A new study from the Planetary Research Institute suggests that briny water could temporarily form on Mars’ surface in the shadows of boulders for just a few days each Martian year.
Field of large boulders as seen by the Mars Pathfinder lander on Mars in 1997. A new study suggests that small pools of liquid water may be able to briefly form in the shadows of such boulders at mid-latitudes in the springtime. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ Popular Mechanics .
Quite a lot has been going on:
How NASA will bring a little bit of Mars back to Earth - Los Angeles Times
When NASA's Mars 2020 rover blasts off this summer, it will mark the first step of an ambitious plan to bring pieces of the red planet back to Earth.
The new rover will collect samples of Martian rock and soil that will later be retrieved and launched into space so they can begin their interplanetary journey.
* * *
If successful, the joint effort between NASA and the European Space Agency will be humanity's first round-trip visit to another planet. Here's how it will work:
NASA's Epic Gamble to Get Martian Dirt Back to Earth | WIRED
It's called the Mars Sample Return mission. During the next 12 years or so, NASA and the European Space Agency will team up to send a rover to the red planet, where it will collect a variety of soil samples. Another rover will then gather the samples, and the samples will be put in a rocket and launched from Mars. The rocket carrying samples will rendezvous with an orbiting spacecraft that will come back to Earth, bringing the soil samples with it.
The Earthlings in charge of this enterprise are, to put it mildly, almost giddy at the thought of getting their hands on Martian regolith. "A single sample… will change how we think about everything," says Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for science. "It will be the most valuable thing on Earth."
Interplanetary rock star: LANL scientist Nina Lanza uses the Mars rover and its ChemCam laser to
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Were you following this:
Mars 2020 Rover Leaves Home on 2300-Mile Journey to Florida | Digital Trends
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover has completed its fabrication and assembly stages and is almost ready for its launch to Mars in a few months.
Before final launch preparations can take place, the rover needed to be transported from its home at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida from where it will launch. For the rover’s 2,300-mile trip, it was carried aboard an Air Force C-17 Globemaster cargo plane that landed in Florida earlier this week.
NASA's Mars 2020 rover arrives at Florida launch site for July liftoff | Space
The Mars 2020 rover , which is scheduled to launch to the Red Planet in July, arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday (Feb. 12), after completing a 2,300-mile (3,700 kilometers) journey from the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where it was built.
"Our rover has left the only home it has ever known," John McNamee, NASA's Mars 2020 project manager, said in a statement . "The 2020 family here at JPL is a little sad to see it go, but we're even more proud knowing that the next time our rover takes to the skies, it will be headed to Mars."
NICK STROBEL: Moon over Mars this week | Entertainment | bakersfield.com
Early risers on Tuesday morning will be able to see the waning crescent moon occult (cover up) Mars. The occultation will begin for us at 3:36 a.m. when Mars will go behind the eastern edge (the lit part) of the moon. Because Mars is a disk instead of a pinpoint star, it will take about 13 seconds for Mars to get covered up. Mars will re-emerge from the western edge of the moon at 4:30 a.m.
Through a telescope, it will be a dramatic demonstration of the moon's rapid motion across the sky as it orbits Earth. The bulge and center of the Milky Way will provide a nice backdrop to all this as the moon moves through the stars of Sagittarius.
Happening on Twitter
Water on Mars? Boulder shadows may spawn short-lived pools of brine. https://t.co/qrlnHT7Lur https://t.co/o2MbCCtCSV SPACEdotcom (from NYC) Thu Feb 13 13:23:35 +0000 2020
No comments:
Post a Comment