Tag Archives: martian

Over the past decade or so, research has consistently pointed to a long-gone ocean that once covered a chunk of Mars’ surface. But what did that ocean look like? According to researchers in the United States and China, the Red Planet’s seas likely ended in “vacation-style” beaches, complete with sandy …

The Perseverance rover has been on Mars for almost three Earth years, but it just reached a uniquely Martian milestone. The wheeled explorer has now been on the red planet for 1,000 Martian days—or sols. NASA says the rover still has plenty of work to do, but it’s taking time …

Some of the images beamed back to Earth by robotic explorers like Perseverance can make Mars look almost familiar, in an arid desert sort of way. The conditions on the surface are completely alien, though. It’s frigid, and the atmosphere is so thin that clouds are rare, but NASA believes …

Along with analyzing rocks using X-rays and ultraviolet light, NASA’s Perseverance rover will zoom in for close-ups of rock surfaces that might show evidence of past microbial activity in Jezero Crater, the landing site of the Mars rover. This image was taken by the WATSON camera on the robotic arm …

The zodiacal light is sunlight reflected by interplanetary dust in the inner Solar System. Variations in the zodiacal light with ecliptic latitude reveal discrete bands of dust orbiting near the ecliptic plane. NASA’s Juno spacecraft, in transit from Earth to Jupiter, recorded a sufficient number of impacts with these dust …

The wings of an angelic figure, complete with halo, can be seen sweeping up and off the top of the frame in a new image from ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, while a large heart sits just right of center. This image comprises data gathered by ESA’s Mars Express on November …

In a new study published in the Planetary Science Journal, a team of U.S. scientists combined experimentally verified data on brine evaporation rates along with a global circulation model to develop a new extensive framework of brine stability on the surface and subsurface of Mars. They found that the equatorial …

NASA’s Curiosity rover has found a series of symmetrical, 10-m- (33-foot-) high gravel ridges — sedimentologic evidence of ancient giant floods — in Gale Crater on Mars. This artist’s impression shows how Mars may have looked about 4 billion years ago. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO. “We identified megafloods …

Water may emerge in connection with the formation of terrestrial planets, according to a new analysis of a Martian meteorite called North West Africa (NWA) 7533. An artist’s impression of the young Mars. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO / N. Risinger, skysurvey.org. “There are two hypotheses about the emergence …

Giant Cloud Reappears above Martian Volcano The Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) on ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft has captured new images of a giant cloud over the 20-km (12.4-mile) high Arsia Mons volcano, the southernmost in a trio of giant Martian shield volcanoes known collectively as Tharsis Montes. These images, taken …