ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter Detects Glowing Oxygen Using data from the NOMAD (Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery) ultraviolet and visible spectrometer instrument on board ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), a team of researchers has detected green line dayglow emission in the atmosphere of Mars. An artist’s impression of …
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Curiosity Spots Earth and Venus from Curiosity Spots Earth and Venus from The Mast Camera (Mastcam) onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has captured new images of Earth and Venus as seen from the surface of the Red Planet. Two images of the night sky were combined to show Earth and …
Read More »MAVEN Detects Metal Ions in Martian Atmosphere
NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission has made the first detection of the continuous presence of iron, magnesium, and sodium ions in the electrically charged upper atmosphere (ionosphere) of the Red Planet. MAVEN is exploring Mars’ upper atmosphere in detail to understand how Mars changed from a wet …
Read More »MAVEN Finds New Evidence that Most of Martian Atmosphere Was Lost to Space
According to an analysis of new data from NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft, solar wind and radiation are responsible for stripping the atmosphere of Mars. By measuring light and heavy isotopes of argon in the planet’s atmosphere, the authors have determined that the majority of the planet’s …
Read More »Martian Shield Volcano Arsia Mons Was Last Active 50 Million Years Ago, Research Reveals
According to new research reported in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, the 10-mile- (16 km) high Martian shield volcano called Arsia Mons produced one new lava flow at its summit every 1 to 3 million years during the final peak of activity; the last volcanic activity there ceased …
Read More »NASA probe narrowly avoids collision with Martian moon Phobos
NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft is orbiting Mars to study the planet’s atmosphere and how it interacts with the solar winds. Also high on its list of mission-critical goals is not crashing into things. That one almost went out the window recently, as MAVEN was found to be on a collision course …
Read More »Did Ancient Martian Volcanism Provide the Sunblock to Get Life Going?
Intense volcanism early in Mars history could have aided the emergence of life on the red planet through filtering out harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation whilst allowing helpful longer wavelength UV to power vital prebiotic chemistry. These are the possibilities raised by a Harvard University study assessing the potential influence of …
Read More »Rare Martian Meteorite Provides Clues to Red Planet’s Evolution
Northwest Africa (NWA) 7635 — a Martian meteorite found in Algeria in 2012 — has given planetary researchers information about volcanic activity on the Red Planet, and it’s not like anything we’ve ever seen on Earth. Hand sample images of the cut NWA 7635 stone and a representative backscattered electron …
Read More »NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finds Boron on Martian Surface
Boron, a metalloid chemical element with properties intermediate between those of carbon and aluminum, has been identified for the first time on the Martian surface, indicating the potential for habitable groundwater in the ancient past. The highest concentration of boron measured on Mars is in this mineral vein, called ‘Catabola,’ …
Read More »Martian A8 Laptop With Core i7 Kaby Lake 8GB RAM Available To Preorder For $640
Following on from the recent launch of the new Martian A8 laptop which is available with a number of different 4th-generation Intel Core Haswell processors. A new model equipped with 7th generation Intel Core i7 Kaby Lake processor has been unveiled this week and is expected to be priced at …
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