What was the driving force behind volcanism on ancient Mars if the Red Planet does not exhibit plate tectonics? This is what a recent study published in Nature Astronomy hopes to address as an international team of researchers led by the University of Hong Kong (HKU) investigated how Mars could have once exhibited a type of plate tectonics known as vertical tectonics. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand the geologic processes that shaped ancient Mars, specifically pertaining to its volcanic activity. For the study, the researchers used data from Mars orbiters to analyze volcanic deposits in the Martian southern highlands, revealing a diverse array of volcanoes, including shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes, and domes, of which Mars has long been known for its high number of shield volcanoes. Through this, the researchers were able to identify crustal thicknesses that vary throughout the region, which they interpret as recycling processes owed to vertical tectonics that occurred approximately 3.5-4 billion years ago, when Mars was a much warmer, wetter, and geologically active planet than we see today. Image of topographic data overlaid infrared image data displaying diverse tectonic structures and volcanic deposits within the Eridania region of Mars. higher elevation is indicated by warm colors. (Credit: NASA/Mars Odyssey/HRSC) “Mars contains critical geological puzzle pieces that help us understand not only that planet, but the Earth as well. Martian volcanism is much more complex and diverse than has been previously thought,” said Dr. Joseph Michalski, who is a geologist in the Department of Earth Sciences & Laboratory at HKU and lead author of the study. This study comes as Mars continues to be explored for signs of ancient life, not only by numerous orbiters but a few rovers from NASA and China, as well. What new discoveries will scientists make about ancient Mars in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science! As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! Sources: Nature Astronomy, EurekAlert!, The University of Hong Kong

It seems like this past week was a particularly productive one for the team over at NASA. Not only were the two halves of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mated together for the very first time since the project’s conception, but it also appears that NASA engineers have made significant progress on the Mars 2020 mission, which is poised to launch sometime next year to explore on its journey to Mars. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The Mars 2020 rover, along with the fully autonomous drone-like helicopter that NASA plans to send to the red planet with it, are currently residing at the High Bay 1 clean room situated at the American space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. But that’s not all; it appears that NASA engineers have attached the small aircraft to the Mars 2020 rover’s car-sized chassis. Related: The Mars 2020 rover will sport 20/20 vision Citing an official statement regarding this achievement, engineers purportedly set the autonomous helicopter on a specialized plate that resides on the rover’s underbelly. A cover will be installed over the plate and the helicopter to protect the helicopter from dust and heat as the Mars 2020 descends from the Martian atmosphere and lands on the red planet’s sandy terrain. "With this joining of two great spacecraft, I can say definitively that all the pieces are in place for a historic mission of exploration," commented Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA. "Together, Mars 2020 and the Mars Helicopter will help define the future of science and exploration of the Red Planet for decades to come." Related: An inside look at the progress that's being made on the Mars 2020 mission NASA employed this dual-rotor and solar-powered flight vehicle to explore the ‘hard-to-reach’ places on Mars and assist the Mars 2020 rover in finding captivating places to explore. The little flying vehicle will carry a camera, but it won’t have any science instruments onboard because it will be the first vehicle to conduct powered flight on another planet besides Earth and is very much a proof of concept in addition to an aide for the Mars 2020 rover. The Mars 2020 mission is expected to take flight next Summer, in July 2020, and it should arrive at Mars the following year, on February 18, 2021. NASA has specifically chosen Jezero Crater as the mission’s landing site, but it will likely venture far away from this location as it conducts its long-term service life. Source: NASA JPL

A new lander called InSight will be on it's way to Mars in 2016, and when it lands, it will need the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (or NRO) to relay information back to mission control on Earth. But to do that, the NRO has to be in the right orbit.In preparation for this vital cooperation, today the NRO will start altering its orbit.In case you forgot, the MRO has been orbiting Mars since 2006. Why? well its original mission was to perform high resolution mapping of the surface of Mars from 2006 to 2008, which it did brilliantly. But then NASA engineers realized that they had a satellite orbiting Mars with a powerful transmitter on it, so why not use it to assist with any other missions that were going or had already gone to Mars? So, for InSight, the MRO's been slated in as part of the mission.Today the MRO performed a 77-second firing of six of its intermediate-sized thrusters to adjust the timing of its orbit. The goal is to get it into position to receive radio transmissions from the InSight lander, before and during its landing, and especially while InSight is on the Martian surface collecting data. MRO Project Manager Dan Johnston of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory explains, "Without making this orbit change maneuver, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter would be unable to hear from InSight during the landing, but this will put us in the right place at the right time."In this "right place at the right time" the MRO will be able to record InSight's transmissions before and during its landing, for later playback to Earth. The MRO performed this same service for NASA's Curiosity Mars rover as it landed three years ago, and for NASA's Phoenix Mars lander as it touched down in 2008.InSight's mission will be in the realm of what hear on Earth would be called the Earth Sciences, but it will be on Mars so ... anyway, it will, for the first time in history, drill into the surface of Mars. It will deploy a seismometer, all to examine the deep interior of Mars and to gather clues about the formation and early evolution of all of the terrestrial, rocky planets, including Earth.The MRO will continue its high resolution studies of Mars as it prepares for the InSight's arrival, collecting high-resolution imaging and spectral data, along with sub-surface and atmospheric profiles. Due to the fact that the MRO has been doing all of this since 2006, the orbiter has ended up returning several times more data about the Red Planet than all other deep-space missions combined.

NASA's Mars 2020 rover got its distinct name for a reason; primarily because the space agency aspires to send the vehicle on its way to Mars by 2020. There, it will explore the red planet in ways that Curiosity and other previous Martian rovers could only dream of. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech As of NASA’s latest public briefing, Mars 2020’s cruise and descent stages have reached the point of manufacturing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. These systems will ensure that Mars 2020 makes it to its destination and lands on Mars' surface safely. As you might have noticed already, Mars 2020’s design looks a lot like Curiosity, and NASA says that's because Mars 2020 uses a bevy of spare parts leftover from Curiosity and relies on a host of tried and true system designs for its chassis. Yay for reliability! "The fact that so much of the hardware has already been designed – or even already exists – is a major advantage for this mission," explained Jim Watzin, the director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program. "It saves us money, time and most of all, reduces risk." Related: Check out what the Curiosity rover looks like from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's perspective However, while Mars 2020 might look similar on the outside, those looks can be deceiving. It will pack oodles of new science equipment unlike any previous rover, which fuels hopes that we might finally discover traces of ancient life on the red planet’s dry and desolate environment. Once it touches down on the red planet’s surface, Mars 2020 will operate autonomously and deploy an X-ray spectrometer, ultraviolet laser, and ground-penetrating radar system in its attempt to sniff out microscopic biosignatures and map the subsurface of Mars for the first time. Mars 2020 will also employ technologies much like those used by Curiosity already, but they’ll be new and improved. Among those will be a more effective rock-zapping laser system and a built-in camera system that picks up full-color support and enhanced zooming capabilities. But it doesn’t stop there; Mars 2020 will also sport a new wheel design that should prevent them from wearing out as quickly as Curiosity’s and a drilling system that will extract rock cores and bundle them up into fancy space packages for future analysis. Related: New wheel for Martian rovers may be the most advanced one yet One other question remains, and that's where we're going to put Mars 2020 once it's finished. According to NASA, there are three proposed landing sites, and they’ve yet to choose one. The landing site will be vital to the mission, as some parts of Mars could foster preserved remnants of ancient life. "In the coming years, the 2020 science team will be weighing the advantages and disadvantages of each of these sites," said Ken Farley, JPL’s Mars 2020 project scientist. "It is by far the most important decision we have ahead of us." Given all the work that has gone into the Mars 2020 mission thus far, NASA’s crossing their fingers and hoping we can find what we’re looking for. It should be interesting to see how the Mars 2020 mission pans out and whether the data it collects can boost our knowledge and understanding of our mysterious red neighbor. Source: NASA

New research led by scientists from the Institute of Geophysics at the Czech Academy of Sciences describes the latest findings of mud on Mars. The team collaborated with researchers from Lancaster University, the Open University, and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK, CNRS in France, DLR and Münster University in Germany, and CEED in Norway. Their results are published in Nature Geoscience. Martian mud is a new concept, as previously scientists had not been able to determine whether the lava-like flows were caused by lava or mud. Lionel Wilson, Emeritus Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Lancaster University, said: "We performed experiments in a vacuum chamber to simulate the release of mud on Mars. This is of interest because we see many flow-like features on Mars in spacecraft images, but they have not yet been visited by any of the roving vehicles on the surface and there is some ambiguity about whether they are flows of lava or mud." The team simulated the movement of mud on the landforms that populate the Martian northern lowlands surface. These landforms are thought to be the result of devastating flood events, comparable to the largest floods ever known to have occurred on Earth. In order to conduct simulations on the movement of Martian mud, the researchers used the Mars Chamber at the Open University to recreate the surface temperature (-20°C) and low atmospheric pressure found on Mars. Unsurprisingly, they showed that free-flowing mud under Martian conditions is different from the mud we know and love on Earth. As Eureka Alert explains, this is “because of rapid freezing and the formation of an icy crust. This is because water is not stable and begins to boil and evaporate. The evaporation removes latent heat from the mud, eventually causing it to freeze.” So the mud on Mars comes out looking more similar to what we call "pahoehoe" lava, which we can find on Hawaii or Iceland and forms undulating textures when it cools. Lead author of the study, Dr. Petr Bro, explains the implications of their findings: "We suggest that mud volcanism can explain the formation of some lava-like flow morphologies on Mars and that similar processes may apply to eruptions of mud on icy bodies in the outer Solar System, like on Ceres." Sources: Nature Geoscience, Eureka Alert

According to new research published last week, Mars once contained an ocean larger than our own Arctic Ocean and covering more surface area than the Atlantic Ocean. But that was then, and this is now.Using ESO's Very Large Telescope, along with instruments at the W. M. Keck Observatory and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, researchers monitored the atmosphere of the planet and mapped out the properties of the water in different parts of Mars's atmosphere over a six-year period. These new maps are the first of their kind.The compiled research indicates that about four billion years ago, when Mars was a new planet it would have had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 140 meters deep, but the more likely scenario is that this water pooled to form an ocean that covered almost half of the planet's northern hemisphere. In some parts, the depths of this ancient ocean might have reached 1.6 kilometers or more. "Our study provides a solid estimate of how much water Mars once had, by determining how much water was lost to space," said Geronimo Villanueva, a scientist working at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA, and lead author of the new paper. "With this work, we can better understand the history of water on Mars."The new figures are the result of observing and classifying two different kinds of water on Mars. One is the garden-variety form of water, made with two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen, H2O. The other is HDO, or semi-heavy water, a naturally occurring variation in which one hydrogen atom is replaced by a heavier form, called deuterium.Water with this heavier element is not as easily lost to evaporation as H2O is, so the more water lost through evaporation, the greater the amount of HDO water left on Mars.The chemical signatures of the two types of water were analyzed and with these observations the team was able to calculate how much water must have existed during the planet's early years. While the planet is a desert today, the maps revealed microclimates and seasonal changes that have never been described.Ulli Kaeufl of ESO, who was responsible for building one of the instruments used in this study and is a co-author of the new paper, adds: "I am again overwhelmed by how much power there is in remote sensing on other planets using astronomical telescopes: we found an ancient ocean more than 100 million kilometers away!"The team was especially interested in regions near the north and south poles, because the polar ice caps are the planet's largest known reservoir of water. The water stored there is thought to document the evolution of Mars's water from the wet Noachian period, which ended about 3.7 billion years ago, to the present.The maps created by the team show that Mars must have lost a volume of water 6.5 times larger than the present polar caps based on the HDO concentrations found there. The volume of Mars's early ocean must have been at least 20 million cubic kilometers."With Mars losing that much water, the planet was very likely wet for a longer period of time than previously thought, suggesting the planet might have been habitable for longer," said Michael Mumma, a senior scientist at Goddard and the second author on the paper.The results of the study were published in the online journal Science on March 5, 2015

Aurorae are a familiar phenomenon on our home planet, Earth. Better known as the “northern lights” – aurorae are a beautifully dramatic atmospheric process which occurs when charged particles from the Sun interact with Earth’s atmosphere. The Sun is constantly ejecting charged particles – such as electrons – from its atmosphere, which creates a “solar wind.” The solar wind travels through space at very high speeds (up to 45 million miles per hour) and slams into whatever crosses its path. Luckily, Earth has a global magnetic field which protects us and all other life forms from these highly energized particles. When the solar wind reaches Earth’s atmosphere, its magnetic field redirects the particles towards the poles of the planet, where these high energy particles interact with our atmosphere, thus creating the beautiful lights we all love to see. But, did you know that aurorae can occur on other planets as well? They can, as long as the planet has an atmosphere and a magnetic field. Mars has neither an atmosphere or a magnetic field, but aurora have been observed there! Until now, scientists did not understand how these aurorae could exist. Physicists at the University of Iowa wanted to understand how aurora, which occur mostly during the night in the southern hemisphere on Mars, are formed. In a new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, physicists claim that aurora on Mars are produced by magnetic fields generated by the crust of the planet at southern latitudes. The team used more than 200 observations of aurora on Mars obtained by the NASA Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution – or MAVEN – Mission. MAVEN launched in November 2013, entering Mars’ orbit to begin observations in September 2014. The goal of this spacecraft is “to explore the planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and interactions with the Sun and solar wind to explore the loss of the Martian atmosphere to space.” The MAVEN Mission is allowing scientists to study aurora on Mars for the very first time. This study is the first to look at how the aurora occur and how solar wind conditions affect the aurora on Mars. The team notes that inside the strong crustal field regions, the aurora occurrence rate mostly depends on the orientation of the solar wind magnetic field, while outside the strong crustal field region, the occurrence rate depends mostly on the solar wind dynamic pressure. Sources: University of Iowa, Space.com

It turns out Earth isn’t the only planet with polar caps, as Mars has both a north and south polar cap, but instead of being made of frozen water, these caps are made of frozen carbon dioxide, since carbon dioxide is the dominant substance in the Martian atmosphere. These polar caps not only change due to the varying seasons on Mars, but also change due to changes in Mars’ axial tilt, which doesn’t have the same stability as Earth’s due to a lack of a large moon to stabilize it. The northern polar cap of Mars is quite large, spanning approximately 621 miles (1000 kilometers) across and 1,2 miles (2 kilometers) deep. This cap has been examined in great detail by numerous Mars orbiters, revealing subsurface geology to include deep troughs and large canyons and chasms. June 2019 image of the north polar cap of Mars. (Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) The southern polar cap of Mars is much smaller than the north cap, spanning only 260 miles (420 kilometers) across. Much like the northern cap, the southern cap also exhibits layered geology. December 2012 image of the south polar cap on Mars. (Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) As stated, the polar caps not only react to the changing seasons on Mars, but also in response to the axial tilt change of the entire planet. Currently, the axial tilt of Mars is approximately 25 degrees, but can get as high as 45 degrees, causing the polar caps to move to the equator of the Red Planet. The axial tilt change occurs on timescales of hundreds of thousands to millions of years and has profound effects on the planet’s atmosphere and surface. Sources: NASA, NASA (1), NASA (2), NASA (3) As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!

Sending missions to Mars isn’t as easy as it may seem at first glance. The solar system is continuously shifting as planets orbit the Sun, so it’s never a straight line from the Earth to another world. That said, how long does it actually take to get to Mars? The answer to that question depends on how close Mars is to Earth when we launch said mission. NASA usually waits until Mars gets close to Earth before starting a mission to conserve fuel and reach the destination more quickly. But even then, things are still complicated. NASA uses a particular path to get to Mars known as the Hohmann Transfer method; this involves sending the spacecraft into a special orbit such that it uses little fuel and intercepts Mars as it orbits the Sun. In a best-case scenario, this method takes approximately 260 days (8-9 months) to send a spacecraft from Earth to Mars, but as you might come to expect, that’s still a long time to wait. With a growing interest in crewed Martian exploration missions, the pressure is on to develop faster ways of traveling to Mars. NASA aims to achieve this goal by the 2030’s.

Most scientists agree that Mars once had a vibrant atmosphere similar to the Earth’s. Such an atmosphere would have differed slightly in composition from that of the atmosphere on Earth, but nevertheless, it’s something scientists have been trying to study for eons with clues from the Curiosity rover and the Marven satellite. Due to the way the red planet sits today, we can study the surface with the Curiosity rover and the overlaying atmosphere with the satellite and test hypotheses about what has caused the strange clues we find. Among those are traces of certain kinds of gasses in the atmosphere and evidence for sites where water once flowed on Mars. Image Credit: Aynur_zakirov/Pixabay On the other hand, if the atmosphere probably differed in composition from the Earth’s, then what was it made up of? According to a study published in Science Mag, Mars’ atmosphere was mostly composed of carbon dioxide and had traces of other kinds of gasses as well, including argon. You might also like: Mars' Curiosity Rover finds dust devils racing across the Martian surface The argon exists in two different kinds of isotopes, including the lighter argon 36 and the heavier argon 38. Very small traces of both can still be found in the atmosphere today with the Marven satellite. On the other hand, in order for liquid water to have existed on the red planet’s surface to create the structures we see today, which look like dried up rivers and deltas, it would have required a much thicker atmosphere than Mars has today, which would suggest that much of the atmosphere was somehow lost. Since Mars doesn’t have much of a magnetic field to protect it like the Earth does, it’s not rocket science to understand that solar wind would have played a big role in stripping away the planet’s atmospheric gasses and dragging them off into space. But just how much of the atmosphere was lost to space and what was it like before the stripping away started? By measuring the aforementioned argon isotopes, scientists were able to devise a ratio that helped them estimate that around 66% of Mars’ atmosphere has been lost to date since it initially formed. They kept in mind that argon 36 is lighter than argon 38 and that the former would have been more easily swept into space than the heavier counterpart. Other gasses, including the argon, would have been swept away as well, but since argon is an inert gas, we know that by studying it we can tell just how much of the atmosphere was swept away. The ratios of other lost gasses should be generally trendy with the numbers we’re seeing with argon. Related: How NASA plans to send mankind to Mars in just a few decades At one point, when the 66% of Mars’ atmosphere was still a part of the planet, there was enough atmospheric pressure for liquid water to exist. Unfortunately, as that atmosphere disappeared, so did the pressure that sustained the water. Understanding how Mars lost its atmosphere or exactly what it may have been like prior to doing so is no easy task, but it could provide important clues into what happens to a planet over time and whether or not Earth could share similar consequences in the future. Source: Forbes

NASA’s Moon to Mars Architecture has been instrumental in developing, designing, and executing the long-term goals of establishing not only a permanent human presence on the Moon but sending humans to Mars, someday. Today, NASA announced the results from the recent 2023 Moon to Mars Architecture Concept Review, which outlines key objectives, strategies, and key decisions in establishing a human presence on Mars in the future. The Concept Review discussed in detail the architecture objectives and segments for not only returning humans to the Moon but establishing a long-term presence there through testing new technologies, systems, and equipment that would be used on an eventual human mission to Mars. the Moon to Mars Objectives cover a myriad of goals, including lunar and planetary science, heliophysics, human and biological science, physics and physical sciences, science enabling, applied science, lunar infrastructure, Mars infrastructure, transportation and habitation, and operations. “Over the last year we’ve been able to refine our process for Moon to Mars architecture concept development to unify the agency,” Nujoud Merancy, who is the Deputy Associate Administrator for Strategy & Architecture for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD), said in a statement. “Our process in the coming months will focus on addressing gaps in the architecture and further reviewing the decisions the agency needs to make to successfully mount crewed Mars missions.” This Concept Review comes after NASA announced earlier this month that Artemis II and Artemis II have been pushed back to 2025 and 2026, respectively. However, the agency remains steadfast in its goal to land humans on the Moon in the next few years with its Artemis program, and Mars, someday. What progress towards the Moon to Mars Architecture will NASA make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science! As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! Sources: NASA, NASA (1), NASA (2), Labroots, NASA (3) Featured Image: NASA

We have a bevy of exploration equipment visiting Mars right now; some are orbiting the red planet, while some are physically rolling around on the surface. Whether they’re landers, orbiters, or rovers, they’re all about to have one thing in common: a moment of silence from NASA. Both Earth and Mars orbit the Sun, but because they orbit at different distances and speeds, the Sun sometimes finds its way in the middle of the line of sight between Earth and Mars. This event happens once every ~26 months, and it’s known as Mars solar conjunction. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Trying to communicate with our equipment on Mars during a conjunction is tricky. The sun radiates charged particles, which can interfere with radio signals sent between equipment on Earth and Mars. To prevent interference between signals transferred between communication equipment, NASA will refrain from sending any commands to Martian exploration equipment from July 22nd to August 1st. NASA follows this safety precaution because some of our Martian exploration equipment is programmed to act based off of commands. If one command we sent isn’t quite “clear” enough because the Sun distorts our signal, it could result in a miscommunication and the remote equipment may perform unwanted actions. "Out of caution, we won't talk to our Mars assets during that period because we expect significant degradation in the communication link, and we don't want to take a chance that one of our spacecraft would act on a corrupted command," said NASA’s Mars Relay Network Office manager Chad Edwards. Related: The Curiosity rover's wheels are beginning to break down We will continue receiving inbound signals from the equipment on Mars during the week-long event, but NASA will only abstain from sending any commands out. The data we do receive may be garbled until Mars gets out from behind the Sun after August 1st. Since NASA won’t send any commands during the conjunction, the agency is preparing by sending all their commands to our Mars equipment ahead of time. Doing so will keep it busy in the meantime, allowing it to continue scientific operations during the week-long silence. Many NASA scientists have experienced Mars solar conjunctions before, so this is nothing new. Because the space agency is so familiar with these events and how they work, they know how to prepare ahead of time. Source: NASA

The planet Mars is known for its vast array of inactive shield volcanoes, and a new volcano could be added to the family with a recent study presented at the 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, as a team of researchers announced the discovery of a massive volcano on Mars that is buried underneath the surface and could even possess a base comprised of glacier ice. This study holds the potential to help scientists better understand past volcanism and glaciation on the Red Planet that could provide clues to Mars’ geologic history. For the study, the researchers used images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera and data from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), which are both onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), along with data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) that was onboard the Mars Global Surveyor to analyze “Noctis Mons” (official name pending), which is located southeast of Mars’ Tharsis volcanic region and in the western region of Valles Marineris, known as the largest and deepest canyon in the solar system. Background image: NASA/USGS Mars globe. Geologic interpretation and annotations by Pascal Lee and Sourabh Shubham 2024 Sourabh Shubham, who is a PhD student in the University of Maryland’s Department of Geology and a co-author on the study said in a statement, “This area of Mars is known to have a wide variety of hydrated minerals spanning a long stretch of Martian history. A volcanic setting for these minerals had long been suspected. So, it may not be too surprising to find a volcano here. In some sense, this large volcano is a long-sought ‘smoking gun’.” The team estimates that Noctis Mons is approximately 29,600 feet (9,022 meters) in height with a diameter of 280 miles (450 kilometers). Additionally, the ancient lava flows surrounding Noctis Mons is estimated to span 1,930 square miles (5,000 square kilometers) with terrain indicative of explosive steam venting, which indicates a very active region at one time. Despite this being a very recent discovery, there is already discussion of conducting future research into Noctis Mons in hopes of better understanding Mars’ geologic history, astrobiology implications, and even future human and robotic exploration. What will Noctis Mons teach scientists about the history of Mars in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science! As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! Sources: 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, EurekAlert!, SETI Institute

NASA has been working on an advanced successor to the Martian Curiosity rover for quite some time. Dubbed the Mars 2020 rover, the upgraded SUV-sized autonomous rover will launch into space next Summer so that it can explore the red planet’s surface in more detail than any other similar mission before it. Mars 2020 has been coming together nicely, with one of the more recent updates being that the rover’s fully autonomous scouting helicopter had been attached to the main body. But even more recently, the Mars 2020 mission surpassed a significant milestone after engineers set the assembled machine down and its six legs and wheels supported its full weight for the very first time. "After years of design, analysis and testing, it is fantastic to see the rover on her wheels for the first time," recounted JPL mechanical systems engineer Ben Riggs. "The whole team looks forward to seeing her in the same configuration on Mars in the not too distant future." The Mars 2020 rover’s legs are constructed of blackened titanium, while the wheels are comprised of aluminum, just like those currently sported by the Curiosity rover. Both metals feature lightweight and stout qualities that are right for the job, although NASA is already experimenting with alternatives that won’t break down as quickly. Mars 2020 will arrive at Mars’ Jezero Crater in February 2021 where it will begin its preliminary analysis of the Martian surface with its upgraded observation technology. The onboard helicopter will autonomously scout points of interest as the rover conducts chemical analyses of each location in search for features consistent with the idea that Mars may have once been habitable.

If you look up into the night sky from July 27th to July 31st, then you might see what appears to be an ultra-luminous star. But we warned – that’s not really a star. The incredibly luminous object that you’re about to see is actually Mars, and according to NASA, it will be making its closest approach to Earth in 15 years on Tuesday, July 31st. Image Credit: NASA At the time of closest approach, Mars will be a mere 35.8 million miles away from our planet, providing stargazers with an extraordinary view. Mars should remain visible in the night sky for several months, but it will shrink after mid-August as the red planet moves further away from Earth in its orbit around the Sun. On the other hand, telescope-based observations probably won’t be as impressive this time around as those made in previous years. A planet-wide dust storm currently envelops the entire Martian surface, and it’s expected to obscure the view and make it more challenging to discern features on Mars’ surface. But it’s not all bad. Those without telescopes should notice that Mars will be much brighter than usual; this is because all the airborne dust is reflecting excess sunlight. Related: Infographic: how close are we to colonizing Mars? Citing NASA, the best time to view Mars will be several hours after sunset, when the planet is highest in the night sky. A good rule of thumb is to wait until midnight for optimal viewing conditions. Assuming you don’t get to look at Mars during its closest approach to Earth this year, you’ll get another chance in October of 2020, which is when Mars will make its next closest approach. Will you be gazing at Mars in the night sky next week? Source: NASA, YouTube

It's official, Mars rover Opportunity has completed a marathon on Mars!Although there was no cheering crowd at the Martian finishing line, there were no doubt cheers from mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., when the veteran Mars explorer reached 26.219 miles (42.195 kilometers) on the odometer, on March 24, becoming the first space mission ever to complete the equivalent distance of an Olympic marathon on another planet.The momentous distance was reached after Opportunity carried out a 46.5 meter drive into "Marathon Valley.""This is the first time any human enterprise has exceeded the distance of a marathon on the surface of another world," said John Callas, Opportunity project manager at JPL. "A first time happens only once.It took the rover 11 years and two months to complete the trek across Meridiani Planum since its landing on Jan. 25, 2004. At the time, the rover (and its twin sister Spirit) had a primary mission of only 3 months. 11 years later, though it is showing inevitable signs of aging, the rover is still doing groundbreaking science, helping us to piece together Mars' ancient habitability."This mission isn't about setting distance records, of course; it's about making scientific discoveries on Mars and inspiring future explorers to achieve even more," said Steve Squyres, Opportunity's principal investigator at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. "Still, running a marathon on Mars feels pretty cool."This milestone is symbolic, but it's an important one. It's a testament to the incredible engineering and science that has gone into Opportunity and her mission. The rover has been suffering some age-related problems of late, but it hasn't stopped this ingenious mission from rolling onward and conquering a grueling Martian marathon.(Source: Discovery News)

In a recent study published in Geophysical Research Letters, a team of researchers led by the University of Iowa discussed how the crust of Mars is far more diversified than previously hypothesized. The findings indicate the crust of Mars possesses greater amounts of silicon, as opposed to the basaltic (volcanic) that scientists have observed covering the surface of the Red Planet. The discovery of silicon indicates that the original crust of Mars resembles the first crust on Earth. This study holds the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of planetary bodies within our solar system. "There is more silica in the composition that makes the rocks not basalt, but what we call more evolved in composition," said Dr. Valerie Payré, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Iowa, and lead author of the study. "That tells us how the crust formed on Mars is definitely more complex than what we knew. So, it's more about understanding that process, and especially what it means for how Earth's crust first formed." For the study, the researchers examined nine locations in the southern hemisphere of Mars deemed to be an extremely old region on the planet. They discovered these locations contained high concentrations of feldspar, indicating the lava flows here were more silicic and basaltic, as the latter is seen more prevalent on present day Mars. "There have been rovers on the surface that have observed rocks that were more silicic than basaltic," said Dr. Payré. "So, there were ideas that the crust could be more silicic. But we never knew, and we still don't know, how the early crust was formed, or how old it is, so it's kind of a mystery still." The study’s findings with Mars could offer clues into Earth’s original crust, as plate tectonics make examining our own original crust impossible. "We don't know our planet's crust from the beginning; we don't even know when life first appeared," said Dr. Payré. "Many think the two could be related. So, understanding what the crust was like a long time ago could help us understand the whole evolution of our planet." Sources: Geophysical Research Letters As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!

At first glance, it looks as if Earth is the only planet in the solar system that has ever sported vast liquid oceans. On the other hand, planetary scientists think that Mars had flowing water of its own at one point in the past. Various clues support this theory, including the presence of gray-colored hematite in the red planet's plains, multiple sites of multi-layered rock that looks as if flowing water carved it out, and signs of chlorine and bromine residing in the rocks. Many of these discoveries wouldn't have been possible without NASA's Opportunity and Curiosity rovers, but exploration won't end there. The space agency's upcoming Mars 2020 rover is nearing completion and will soon pick up exploring where its predecessors left off. It should be interesting to see whether Mars 2020 validates these findings or if it discovers new ones entirely.

China is looking to expand its space program extensively within just the next few years. Not only does the nation expect to build its own crewed space lab at some point, much like the International Space Station, but China also wants to send exploration missions to Mars as soon as 2020. Image Credit: Pixabay "The Mars exploration program is well underway," said mission chief architect Zhang Rongqiao, at the Beijing International Forum on Lunar and Deep-space Exploration. "The payloads will be used to collect data on the environment, morphology, surface structure, and atmosphere of Mars." The mission will send 13 different payloads to Mars all at one time. Six of these will be rovers that deploy from a lander, and they’ll roam Mars’ surface, collecting valuable data along the way. Much like NASA’s Curiosity rover and the upcoming Mars 2020 rover, these machines will survey the red planet’s planetary features and propel scientific research by relaying data back to scientists on Earth for analysis. The other payloads could be a mix of landers and orbiters intended to study other aspects of the planet, but full details have yet to be released. The mission will blast off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the Hainan Province aboard a Long March-5 carrier rocket in 2020. Once in space, it will take seven months for the spacecraft to reach Mars. Following a successful orbital insertion, the spacecraft will release a lander that will touch-down in Mars’ northern hemisphere and deploy its rovers, starting a new frontier of space exploration for China. The mission would help the nation catch up to India, Russia, and the United States in space exploration, but more importantly, the addition of new eyes exploring the planets around us promotes scientific discoveries that could benefit all humanity. Source: Phys.org

NASA revealed in a public statement this week that it is planning to launch its Mars InSight mission some time in May 2018. The mission was originally scheduled for this month, however delays related to vacuum leakages in its main instrument led to its delay. Since we only get a chance to send spacecrafts to Mars every 2 years, which is when Earth and Mars are the closest to one another, we wouldn’t get the chance to send InSight any sooner than 2018 because the delays have forced NASA to miss their opportunity this year. The part of the InSight mission’s instrument that failed will be redesigned and strengthened to prevent vacuum leaks in the future. This will help ensure that the expensive experiment doesn’t go wrong for as long as possible while on the harsh surface of Mars. The InSight mission will involve sending a spacecraft to Mars carrying a special lander that will be able to drill into the planet’s surface to investigate deeper into the red planet’s surface. The device would be capable of seismic investigations that could be used to get an idea of the composition of the red planet. Even more than composition, the seismometer and temperature gauge will help scientists to better understand the formation of rocky planets, such as Earth and Mars among others. “The science goals of InSight are compelling, and the NASA and CNES plans to overcome the technical challenges are sound," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The quest to understand the interior of Mars has been a longstanding goal of planetary scientists for decades. We’re excited to be back on the path for a launch, now in 2018.” With InSight slowly making its way back on track, scientists are one step closer to finding the information they desire about the red planet. Some day, NASA wants to put humans on Mars, and understanding as much about the red planet as possible before that day comes is critical. Source: NASA

You know how every once in a while, in a presidential speech, or some statement from NASA, or a speech by someone in Congress you'll hear references to the US sending a manned mission to Mars sometime in the 2030's, but so far there doesn't seem to be any kind of definitive plan to actually make it happen? Well, that may be changing. On Tuesday, May 5th, the nonprofit organization Explore Mars Inc. hosted the Humans to Mars Summit in Washington, D.C. In the opening presentation, NASA administrator Charles Bolden assured the audience "consensus is emerging" about sending a manned mission to Mars. "This plan is clear," Bolden continued. "This plan is affordable, and this plan is sustainable."To prove that this wasn't just another vague statement by a government official, Bolden pointed out a number of projects NASA is currently engaged in which will be crucial in achieving its stated goal of getting humans to the vicinity of Mars by the mid-2030s. Bolden cited the one-year mission currently under way aboard the International Space Station to investigate the physiological and psychological effects of long-duration spaceflight on one astronaut and one cosmonaut. Bolden also cited the ongoing production and testing of the Orion space capsule and the Space Launch System, which will give NASA the capability of sending astronauts to pretty much anyplace in the inner solar system, including, the Moon, an asteroid, and Mars. NASA successfully completed the first unmanned test flight of Orion last December. The entire system is scheduled for a test launch in 2018.Bolden also discussed NASA's current next goal, an asteroid capture mission, during which the agency plans to grab a boulder off of the surface of an asteroid and put it in orbit around the moon, where it can be visited and studied by astronauts by 2025. He made the case that, though it has been roundly criticized as a distraction, the asteroid capture mission is, in fact, a stepping stone on the path to getting humans to Mars. "We really are trying to demonstrate we can develop the technologies and the techniques," Bolden said, "to help commercial companies, entrepreneurs and others get to asteroids and mine them." Bolden also explained that part of this mission will be the field testing solar electric propulsion, a potentially crucial element of a Mars mission in terms of vastly driving down cost and launch weight, two elements that could potentially stall a Mars mission for years or even decades.Other speakers included Scott Hubbard NASA's former "Mars czar", who reorganized the agency's robotic Mars exploration program after it suffered a series of failures in the 1990s. Hubbard is now working at Stanford University. He is also a member of the NASA Advisory Council tasked with evaluating the various methods for mounting a manned mission to Mars.During his presentation, Hubbard made a number of important points, including the current surge in public interest in manned exploration of Mars, and perhaps the most crucial element in making a manned Mars mission a reality: "If you don't lay out this plan," Hubbard explained, "you will create uncertainty in partners and decision-makers." Hubbard also underscored the fact that NASA is not alone in pursuit of a manned Mars mission. There are a number of private organizations that have stated goals for getting humans to Mars. Hubbard cautioned that if NASA isn't intentional about getting a manned mission to Mars, it might miss the opportunity to be the first to arrive there.Another speaker, former astronaut John Grunsfeld, countered detractors who say that a manned mission to Mars is just too expensive and that we can accomplish the same thing with robots for a fraction of the cost. First, he illustrated how much more efficient humans are at performing important scientific tasks as he estimated that the Curiosity rover's first mission which took the robot 90 days could have been accomplished by an astronaut in about 20 minutes. He went on to point out that if a robot or some other crucial piece of equipment breaks down and needs fixing, without humans on the ground, the mission is basically over.(Sources: space.com, The Humans To Mars Summit)

Recurrent slope lineae (RSL) are dark flows that extend downhill on Mars to form sandy patterns on its surface. Researchers have previously suggested they are made of liquid debris or dry granules. And now, researchers from the SETI Institute have proposed a new theory describing where they are likely to develop. In their new theory, the SETI team say that RSL's are created by a two-step process. To begin, underground water ice mixes with chlorine salts and sulfates. There, they give rise to a slurry that destabilizes dust, broken rocks, and other materials above. From then, dry wind and dust storms blow this destabilized material across Mars's surface to create new patterns. While the researchers have not been able to base their theory on live evidence from Mars itself, they have observed similar phenomena in various places on Earth that are similar to the Martian environment. For this study in particular, they based their findings on data collected from the Dry Valleys in Antarctica, where both soil geology and temperatures are very similar to those found on Mars, as confirmed by the Phoenix Lander and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). To test their theory, they conducted lab experiments to see what would happen if they froze and thawed Mars analog samples made from chlorine salts and sulfates at temperatures similar to those on Mars. "Probing the low-temperature behavior of Mars analog permafrost in the lab with infrared spectroscopy revealed that thin layers of liquid-like water were forming along grain surfaces as the salty soils thawed under subzero, Mars-like temperatures," says Merve Ye ilba , one of the study's authors. As such, the researchers found that this microscale liquid may migrate beneath the Martian surface, transferring water molecules between sulfates and chlorides as it goes. Lab tests using color indicators to mark these sulfate-chloride reactions further indicated both subsurface hydration of these salts and that they migrate throughout soil grains. "I was thrilled to observe such rapid reactions of water with sulfate and chloride salts in our lab experiments and the resulting collapse and upheave of Mars analog soil on a small scale, replicating geologic collapse and upheave features in karst systems, salt reservoirs, and edifice collapse on a large scale," said Janice Bishop, lead author of the study. "The presence of elevated concentrations of sulfates and chlorides a few centimeters below the harsh surface landscape in Wright Valley presents the intriguing possibility that these water-related mineralogical associations and attendant processes could exist on Mars as well." says Zachary Burton, one of the authors of the study. Sources: SETI, Universe Today

One of humankind’s most ambitious goals for the next decade is preparing to send astronauts to Mars for the very first time. Such a feat is projected to happen in the 2030s, but given just how challenging it seems to be getting NASA’s Artemis program kick-started, it’s thought-provoking to wonder if such an optimistic timeline holds any water. Among the various hazards that Mars presents to potential astronauts, perhaps the most deeply concerning is the augmented levels of radiation. Mars’ atmosphere isn’t as robust as the Earth’s, and neither is its magnetic field. Consequently, this also means that more space radiation is able to reach the red planet’s surface. Space radiation comes from several sources, including our own Sun and other stellar sources not in our solar system, such as supernovae. It can cause a plethora of complications for humans, like stripping atoms from our bodies, altering our cells and DNA, resulting in radiation sickness, and worst of all, invoking death. One of the best elements for resisting radiation is hydrogen. For that reason, researchers are experimenting with the idea of making space suits out of hydrogenated boron nitride nanotubes, which are not only strong, but also tremendously resistant to radiation. Similarly, this material would be ideal for lining spacecraft. There are a lot of ideas for curbing Mars’ space radiation, but with so many years to go before astronauts ever set foot on Mars, there’s still plenty of time to contemplate our options.

Mars is a bleak and lifeless place today, at least when compared to Earth’s standards. With that in mind, it’d take significant efforts to make the red planet even partially habitable by humans. Image Credit: NASA Several ambitious plans to colonize Mars have surfaced in recent years, with one suggesting that we terraform it by exploiting the greenhouse gasses available there to warm the planet up and make it more habitable. But would this idea actually work? Citing a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy this week, perhaps not; at least not with the limitations imposed by modern technology. While the concept seems brilliant at first glance, the single most significant issue with it is that Mars probably doesn’t have enough easily-reachable carbon dioxide to induce a global warming effect akin to the Earth’s. Data accrued by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), Mars Odyssey spacecraft, and MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) spacecraft helped the researchers formulate a “clean inventory” of Mars’ carbon dioxide stores and reach their conclusion. “These data have provided substantial new information on the history of easily vaporized (volatile) materials like CO2 and H2O on the planet, the abundance of volatiles locked up on and below the surface, and the loss of gas from the atmosphere to space,” explained study co-author Christopher Edwards from Northern Arizona University. Related: This is how Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars The point of warming Mars up would be to increase its atmospheric pressure so that liquid water could exist on its surface. Mars’ current atmospheric pressure is only 0.6% that of Earths, and harnessing accessible stockpiles of carbon dioxide would only bring that atmospheric pressure to a fraction of Earth’s, which isn’t enough to keep liquid water from evaporating. “Our results suggest that there is not enough CO2 remaining on Mars to provide significant greenhouse warming were the gas to be put into the atmosphere; in addition, most of the CO2 gas is not accessible and could not be readily mobilized,” added study lead author Bruce Jakosky from the University of Colorado, Boulder. “As a result, terraforming Mars is not possible using present-day technology.” The researchers admit that there could be additional resources deeper below the Martian surface, but the abundance there isn’t entirely known, and current technology would struggle to reach it without requiring unrealistic amounts of energy to do so. As it would seem, terraforming Mars may not be an option for the foreseeable future. But that doesn’t mean astronauts couldn’t visit the red planet in person with the help of protective space suits and pressurized habitation modules. Source: University of Colorado, Boulder

Physicists have found that in the distant past, Mars may not have been warm enough to carry vast oceans. Instead, in new research, they have found evidence that the red planet may have been covered in ice. "If you look at Earth from a satellite, you see a lot of valleys: some of them made by rivers, some made by glaciers, some made by other processes, and each type has a distinctive shape," says Anna Grau Galofre, lead author of the study in a statement "Mars is similar, in that valleys look very different from each other, suggesting that many processes were at play to carve them." For the theory, Grau Galofre and her team analyzed maps produced by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter, which studied Mars between 1997 and 2001. From the maps, the scientists developed a program that incorporated six different characteristics about over 10,000 valley segments and then compared each cluster with attributes on four different formation possibilities. In doing so, the researchers found that 22 of 66 networks most likely came from meltwater running under a glacier. Meanwhile, another nine matched patterns formed by glaciers themselves, with 14 best matching patterns made by rivers. The rest of the patterns were not distinct enough to draw any conclusions. The researchers also noted that the valleys all over the planet appeared to have been formed by meltwater running beneath glaciers. Those seemingly formed by rivers on the hand were generally found in Arabia Terra, an older region of the planet. The scientists say that their new findings match well with recent theories suggesting Mars may have been colder in the past than previously thought. "For the last 40 years, since Mars's valleys were first discovered, the assumption was that rivers once flowed on Mars, eroding and originating all of these valleys," says Grau Galofre. "We tried to put everything together and bring up a hypothesis that hadn't really been considered." Sources: Space.com, EurekAlert

There hasn’t been a serious space race since the Cold War, but now things are starting to heat up again. This time, it’s not between two nations, but rather between two commercial space companies based out of the United States. SpaceX is one of those, and CEO Elon Musk wants to send mankind to the red planet sometime in the next couple of decades, but Boeing is another, and also wants to be a part of the commercial space industry, touting its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket as being right for the job. Boeing, no stranger to the space industry by any means, has essentially challenged SpaceX to a space race after Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing’s CEO, announced in a conference that he was confident the first person to land on Mars would do so using a Boeing rocket. In case you were wondering where else Boeing has been a part of the space industry, it turns out they were the company behind the Saturn V rocket that took mankind to the Moon. With this experience under their belt, they may actually have what it takes to compete with the rocket-landing competitor SpaceX. Both companies have agreements with NASA and fit the bill as possible candidates for space travel to the red planet, but both companies also have very different backgrounds. Boeing has a lot more experience under their belt, while SpaceX has a much more colorful imagination and lots of money to back it. NASA, too, is interested in sending mankind to Mars, but Musk of SpaceX has been one of the most optimistic speakers about colonizing other planets in our solar system, illustrating the company’s interest in being the company to do so. When it comes right down to who's going to get there first, that's not entirely the most important detail. This is something nobody has ever done before, and making sure it's done right so the astronauts will have everything they need to survive the trip and collonization of Mars is easily the most important detail of the trip. Getting human beings to land on Mars undoubtedly one of the next major things space exploration and travel will see happen within the next few decades, but who will get there first? We’ll just have to wait and see. Source: Bloomberg

NASA’s Perseverance rover, formerly known as just the Mars 2020 rover, will do quite a bit more than merely drive around on Mars snapping photographs and drilling into the planet’s surface. It will also carry a unique experiment to the red planet dubbed the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, or MOXIE for short. MOXIE is a golden box that will be safely tucked away inside the rover’s chassis, and it will attempt to convert minute amounts of Mars’ atmospheric carbon dioxide into pure, breathable oxygen. It will work by taking advantage of solid oxide electrolysis to rip an oxygen atom away from existing carbon dioxide molecules, resulting in carbon monoxide, oxygen, and other byproducts. Mars’ atmosphere is approximately 95% carbon dioxide, so there’s plenty of gas available to be converted into oxygen. Unfortunately, MOXIE will only produce small amounts of oxygen – around six grams per hour – or just enough to keep a small dog alive. Additionally, MOXIE won’t be operational all the time, as Perseverance will need to conserve energy for other and more essential scientific operations. If successful, MOXIE could prove once and for all that it’s possible to generate enough oxygen to support human life on Mars. This would be essential if we were ever to send astronauts to live on the red planet for long periods of time. That said, it will be interesting to see how MOXIE pans out and how its processes will impact future Martian science.

As humanity travels back to the Moon in the next few years and potentially Mars in the next decade, how much of a role should planetary protection play regarding the safeguarding of these worlds? This is what a recent study published in Space Policy hopes to address as a team of international researchers discuss prioritizing planetary protection and sustainability could not only aid in space exploration but also sustainability on Earth, as well. For the study, the researchers propose the expansion of current planetary protection policies to help safeguard against security, orbital debris, and crowding, as current policies only focus on preventing biological contamination from human activities. While biological contamination might not be a concern on the Moon given it lacks the necessary conditions to support life, the planet Mars is hypothesized to have once possessed microbial life deep in its ancient past and could potentially be hosting life beneath its surface. “Sustainability must become a core principle of human space exploration,” said Dr. Dimitra Atri, who is an investigator in the Center for Astrophysics and Space Science at NYU Abu Dhabi and lead author of the study. “Just as we view climate change as the great challenge facing our terrestrial human society, the space community should begin to address space sustainability with the same urgency.” This study comes as NASA prepares to land the first woman and person of color on the lunar surface in the next few years with the agency’s Artemis program, along with having ambitions to land humans on Mars someday through the agency’s Moon to Mars Architecture. Additionally, an increasing number of nations are sending spacecraft to the Moon and beyond in hopes of finding life or preparing to land their astronauts on the Moon or Mars, as well. Dr. Atri said, “The rules and procedures implemented now will govern the next generation of space exploration -- rules that create a basis for clean and safe space exploration that will not only be productive and enforceable for years to come but are also stronger and more specific in their requirements and enforceability.” What role will planetary protection and sustainability have in space exploration in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science! As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! Sources: Space Policy, EurekAlert!, NASA Featured Image: Artist rendition of astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. (Credit: NASA)