For future colonists, Mars’ Utopia Planitia or “Plains of Paradise” may be rather aptly named despite its less than appealing appearance. In a paper highlighted last week on NASA.gov, scientists using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s shallow ground penetrating radar (SHARAD) have concluded that the region contains a volume of ice equivalent to the amount of […]
NASA this week is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the arrival of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter at the Red Planet. Over the ensuing decade, MRO has produced a seemingly endless array of high resolution images of the planet, in many cases changing the way we view what may be humanity’s next home and most importantly […]
NASA held a press conference this morning to announce a major discovery regarding the presence of liquid water flowing on the surface of Mars “under certain conditions.” Here is the complete press release from NASA.gov: “New findings from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day […]
Wet Mars : Credits: NASA/GSFC The journal Nature Communications has published a paper detailing research into comparatively recent water flow on Mars. Abstract: “Liquid water is currently extremely rare on Mars, but was more abundant during periods of high obliquity in the last few millions of years. This is testified by the widespread occurrence of mid-latitude […]
Image Credit: European Space Agency As rumored earlier this week, researchers using images gathered by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have located the Beagle 2 lander, which has been missing since it arrived on Christmas Day 2003. From the JPL story: “A set of three observations with the orbiter’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera […]
Candor Chasma in Mars’ Valles Marineris/ Image Credit USGS The US Geological survey has just completed the most extensive geological map of Mars to date. Based on data collected by the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the new map offers details equivalent to that which the survey produces for users on Earth. Based […]
First drill at Mount Sharp / Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS An interesting NASA News Story on the coordination of work between the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in orbit above the Red Planet and the Curiosity Rover on the ground below. Looking quite a bit down the road, one can see an emerging model of how a notional […]
Siding Spring Imaged By MRO’s HiRISE Camera. Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech The Siding Spring comet which gave Mars a close shave on Sunday was a bit smaller than many had predicted. NASA Story on Siding Spring Image From MRO’s HiRISE camera: These images were taken of comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter […]
Image Credit : NASA NASA News Story: Researchers have discovered on the Red Planet the largest fresh meteor-impact crater ever firmly documented with before-and-after images. The images were captured by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The crater spans half the length of a football field and first appeared in March 2012. The impact that created […]
NASA reported today on an intriguing line of inquiry in the hunt for evidence of liquid water running on the surface of Mars. Once thought to out of the question, recent years have seen a number of images which strongly suggest the presence of seasonal water flows of what is speculated as a very salty […]
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