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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.

So there was liquid water on Mars...

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NASA InSight study finds Mars is spinning faster
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-nasa-insi ... aster.html
by NASA

Scientists have made the most precise measurements ever of Mars's rotation, for the first time detecting how the planet wobbles due to the "sloshing" of its molten metal core. The findings, detailed in a recent Nature paper, rely on data from NASA's InSight Mars lander, which operated for four years before running out of power during its extended mission in December 2022.

To track the planet's spin rate, the study's authors relied on one of InSight's instruments: a radio transponder and antennas collectively called the Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment, or RISE. They found the planet's rotation is accelerating by about 4 milliarcseconds per year—corresponding to a shortening of the length of the Martian day by a fraction of a millisecond per year.

It's a subtle acceleration, and scientists aren't entirely sure of the cause. But they have a few ideas, including ice accumulating on the polar caps or post-glacial rebound, where landmasses rise after being buried by ice. The shift in a planet's mass can cause it to accelerate a bit like an ice skater spinning with their arms stretched out, then pulling their arms in.

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NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter flies again after unscheduled landing
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-nasa-inge ... flies.html
by NASA

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter successfully completed its 54th flight on Aug. 3, the first flight since the helicopter cut its July 22 flight short. The 25-second up-and-down hop provided data that could help the Ingenuity team determine why its 53rd flight ended early.

Flight 53 was planned as a 136-second scouting flight dedicated to collecting imagery of the planet's surface for the Perseverance Mars rover science team. The complicated flight profile included flying north 666 feet (203 meters) at an altitude of 16 feet (5 meters) and a speed of 5.6 mph (2.5 meters per second), then descending vertically to 8 feet (2.5 meters), where it would hover and obtain imagery of a rocky outcrop. Ingenuity would then climb straight up to 33 feet (10 meters) to allow its hazard divert system to initiate before descending vertically to touch down.

Instead, the helicopter executed the first half of its autonomous journey, flying north at an altitude of 16 feet (5 meters) for 466 feet (142 meters). Then a flight-contingency program was triggered, and Ingenuity automatically landed. The total flight time was 74 seconds.

"Since the very first flight we have included a program called 'LAND_NOW' that was designed to put the helicopter on the surface as soon as possible if any one of a few dozen off-nominal scenarios was encountered," said Teddy Tzanetos, team lead emeritus for Ingenuity at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "During Flight 53, we encountered one of these, and the helicopter worked as planned and executed an immediate landing."

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New research points to possible seasonal climate patterns on early Mars

by Andrew Good, NASA
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-seasonal- ... -mars.html

Scientists aren't entirely sure how life began on Earth, but one prevailing theory posits that persistent cycles of wet and dry conditions on land helped assemble the complex chemical building blocks necessary for microbial life. This is why a patchwork of well-preserved ancient mud cracks found by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is so exciting to the mission's team.

A new paper in Nature details how the distinctive hexagonal pattern of these mud cracks offers the first evidence of wet-dry cycles occurring on early Mars.

[caltrek]

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

...

So there was liquid water on Mars...

More on that:

Scientists Spot Fossil Evidence of a Cyclical Climate on Mars
by Michelle Starr
August 10, 2023

Introduction:

( Science Alert)

Mars may be a dry and barren wasteland now, but new evidence has emerged that this wasn't always the way – and, moreover, that climate conditions changed, perhaps seasonally, in a way that may have been conducive to the emergence of life.

A pattern of hexagons at Gale Crater hints at a history of repeated cycle of wet and dry conditions, allowing minerals to dry out between wet spells to create the specific formations that have since fossilized into rock.

"We observe exhumed centimetric polygonal ridges with sulfate enrichments, joined at Y-junctions, that record cracks formed in fresh mud owing to repeated wet-dry cycles of regular intensity," writes a team led by geochemist William Rapin of Paul Sabatier University in France.

"Instead of sporadic hydrological activity induced by impacts or volcanoes, our findings point to a sustained, cyclic, possibly seasonal, climate on early Mars."

The implications of this go beyond a more Earth-like climate. They add more weight to the pile of evidence that conditions on early Mars were conducive to the emergence of biochemistry – the molecular foundations of life.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/scientist ... -on-mars/

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NASA test-fires rocket motors that will help launch samples off Mars (video)
By Andrew Jones
published 1 day ago

https://www.space.com/nasa-mars-sample- ... ests-video
NASA has test-fired rocket motors as part of the development of an ascent vehicle designed to launch samples off the Red Planet.

NASA and its contractors are developing the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) for the NASA-European Space Agency Mars Sample Return mission campaign. The MAV is designed to get samples collected on Mars into orbit above the Red Planet, where they'll be grabbed by a spacecraft that will haul them to Earth.

The MAV, which is planned to be the first rocket ever to launch from another planet, is a two-stage vehicle. Two development solid rocket motors, SRM1 and SMR2, for each stage have been fired in recent months to test their performance before building the real motors destined for Mars.

Related: What's ahead in returning samples from Mars?

a rocket motor blasts orange fire in a cement-walled room during a test

[caltrek]

More on that:

Mars is Accelerating Its Spin, According to Data from a Defunct NASA Mission
by Dorris Ellen Urrutia
August , 2023

Introduction:

(Inverse) NASA recently announced that Mars is spinning faster and its days have shortened.

Five years ago, NASA placed a revolutionary mission on the surface of Mars called InSight. It has since died, after Martian dust covered InSight’s solar panels and cut off its energy. Nevertheless, data gathered in its primary and extended missions continues to reveal new traits of the Red Planet.

The latest finding suggests that Mars’ spin is ever-so-slightly accelerating, though the cause is still unclear.

“It’s really cool to be able to get this latest measurement — and so precisely,” Bruce Banerdt, InSight’s principal investigator, shares in NASA’s August 7 announcement about the discovery. “I’ve been involved in efforts to get a geophysical station like InSight onto Mars for a long time, and results like this make all those decades of work worth it.”

Further extract:

MARS’ CORE IS ALSO WOBBLING

In addition, the team found that Mars’ core has a wobble. It’s attributed to molten material at the heart of the Red Planet sloshing about.

Read more here: https://www.inverse.com/science/mars-s ... nder-nasa

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Simulations suggest only 22 people are required to start a colony on Mars
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-simulatio ... -mars.html
by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

A team of computational social scientists at George Mason University has found via simulations that 22 people is the minimum number needed to start a human colony on Mars. The group has posted a paper describing their simulation on the arXiv preprint server.

As humans around the globe ponder the possibility of one day sending people to Mars, and then at some later date, establishing a colony, scientists are exploring ways to overcome the hurdles standing in the way of achieving such goals. One factor that needs to be addressed, according to the team, is determining how many people could sustain a Mars colony, and what types of people are required.

To find possible answers, the team created a model simulating a Mars colony, focused specifically on how many people are required to create a viable colony as well as the characteristics that would most likely contribute to the success of such a colony. To that end, they used data from past endeavors, such as questionnaires filled out by groups aboard the International Space Station or those living in close quarters in the Arctic for months at a time. They also attempted to factor in known character traits such as resilience to stress, social skills and degree of neuroticism.

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[caltrek]

Cracks in Martian Mud Could be a Sign of Conditions Right for Life
August 22, 2023

Introduction:

(Futurity) In surprise discovery, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has found cracks in ancient Martian mud.

Scientists aren’t entirely sure how life began on Earth, but one prevailing theory posits that persistent cycles of wet and dry conditions on land helped assemble the complex chemical building blocks necessary for microbial life.

This is why the patchwork of well-preserved ancient mud cracks found by the Curiosity rover is so exciting to the mission’s team.

A new paper in Nature details how the distinctive hexagonal pattern of these mud cracks offers the first evidence of wet-dry cycles occurring on early Mars.

“These particular mud cracks form when wet-dry conditions occur repeatedly, perhaps seasonally,” says the paper’s lead author, William Rapin of France’s Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie.

Read more of the Futurity article here: https://www.futurity.org/nasa-rover-cr ... 2963992/

This article has been adapted from an article first published by NASA: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41 ... TrQ6A%3D

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NASA's Ingenuity helicopter flies on Mars for the 56th time
By Mike Wall published 2 days ago
Ingenuity covered 1,344 feet (410 meters) of ground on the Aug. 26 flight.

NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter keeps adding to its tally of off-Earth flights.
The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) Ingenuity flew for the 56th time on Aug. 26, staying aloft for nearly 2.5 minutes on the Mars sortie.

"The #MarsHelicopter completed Flight 56, traveling 1,334 ft (410 m) across the Martian surface at a maximum altitude of ~39 ft (12 m). The goal of this flight was to reposition the helicopter," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, which manages the little rotorcraft's mission, wrote via X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday (Aug. 31).

Ingenuity landed with NASA's Perseverance rover inside Mars' Jezero Crater in February 2021. The helicopter quickly aced its five-flight demonstration mission, showing that powered flight is possible on the Red Planet despite its thin atmosphere.

NASA then granted Ingenuity a mission extension, during which the chopper is serving as a scout for the life-hunting, sample-collecting Perseverance. The robotic duo are working together to explore the 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) Jezero, which hosted a big lake and a river delta billions of years ago.

More:
https://www.space.com/ingenuity-mars-he ... -flight-56

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NASA's Curiosity rover reaches Mars ridge where water left debris pileup

by NASAS

Three billion years ago, amid one of the last wet periods on Mars, powerful debris flows carried mud and boulders down the side of a hulking mountain. The debris spread into a fan that was later eroded by wind into a towering ridge, preserving an intriguing record of the Red Planet's watery past.

Now, after three attempts, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has reached the ridge, capturing the formation in a 360-degree panoramic mosaic. Previous forays were stymied by knife-edged "gator-back" rocks and too-steep slopes. Following one of the most difficult climbs the mission has ever faced, Curiosity arrived Aug. 14 at an area where it could study the long-sought ridge with its 7-foot (2-meter) robotic arm.

"After three years, we finally found a spot where Mars allowed Curiosity to safely access the steep ridge," said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity's project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "It's a thrill to be able to reach out and touch rocks that were transported from places high up on Mount Sharp that we'll never be able to visit with Curiosity."

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Mars Rover Finds Ancient Debris Left by Flowing Water
The dark rocks were carried from high up on Mount Sharp, where Curiosity will never be able to reach.
By Ryan Whitwam September 20, 2023

With all the news about NASA's Perseverance rover and its helicopter sidekick, it can be easy to forget it's not the only rover trundling around Mars. Curiosity has been hard at work exploring the red planet for more than a decade, and NASA has announced it finally reached a fascinating geological formation after two failed attempts. To celebrate, NASA has released a 360-degree video of Gediz Vallis Ridge, which scientists believe is a remnant of massive flooding in the planet's past.

Since 2014, Curiosity has been ascending Mount Sharp, the central peak in Gale Crater. The first two times scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) attempted to reach the ridge, the rover was turned back by sharp "gator-back" rocks and steep slopes. Rather than risk toppling the robot, the team looked for other routes. Finally, on Aug. 14, the team found an area where Curiosity could access the formation.

Gediz Vallis Ridge covers a large patch of the mountainside, reaching a height of 70 feet (21 meters). Geologists believe the ridge is an example of a debris flow fan, a type of formation seen on both Earth and Mars associated with water flowing downhill. The ridge was then eroded over billions of years as Mars dried up, but the debris remains.

https://www.extremetech.com/science/mar ... wing-water

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Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Sets Altitude Record in Latest Flight
The craft rose to 20 meters (66 feet), breaking the previous record of 18 meters.
By Ryan Whitwam September 21, 2023

NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter just aced its 59th flight—this was not supposed to happen. The technology demonstration has far outlived its design life, demonstrating how effective an aerial drone can be on the red planet. The helicopter has set a new record on this flight, reaching a maximum altitude of 20 meters (66 feet), breaking the previous record of 18 meters.

The 59th flight took place on Sept. 16, which was the 915th Sol (Martian day) of the Perseverance mission. The robot lifted off from Airfield Sigma, where it landed during the previous flight on Sept. 11 (Sol 910). NASA didn't have to designate yet another landing zone, though. Ingenuity didn't cover any horizontal distance—this was a pop-up flight similar to flight 54, which Ingenuity undertook after an unexpected emergency landing in July.

Even though it didn't go anywhere, JPL's flight log shows this record-setting sortie was one of the longer flights undertaken by the robot. From lift-off to landing, Ingenuity was in the air for 142.6 seconds. The image below was captured during that flight, showing the helicopter's shadow on the Martian terrain. The previous 18-meter altitude record was set back in April of this year when Ingenuity flew 322 meters (1,056 feet) between Airfield Lambda and Airfield Mu.

https://www.extremetech.com/science/ing ... est-flight

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NASA's Perseverance rover sets record for longest Mars drive on autopilot
By Sharmila Kuthunur published about 13 hours ago

The rover's autopilot even guided it through boulders not seen by orbiting spacecraft.

NASA's Perseverance rover, along with its automatic navigation system, just set a record on Mars by maneuvering right through a particularly hazardous patch of Martian land. In turn, this impressive trip saved scientists weeks of precious time during which they can now do more science.

Although the mission team usually charts out the Mars rover's course manually, the automatic navigation system named AutoNav proved remarkable in this case as it safely guided the Perseverance rover around rocks hidden from orbiter images typically used for planning, scientists say.

"It was much denser than anything Perseverance has encountered before — just absolutely littered with these big rocks," Del Sesto, the deputy rover planner lead for Perseverance at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said in a statement published Thursday (Sept. 21). "We didn't want to go around it because it would have taken us weeks. More time driving means less time for science, so we just dove right in."

In late June, Perseverance entered the boulder field named "Snowdrift Peak" from the east. It first paused to inspect two rocks, then, guided by AutoNav, trudged right through the field. By the time the rover exited Snowdrift Peak in late July, it had logged 759 meters (0.8 kilometers), according to the statement.

More:
https://www.space.com/perserverance-mar ... -maneuvers

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