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…
Tag: Mars Express
Want to find life on Mars? Look deep underground
A new study from researchers at Rutgers University suggests that the best place to look for evidence of life on Mars is deep underground, where geothermal heat melted subsurface ice. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mars-life-search-subsurface-ice-melted-by-geothermal-heat…
Creating chaos: Craters and collapse on Mars
Elevation can be deceiving in satellite imagery of Mars, even when differences are extreme—as demonstrated by this image of Pyrrhae Regio from ESA’s Mars Express. A chunk of terrain has collapsed and dropped more than four kilometers below its surroundings, illustrating the incredible contrast and dynamism seen across the martian surface. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-11-chaos-craters-collapse-mars.html…
Boom! Bam! Boom! How to make a triple crater on Mars
Like many worlds in our solar system, Mars has prominent impact craters. A particularly unusual example is shown in this new image from ESA’s Mars Express: an ancient triplet composed of 3 overlapping craters. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mars-express-ancient-triple-impact-crater…
Martian Moon Phobos from Mars Express
Why is Phobos so dark? Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html…
An ancient crater triplet on Mars
Mars is covered in intriguing scars—some of the most prominent being impact craters. A particularly unusual example is shown in this new image from ESA’s Mars Express: an ancient triplet comprising not one but three overlapping craters. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-10-ancient-crater-triplet-mars.html…
Radar reveals 3 more subsurface polar lakes on Mars
Scientists with the European Space Agency say that the Mars Express orbiter has found evidence of three more salty lakes below Mars’ south pole. The discovery comes two years after the first lake was detected in 2018. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/3-more-subsurface-lakes-mars-south-pole…
Liquid Water on Mars? New Research Indicates Buried ‘Lakes’
The existence of liquid water on Mars — one of the more hotly debated matters about our cold, red neighbor — is looking increasingly likely. From a report: New research published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy indicates there really is a buried reservoir of super-salty water near the south pole of the planet. Scientists say such a lake would significantly…
Images show Martian night sky pulsing with ultraviolet light
Vast areas of Mars’ nightside atmosphere glow and pulsate with ultraviolet light, according to images from NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mars-night-sky-ultraviolet-light-images…
Can other gases help explain Mars methane mystery?
The European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter has unexpectedly detected carbon dioxide and ozone in Mars’ atmosphere where the elusive methane should be, researchers in the UK and Russia have announced. The two gases may be hindering the probe’s methane detections. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mars-methane-mystery-tgo-carbon-dioxide-ozone…