Space and astronomy news
Mars has a great combination of dust and wind. The result of that combination is often dust devils.
The HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured several dust devils in action, including this lonely whirling dust cloud traversing across a small crater on the Red Planet.
Continue reading “A Single Dust Devil on Mars”
It all happened so fast! On Thursday, February 18th, NASA’s Perseverance rover set landed in the Jezero crater on Mars and almost immediately transmitted its first image of the Martian. This was followed by photos from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and footage taken by the rover’s Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL). Then there was the panoramic video, a sound recording, and deployed its Ingenuity helicopter, all in the space of a week!
But that’s nothing compared to what happened next. Shortly after the rover started drilling into the floor of the Jezero crater, Perseverance found evidence of fossilized bacteria! The search for life on Mars finally struck paydirt! Okay, that didn’t happen… Not yet, anyway. But what if it does? After all, one of Perseverance‘s main objectives is to search for evidence of past life on Mars. What will be the impact if and when it finds it?
Continue reading “What Happens if Perseverance Finds Life on Mars?”
Mars’ gravity makes it an amazing place to find some of the biggest landscapes in the solar system. Those would include the solar system’s biggest sand dune – one that resides in Russell crater. Now, a team of scientists led by Dr. Cynthia Dinwiddie noticed something unique about the sides of this massive dune. Occasionally gullies form along its surface. Dr. Dinwiddie’s novel explanation for this phenomena – boulders of CO2 rolling down the dune’s surface.
Continue reading “Sand Dunes on Mars Shift From Season to Season”
A little over a week ago (February 18th, 2021), NASA’s Perseverance rover landed in the Jezero crater on the surface of Mars. In what was truly a media circus, people from all over the world tuned to watch the live coverage of the rover landing. When Perseverance touched down, it wasn’t just the mission controllers at NASA who triumphantly jumped to their feet to cheer and applaud.
In the days that followed, the world was treated to all kinds of media that showed the surface of Mars and the descent. The most recent comes from the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), which is part of the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars program. From its vantage point, high above the Martian skies, the TGO caught sight of Perseverance in the Jezero crater and acquired images that show the rover and other elements of its landing vehicle.
Continue reading “Perseverance Seen From Space by ESA’s ExoMars Orbiter”
Lightning is one of the most powerful forces in nature. Up to 1 billion volts of electricity can flow into a strike in less than a second. Such a large energy buildup can be created by even a relatively simple cause – two particles rubbing together. A team at the University of Oregon has now studied whether those simple interactions might cause lightning on a place it hasn’t been seen before – on Mars.
Continue reading “Dust Particles in the Martian Atmosphere can Create Static Electricity, but not Enough to Endanger the Rovers”
Mars’ surface is a harsh environment for life. But life on Earth is notoriously resilient as well. No one is quite sure yet how microbes from Earth would fare on the Martian surface. However, the impact of a potential transmigration of microbes to the red planet could be immense. Not only could it skew any findings of potential real Martian life we might find, it could also completely disrupt any nascent biosphere that Mars might have.
To understand whether that much disruption is really possible, first we must understand whether any Earthly life can survive on Mars itself. According to a new study recently published in Frontiers in Microbiology, the answer to that is yes.
Continue reading “Some Earth Life Could Already Survive on Mars”
Some lucky astronomers get to work with some of the rarest material in the world. Real Martian meteorites are extraordinarily rare, but are invaluable in terms of understanding Martian geology. Now, one of the most famous meteorites, nicknamed “Black Beauty”, is helping shed light on a much more speculative area of science: Martian biology.
Continue reading “Did Ancient Martian Life Eat Rocks For Food?”
Geologists love fieldwork. They love getting their specialized hammers and chisels into seams in the rock, exposing unweathered surfaces and teasing out the rock’s secrets. Mars would be the ultimate field trip for many of them, but sadly, that’s not possible.
Instead, we’ve sent the Perseverance rover on the field trip. But if a geologist were along for the ride, what would it look like to them?
Continue reading “What a Geologist Sees When They Look at Perseverance’s Landing Site”
A secret coded message was hidden on the gigantic parachute used to land the Perseverance rover safely on the surface on Mars. And no, it wasn’t a clandestine message to the Martians. It was a message of inspiration for us humans.
But it also came as a challenge.
Continue reading “There was a Secret Code in the Perseverance Parachute”
The HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has done it again.
The imaging team was able to capture the Perseverance rover as it descended through the Martian atmosphere, hanging under its parachute.
Stunning.
Continue reading “Perseverance’s Landing … Seen From Orbit!”