Category: Mars

NASA is starting to lose hope that they’ll be able to communicate with the Mars Global Surveyor, which hasn’t called home since November 2. Mission controllers tried to communicate with the spacecraft again on Tuesday, and didn’t hear anything. The spacecraft originally launched on November 7, 1996, and has returned more than 240,000 images of the Red Planet. It’s likely that the spacecraft’s solar panels are unable to pivot to face the Sun, so it doesn’t have enough power to communicate.
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NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor has failed to check in with Earth for more than a week, causing concerns at the space agency. The last communication with the spacecraft was on November 2, when managers sent commands to get the spacecraft to adjust its solar arrays to better track the Sun. They received data back that there was a problem with the motor that drives the array, so they used a backup motor. Nothing has been heard from the spacecraft since. Engineers think the spacecraft performed the maneuver, and oriented its entire body towards the Sun, decreasing its ability to communicate back with Earth. The spacecraft was about to celebrate 10 years in space on November 7, 2006.
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NASA’s Spirit Mars Exploration Rover recently celebrated its 1000th day on the surface of the Red Planet. To celebrate the occasion, NASA used the rover to capture a full 360-degree panorama view of Mars from its vantage point. The rover has been perched on the side of a hill for the last few months, to ride out the Martian winter’ reduced light. Spirit and Opportunity were both expected to only last 90 days on the surface of Mars.
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A researcher from Queen’s University has uncovered a mineral that could help explain the mountainous landscape on Mars. Dr. Ron Peterson found that solution of epsomite (aka Epsom Salts) will crystallize after several days of sub-zero temperatures. If the crystals are rapidly melted, they create the familiar gullies and channels we see on Mars. Water might have interacted with Martian chemicals millions of years ago; when the surface layer melted, it produced the unusual surface features we see today.
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Now firmly in its final science mapping orbit, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is releasing a torrent of science data back to Earth. The latest photo release shows dozens of sites visited by the spacecraft in the first week of October, 2006. This image shows gullies in an unnamed crater in the Terra Sirenum region of Mars. Scientists believe the gullies were formed during a time when liquid water flowed across the surface of the Red Planet.
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Most of humanity’s Mars-bound fleet of spacecraft is searching the Red Planet for evidence of its watery past. New evidence gathered by ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft is helping scientists fine tune their theories. A radar instrument on the spacecraft has turned up water ice in Mars’ upper layers; a mineral mapping instrument has discovered chemicals formed in a wet environment; and its powerful camera has picked out obvious features on the surface of Mars formed by running water. Here’s a breakdown of what Mars Express has found so far.
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The first test images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have been difficult to appreciate, since they don’t show any familiar landmarks or give a sense of scale. But today the spacecraft delivered the goods, with a photograph from orbit of NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover, perched at the edge of Victoria Crater. It’s possible to make out the shape of the silver rover, and see its tracks in the Martian soil. By using both the aerial and ground level views, planetary scientists will be able to plot out the rover’s next moves in search of evidence of past water.
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Now in its final science mapping orbit, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is sending back some of the highest resolution images ever taken of the Red Planet. The images are so sharp, they show objects and features approximately 1 metre (3 feet) across. In addition to its high resolution camera, the spacecraft is equipped with a mineral-mapping spectrometer, a ground-penetrating radar, and a context camera for viewing large swaths of the planet.
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After a journey of 21 months, NASA’s Opportunity rover has finally reached its destination: Victoria Crater. Its first photos of the crater’s interior show steep walls of exposed rock. Since these rock layers were put down gradually over eons, they’ll tell the area’s geologic history better than anything Opportunity has seen so far. The rover will now begin searching the crater rim to see if there’s any way it can get down into the crater.
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