Space and astronomy news
Mars is the next frontier of human space exploration, with NASA, China, and SpaceX all planning to send crewed missions there in the coming decades. In each case, the plans consist of establishing habitats on the surface that will enable return missions, cutting-edge research, and maybe even permanent settlements someday. While the idea of putting …
Continue reading “A Biocatalytic Reactor for Detoxifying Water on Mars!”
Meteorites often offer terrific glimpses into worlds we are unable to otherwise access. Sometimes those worlds are simply fragments of asteroids that didn’t burn up when they entered the atmosphere. But sometimes, they come from the Moon or Mars. Part of what makes these types of meteorites interesting is that they don’t necessarily come from …
Continue reading “Meteorite Tells Us About Water on Mars 4.4 Billion Years Ago”
NASA has created a map showing how water is distributed on Mars. The water is frozen under the surface of the planet, and some of it is only 30 cm (12 inches) deep. At that depth, astronauts won’t need a machine to access it: just a shovel.
There’s solid evidence for the existence of water on Mars, at least in frozen form at the planet’s poles. And a more recent study confirms the existence of liquid water at the south pole. But visitors to Mars will need to know the exact location of usable water deposits at other Martian locations. A ground-penetrating …
Continue reading “Astronauts Could Use the ScanMars Device to Search for Water on Mars”
A new study from Brown University has offered a possible explanation for how surface water could have flown on Mars roughly 4 billion years ago.
Have you heard the big news? NASA has reported that Mark Whatney is alive and well on the surface of Mars. No, wait, they’ve reported that there’s water on Mars. Didn’t they already report this? Today we’ll update you on the latest discovery and what this means for the search for life on Mars.
Host: Fraser Cain (@fcain) Guests: Morgan Rehnberg (cosmicchatter.org / @MorganRehnberg ) Pamela Gay (cosmoquest.org / @cosmoquestx / @starstryder) Kimberly Cartier (@AstroKimCartier ) Brian Koberlein (@briankoberlein / briankoberlein.com) Alessondra Springmann (@sondy)
Though the surface of Mars is a dry, dessicated and bitterly cold place today, it is strongly believed that the planet once had rivers, streams, lakes, and flowing water on its surface. Thanks to a combination of spacecraft imagery, remote sensing techniques and surface investigations from landers and rovers, ample evidence has been assembled to support this theory. …
Continue reading “Warm, Flowing Water on Mars Was Episodic, Study Suggests”
Is it Friday already? Then it’s time for another Weekly Space Hangout. Join a team of dedicated space journalists to discuss the big space and astronomy news stories that broke this week. This time around, we discussed Amy Shira Teitel’s Buran article, ISON Watch 2013, and the re-re-discovery of water on Mars. Host: Fraser Cain …
Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout – September 27, 2013: Buran, Comet ISON, Water on Mars”
Although these strange features on Mars look a bit like hieroglyphics or geoglyphs such as the mysterious Nazca lines on Earth, they are completely natural features, ones that are found on Earth too. This is one of the latest images from the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Called ‘rootless cones,’ they form on …
Continue reading “Hieroglyphic-like Features Point to Past Subsurface Water on Mars”