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The Flowing Sands of Mars

By Guest PostMay 13, 2012ScienceAntarctica, caltech, craters, digital terrain model, doug mccuistion, dtm, earth, flowing sands, geological processes, gullies, high speed winds, hirise camera, jean philippe avouac, mars, martian equator, martian landscape, martian surface, mro, NASA, nathan bridges, nili patera, red planet, rocks on mars, sand dunes, sarah mattson, valleys

Sand dunes on Mars move not unlike those on Earth, despite a much thinner atmosphere and weaker winds, as revealed by images taken with the UA-led HiRISE camera.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO, has revealed that movement in sand dune fields on the Red Planet occurs on a surprisingly large scale, about the same as in dune fields on Earth.

This is unexpected because Mars has a much thinner atmosphere than Earth is only about 1 percent as dense, and its high-speed winds are less frequent and weaker than Earth’s.

For years, researchers debated whether or not sand dunes observed on Mars were mostly fossil features related to past climate, rather than currently active. In the past two years, researchers using images from MRO’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, camera have detected and reported sand movement. (more…)

Space Weather Forecast: Sunspotty, With an Increasing Chance of Solar Storms

By Guest PostApril 15, 2012Environmentatmosphere, coronal mass ejections, dark sky, earth, flagpole, fm broadcasts, forecast, frank lind, gps, john sahr, k p index, kuow, laura vertatschitsch, magnetic field, magnetosphere, mars, mary levin, mechanical energy, molecular plasma, northern light, satellites, seattle, sieg hall, solar flares, solar storms, source, space weather, sunspot cycle, sunspotty, transmitter, xray

The past few months have seen a spate of solar flares – bringing spectacular views of the northern lights as far south as Seattle – along with media speculation that the electrical activity could disrupt power grids, satellites or ground airplanes.

John Sahr, a UW professor of electrical engineering who studies the upper atmosphere, is the regional go-to guy for such questions. We found some time in Sahr’s busy schedule (he’s also the UW’s associate dean of undergraduate academic affairs and a part-time zombie hunter) to get his read on the space weather forecast. (more…)

Newfangled Space-Propulsion Technology Could Help Clean up Earth Orbit

By Guest PostApril 12, 2012Scienceatmosphere, dead satellite, debris, earth, earth orbit, geosynchronous orbit, humans, international space station, mag beam, magnetized beam, magnetized ion plasma, mars, planet, plasma propulsion device, real estate, robert winglee, space junk, spacecraft, system, ultra high speed

Some of the most valuable “real estate” for humans isn’t on Earth at all but rather above the planet’s atmosphere, where all manner of human-made objects orbit. The problem is that those orbits are too crowded with dead satellites and debris, making new launches riskier.

Robert Winglee has spent years developing a magnetized ion plasma system to propel a spacecraft at ultra-high speeds, making it possible to travel to Mars and return to Earth in as little time as 90 days. The problem is that cost and other issues have dampened the desire to send astronauts to Mars or any other planet. (more…)

‘Mount Sharp’ on Mars Links Geology’s Past and Future

By Guest PostApril 1, 2012Sciencearizona, bob sharp, curiosity, edward stolper, gale crater, geological sciences, grand canyon, john grotzinger, ken edgett, life magazine, liquid water, mars, michael malin, mount rainier, mount sharp, NASA, robert p sharp, san diego, seattle, spacecraft

One particular mountain on Mars, bigger than Colorado’s grandest, has been beckoning would-be explorers since it was first sighted from orbit in the 1970s. Scientists have ideas about how it took shape in the middle of ancient Gale Crater and hopes for what evidence it could yield about whether conditions on Mars have favored life.

No mission to Mars dared approach it, though, until NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission, which this August will attempt to place its one-ton rover, Curiosity, at the foot of the mountain. The moat of flatter ground between the mountain and the crater rim encircling it makes too small a touchdown target to have been considered safe without precision-landing innovations used by this mission. (more…)

Geologists Discover New Class of Landform on Mars

By Guest PostMarch 25, 2012Sciencebedrock, geological history, mars, martian history, martian surface, periodic bedrock ridges, spacing between ridges, wind erosion

An odd, previously unseen landform could provide a window into the geological history of Mars, according to new research by University of Washington geologists. (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…)

Asteroid 2011 AG5 – A Reality Check

By Guest PostMarch 2, 2012Sciencearizona, asteroid 2011 ag5, cassegrain reflector telescope, catalina mountains, don yeomans, earth interception, gravitational influence, mars, mount lemmon, near earth object, orbit, space rock, spaceguard, torino impact hazard scale, tucson

Asteroid 2011 AG5 has been receiving a lot of attention lately because of a very unlikely scenario which would place it on an Earth-interception course 28 years from now. Here is a scientific reality check of this relatively nondescript space rock which is currently ranked a “1” on the 1 to 10 Torino Impact Hazard Scale

As of Feb. 26, 2012, asteroid 2011 AG5 is one of 8,744 near-Earth objects that have been discovered. It is approximately 460 feet (140 meters) in size and its orbit carries it as far out as beyond Mars’ orbit and as close to the sun as halfway between Earth and Venus. It was discovered on Jan. 8, 2011, by astronomers using a 60-inch Cassegrain reflector telescope located at the summit of Mount Lemmon in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Arizona. (more…)

New Views Show Old NASA Mars Landers

By Guest PostFebruary 9, 2012Scienceball aerospace, bonneville crater, canadian space agency, color image, denver, earth, hirise camera, liquid water, lockheed martin space systems, mars, mars reconnaissance orbiter, martian arctic winter, martian soil particles, martian surface, meteorite, microscope, NASA, Phoenix, spacecraft, telescopic camera, three petal lander, university of arizona

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded a scene on Jan. 29, 2012, that includes the first color image from orbit showing the three-petal lander of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit mission. Spirit drove off that lander platform in January 2004 and spent most of its six-year working life in a range of hills about two miles to the east.

Another recent image from HiRISE, taken on Jan. 26, 2012, shows NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander and its surroundings on far-northern Mars after that spacecraft’s second Martian arctic winter. Phoenix exceeded its planned mission life in 2008, ending its work as solar energy waned during approach of its first Mars winter. (more…)

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