Mars
Where does Mars exploration stand a decade removed from ‘The Martian’ release?
Andy Weir’s bestselling story “The Martian” predicts that by 2035 NASA will have landed humans on Mars three times, perfected return-to-Earth flight systems and collaborated with the China National Space Administration. We are now nearly 10 years past the Hollywood adaptation’s 2015 release and 10 years shy of its fictional timeline. At this midpoint, Mars …
Scientists discover ancient buried beach on Mars
In the 1970s, images from the NASA Mariner 9 orbiter revealed water-sculpted surfaces on Mars. This settled the once-controversial question of whether water ever rippled over the red planet. Since then, more and more evidence has emerged that water once played a large role on our planetary neighbour. For example, Martian meteorites record evidence for …
Mars may have once had a carbon cycle more favorable for life
Mars, one of our closest planetary neighbors, has fascinated people for hundreds of years, partly because it is so similar to Earth. It is about the same size, contains similar rocks and minerals, and is not too much farther out from the Sun. Because Mars and Earth share so many features, scientists have long wondered …
Ingenuity ready for historic first flight on Mars
NASA’s Perseverance rover has just snapped her first-ever selfie on Mars this week on April 6, or Sol 46 — as well as its also being the first joint selfie with the experimental Ingenuity Mars helicopter on the Red Planet — and it is truly spectacular. Ahead of humanity’s history-making first controlled test flight by …
Keeping Earth’s germs from contaminating Mars
While Nasa’s Perseverance rover landed safely on Mars last month, another, China’s Tianwen rover is expected to follow in May. Both missions intend to search the planet for signs of life. But how do we make sure when our landers touch down on the Red Planet’s surface, nothing unwanted is landing with them? If we aren’t careful, …
Wheels in motion for NASA’s newest Mars rover
NASA’s Perseverance rover performed its first test drive on Martain terrain on March 4, or Sol 14, the mission team announced with the release of a batch of dramatic new images captured at the landing site now bearing the name “Octavia E. Butler Landing” where the six-wheeled robot touched down safely two weeks ago on …
Perseverance beams back incredible video of landing on Mars
New video from NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover chronicles major milestones during the final minutes of its entry, descent, and landing (EDL) on the Red Planet on Feb. 18 as the spacecraft plummeted, parachuted, and rocketed toward the surface of Mars. A microphone on the rover also has provided the first audio recording of sounds …
What medicines should we take to Mars?
Mars has garnered a bunch of headlines recently with the arrival of the first probes from the United Arab Emirates and China in orbit around the planet, along with the arrival of NASA’s Perseverance rover mere days later. It also was a hot topic previously when NASA revealed it had discovered water on the Red …
Perseverance pinpoints landing inside Jezero Crater
After enduring the harrowing ‘Seven Minutes of Terror’ plunge through the Martian atmosphere following a seven-month interplanetary journey NASA’s Perseverance rover nailed her nail-biting landing on Mars Thursday afternoon, Feb. 18, and transmitted the first two images just moments later from the floor of the Jezero Crater landing site to reveal an alien but scientifically …
American scientist collaborates on UAE’s Mars mission
Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS) aboard spacecraft developed to create first holistic picture of Martian atmosphere A veteran of multiple NASA missions to Mars, Northern Arizona University planetary scientist Christopher Edwards will closely watch the launch of a space probe to Mars that carries a unique new instrument he co-designed in collaboration with engineers from the United …