On behalf of Aileen Yingst (MEPAG Chair), Dave Beaty, Rich Zurek, and Serina Diniega of the Mars Program Science Office, the November 2019 edition of the Mars Exploration Science Monthly Newsletter can be found on the web at: http://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov
Please send your Mars community announcements and calendar items for inclusion in the newsletter to Barbara at: Barbara.A.Saltzberg@jpl.nasa.gov .
While you're here, how about this:
Explaining the Missing Energy in Mars's Electrons - Eos
The electrons in this region originate mostly from the solar wind, charged particles that stream from the Sun into the solar system. Without its own internal magnetic field to shield it, only Mars's neutral atmosphere stands in the path of these particles, deflecting them around the planet like a rock deflects rushing water in a river.
This deflection forms a shock wave, or bow shock, in front of the planet, which gives any electrons that cross it a jolt of energy as they enter the magnetosheath and continue downstream toward the planet's atmosphere. But curiously, spacecraft observations have shown that electrons have less energy deeper inside the magnetosheath, as if their energy were dissipating.
Pasadena Now » At JPL, NASA’s Mars 2020 Heads Into the Test Chamber | Pasadena
This time-lapse video, taken on Oct. 9, 2019, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, captures the move of the Mars 2020 rover into a large vacuum chamber for testing in Mars-like environmental conditions. Image caption: NASA/JPL-Caltech
In this time-lapse video, taken on Oct. 9, 2019, at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, bunny-suited engineers move the Mars 2020 rover from a high bay in the Spacecraft Simulator Building into the facility’s large vacuum chamber for testing in Mars-like environmental conditions.
The First Cubesats to Mars Were Almost Lost Upon Arrival | Space
WASHINGTON — The first-ever interplanetary cubesats went dark just before their big moment last fall, spurring a last-minute rescue effort.
The two satellites, part of NASA's $18 million MarCO (Mars Cube One), mission were tasked primarily with demonstrating that tiny spacecraft can explore deep space. But team members also wanted the spacecraft to help relay communications from NASA's InSight Mars lander during the latter's touchdown attempt on Nov. 26, 2018.
Many things are taking place:
Mars Soil Is Very Weird, the Mole's Struggles Show | Space
The burrowing heat probe aboard NASA's InSight Mars lander was designed to go 10 to 16 feet (3 to 5 meters) underground, using a self-hammering tool dubbed "the mole." But the mole got stuck just a foot (0.3 m) or so down shortly after its February 2019 deployment and could not be budged for months.
"We scratched our heads for quite a while trying to figure out what we could do," InSight project manager Tom Hoffman, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said Friday (Oct. 18) during a presentation at the 22nd Annual International Mars Society Convention in Los Angeles.
China is Ready to Land on Mars Next Year | Asgardia - The Space Nation
China says that it’s ready to achieve what no one — except for NASA — has ever achieved before. Its spacecraft propulsion systems are ready to land on Mars, which will make it China’s first interplanetary mission
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Just in October, the China Global Television Network unveiled the Mars lander . The mission was approved in 2016, but we’ve heard few updates since. Last week, the Xi’an Aerospace Propulsion Institute announced that the vehicle’s propulsion system successfully completed the necessary tests that included hovering, hazard avoidance, deceleration and landing stages.
Mars 2020 Rover Cost Could Starve Other Red Planet Missions | Space
The Mars science community is concerned that the growing costs of NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission could reduce the funds available for other robotic missions, according to a presentation that took place during a meeting of NASA's Planetary Science Advisory Committee.
Planetary geologist Aileen Yingst, who is with the Planetary Science Institute, said in a presentation that the community is concerned about the cost growth for Mars 2020 and how that could affect other Mars missions. Yingst is co-investigator on the SHERLOC spectrometer and WATSON sidekick camera on the Mars 2020 rover, as well as chair of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), a team of planetary science experts that helps NASA figure out science priorities for Mars
InSight's 'Mole' Team Peers into the Pit – NASA's Mars Exploration Program
InSight's Arm Camera Stares Into the Pit: The shadow of NASA InSight's robotic arm moves over its heat probe, or "mole," on Nov. 3, 2019, the 333rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Full image and caption ›
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The InSight team continues to assess the heat probe this week. Having determined the lander's robotic arm wasn't holding the mole in place, they retracted the arm and took new images to see how the pit that formed around the mole has changed. What the team sees will help determine next steps.
Happening on Twitter
As we focus on lunar exploration, we don't see the Moon as a conclusion. It's preparation that forges a sustainable… https://t.co/BnQzeNVbOT NASA Sun Nov 03 18:38:01 +0000 2019
As chairman of Aviation & Space, I'm proud to lead the bipartisan NASA Authorization Act of 2019. It continues our… https://t.co/hk7KCiYv8Z SenTedCruz (from Houston, Texas) Wed Nov 06 20:29:15 +0000 2019
"Human exploration can potentially ruin the search for indigenous life on Mars forever." https://t.co/Rf4hB7lCQa ScienceNews (from Washington, DC) Wed Nov 06 04:00:01 +0000 2019
Check out this new view of our Human Lander System docked with Gateway. The integrated lander's flexible, reliable… https://t.co/1i4gjnoAlj BoeingSpace Fri Nov 08 20:54:44 +0000 2019
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