Some call attempts to land on Mars “7 minutes of terror.” The Perseverance mission will provide the most detailed video and photos of a landing yet. We’ll watch ourselves land on another planet, for the first time ever. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/get-ready-nasa-perseverance-landing-feb2021…
Tag: gale crater
Hey, kids! Meet the new Hot Wheels Mars rover!
Mattel, maker of Hot Wheels, has just released a new Hot Wheels Mars Perseverance Rover to celebrate the landing of the NASA Perseverance rover on Mars on February 18. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/hot-wheels-mars-perseverance-rover-mattel…
New evidence for multiple ice ages on Mars
Earth has had at least 5 major ice ages. Now it appears Mars – the next planet outward from the sun – has undergone anywhere from half a dozen to 20 ice ages in the past several hundred million years. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/new-evidence-for-multiple-ice-ages-on-mars…
Rocks show Mars once felt like Iceland
Once upon a time, seasons in Gale Crater probably felt something like those in Iceland. But nobody was there to bundle up more than 3 billion years ago. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-mars-felt-iceland.html…
Curiosity rover spots signs of ancient megafloods on Mars
We already know that Gale Crater on Mars used to hold a lake or series of lakes a few billion years ago. Now, NASA’s Curiosity rover has found evidence for ancient giant floods that washed through the region as well. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/megafloods-gale-crater-mars-life-curiosity-rover…
Field geology at Mars’ equator points to ancient megaflood
Floods of unimaginable magnitude once washed through Gale Crater on Mars’ equator around 4 billion years ago—a finding that hints at the possibility that life may have existed there, according to data collected by NASA’s Curiosity rover and analyzed in joint project by scientists from Jackson State University, Cornell University, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Hawaii. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-11-field-geology-mars-equator-ancient.html…
Clues to Mars life in Earth’s Atacama Desert
Researchers in the U.S. and Spain have discovered a plethora of previously unknown microbes living in wet clay layers below Chile’s arid Atacama Desert. The finding will help future rovers search for life on Mars. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/microbes-clay-atacama-desert-life-on-mars…
Curiosity: Summer approaches in Gale crater
Mars is often a very dynamic place due to its atmosphere and how it interacts with the surface. At present, we’re in the “windy season” in Gale crater. This means that we’re seeing increased aeolian (meaning “related to the wind”) activity at the surface. In recent sols, we’ve taken Mastcam images of the same surface ripples on multiple sols. We’ve been…
Amazing photos in Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter celebration
NASA has posted a sampling of some of the most awe-inspiring photos of Mars, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the launch of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They are proof that Mars is a very photogenic world. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mars-photos-mars-reconnaissance-orbiter-15th-anniversary…
Mars landings: ‘7 minutes of terror’
To celebrate the 8-year anniversary of Curiosity rover’s arrival on Mars, here’s a video on the final 7 minutes of its chilling descent on August 5-6, 2012. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mars-curiosity-rovers-seven-minutes-of-terror…