Tag Archives: Mars

Space.com reports: Scientists just felt the Red Planet move under their feet — robotically from millions of miles away, on the stark surface of Mars. On April 6, NASA’s InSight lander sensed its first confirmed marsquake, a phenomenon scientists suspected, but couldn’t confirm, occurred on the neighboring planet. Measuring the Martian equivalent of earthquakes, seismic waves traveling through the interior …

The Independent reports: NASA’s Opportunity rover is officially dead, the space agency has said, after it disappeared in a dust storm on Mars. Clearly emotional NASA staff, standing in front of a life-sized replica of the rover, said they had not heard back from the rover and that the mission would come to an end. “I am standing here with …

CBS News reports: NASA has released the first image of the spacecraft InSight from the surface of Mars after it successfully reached the planet after almost seven months travelling through space. The Mars Odyssey orbiter relayed images of the spacecraft from its landing site, known as Elysium Planitia. The US space agency tweeted one photograph, showing part of the InSight …

TechCrunch reports: The mysteries lying beyond our planet have puzzled and inspired scientists throughout the centuries. But today, the scientific community (and many others) have their eyes on Mars, where NASA’s InSight lander is set to touch down on the Red Planet. The whole thing is going down at 3pm ET today, and you can follow along with the exhilarating …

Wired reports: The Italian Space Agency announced Wednesday that researchers have detected signs of a large, stable body of liquid water locked away beneath a mile of ice near Mars’ south pole. The observations were recorded by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument—Marsis for short. “Marsis was born to make this kind of discovery, and now …

USA Today reports: With the orange flames of its engine lighting up the foggy sky for miles around, a car-sized Mars lander rocketed into space early Saturday in a first-of-its-kind launch from California on a mission to probe beneath the surface of the Red Planet. The nearly $1 billion Mars InSight probe blasted off shortly after 4 a.m. local time, …

“They’re lying about it. They’re just making up the amount of ice in the North and South Poles, they’re making up the temperatures, they’re lying and making up false charts and so forth. So what’s to stop them from making up something that happened on Mars that will help advance their left-wing agenda on this planet? OK so there’s flowing …

NASA set the web aflame this weekend with a promise that they would have a “major announcement” about Mars today. Sadly, the big reveal is not about little green men – but it IS fascinating. Via the Guardian: Liquid water runs down canyons and crater walls over the summer months on Mars, according to researchers who say the discovery raises …

The Mars One mission has named the 100 finalists for its proposed one-way trip to colonize the red planet. More than 200,000 people applied to Mars One in 2013, hoping to be chosen to colonize Mars. Applicants had to be at least 18 years old, healthy and between 5’2″ and 6’3″ tall, as well as fulfilling various personality requirements such …

Via the Guardian: Friday’s launch went smoothly, and cameras mounted on the rocket beamed back stunning pictures of the Earth as Orion blasted into the sky. The mission could have huge implications, despite its brief four-and-a-half-hour duration. Orion will fly farther than any spacecraft made for astronauts has in decades, about 3,600 miles (5,800km) above the Earth’s surface, and is …

Yesterday Buzz Aldrin, the lunar module pilot of Apollo 11 and the second person to walk on the moon, held a Q&A on Twitter about his time as an astronaut. Aldrin closed the session with the above question. See the responses. Some of those viewing the video feed were curious about Aldrin’s t-shirt, which he’s selling on his website. The …

Via the New York Times: NASA’s latest Mars spacecraft, Maven, arrived Sunday evening to study the mystery of what happened to the planet’s air. After a 33-minute engine firing, mission controllers received acknowledgment at about 10:25 p.m. Eastern time that Maven was in orbit around Mars. After a six-week period to turn on and check systems on the spacecraft and …

Details.

The Mars Curiosity rover has at last confirmed what astronomers have long believed. The landing site of the Mars rover Curiosity was once covered with fast-moving and possibly waist-high water that could have possibly supported life, NASA scientists announced Thursday. While planetary scientists have often speculated that the now-desiccated surface of Mars was once wet, Curiosity cameras provided the first …

Los Angeles Times reports: With the roar of an Atlas 5 engine, NASA on Saturday began its boldest venture yet to another planet — sending the Mars Science Laboratory on an eight-month journey expected to provide more detailed information about whether the Red Planet is, or ever has been, hospitable to life.Its payload was the rover Curiosity, the largest and …

JMG reader Rafael tips us to the news that the Mars Phoenix Lander has found evidence of water ice on Mars. Fascinating. The confirmation that water ice exists in the area directly surrounding the lander is big and good news for the Martian mission. NASA’s stated goal for the Mars Phoenix was to find exactly this — water ice — …