Category: Mars

Space Mission and Science News | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory    The last time we saw NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission was on July 30, 2020, as it disappeared into the black of deep space on a trajectory for Mars. But with NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System, you can follow in real time as…

2020_Mars In October 2020 Mars will be roughly the closest it gets to Earth. This close approach is call an “opposition” and means that the Earth and Mars are on the same side of the Sun. This happens about once every two years. Here’s a great and detailed overview of this event.   THE 2020-2021 PERIHELIC…

China’s successful launch of Mars mission seals global era in deep-space exploration   Tianwen-1 is the second of three spacecraft set to take off this month for the red planet. A Chinese spacecraft is on its way to Mars after launching successfully from Hainan Island in southern China. The mission — named Tianwen-1, which means…

  You can help a Mars Rover’s AI learn to tell rocks from dirt – TechCrunch   Curiosity doesn’t navigate on its own; there’s a whole team of people on Earth who analyze the imagery coming back from Mars and plot a path forward for the mobile science laboratory. In order to do so, however,…

Scientist captures new images of Martian moon Phobos to help determine its origins Christopher Edwards, assistant professor in Northern Arizona University’s Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, just processed new images of the Martian moon Phobos that give scientists insight into the physical properties of the moon and its composition. Source: www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-06/nau-scn060220.php

We Just Got Even More Evidence Mars Once Had a Ring   Mars – glorious, dusty, complex Mars – may once have been even more dazzling. New research provides even more evidence that a rubbly ring once circled the Red Planet. Source: www.sciencealert.com/the-weird-orbit-of-mars-moon-suggests-the-red-planet-once-had-a-ring

  Promising signs for Perseverance rover in its quest for past Martian life   New research indicates river delta deposits within Mars’ Jezero crater – the destination of NASA’s Perseverance rover on the Red Planet – formed over time scales that promoted habitability and enhanced preservation of evidence. Source: earth.stanford.edu/news/promising-signs-perseverance-rover-its-quest-past-martian-life

  Unlike Earth, Maybe Mars Didn’t Form With a Subsurface Magma Ocean   Researchers thought Mars formed — and potentially created a life-supporting atmosphere — like Earth did. Source: www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/unlike-earth-maybe-mars-didnt-form-with-a-subsurface-magma-ocean