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NASA Mars Orbiters See Clues to Possible Water Flows

By Guest PostFebruary 11, 2014Scienceferric component, hirise, iron mineral antifreeze, james wray, lujendra ojha, mars, martian slopes, more oxidized, nasa mars orbiters, red planet, richard zurek, slope lineae, unknown factors, water flows

NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars have returned clues for understanding seasonal features that are the strongest indication of possible liquid water that may exist today on the Red Planet.

The features are dark, finger-like markings that advance down some Martian slopes when temperatures rise. The new clues include corresponding seasonal changes in iron minerals on the same slopes and a survey of ground temperatures and other traits at active sites. These support a suggestion that brines with an iron-mineral antifreeze, such as ferric sulfate, may flow seasonally, though there are still other possible explanations. (more…)

A New Tool in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life: A Tricked-Out Point-and-Shoot

By Guest PostFebruary 10, 2014Scienceastrobiological imager, curiosity, extraterrestrial life, henry sun, hirise, macroscopic scale, mars, mars reconnaissance orbiter, mars rover, mojave desert, NASA, osiris rex, rock formation, search, tool, university of arizona, wolfgang fink

UA engineers have turned an off-the-shelf digital camera into an imaging device that could be key in the search for life forms on other planets.

The next time a NASA rover blasts off to explore Mars or some other planet, it might be equipped with a new type of “do-it-all” camera developed by an engineering team at the University of Arizona.

The prototype of the “Astrobiological Imager” – described in a research paper featured on the cover of a recent issue of the journal Astrobiology – consists of an off-the-shelf digital point-and-shoot camera with some surprisingly simple modifications. A slightly more sophisticated version, mounted on a rover, could do what even NASA’s latest and greatest Mars rover, Curiosity, can’t: identify, photograph and even analyze patches of soil or rocks from afar and in extreme close-up, all with the same camera. (more…)

Curiosity Mars Rover Checking Possible Smoother Route

By Guest PostJanuary 30, 2014Sciencecoeymans, curiosity mars rover, daniel limonadi, dingo gap, drilling site, gale crater, gap, geological layer, hirise, jim erickson, jpl, kimberley quadrant, kms 9, mars rover, mawson, mount sharp, NASA, richard rainen, slope, yellowknife quadrant

The team operating NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is considering a path across a small sand dune to reach a favorable route to science destinations.

A favorable route would skirt some terrain with sharp rocks considered more likely to poke holes in the rover’s aluminum wheels.

While the team has been assessing ways to reduce wear and tear to the wheels, Curiosity has made progress toward a next site for drilling a rock sample and also toward its long-term destination: geological layers exposed on slopes of Mount Sharp. The rover has driven into a mapping quadrant that includes a candidate site for drilling. Meanwhile, testing on Earth is validating capabilities for drilling into rocks on slopes the rover will likely encounter on Mount Sharp. (more…)

UCLA Scientist Discovers Plate Tectonics on Mars

By Guest PostAugust 10, 2012Sciencean yin, california, canyons, context camera, dead sea, death valley, deformation, egg shell, fault motion, fault system, geological phenomenon, google mars, grand canyon, high resolution, himalayas, hirise, lithosphere, mariner valleys, mars, mola, NASA, planetary geologist, plate tectonics, reconnaissance orbiter, san andreas fault, science team, surface of mars, themis, tibet, ucla, valles marineris

For years, many scientists had thought that plate tectonics existed nowhere in our solar system but on Earth. Now, a UCLA scientist has discovered that the geological phenomenon, which involves the movement of huge crustal plates beneath a planet’s surface, also exists on Mars.

“Mars is at a primitive stage of plate tectonics. It gives us a glimpse of how the early Earth may have looked and may help us understand how plate tectonics began on Earth,” said An Yin, a UCLA professor of Earth and space sciences and the sole author of the new research. (more…)

NASA Mars Orbiter Catches Twister in Action

By Guest PostMarch 11, 2012Scienceamazonis planitia, dust devil, earth, hirise, mars, mars reconnaissance orbiter, martian year, NASA, sun rays, tornado, university of arizona, whirlwind

An afternoon whirlwind on Mars lofts a twisting column of dust more than half a mile (800 meters) high in an image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

HiRISE captured the image on Feb. 16, 2012, while the orbiter passed over the Amazonis Planitia region of northern Mars. In the area observed, paths of many previous whirlwinds, or dust devils, are visible as streaks on the dusty surface. (more…)

With ‘Google Earth’ for Mars, Explore the Red Planet from Home

By Guest PostDecember 8, 2011Science, Technologyanaglyph image file, arizona, bradford castalia, crater on mars, data mapper, desktop, geologic feature, gigabyte size, hirise, hirise imagery, hiview, image file format, images, jpeg2000, layered deposits, local storage space, martian landscape, mesas, monument valley, orbit around mars, oval mesa, photoshop, pictures are beautiful, red planet, rodney heyd, Science, shelley littin, software tool, statistics tool, surface of mars, terabytes, university of arizona, utah, waves

A new software tool developed by the HiRISE team in the UA’s Lunar and Planetary Lab allows members of the public to download high-resolution images of the Martian landscape almost instantaneously and explore the surface of the Red Planet from their own desktops.

Imagine zooming in over the surface of Mars, sweeping over sand dunes and circling around the rims of craters – all from your home desktop.

With HiView, the image-viewing tool recently released by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, team at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Lab, you can do just that. (more…)

NASA Spacecraft Data Suggest Water Flowing on Mars

By Guest PostAugust 5, 2011Sciencealfred mcewen, charles bolden, compact reconnaissance imaging spectrometer for mars, crism, frozen water, high resolution imaging science experiment, hirise, human exploration, mars reconnaissance orbiter, mars southern hemisphere, martian slopes, NASA, red planet, richard zurek, salt deposits, saltiness, shallow subsurface flows, tucson, university of arizona, warm season

PASADENA, Calif. –– Observations from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed possible flowing water during the warmest months on Mars.

“NASA’s Mars Exploration Program keeps bringing us closer to determining whether the Red Planet could harbor life in some form,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said, “and it reaffirms Mars as an important future destination for human exploration.” (more…)

Color View from Orbit Shows Mars Rover Beside Crater

By Guest PostMarch 11, 2011Scienceball aerospace, color image, crater, denver, high resolution imaging science experiment, hirise, lockheed martin space systems, mars exploration rover opportunity, mars reconnaissance orbiter, NASA, opportunity, orbiting camera, robotic arm, ruiz garcia, santa maria, university of arizona

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has nearly completed its three-month examination of a crater informally named “Santa Maria,” but before the rover resumes its overland trek, an orbiting camera has provided a color image of Opportunity beside Santa Maria.

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired the image on March 1, while Opportunity was extending its robotic arm to take close-up photos of a rock called “Ruiz Garcia.” From orbit, the tracks Opportunity made as it approached the crater from the west are clearly visible. Santa Maria crater is about 90 meters (295 feet) in diameter. (more…)

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