How unique is the climate of Mars compared to Earth? This is what a recent study published in Nature Geoscience hopes to address as a team of international researchers investigated how frost could form on the summits of volcanoes that comprise the Tharsis volcanic province on Mars. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand the present-day water cycle on the Red Planet and could have implications for harnessing some of it for future human exploration, as well. For the study, the researchers used more than 30,000 images from the European Space Agency’s Trace Gas orbiter and the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter to analyze morning frost on the summits of Olympus Mons (Mars’ tallest volcano and the tallest planetary mountain in the solar system), Arsia and Ascraeus Montes, and Ceraunius Tholus. Additionally, the researchers used climate model simulations to ascertain if water could condense and form at these summits, as well. Computer-generated image of Olympus Mons with frost on its summit (blue) (Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (A. Valantinas)) In the end, the researchers determined the source of the frost is Mars’ atmosphere, which could have implications for better understanding the water cycle on Mars. Additionally, the team determined that the surface temperatures at the summits during the early morning would not result in water condensing and forming on the summits. This sending finding correlates with liquid water being unable to form anywhere on the Martian surface due to the planet’s atmosphere being a fraction of the Earth's atmosphere. “We thought it was improbable for frost to form around Mars’ equator, as the mix of sunshine and thin atmosphere keeps temperatures during the day relatively high at both the surface and mountaintop — unlike what we see on Earth, where you might expect to see frosty peaks,” said Dr. Adomas Valantinas, who is a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University but conducted the research as a PhD student at the University of Bern, and is lead author of the study. “What we're seeing may be a remnant of an ancient climate cycle on modern Mars, where you had precipitation and maybe even snowfall on these volcanoes in the past.” Going forward, Dr. Valantinas plans to continue studying Mars while focusing on how microbial life could have lived in ancient hydrothermal environments on the Red Planet deep in its past. What new discoveries will researchers make about Mars and its unique climate 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 Geoscience, EurekAlert!, Brown University

There is certainly a lot of determination to get to Mars, and among some of the biggest organizations behind that determination are NASA and SpaceX, both which hope to have the first human habitation on the red planet within just a few more decades. On the other hand, another contender now wants to put human habitation on Mars, and it’s not a corporation, but rather a country. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is expressing its interest in putting mankind on Mars too, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of the UAE is determined to see to it that the country builds a habitable city on Mars by 2117. Image Credit: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum/Twitter While it sounds like a long time in the future to come, and it is, it might just be a more realistic figure than any that have been mentioned previously by any other organization; at least for an interplanetary city. SpaceX wants to put the first humans on Mars within the next decade, but that’s not the same as building an entire city on the red planet. NASA also wants to put people on Mars, but they are aiming for at least 20-30 years in the future, where permanent habitation could be possible. One such idea that has been put forth already is a special dome-shaped habitation modules made of ice, which can protect the inhabitants from cosmic radiation. Still though, this lone habitation module wouldn’t be an entire city; it would be a single isolated research center, similar to that of the International Space Station. For what it’s worth, such a proposed city wouldn’t be limited to scientists from the UAE; the project calls for a warm welcome to international efforts to build it and for international scientists as well, in order to help push human exploration and knowledge forward. "The project, to be named 'Mars 2117,' integrates a vision to create a mini-city and community on Mars involving international cooperation," Sheikh Mohammed said in a public statement. "Mars 2117 includes a major space sciences focus in our universities. We're building a space pioneering passion among our young people.” Over the next century, building a city on Mars would involve several space trips to get building supplies shipped to our planetary neighbor and to put people there to get to work on building all of it. Indeed, the future of space exploration looks bright, but whether or not these bold ambitions will actually be realized remains to be seen. Nevertheless, with so much effort from organizations that know what they’re doing, it’s hoped that one day we’ll achieve becoming an interplanetary species and make Stephen Hawking very proud. Source: Twitter via Mashable

There’s seemingly endless evidence that water once flowed on the Martian surface, and in addition to that, many theories exist concerning the presence of water just beneath the planet’s surface. But these things aside, detecting liquid water on Mars has been an ongoing challenge for researchers. With that in mind, it’s not difficult to understand why the first-ever detection of liquid water beneath Mars’ surface is receiving loads of attention as of late. The findings appear in the journal Science. Image Credit: USGS Astrogeology Science Center, Arizona State University, INAF After spending almost two years analyzing radar data from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft, a team of researchers led by Roberto Orosei of Italy’s National Institute of Astrophysics in Bologna say they’ve found evidence for a briny lake residing about a mile underneath Mars’ polar ice caps. The researchers say they’ve ruled out the possibility that their detection could be underground ice, and instead signify that it’s a 12-mile-wide sub-surface liquid water lake. Assuming the findings are correct, then this would mark the first time scientists have found a large body of water on Mars. “I really have no other explanation,” Orosei said. "This is just one small study area; it is an exciting prospect to think there could be more of these underground pockets of water elsewhere, yet to be discovered." Related: Terraforming Mars not possible with current technology, study suggests Not only do the results set a precedent in Mars-based research, but they also breathe new life into the longstanding notion that Mars could support alien life. “Water is there,” added study co-author Enrico Flamini. “It is liquid, and it’s salty, and it’s in contact with rocks,” he added. “There are all the ingredients for thinking that life can be there, or can be maintained there if life once existed on Mars.” Related: NASA's Curiosity rover discovers organic compounds and more on the Martian surface At this point, the findings are preliminary and limited; additional research is needed to validate these claims and to test the underground environment for potential habitability. Assuming the researchers are right on this one, then it could change how we think about Mars. Source: New York Times, USA Today

It’s commonly said that roughly half of all missions to Mars have succeeded- while roughly half have failed. But as it turns out, what counts as a successful or failed mission is more complicated than working out a simple percentage. Why is this? Missions to Mars usually rely on several moving parts. Should one of these parts fail, even though other parts remain intact, whether the mission in sum counts as a success or failure becomes highly subjective. A good example of this is the British-built Beagle 2 probe. Although it reached the Martian surface intact, it failed to communicate back to Earth as one of its four spacecraft ‘petals’ failed to open. Surely, this could be considered a failure- as of course, its utility was more limited than expected- but it still reached the planet. Given the difficulty of even making a landing, this alone may be considered a success. After all, many other lander missions have ended up as scrap while trying to land. Could the Beagle 2 probe, therefore, be considered a partial success? How exactly a Mars mission is defined also impacts success and failure ratios. For example, should missions to the planet’s moons be considered as ‘missions to Mars’ too? And how about missions, like NASA’s ‘Dawn’ and the Rosetta probe by the European Space Agency, that made a flyby of Mars on the way to their final destinations? It is for this reason- to avoid complications in definition- that many choose to say ‘roughly half’ of Mars missions failed or succeeded. Regardless, out of all possible missions to Mars, so far, NASA has the best record for anything that may count as a ‘success’ in landing missions. Out of a total of 12 landing attempts on the red planet from different space agencies, only eight have been successful- and all of these have been from NASA. Sources: BBC, Planetary Society

It’s officially 2020, and with that in mind, anyone paying attention to NASA’s launch schedule should know already that the Mars 2020 rover is slated to launch this Summer so that we can study the red planet in our solar system with substantially greater detail than any Martian rover deployed before it. Mars 2020 is built on almost the same chassis as the Curiosity rover, but internally, there are several upgrades that help it stand apart from its predecessor. For example, Mars 2020 comes with higher quality cameras, a sampling system that will drill into Mars’ surface and capture chunks of rock for analysis, and upgraded wheels that promise not to degrade as easily as the Curiosity rover’s have. But it’s not just the rover itself that’s better, NASA says Mars 2020 will carry a solar-powered autonomous helicopter that will seek nearby points of interest for the rover to drive to. This is especially exciting because NASA has never sent a flying vehicle to another planet before, and it promises to advance space exploration into the next decade in ways we could only imagine several years ago. Mars 2020 is currently sitting in a sterile clean room environment, and it’ll remain there until February when it gets shipped to Florida. Mars 2020 will then remain in Florida until it launches this Summer. The long wait ensures that the rover launches when Earth is at its closest proximity to Mars, a method of getting to the red planet that conserves fuel. It should be interesting to see what we’ll learn about NASA from the Mars 2020 mission when it officially touches down in February 2021.

The target of this observation is a circular depression in a dark-toned unit associated with a field of cones to the northeast. At the scale of an image taken by MRO's Context Camera, which provides wide area views to provide context for high-resolution analysis, the depression appears to expose layers especially on the sides or walls, which are overlain by dark sands presumably associated with the dark-toned unit. The HiRISE camera's resolution, which is far higher than that of the Context Camera and its larger footprint, can help identify possible layers.

As the interest in colonizing Mars grows, researchers are scrambling to find miracle materials that might help with this long-term goal. In addition to shielding astronauts from Mars’ merciless day and night temperatures, it will be important to protect against the harmful space radiation that so effortlessly pierces the red planet’s thin atmosphere. Among all the materials that show promise, silica aerogel is perhaps on the top contenders. It has already been used in all Martian rovers to date as an insulator, and its insulative yet translucent properties make it the ideal material for Martian greenhouses, which will be vital for growing food for potential astronauts. Aerogel is the lightest-known solid on Earth, and because of its incredible properties, it can insulate up to 39 times better than fiberglass to keep greenhouse temperatures stable. But perhaps more importantly, because it’s translucent, light can still pass through for an important plant-related process called photosynthesis. Intriguingly, scientists think that it might be possible to use aerogel to warm things up even more by reducing its ‘smokiness,’ but that will be an engineering feat in and of itself. While aerogel seems like a perfect material on paper however, it does have one significant pitfall: it’s brittle. Being made of similar components as glass, it wouldn’t take much to shatter aerogel. This is something that we’d need to overcome, or otherwise, astronauts on Mars would have to be very careful not to break anything.

Planetary scientists with NASA have spent the better part of five years analyzing the Martian surface and trying to decide where the best landing place for the upcoming Mars 2020 rover would be. Fortunately, it appears that the American space agency has officially made up its mind. In a public statement released by NASA Monday afternoon, we learn that planetary scientists have selected Mars’ Jezero Crater to be the official landing site for the Mars 2020 rover. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL/MSSS/Brown University Despite the plethora of other places NASA could have chosen to land the Mars 2020 rover, the Jezero Crater was particularly unique. Not only do planetary scientists think it once hosted a 1,600-foot deep liquid water lake between 3.5 and 3.9 billion years ago, but a bevy of rivers are believed to have branched from it. Citing the talented folks at NASA, environments like this are the ideal place to search for evidence of past life on Mars. If the theories about lost waterways are accurate, then it’s entirely plausible that they once supported life and those remnants could still be preserved there. "The delta is a good place for evidence of life to be deposited and then preserved for the billions of years that have elapsed since this lake was present," explained Ken Farley, the project scientist for the Mars 2020 mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Related: Behind the scenes of building the Mars 2020 rover Mars 2020 will land in the same way that the Curiosity rover did in 2012, but landing in Jezero Crater will be challenging. Its deltas are littered with jagged boulders and sand traps that could cause trouble for the Mars 2020 rover if it doesn’t land in just the right spot. The rover will avoid these treacherous obstacles while following an automated path along the delta. It will collect various samples along the way, some of which will be tested in-house for traces of life and others that will be preserved so that they can be retrieved and sent back to Earth for analysis in the future. Planetary scientists are particularly excited about this mission because it promises to tell us more about Earth-like planets in our solar system and how they formed. Learning this key information could teach us more about how the Earth came to be and why the Earth is so habitable today. "Mars is one of four terrestrial planets in the solar system, and it actually has the best record of what was going on in the first billion years of planetary formation," said Michael Meyer, the lead scientist of NASA's Mars Exploration Program. "During the same time that life started on Earth, life could have started on Mars." "Mars had conditions more similar to Earth early on—in the first billion years—so what may have been happening in our solar system that allowed life to start on this planet may also be evident on Mars itself," Meyer added. "Because there are so many ancient rocks on the surface of Mars, this information is more accessible." Related: NASA's Mars 2020 rover will sport 20/20 vision NASA’s Mars 2020 rover is scheduled to launch in July of 2020, but it won’t reach the red planet until February 2021. Some of the most advanced systems available today comprise the Mars 2020 rover, and so it's no surprise that expectations are as high as they are. It should be interesting to see what NASA will learn from Mars 2020, and more importantly, what it might find that its predecessors missed. Only time will tell… Source: NASA, Phys.org

Back in 2013, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched a Mars-orbiting spacecraft dubbed the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also known as Mangalyaan. While the mission was particularly important for demonstrating ISRO’s space capabilities, the spacecraft itself was particularly intriguing for a number of reasons. For one, MOM orbits Mars differently than NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) because it follows a highly elliptical orbit. Another significant difference is that the spacecraft sports a standard camera that views objects much like our own eyes would; with that in mind, it snags realistic pictures of the red planet that other imaging techniques simply can’t match. MOM has captured incredible images of Mars over the years, with some of the best showcasing the red planet’s icy poles, massive planet-wide dust storms, and the craters that populate the world’s vast surface. The real color images also depict the contrast in the red planet’s surface sediment from one region to another. The mission has also revealed a lot about Mars’ atmosphere, volcanic activity, and dust devils, among other things. With this information, planetary scientists can hypothesize about Mars’ distant past. MOM might not be as advanced as some of the other spacecraft exploring Mars right now, but that’s not to say it hasn’t contributed a lot to our modern understanding of our neighboring planet.

We’re used to seeing airplanes and helicopters in the sky on Earth, but scientists still aren’t entirely sure whether the same forms of air travel would be feasible on other planets in the solar system, like Mars. To find out, NASA wants to send a little drone-like helicopter to the red planet along with the upcoming Mars 2020 rover. This would enable the space agency to test the Earth-proven flight technology in an atmosphere with polarizing physical properties. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Mars’ atmosphere is about 100 times thinner than Earth’s, so NASA engineers will compensate by adjusting the dynamics of the Martian helicopter’s operation so that it can still take flight. One of the compensations involves slimming the helicopter’s size so that it’s comparable to a softball, and it will only weigh about four pounds. Another compensation encompasses a harder-working motor, which needs to spin the blades at a rate of about 3,000 revolutions per minute (RPM); that’s nearly ten times faster than the blades of a traditional Earth-worthy helicopter. "The idea of a helicopter flying the skies of another planet is thrilling," said Nasa Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "The Mars Helicopter holds much promise for our future science, discovery, and exploration missions to Mars." Related: NASA wants to send a submarine to explore Titan's methane-based oceans Such an idea would push Martian scientific research forward at a significant rate. Air-based vehicles can travel more quickly than rovers, and this would let NASA target the most intriguing places for Martian rovers to navigate to more quickly. But because Mars is so distant from Earth, NASA engineers won’t be able to control the helicopter remotely. Instead, it will need to operate autonomously, and solar panels will keep its batteries charged in between flights. After it flies away for 30-90 seconds to collect information, it would return to the Mars 2020 rover to downlink the data it collected for transmission to scientists on Earth. Sounds pretty cool, right? Related: Watch these guys fly beside a massive A380 airplane with personal jetpacks NASA isn’t 100% certain that the concept will work, so it’s being classified as a “high-risk” mission. But even if it doesn’t work out as planned, the Mars 2020 rover can continue doing its own thing. It should be interesting to see how the mission pans out and whether a helicopter-like autonomous vehicle will help the Mars 2020 rover explore the red planet’s surface. With a little luck, anything is possible. Source: NASA

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has announced that it will launch Tianwen-1 ('Quest for Heavenly Truth') in July. The spacecraft consists of an orbiter, a lander and a rover- a triad no other nation has accomplished on its first mission to Mars. If successful, the mission would mark dramatic progress for China's space program, and 'put China among elite company,' according to Mason Peck, an aerospace engineer at Cornell University. China has previously made several lunar landers. Its only other attempt to Mars however, an orbiter launched alongside a Russian mission to the Martian moon, Phobos, was unsuccessful. So far, only 10 of 18 lander and rover missions to Mars have landed. While nine of these successes were by NASA, one was by Russia; however, it lost communications almost immediately upon arrival. The CNSA chief mission architect, Zhang Rongqiao, said in a July 2019 lecture that their goal is not just to land, but also to 'explore and gather as much scientific data as possible.' Besides this, however, the CNSA has released few details of its mission to the press and has not yet announced which of two potential landing sites it prefers. Jim Bell, a planetary scientist at Ariza State University, said, "I speculate [CNSA engineers] are looking to particularly demonstrate a safe landing." Earlier reports say that Tianwen-1 should be able to reach Mars within 7 months of launch, although the orbiter will only be able to release the lander after several more months. The orbiter is then expected to relay communications to Earth for around 23 months, or one Martian year. Later this year, China also plans to launch its Chang' e 5 mission to bring rocks back from the Moon- something that has not been done since the 1976 Soviet Union Luna mission. Should Tianwen-1's and Chang' e 5's missions go to plan, CNSA has suggested that it may attempt to return samples from Mars from around 2030. Sources: Science Mag, News 18

Recently, we explored our history of wonder for Mars and humanity’s fascination with the Red Planet dating back to the time of the ancient Egyptians. The mysterious fourth planet from the Sun went from being worshipped as a god by the ancient Romans to many believing there were technological civilizations and a borderline tropical paradise present in the late-19th and early-20th centuries due to the passionate work of Percival Lowell. These latter views were quickly vanquished as the first close-up images of Mars taken by the Mariner 4 spacecraft in 1965 revealed a crater-filled world that looked much like our own Moon. This was later followed by the first surface images of Mars taken by the Viking 1—and subsequent Viking 2— lander in 1976, this time revealing a world with geology and surface features that were actually similar to Earth. NASA would not land another spacecraft on Mars until 1997 with the Pathfinder mission and its Sojourner rover. This began a new era of Mars surface exploration, as Pathfinder paved the way for the Spirt and Opportunity rovers, eventually followed by the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, the latter two of which are currently operational. Along with surface operations, there have also been dozens of satellite missions sent to Mars since the 1960s from countries such as the United States, Russia, China, India, and the United Arab Emirates. While only a handful remain in operation, they continue to teach us about Mars’ history while inching closer to discovering whether there was past—or even present—life on the Red Planet. One such operational mission is the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which was launched in August 2005 and achieved orbital insertion around Mars in March 2006. MRO is very unique in that it carries the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, which can have a pixel size as small as a basketball in some images. This makes HiRISE the most powerful camera we have ever sent to another world, and it has completely changed how we see Mars by sending back breathtaking images of a landscape we once thought was just a dry and dead world. Here, you can see some of these breathtaking HiRISE images, their locations on Mars, and learn just what makes these images so extraordinary. HiRISE Images Below, are some of the most fascinating images HiRISE has taken of the Martian surface from orbit. All of these images are shown in what is known as “false color”— meaning they start out as black and white and are then colored. Most often this is to highlight interesting features of the object in the image, as well as to make the data more meaningful. Let’s get started! Martian “Trees” In 1976, the Viking 1 orbiter photographed the famous “Face on Mars” which made everyone think there was possibly intelligent life on the Red Planet. This was later disproven as nothing more than a natural geological formation, but it hasn’t stopped the phenomenon of seeing faces and shapes in random objects—also known as pareidolia—from taking hold, as seen in this HiRISE image from Mars’ north pole. At first glance, the above image does give the appearance of actual trees growing on the surface of Mars, which would indicate signs of life. But this is merely an illusion, much like the “Face on Mars”. The “trees” that you’re actually seeing in this false color image from HiRISE are actually dark basaltic sand having been pushed to the surface of sand dunes by sun-heated solid carbon dioxide ice, also known as dry ice, that has sublimated—evaporated—into a vapor. Dust Devil Unlike the aforementioned “trees”, this next image isn’t an illusion. This is a standard Martian dust devil whose plume is about 30 meters (98 feet) in diameter streaking across Amazonis Planitia. The shadow length of the plume indicates that it reaches more than 800 meters (2624 feet), or half a mile, into the sky, as it scurries across the surface, cleaning it as it goes. Sand Dunes in Nili Patera Nili Patera is a very active dune field on Mars, located on top of a solidified lava bed near the Martian equator at the site of an ancient volcano, the Nili Patera caldera of Syrtis Major. This particular image, acquired in 2014, has been an area of interest for scientists, who use HiRISE to monitor the dune activity every few months. Here, you can see obvious dune migration based on the countless ripples, and the lee faces of the dunes, or the part of the dune facing away from the wind—bright face—demonstrate recent avalanches. Mars Avalanche The following image shows a literal avalanche in progress in the north polar region of Mars, which can be caused by either the thawing of carbon dioxide ice or marsquakes. While the overall temperatures on Mars are much colder than Earth, the Red Planet still experiences seasons where it’s colder in the winter and warmer in the spring and summer. In the case of Mars, this “warmer” weather often leads to frozen carbon dioxide ice thawing. In terms of marsquakes, geologists have seen seismic shocks as powerful as magnitude-7 here on Earth. “Starfleet Insignia” Sand Dunes While this image resembles a certain sci-fi series symbol, they’re actually sand dunes in Mawrth Vallis, also known as barchan dunes. The spacing of such dunes are often the function of sand supply, wind speed, and topography, and they can form when the wind blows predominantly in one direction. Victoria Crater This impact crater at Meridiani Planum near the Martian equator is approximately 800 meters (2624 feet), or half a mile, in diameter. Note how this crater’s diameter is equal to the approximate height of the dust devil presented earlier. Its distinctive scalloped-shaped rim is likely caused by erosion and downhill movement of crater wall material. A striking field of sand dunes is clearly visible on the crater’s floor while layered sedimentary rocks are also exposed along the inner walls. Martian “Millipedes” The “Face on Mars” and carbon dioxide ice “trees” we discussed earlier are two of countless places on Mars where pareidolia is present, and the sand dunes in this image are definitely an excellent example, as one might mistake them for millipedes. These dunes are similar to the “Starfleet” barchan dunes discussed earlier, as their spacing is often sensitive to subtle shifts in wind circulation patterns and wind strength. Icy Surface Crater Mars is covered in ice, some made of water and some carbon dioxide, but another thing the Red Planet is covered in are craters. Lots and lots of craters. Combine the two and you get an amazing image, as depicted here by this terraced crater. Such a crater is often made if the underground material changes from weak to strong, and this particular crater indicates the upper surface is most likely made of ice. “Oyster” Crater This oddly shaped crater in the north polar region of Mars looks spectacular in false color showing the stark contrast between the ice deposits and layered deposits. But this crater also carries the distinction of being the sole impact crater for miles, indicating the layered deposits in this region of the planet could only a few million years old. This relative age is often determined by crater counting, where craters are literally counted in a specified area where the lower the count, the younger the surface is. While Mars has seen a plethora of missions from several nations over the last half-century, none have displayed Mars in breathtaking beauty as the HiRISE camera onboard MRO. This camera continues to change the way we literally see Mars and will continue to help us better understand our Red Planet neighbor for years to come. HiRISE may even help bring about better cameras used on future missions to either Mars or other planets in the solar system. As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! Sources: Labroots, NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive, NASA Radioisotope Power Systems, CNN, Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Exploration Program (1), Mars 2020 Mission Perseverance Rover, NASA MRO, NASA HiRISE, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Smithsonian Magazine, NASA, Space.com (1), Lunar & Planetary Laboratory (1), Wikipedia (1), AmericaSpace, Wikipedia (2), Mars Exploration Program (2), NBC News, Space.com (2), Lunar & Planetary Laboratory (2), Lunar & Planetary Laboratory (3), Lunar & Planetary Laboratory (4)

NASA's Mars 2020 rover continues to be a work in progress, but have you ever wondered how NASA puts it all together? A lot of the magic happens at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and a recently-published 360-degree YouTube video shows us a sneak peek at some of the behind-the-scenes assembly work concerning the Mars 2020 rover. The engineers wear full bunny suits to prevent any microbes from their bodies from encountering the Mars 2020 rover components. If they did, then it would contaminate the Martian surface with Earthly microbes and trigger false positives when Mars 2020 begins its search for life. A lot of tedious measurements and assembly go into creating the final product, but it's sure to be worth it by the time Mars 2020 finally makes it to the red planet to begin scientific research.

NASA eventually wants to send mankind to Mars to explore the planet for traces of life and to test its habitability given that we can sustain a scientific research environment there. On the other hand, how will we get around? Rather than relying on foot to get places, NASA will have to develop some kind of futuristic-looking, other-worldly space vehicle. One of the concepts, which has been created purely for entertainment purposes, is shown in this video. Despite how closely it resembles a heavily-armored SWAT or military truck, it doesn't weigh much more than a full-sized pickup truck at 5,000 pounds. This particular vehicle will never see Mars, but the vehicle is built out of aluminum and carbon fiber materials to stay lightweight and features a unique type of wheel that's made for crawling up the sand dunes, which are found everywhere on the red planet, without getting stuck. In addition, it has tons of bright lights, mock-up life support, and communications systems that make is a versatile tool for potential Mars researchers. We're not entirely sure how or when a trip to Mars will be possible, but preparing prototypes for the vehicles and equipment we might need before the time to go comes is probably a good idea.

SpaceX is an American commercial space company that has contracts with NASA to produce rockets capable of delivering payloads to space. Among those, are spacecraft that take astronauts to and from the International Space Station, as well as supplies for those who are already there. In the future however, SpaceX hopes to use their talent as rocket scientists to someday put mankind on the red planet: Mars. This is a goal that is shared by NASA, and is hoped to be achieved within a couple of decades. Elon Musk, the man behind SpaceX, has said he believes we can put people on Mars as soon as 2025, but more realistic estimates from NASA say this would happen closer to 2030 or 2040. There is just a lot of technology that needs to be developed to ensure that astronauts can survive for long periods of time in a hostile environment like that on Mars. Getting us there is another thing entirely. Current rockets are not capable of taking mankind to Mars with the supplies they'll need, mostly because of the weight/fuel ratio. Future rockets will be far more powerful and provide the additional thrust necessary with a not-so harsh economic backlash in the cost of fuel.

NASA's mission to explore the atmosphere and evolution of the climate on Mars reported some startling information this week. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) team reported that at one time Mars was probably a warm, wet planet much more capable of sustaining life. In a press release, MAVEN principal investigator at the University of Colorado Bruce Jakosky said MAVEN measurements indicated that the solar winds were stripping gas away from the planet at a high rate, leaving it dry and cold. "Like the theft of a few coins from a cash register every day, the loss becomes significant over time. We've seen that the atmospheric erosion increases significantly during solar storms, so we think the loss rate was much higher billions of years ago when the sun was young and more active." It wasn't just storms from ancient history either. MAVEN found that in March of 2015 a series of intense storms hit the planet and accelerated the loss even further. The solar winds, full of protons and electrons, are coming at Mars from three different directions. The relentless barrage has made the planet cold and unlikely to support life.

SpaceX his hell-bent on sending humans to Mars, but so is one of the commercial space company's most significant competitors: Lockheed Martin. In fact, Lockheed Martin will collaborate with NASA to develop the first Martian Space Station by 2028. It doesn't have an official name yet, but the Martian space station would hold up to six astronauts at one time. Those onboard the spacecraft could then make observations of Mars up close, and discern the best landing spots for the first human visitors just a few years later. The space station could also act as a go-between and shelter for when astronauts visit Mars' surface in the future. Specialized shuttle-like landers could take astronauts from the space station to Mars' surface, and vice-versa on temporary exploration missions. Although it's not under construction just yet, there are plans to start building the space station by 2021. NASA's Space Launch System rocket will ferry individual pieces of the space station to space so they can be assembled and sent to orbit the red planet afterward. It's a great time to be alive... if you're fascinated by space exploration technology, that is.

Well, it seems Elon Musk is no longer alone in non-governmental entities who are planning to colonize Mars. A new group called MarsPolar which includes specialists from Russia, the U.S. United Arab Emirates, Poland, and Ukraine plans to begin colonizing Mars by 2029. They plan to locate their colony on Mars' north pole because that's where the water is, in the form of an ice cap. This will provide the most important resource for the colony from which they will produce drinking water, oxygen for breathing, food, and fuel. The MarsPolar team believes that Mars' polar region is the best place to look for martian life. "Life begins where the water exists," the team says.The basic plan is to send most of the things needed to establish the colony: the habitats, the vehicles, oxygen generators, food, and other supplies ahead of time, to land on Mars robotically, and then send 4-6 colonists to the colony every two years, when Mars and Earth are the closest together. Though MarsPolar's plan won't have SpaceX's "you're not coming back" proviso for its colonists, MarsPolar's plan is only a little bit better: their colonists will be able to come back to Earth, but not for ten years.Interestingly, MarsPolar isn't exactly competing with SpaceX, in fact they would like to use their Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy rocket to launch their mission and SpaceX's Red Dragon spacecraft to deliver cargo and crews to Mars.The thing is, as long as they can do it robotically, it's actually far more advantageous to not have humans around, consuming oxygen and other stores while MarsPolar is landing things like habitats, supplies and an oxygen generator, but that makes one part of MarsPolar's plan a linchpin: a robotic rover. The rover will be responsible for doing a lot of tasks in preparation for the human colonists' arrival. If all goes well, by the time the humans get there the rover will have already set up the habitats, complete with a breathable atmosphere inside provided by the oxygen generator which will have been running for some time. So, in keeping with NASA's recent remaking of itself as a facilitator instead of a vertical integrator, MarsPolar is holding a competition to decide who will build the rover for it's colonization mission. "We want to give a chance to every company that will apply," says Roman Juranek, the MarsPolar's Director of Communications for Poland. "I myself would like to see some Polish companies, because I'm aware of our [Poland's] great designers, and students are constructing outstanding rovers, successfully competing in Mars analog contests. So there are no obstacles to build another successful one that will reach the Red Planet this time."If you're interested in being one of the colonists, by the way, you can go to the MarsPolar website. The application is on line. All you have to do is fill it out, pass the tests, and be ready to not return to Earth for ten years.(Sources: phys.org, MarsPolar)

NASA has been observing water loss in the Martian atmosphere for one full Martian year (687 Earth days) with the MAVEN mission to learn more about the rate at which the red planet loses the building blocks of water molecules into space. The team found that Mars’ elliptical orbit around the Sun has an effect on hydrogen molecule loss from the atmosphere, noticing trends where the hydrogen loss was more pronounced during parts of the orbit where Mars was closest to the Sun and less noticeable when Mars was further away from the Sun. The findings confirm that sunlight, which varies in intensity depending on the proximity of Mars to the Sun by 40%, can split the water vapor molecules in Mars’ lower atmosphere, producing one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms that can move up to Mars’ upper atmosphere. The hydrogen atoms then find their way out of the Martian atmosphere entirely. Additionally, NASA also found that the loss of hydrogen into space isn’t steady. The space agency compares “steadiness” to a leaky tire that loses air over time; well this isn’t the case. Mars’ loss of hydrogen is always fluctuating depending on the forces acting on it. “Now that we know such large changes occur, we think of hydrogen escape from Mars less as a slow and steady leak and more as an episodic flow – rising and falling with season and perhaps punctuated by strong bursts,” said Michael Chaffin, a University of Colorado at Boulder researcher. Such information can be a useful puzzle piece in determining just how much water has been lost from Mars over the course of millions of years. There is already evidence that Mars hosted flowing liquid water at some point, but as you can probably tell from most modern Mars photographs, it’s pretty dry and desert-like there these days. NASA is particularly interested in figuring out what drives the water loss from Mars’ atmosphere. There are undoubtedly numerous factors, which are impacted by the Sun’s cycle, seasonal effects, and more. Nevertheless, there’s no clear unified understanding of what exactly causes all of it to happen. Only time and continuation of study will allow us to learn the key answers to these questions. Source: NASA

Today, Mars is a dry place, but modern science indicates that it wasn’t always that way. Concentrated river deposits scattered throughout the planet’s surface tell a story about early-Mars’ soggy past, in which water flowed across the surface between 3-4 billion years ago. River deposits occur when water pushes minerals from one place to another. Discovering them on Mars is a sign that water once flowed where they reside. While this wouldn't be the first time that researchers have found river deposits on Mars, perhaps the most striking fact is how densely-packed some of them are. Image Credit: B.T. Cardenas et al., Geological Society of America Bulletin A new study carried out by researchers from the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin now contends that Aeolis Dorsa preserves some of the most densely-packed river deposits ever found on Mars to date. They’ve published their findings in the journal GSA Bulletin. High-resolution images captured by both the Context Camera (CTX) and High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, coupled with topographic data collected by the Mars Orbiting Laser Altimeter (MOLA) on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor, led the researchers to their results. Related: This Martian crater may have been habitable for over 700 million years An analysis of the data revealed how the river deposits at Aeolis Dorsa underwent a process known as ‘topographic inversion.’ During this process, flowing water slowly exhumed the deposits through the process of erosion and formed the ridges can we make out in satellite imagery today. River deposits occur naturally on Earth too, so the researchers were able to use what they’ve learned from studying similar features on Earth to draw conclusions about early-Mars’ mysterious past, including how long ago and in what direction the water flowed. The team discerned that the rivers flowed in a south-easterly direction and found patterns pointing to incised valleys where water levels both rose and fell regularly. Not much is known yet about what might have caused the water levels to fluctuate so much, but that’s a question that additional research may help to answer. The findings are particularly important to planetary scientists because they tell a story of a time when the Mars may have been habitable. Moreover, the data can help us learn more about how Mars evolved over the years, transforming from the wet, habitable planet into the desolate wasteland it is today. Related: New hotspot for potentia past life found on Mars It should be interesting to see what kinds of conclusions planetary scientists will draw next and whether we'll unlock the mysteries behind Mars before sending astronauts to explore the red planet in person. Source: Phys.org

Experts in the space transportation field, including NASA, SpaceX, and other agencies/companies alike are taking the idea of sending humans to Mars very seriously. Many estimates have suggested that we'll have humans stepping on the Martian surface within 10-100 years with the current rate of space technology. While there are some concerns about living on Mars and its feasibility, safety is always considered by the experts at NASA before any baby steps are taken; similar steps were taken for our first landing on the Moon, but Mars is a little bit different considering it would take almost half of a year to get there. If you were to travel to Mars, there would be a few things to consider, like the G-forces behind the powerful rocket launch required to get you into deep space, the solar radiation you would be subjected to from leaving Earth's atmosphere, and potential health concerns from pressure changes and the micro-gravitational environment. Once on Mars, you'll experience temperatures and atmospheric conditions very different from Earth, and you wouldn't be protected from the Sun's harmful radiation, so you would need a protective habitat, as well as a space suit that protected you from these sorts of things. Living on Mars won't be an easy task, but to move mankind's understanding of the red planet further, astronauts will soon go about it; perhaps in your lifetime. It should be interesting to see how the first steps are taken and how it will play out when the time finally does come.

The Mars 2020 rover has been a popular topic of discussion over the past several years, but it has remained rather conspicuously named up until now. With all the other Martian rover missions sporting bold and exciting names, it should come as no surprise that NASA wasn’t planning to call this mission ‘Mars 2020’ forever. Instead, the American space agency turned to K-12 school students from across the United States for suggestions. Upon voting on more than 28,000 suggestions, NASA decided that it would call the Mars 2020 rover ‘Perseverance’ going forward. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Perseverance was the name submitted by Alexander Mather, a young seventh-grader residing in Springfield, Virginia, and it is indeed a fitting name for the mission if we do say so ourselves. Perseverance will complement older Martian rover missions that contributed so much to what we know about our neighboring red planet. It will do so by overcoming the challenges imposed by the limitations of science equipment present on previous rover missions like Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity. "Alex's entry captured the spirit of exploration," said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate. "Like every exploration mission before, our rover is going to face challenges, and it's going to make amazing discoveries. It's already surmounted many obstacles to get us to the point where we are today — processing for launch. Alex and his classmates are the Artemis Generation, and they're going to be taking the next steps into space that lead to Mars. That inspiring work will always require perseverance. We can't wait to see that nameplate on Mars." Related: It's finally the year of the Mars 2020 mission Poised to launch this July atop an Atlas V rocket, the Perseverance rover will incorporate novel exploration technologies including an onboard Martian rock sampling laboratory, 23 optical sensors including the highest-resolution camera on a Martian rover yet, and an advanced autonomous solar-powered helicopter that will scout out new places to explore. Moreover, it’ll include a personalized nameplate that reads “Perseverance.” Perseverance will land in Mars’ Jezero Crater in the in mid-February 2021, a place that NASA believes may have supported life at some point in the planet’s history. Sample collection conducted in these parts promises to uncover a treasure trove of information that may help planetary scientists in their ongoing quest to better understand whether Mars was once a habitable planet or not. Related: An inside look at the progress that's being made on the Perseverance rover It should be interesting to see what the Perseverance rover finds as it explores the alien world. Fortunately, we now have a catchy name to go along with it all. Source: NASA

Mars may seem like a dull, desolate wasteland at first glance, but just like our home planet Earth, our planetary neighbor sports a significant number of landmark sites that, for lack of a better idiom, would be a sight for sore eyes. Kasei Valles, for example is an immense system of chasms comparable to Earth’s Grand Canyon – but with a catch. Kasei Valles is more than five times longer than 10 times wider than the Grand Canyon, but it may have formed from similar processes to that of the Grand Canyon here on Earth. Likewise, Mars is home to a spot called Valles Marineris, which is recognized by scientists as the longest known canyon in the solar system. Another interesting spot is that of Iani Chaos, a labyrinth of cliffs and hills that is unlike anything you’d find here on Earth. The name is somewhat fitting for the terrain, and because Earth has no similar landmarks to that of Iani Chaos, scientists have no idea how this Martian region came to exist. Mars is also home to the solar system’s tallest known volcano: Olympus Mons. The structure itself is about the size of the state of Arizona, and it’s around three times taller than Earth’s tallest mountain: Mount Everest. Assuming you ever had the unique opportunity to visit Mars, these would be some of the best sights to behold. Other places of interest exist as well, but you’ll want to watch the video above to learn more about those.

NASA scientists have confirmed that their car-sized Perseverance Mars rover is 'healthy' following its arrival on the planet's surface on February 18th, 2021. And already, the rover has beamed back images from the red planet. NASA scientists have called Perseverance the most ambitious of almost 20 US missions to Mars since the Mariner spacecraft's 1965 fly-by. At a cost of $2.7 billion, the two-year mission aims to search for fossilized signs of microbes from roughly 3 billion years ago. Scientists hope to find biosignatures embedded in samples of ancient sediments for future analysis on Earth. These will then be retrieved from two subsequent missions to Mars within the next decade. "Of all the steps needed to develop life, how many occurred on Mars? This [mission] tells us not only about whether we're alone in the solar system but also about how likely we are to find life in the thousands of other planets being discovered around other suns – so [it] has truly cosmic implications," says Colin Wilson, a physicist at Oxford University. Among new instruments and an upgraded autopilot system, engineers equipped Perseverance with a diminutive helicopter called 'Ingenuity'. Weighing just 1.8kg, it is hoped that the helicopter will serve as a pathfinder to discover otherwise inaccessible areas or as a scout for future rovers. In the days to come, engineers will delve into Perseverance's system data, update its software and begin to test its instruments. After this, in the following weeks, the engineers will begin to test its robotic arm and take its first drive. Then, after a month or two, Perseverance will find a flat location to drop off Ingenuity. Sometime after this, the rover will finally begin its search for its first sample of Martian rock and sediment. Sources: NASA, The Guardian, Global Times

If you’ve been paying any attention to NASA and SpaceX lately, then you might’ve caught wind about their mutual interest in colonizing Mars within just a few decades. But if you’re like the rest of the population, you might be asking yourself: why don’t we start small and colonize our Moon first? After all, it’s closer. It’s a great question to be asking, but the Moon is most likely being overlooked because Mars promises to be a new frontier in space exploration. Humans once stepped on the lunar surface, but never Mars. That said, colonizing Mars would be a significant achievement if done correctly. Other reasons likely contribute to the disinterest in lunar colonization. For one, the Moon lacks an atmosphere to protect human visitors from radiation and space rock impacts. Mars’ atmosphere may not be as robust as the Earth’s, but it’s more robust than the Moon’s by a long shot. Additionally, Mars may contain a greater abundance of valuable resources, such as water. That aside, recent discoveries suggest that the Moon contains more traces of permanently-frozen water than initially thought, so there may be valuable resources on the Moon too. Furthermore, underground lava tubes could provide colonists with the protection they’d need from harmful radiation and space rock impacts. Given the recent discoveries, isn’t it time we re-think colonizing the Moon? It's proximity to Earth makes it ideal for practicing otherworldly colonization. Additionally, if anything were to go wrong, colonists wouldn't be as far out of reach as they would be they traveled to Mars. Whether you're for or against lunar colonization, it's worth thinking about.

The Mars Sample Return Campaign has been ongoing since the Perseverance rover landed at Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021. Perseverance has collected 11 rock core samples and one atmospheric sample. The goal of this campaign is to bring Mars samples back to Earth to allow scientists to study these samples with sophisticated scientific instruments. This campaign is similar to when NASA astronauts collected samples on the Moon and brought them back to Earth to be studied. To learn more about the Mars Sample Return Campaign you can go to the following website: https://mars.nasa.gov/msr/. The key difference between this Mars mission and the Apollo missions is that we currently do not have the capability to send astronauts to Mars, so robots must do the work of astronauts. This is where the Mars Sample Return Program comes in. Recently, NASA has finished the system requirements review, which signifies that they are nearing completion of the conceptual design phase. The program team has evaluated and refined the plan for how the Mars samples will be returned to Earth. NASA has been working with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the Mars Sample Return Program. The recently revised plan is expected to reduce the complexity of the mission, hence increasing the probability of the mission’s success. The new plan takes into account the updated analysis of Perseverance’s expected longevity. In the new plan, the Perseverance rover will transport the samples to NASA’s Sample Retrieval Lander. This lander will be carrying the Mars Ascent Vehicle and ESA’s Sample Transfer Arm. The Sample Retrieval Lander will include two sample recovery helicopters, whose design are based on the successful Ingenuity helicopter, which has performed 29 flights on Mars thus far and has survived over a year beyond its original planned lifetime. The helicopters therefore provide a secondary capability to retrieve samples which Perseverance has cached on the surface of Mars. The ESA Earth Return Orbiter with the NASA-provided Capture, Containment, and Return System are still vital elements of the campaign. The Earth Return Orbiter and Sample Retrieval Lander are scheduled to launch in the fall of 2027 and summer of 2028, respectively. The samples are expected to arrive on Earth in 2033. This launch and return schedule is contingent on the timeline set for the design, building, and testing phases. The preliminary design phase is expected to begin in October and last approximately 12 months, which will complete key technology development and create engineering prototypes of all the major mission components. Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

If we were ever to send humans to Mars for a long-term or permanent visit, then it’d be essential that we develop some sort of renewable food source. One idea would be planting vegetables in Martian soil and growing them to edible capacities; but just how feasible is this idea? In 2016, researchers filled planting containers with simulated Martian soil and successfully grew different plants including chives, peas, spinach, and tomatoes among other things in the mixtures. Notably, however, this was with the help of organic fertilizer, which helped water pass through the soil and to the plants’ roots. As it turns out, Martian soil is rich in nutrients, but it’s somewhat different in composition because it’s a lot more like regolith. On the other hand, soil found in different parts of Mars contains different combinations of nutrients – the same happens here on Earth. That said, certain Martian soil mixtures could be more plant-friendly than others. Some Martian soil is high in heavy metal content, and this would be toxic for the plants that absorb them and for any humans that would then ingest those tainted plants. Given the circumstances, this soil would need to be processed before it could be used for plant-growing, otherwise, it would produce toxic food. The idea of growing plants on another planet isn’t new, but technology is advancing rapidly, and it could become possible sooner rather than later.

The idea of putting humans on Mars for first-time exploration isn’t too far-fetched. Space agencies and large commercial space agencies alike share this common goal, and this means there’s a lot of potential for this to happen. Common goals aside, sending humans to Mars isn’t as easy as just packing astronauts on a spacecraft and shipping them off, as they’d quickly perish on Mars due to the lack of resources and the harsh environment. That’s why scientists, engineers, and renowned designers are working together in an effort to conceptualize a livable and sustainable habitat on Martian grounds. Most agree that a Martian habitat would require some kind of 3D-printed cave-like shielding that would protect astronauts from solar and cosmic radiation. Moreover, inflatable modules could then be placed inside of this cave-like structure to sustain breathable air and an atmospheric pressure akin to Earth’s. Autonomous robots could be deployed on Mars to get the building started, even years before humans ever set foot there. In this video, we see some of the best concepts spring to life as life-sized examples. From folding labs to furniture crafted from the recycled plastics of water bottles and candy wrappers, this concept has it all. It brings into light the reusability of materials and keeps NASA’s core value of traveling light close to heart. It also integrates the infamous idea of “work smarter, not harder.” Those associated with the concepts shown say that it’s viable with current technologies, or with emerging technologies that should be available within the next 5-10 years. Using technologies that are currently in reach ensure that these concepts are as realistic as possible, allowing for real-life demonstrations here on modern-day Earth. Indeed; it seems that those behind this conceptualizing are being quite realistic in their designing process, and we like what we see thus far.