Mars News and Discussions

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NASA's MAVEN Mars Orbiter Sends Back Amazing Ultraviolet Images

https://www.extremetech.com/science/nas ... let-images
These false color images reveal what's going on during the planet's winter and summer cycles.
By Ryan Whitwam June 27, 2023

Mars is often called the red planet for obvious reasons, but it looks anything but red in the latest images from NASA's MAVEN orbiter. These stunning images were captured at opposite ends of the planet's orbit, revealing how the atmosphere changes as Mars cycles through the seasons.

MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) left Earth behind in 2013, arriving in orbit of Mars in 2014. It was the first NASA mission intended primarily to study the Martian atmosphere, and it provided many useful insights into the planet. For example, data from 2015 showed that Mars lost more of its already thin atmosphere during solar storms, confirming the sun's role in transforming Mars from a watery and potentially habitable world to one dominated by an endless frigid desert.

The spacecraft is getting on in years, but all its instruments are still online and returning useful data about the planet's atmosphere. In 2022 and 2023, NASA used MAVEN to image Mars during the planet's summer and winter phases. MAVEN has an impressive suite of eight instruments, but the one best suited to this task was the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrometer (IUVS), built and maintained by the University of Colorado Boulder Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.

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Germany is building a tiny rover that will roam the surface of Phobos
https://phys.org/news/2023-06-germany-t ... rface.html
by Matt Williams, Universe Today

At this very moment, eleven robotic missions are operating in orbit or on the surface of Mars, more than at any point during the past 60 years. These include the many orbiters surveying the red planet from orbit, the handful of landers and rovers, and one helicopter (Ingenuity) studying the surface.

In the coming years, many more are expected, reflecting the growing number of nations participating in the exploration process. Once there, they will join in the ongoing search for clues about the planet's formation, evolution, and possible evidence that life once existed there.

However, there's also the mystery concerning the origin of Phobos and Deimos, Mars' two satellites. While scientists have long suspected that these two moons began as asteroids kicked from the Main Belt that were captured by Mars' gravity, there is no scientific consensus on this point.

[weatheriscool]

Mars rover Perseverance sets new record for making oxygen on Red Planet

By Leonard David published about 15 hours ago

Tucked inside NASA's Perseverance Mars rover is a device known as MOXIE, short for Mars Oxygen In Situ Resource Utilization Experiment. MOXIE is the first experiment to suck in the planet's thin, carbon dioxide-laden air and transform that native resource into oxygen. The toaster-sized device, if built to a larger scale, can be used not just for astronaut expeditions to Mars for breathing, but also for rocket fuel.

Earlier this month, the experiment achieved a major milestone when researchers pushed MOXIE to a maximum production level — a factor of two higher than reached earlier.

Riskiest run
"We got great results," said Michael Hecht, MOXIE's principal investigator and an associate director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Haystack Observatory in Westford, Massachusetts.

"This was the riskiest run we've done," Hecht told Space.com in an exclusive interview. "This could have gone wrong," he said, and could have led to minor damage to the instrument, but it didn't. The milestone setting Mars run took place on June 6, operating during the Martian night, and lasted 58 minutes, Hecht said.

More:
https://www.space.com/mars-perseverance ... xie-record

[caltrek]

CHAPEA: Inside NASA's Futuristic Mars Base Simulation Mission
by Doris Elín Urrutia
June 27, 2023

Introduction:

(Inverse) For 378 days, a NASA team will live in a 1,700-square-foot habitat without the ability to leave.

This 3D-printed dwelling is designed to replicate a futuristic Mars base. Its dimensions are akin to where astronauts might shelter from the unforgiving Martian environment on some yet-to-be-manifested mission. NASA, which is already preparing to return astronauts into deep space with Artemis II, announced the beginning of CHAPEA. This is the first mission to test the challenges of Artemis’ most ambitious goal: putting humans on Mars.

On Monday, NASA broadcasted the entrance of the participants to CHAPEA, short for Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog. The inaugural CHAPEA crew includes biomedical researcher Kelly Haston, structural engineer Ross Brockwell, emergency medicine physician Nathan Jones, and U.S. Navy microbiologist Anca Selariu.

Read more here: https://www.inverse.com/science/chapea ... imulation




The badge for CHAPEA - Mission 1.
NASA

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Gullies on Mars could have been formed by recent periods of liquid meltwater, study suggests
https://phys.org/news/2023-06-gullies-m ... water.html
by Brown University

A study led by Brown University researchers offers new insights into how water from melting ice could have played a recent role in the formation of ravine-like channels that cut down the sides of impact craters on Mars.

The study, published in Science, focuses on Martian gullies, which look eerily similar to gullies that form on Earth in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica and are caused by water erosion from melting glaciers. The researchers, including Brown planetary scientist Jim Head, built a model that simulates a sweet spot for when conditions on Mars allow the planet to warm above freezing temperatures, leading to periods of liquid water on Mars when ice on and beneath the surface melts.

The scientists found that when Mars tilts on its axis to 35 degrees, the atmosphere becomes dense enough for brief episodes of melting to occur at gully locations. They then matched the data from their model to periods in Mars history when the gullies in the planet's Terra Sirenum region are believed to have expanded rapidly downhill from high elevation points—a phenomenon that could not be explained without the occasional presence of water.

"We know from a lot of our research and other people's research that early on in Mars history, there was running water on the surface with valley networks and lakes," said Head, a professor of geological sciences at Brown. "But about 3 billion years ago, all of that liquid water was lost, and Mars became what we call a hyper-arid or polar desert. We show here that even after that and in the recent past, when Mars' axis tilts to 35 degrees, it heats up sufficiently to melt snow and ice, bringing liquid water back until temperatures drop and it freezes again."

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NASA's Mars helicopter 'phones home' after no contact for 63 days

https://phys.org/news/2023-06-ingenuity ... -home.html

The mini rotorcraft, which hitched a ride to the Red Planet with the Perseverance rover in early 2021, has already survived well beyond its initial 30-day mission to prove the feasibility of its technology in five test flights.

Long time, no speak: NASA has re-established contact with the intrepid Ingenuity Mars Helicopter after more than two months of radio silence, the space agency said Friday.

The mini rotorcraft, which hitched a ride to the Red Planet with the Perseverance rover in early 2021, has already survived well beyond its initial 30-day mission to prove the feasibility of its technology in five test flights.

Since then, it has been deployed dozens of times, acting as an aerial scout to assist its wheeled companion in searching for signs of ancient microbial life from billions of years ago, when Mars was much wetter and warmer than today.

Ingenuity's 52nd flight launched on April 26, but mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California lost contact as it descended to the surface following its two minute, 1,191-foot (363-meter) hop.

The loss of communications was expected, because a hill stood between Ingenuity and Perseverance, which acts as a relay between the drone and Earth.

[caltrek]

Scientists Gain New Insights on Magnetic Fields of Mars
by Matt Williams, et. al.
July 4, 2023

Introduction:

(Inverse) The Zhurong rover has operated on the surface of Mars for over a year since it deployed on May 22nd, 2021. Before the rover suspended operations on May 20, 2022, due to the onset of winter and the approach of seasonal sandstorms, Zhurong managed to traverse a total distance of 1.921 km (1.194 mi).

During the first kilometer of this trek, the rover obtained vital data on Mars’ extremely weak magnetic fields. According to a new study by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), these readings indicate that the magnetic field is extremely weak beneath the rover’s landing site.

Conclusion:

Knowing how and when Mars’ magnetic field disappeared is vital to the ongoing astrobiological studies on Mars. By understanding how and when it transitioned from a warmer planet with flowing water on its surface to the extremely cold and desiccated place it is today, scientists hope to learn whether or not there was enough time for life to emerge on Mars. Knowing this could also provide insight into where it might still be found today.

Read more here: https://www.inverse.com/science/mars-l ... agnetism

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NASA tests rocket motors for returning Mars soil samples to Earth
By David Szondy
August 02, 2023
https://newatlas.com/space/nasa-tests-r ... -to-earth/

In anticipation of one of history's most ambitious planetary missions, NASA has successfully tested the two solid rocket motors that will be used to help return the first geological samples from Mars to Earth for laboratory analysis.

The Mars Sample Return mission is attempting a staggeringly complex task – and one that many people don't realize has been underway for years. NASA's Perseverance Mars rover is currently roaming the surface of the Red Planet, collecting soil and drilling samples as it goes. These are being sealed in special tubes and dropped along the way like containers for a bit of Martian geocaching.

These sample tubes will be collected later by Perseverance and two backup helicopters, which will return the samples to a retrieval lander with NASA's Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) aboard. A special arm on the lander will place the sample cache inside the small solid-fueled rocket. This, in turn, will blast the sample cache into orbit around Mars where it will rendezvous with an ESA orbiter, which will bring the payload back to Earth by about 2030.

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Curiosity rover faces its toughest climb yet on Mars
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-curiosity ... -mars.html
by NASA

On Aug. 5, NASA's Curiosity rover will notch its 11th year on Mars by doing what it does best: studying the Red Planet's surface. The intrepid bot recently investigated a location nicknamed "Jau" that is pockmarked with dozens of impact craters. Scientists have rarely gotten a close-up view of so many Martian craters in one place. The largest is estimated to be at least as long as a basketball court, although most are much smaller.

Jau is a pit stop on the rover's journey into the foothills of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain that was covered with lakes, rivers, and streams billions of years ago. Each layer of the mountain formed in a different era of Mars's ancient climate, and the higher Curiosity goes, the more scientists learn about how the landscape changed over time.

The path up the mountain over the last several months required the most arduous climb Curiosity has ever made. There have been steeper climbs and riskier terrain, but the mission has never faced the trifecta of challenges posed by this slope: a sharp 23-degree incline, slippery sand, and wheel-size rocks. This trifecta left the rover struggling through a half-dozen drives in May and June, vexing Curiosity's drivers back on Earth.

[caltrek]

Study Examines Earth and Mars to Determine How Climate Change Affects the Paths of Rivers
August 3 , 2023

Introduction:

(Euirekalert) In a new study published in Nature Geosciences, researchers, led by a Tulane University sedimentologist, investigated why the paths of meandering rivers change over time and how they could be affected by climate change.

Chenliang Wu, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at Tulane University School of Science and Engineering, began this research by looking at the Mississippi River before adding other rivers on Earth and ancient riverbeds on Mars to the study.

The study specifically looks at river sinuosity, or how much rivers curve. The sinuosity of rivers changes over time, depending on the age of the river and environmental changes. Some of these changes include sediment and water supply and riverbank vegetation, all of which are affected by climate change. The study found that river sinuosity is related to the changes in how much water flows through the river. Rivers have different water levels depending on environmental factors, like precipitation levels.

The researchers looked at maps of the rivers on Earth over time by using historical data from as early as the fifth century and images from as early as 1939. They used data of 21 lowland meandering rivers. For the ancient riverbeds on Mars, they used previously identified ancient river channels from remote sensing data.

The ancient riverbeds on Mars, untouched by human influence, gave Wu and his team a system to test their hypotheses on how the river systems migrated and what their sinuosity looked like by the time they dried up. Their analysis is also a step toward understanding what the hydroclimate on Mars was like when there was still surface water.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/997679

caltrek’s comment: What I like about this article is the way that it shows that understanding Mars can help us to better understand processes here on earth.