Wow. Check out the picture NASA just released. This photo shows images of a rocky cliff face that was formed by a flowing river more than 3.7 billion years ago. Stunning!
NASA releases new images that reveal Mars’ rivers in unprecedented detail.
Tag: mars
Mars Curiosity rover drills hole in Mars for the first time – powder samples collected for testing
The Mars Curiosity Rover has drilled a hole in Mars for the first time yesterday. Curiosity used the drill at the tip of its robotic arm to drill a small .8 inch (2 centimeter) hole into the Martian rock affectionately named “John Klein”. The so-called “mini-drill test” marked the first time Curiosity used both the…
MRO discovers interesting process on Mars surface – underground dry ice causes exploding sand dunes
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, or MRO, has discovered an interesting process on the surface of Mars – exploding sand dunes! Enormous pressure from underground frozen carbon dioxide deposits is being released through the surface creating feathery looking sand dunes in Mar’s northern hemisphere. The results of these new studies will be published in the…
Probe finds strongest evidence yet that Mars may have (or does) support life
On Sunday, January 20, officials announced that data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft provides evidence of a wet underground environment, and clues that suggest a groundwater-fed lake could have existed in McLaughlin Crater, a crater fifty-seven miles in diameter and 1.4 miles deep. According to NASA: “A combination of…
Cornerstone of Mars Curiosity Rover mission, drilling Martian surface, is about to begin
No spacecraft has ever penetrated the rocky surface of Mars, or any planet for that matter, but that is about to change. In the past few weeks, Curiosity Rover has been stationed in a region called Yellowknife Bay, which features fractured ground with different temperature swings compared to other nearby terrain – and plenty of…
SpaceX founder solidifying plans to start civilian colony of 80,000 people on Mars
Not content with simply blasting civilians into the stratosphere, Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of the private spaceflight company SpaceX, is now aiming his sights towards starting a Mars colony of up to 80,000 people. Once the infrastructure is in place, Musk intends to ferry people to Mars at a cost of $500,000 per…
NASA has “big news” to report but are holding out until results can be confirmed [UPDATE]
NPR reported today that NASA has some ‘”big news” to report – but will not release the finding until they’ve had more time to confirm the results. According to NASA: “We’re getting data from SAM as we sit here and speak, and the data looks really interesting, The science team is busily chewing away on…
Say “Cheese” – Mars Curiosity Rover sends back high-res self-portrait from Gale Crater
NASA’s Curiosity Rover has sent back a high-res photo of itself in the Gale crater on Mars. The image was taken by Curiosity’s MAHLI hand held camera which sits on the end of the rover’s extendable arm. MAHLI took a total of 55 pictures which were stitched together to create the stunning hi-res self portrait.…
NASA’s Curiosity rover conducts first soil sample analysis and finds the soil is volcanic and similar to soil on Hawaiian Islands
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover conducted its first soil sample analysis using its miniaturized X-Ray diffraction instrument that is a part of CheMin instrument (a miniature lab on wheels). The soil sample was collected from an area known as Rocknest in the Gale Crater. The analysis revealed that the sample is a weathered volcanic type similar…
Could humans play God and seed life on Mars? – Lichen survive in Mars Simulation Laboratory for 34 days
Scientists at the European Geosciences Union meeting reported that Lichen collected from Antarctica were placed inside Germany’s Mars Simulation Laboratory for 34 days where they were subjected to the same conditions they would experience on the Martian surface – same atmospheric, temperature, radiation, and pressure conditions. They survived.