Mars stay warm and water-rich in the past, hinting at possible habitability.