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Geology News
Mars Current Events

NASA Image

“Flowing lava can carve or build paths very much like the riverbeds and canyons etched by water, and this probably explains at least one of the meandering channels on the surface of Mars.” Quoted from the NASA mission news.

“Planetary scientists have been puzzling for years over the honeycomb patterns and flat valleys with squiggly edges evident in radar images of Saturn’s moon Titan. Now, working with a “volunteer researcher” who has put his own spin on data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, they have found some recognizable analogies to a type of spectacular terrain on Earth known as karst topography.” Quoted from the NASA press release.

“The Shallow Radar instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has detected widespread deposits of glacial ice in the mid-latitudes of Mars. The ice, up to 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) thick, is found adjacent to steep cliffs and hillsides, where rocky debris from slopes covers and protects the ice from sublimation into the atmosphere.” Quoted from the NASA press release.

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a colored lunar fog bow over a crater on Haleakala Volcano, Hawaii. A fog bow is similar to a rainbow, but is created by the moon’s light shining through fog; they are usually white. The photo was taken on a night with Mars near opposition, so the planet shines bright orange in the sky.

Ongoing efforts to dislodge the Mars Spirit Rover from a sand pit have been luckless, leading experts to abandon the cause and declare the Spirit a permanent fixture where it stands. However, if the machine lasts through the winter, it may still be able to provide years of valuable service.

Winter is coming for the southern hemisphere of Mars, which means less sunlight will available to power the Spirit Rover, which is still anchored in a sand pit. If the rover’s solar panels cannot be adjusted accordingly, it could run out of power by May.

If the methane on Mars is not coming from meteorites, then what is creating it? Eliminating meteorites as a primary source leaves only two possibilities: geological processes or life.

Learn more about methane on Mars.

This video has some behind-the-scenes information about the making of Google Mars and Google Moon. Two of the creators talk about what went into the programs.

NASA and ESA have teamed up for future Mars missions. Under the Mars Joint Exploration Initiative (MEJI), the agencies will combine their knowledge and resources for greater efficiency and savings.

“Caves might lie beneath a series of depressions discovered on Mars. These caves could provide shelter for future Mars exploration missions. They could also shed light on whether microbial life forms have ever existed on the “Red Planet.” Quoted from the USGS announcement.

The Spirit Rover on Mars has been failing to store its daily data before powering down. This memory problem may slow plans to dislodge the craft from the soils of Troy, where it has been stuck since April.

Glen Cushing, a U.S. Geological Survey space scientist, suggests that craters near Mars’ Arsia Mons volcano could be collapse features above caves or lava tubes.

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove just 700 meters after finding the “Block Island” meteorite and spotted another! This one is about 47 centimeters long and has been named “Shelter Island”.

“New, three-dimensional imaging of Martian north-polar ice layers by a radar instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is consistent with theoretical models of Martian climate swings during the past few million years.” Quoted from the NASA press release.

NASA has released thousands of new images from the Mars High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment. One of the new images is the Pit Crater Chain located south of Arisa Mons.

The Mars Opportunity Rover has located a meteorite on Mars. Nicknamed “Block Island”, the rock is about two feet (61 centimeters) across.

Could evidence of life on Mars be preserved in structures similar to the stromatolites found on Earth? If microbial communities once flourished there the traces left behind might be similar to stromatolites or microbial reefs.

NASA Image

This article from the University of Michigan discusses the occurrence of lightning, in conjunction with dust storms, on Mars. The lightning has apparently occurred in the absence of rain.

NASA Image

This is a short video about how our perception of Mars has changed. Recent expeditions have given us a better understanding of what’s happening on the Red Planet.

“These images show examples of columnar jointing on Mars (top) and Earth (below) at the exact same scale. The top image shows layers of solidified lava flows exposed on the rim of a 16-kilometer-diamter crater in the Marte Vallis region on Mars. This image…shows the first columnar joints positively identified on a planet other than Earth.” Quoted from NASA’s Earth Observatory.

Billions of years ago, Earth and Mars were hit with a barrage of meteorites. How did this affect the planets? Some speculations are revealed in this article from the Imperial College London.

NASA’s Mars Opportunity rover made many interesting observations during its nearly three years on Mars. This article summarizes some of the discoveries.

NASA’s Spirit rover seems have gotten stuck in some loose Martian soil. If it can’t get mobilized again, will it need to be shut down?

Most of the evidence for significant amounts of water on the surface of Mars is thought to be at least 3 billion years old. Evidence for water at much later times is the subject of an article at ScienceNOW.

Mars had a strong magnetic field for about 500 million years, then something happened to significantly reduce it. Without the magnetic field, ionizing particles from the sun ripped away its atmosphere and made an environment that would have been very difficult for life.