Category: Mars

  NASA Rover on Mars Detects Puff of Gas That Hints at Possibility of Life The Curiosity mission’s scientists picked up the signal this week, and are seeking additional readings from the red planet. Source: www.nytimes.com/2019/06/22/science/nasa-mars-rover-life.html

  Mysterious Clouds on Mars Formed by ‘Meteoric Smoke,’ Study Says Scientists have identified a kind of cloud on Mars that has been neglected in past climate models. Source: www.vice.com/en_us/article/vb9q8d/mysterious-clouds-on-mars-formed-by-meteoric-smoke-study-says

  How the Webb Telescope Will Explore Mars When NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, launching in 2021, reaches its destination a million miles from Earth, it will be able to see the whole disk of Mars every two years. If a global dust storm envelops the Red Planet at a time when Webb could see…

  NASA’s Mars Helicopter completes flight testing While multiple space agencies have landed spacecraft on other celestial bodies, none have flown in the skies above those worlds—but that may soon change. Source: www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/solar-system/nasas-mars-helicopter-completes-flight-testing/

  First evidence of planet-wide groundwater system on Mars Paris (ESA) Mar 01, 2019 – Mars Express has revealed the first geological evidence of a system of ancient interconnected lakes that once lay deep beneath the Red Planet’s surface, five of which may contain minerals crucial to Source: www.marsdaily.com/m/reports/First_evidence_of_planet_wide_groundwater_system_on_Mars_999.html  

  Did microbes build stromatolites on Mars? When Nasa’s next rover gets to Mars in 2021 it will seek evidence of ancient life. Source: www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-46563155/did-microbes-build-stromatolites-on-mars

  Will SpaceX Really Be Flying People To Mars In 10 Years? SpaceX’s President Gwynne Shotwell has said she is confident that the company will be launching people regularly to Mars in a decade. Source: www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanocallaghan/2018/12/14/will-spacex-really-be-flying-people-to-mars-in-10-years/

Martian methane—spotted in 2004—has mysteriously vanished The European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter deepens planet’s carbon mystery Source: www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/12/martian-methane-spotted-2004-has-mysteriously-vanished

  Recent tectonics on Mars These prominent trenches were formed by faults that pulled the planet’s surface apart less than 10 million years ago. Source: m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Recent_tectonics_on_Mars

  HP Mars Home Planet premieres virtual reality experience HP Inc. and a global community of creators unveiled a virtual reality (VR) simulation of what life on Mars could look like for a human population of one Source: www.designworldonline.com/hp-mars-home-planet-premieres-virtual-reality-experience/

  Martian atmosphere behaves as one New research using a decade of data from ESA’s Mars Express has found clear signs of the complex martian atmosphere acting as a single, interconnected system, with processes occurring at low and mid levels significantly affecting those seen higher up. Source: m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Martian_atmosphere_behaves_as_one

  NASA May Have Discovered and Then Destroyed Organics on Mars in 1976 Over 40 years ago, a NASA mission may have accidentally destroyed what would have been the first discovery of organic molecules on Mars, according to a report from New Scientist. Source: www.space.com/41140-mars-lander-may-have-burned-organics.html