For years, science fiction writers from Edgar Rice Burroughs to C. S. Lewis have imagined what it would be like for humans to walk on Mars. As mankind comes closer to taking its first steps on the Red Planet, authors’ depictions of the experience have become more realistic. Andy Weir’s “The Martian” begins with a Read More
Category: Mars
Mars Panorama from Curiosity Shows Petrified Sand Dunes
Some of the dark sandstone in an area being explored by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover shows texture and inclined bedding structures characteristic of deposits that formed as sand dunes, then were cemented into rock. A panorama from Curiosity’s Mast Camera (Mastcam) that includes a ridge made of this sandstone is online at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA19818 This sandstone Read More
What Happened to Early Mars’ Atmosphere? A New Study Eliminates One Theory
Scientists may be closer to solving the mystery of how Mars changed from a world with surface water billions of years ago to the arid Red Planet of today. A new analysis of the largest known deposit of carbonate minerals on Mars suggests that the original Martian atmosphere may have already lost most of its Read More
NASA Mars Rover Moves Onward After ‘Marias Pass’ Studies
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is driving toward the southwest after departing a region where for several weeks it investigated a geological contact zone and rocks that are unexpectedly high in silica and hydrogen content. The hydrogen indicates water bound to minerals in the ground. In this “Marias Pass” region, Curiosity successfully used its drill to Read More
NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Studies Rock-Layer Contact Zone
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is examining a valley where at least two types of bedrock meet, for clues about changes in ancient environmental conditions recorded by the rock. In addition to two rock types for which this site was chosen, the rover has found a sandstone with grains of differing shapes and color. Curiosity’s international Read More
New Online Exploring Tools Bring NASA’s Journey to Mars to New Generation
On the three-year anniversary of the Mars landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover, NASA is unveiling two new online tools that open the mysterious terrain of the Red Planet to a new generation of explorers, inviting the public to help with its journey to Mars. Mars Trek is a free, web-based application that provides high-quality, detailed Read More
NASA’s Curiosity Rover Inspects Unusual Bedrock
Approaching the third anniversary of its landing on Mars, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has found a target unlike anything it has studied before — bedrock with surprisingly high levels of silica. Silica is a rock-forming compound containing silicon and oxygen, commonly found on Earth as quartz. This area lies just downhill from a geological contact Read More