Ancient Water Streambed Discovered On Mars

A NASA rover's discovery of an ancient streambed on Mars is exciting, but it’s far from the first solid evidence that the Red Planet was once a warmer and wetter place. On Thursday (Sept. 27), scientists announced that the Curiosity rover had found rocky outcrops containing large and rounded stones cemented in a conglomerate matrix. The discovery suggests that water had flowed fast and relatively deep — perhaps hip-deep, in fact — through the area billions of years ago.

But Curiosity's find didn't exactly surprise mission scientists. They chose to set the $2.5 billion robot down in the Red Planet's huge Gale Crater, after all, because Mars-orbiting spacecraft have spotted signs there of long-ago water activity — from channels and alluvial fans to minerals that form in the presence of liquid water.And these more recent observations build on evidence for a wet ancient Mars that goes back four decades and has been accumulating ever since. 

Curiosity's mission may also shed light on when and why Mars dried out long ago. Scientists plan to drive the 1-ton robot partway up Mount Sharp, which rises 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) into the Red Planet sky from Gale's center. They're keen to explore Mount Sharp's base, which harbors clays and sulfates, orbital observations have shown. About 2,300 feet (700 meters) up, however, these deposits peter out. If Curiosity climbs high enough to cross this threshold, it could help scientists piece together a history of wet Mars, dry Mars and the transition between the two, researchers have said. Space.com

MARS Curiosity rover's landing footage

The shot above is the first high(ish) resolution photo shown to the public from its cameras, depicting a shadow of its top, a peculiar Martian landscape and the three-mile Mount Sharp. Just beyond the break, you'll find video footage of the intense descent onto Mars' surface. MadOne

Parts of Mars Interior as Wet as Earth's

The interior of Mars holds vast reservoirs of water, with some spots apparently as wet as Earth's innards, scientists say. The finding upends previous studies, which had estimated that the Red Planet's internal water stores were scanty at best — something of a surprise, given that liquid water apparently flowed on the Martian surface long ago. The scientists examined two Martian meteorites that formed in the planet's mantle, the layer under the crust. These rocks landed on Earth about 2.5 million years ago, after being blasted off the Red Planet by a violent impact. Using a technique called secondary ion mass spectrometry, the team determined that the mantle from which the meteorites derived contained between 70 and 300 parts per million (ppm) of water. Earth's mantle, for comparison, holds roughly 50-300 ppm water, researchers said.

"The results suggest that water was incorporated during the formation of Mars and that the planet was able to store water in its interior during the planet’s differentiation."  Some of this water apparently made its made to the surface in the ancient past. NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers, which landed on the Red Planet in 2004, have found plenty of evidence that Mars was far warmer and wetter billions of years ago than it is today. The two golf-cart-size robots have even spotted signs of ancient hydrothermal systems, suggesting that some places on the Red Planet once had both water and an energy source — two key ingredients for the existence of life as we know it.

While the new results should help scientists better understand Mars and its history, they could also shed light on the evolution of large, rocky bodies in a more general sense, researchers said.

"Not only does this study explain how Mars got its water, it provides a mechanism for hydrogen storage in all the terrestrial planets at the time of their formation," lead author Francis McCubbin, of the University of New Mexico, said in a statement. Space.com / MadOne

Potential Liquid Water On Mars 'A Big Deal

Picture of Martian Surface from NASA's Spirit Rover

 

Claims of water on Mars have been made before, but a new discovery of potential liquid water on the Red Planet's surface last week is still making waves in the science world. What differentiates the new find from previous discoveries is the fact that it's the strongest evidence yet for liquid water, as opposed to ice, and it's on the Martian surface, as opposed to miles underground where it would be difficult to verify its presence. The research is based on observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which observed seasonal changes in slopes carved into the planet's surface that appear most likely to have been formed by flowing salty, briny water. Scientists not involved with the project agree that the discovery could be big.

Not only does the new discovery rekindle hopes that Mars hosts life, but it offers the chance that finding it might not be as difficult as once thought. Until now, many searches for life have also focused on the Red Planet's potential for past habitability on the surface, when Mars was thought to be a much wetter world. "Identification of environments where life might be able to survive on present-day Mars could shift our focus from past to present-day habitability," Carr said. "The subsurface might be one good place to look, but areas with potential liquid brines at the surface are much more accessible." 

But before we start counting our Martians before they hatch, all the scientists advised caution until more data is available to prove that the slopes are actually caused by water. Space.com

NASA's Next Mars Rover to Land at Huge Gale Crater

 

WASHINGTON — It's official: NASA's next Mars rover has a landing site, and it's a giant crater called Gale. NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is slated to launch in late November, and will drop a car-size rover named Curiosity at the Gale crater. Gale crater is about 96 miles (154 kilometers) wide and has a mountain at its center that rises higher, from the crater floor up, than Mount Rainer near Seattle. The crater, which is named after Australian astronomer Walter F. Gale, is so large that the U.S. states of Connecticut and Rhode Island could fit inside it, NASA officials said. 

Gale crater is also thought to harbor clues of ancient water activity on the Martian surface, and one of Curiosity's primary tasks will be to root around for evidence that Mars is, or was, capable of supporting microbial life. 

The agency revealed the landing site (July 22) in a briefing hosted by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. The announcement coincides with the museum's celebration of Mars Day, which commemorates the 35th anniversary of NASA's Viking 1 Mars landing on July 20, 1976. Space.com

NASA Shortlists 3 Ambitious Planetary Missions for 2016 Launch

Three ambitious space missions have made NASA's shortlist for a planned robotic planetary expedition to launch in 2016. The candidates include a mission to glimpse Mars' interior, a voyage to the extraterrestrial sea of Saturn's moon Titan, and a probe to take an unprecedented look at the surface of a comet's core. Ultimately, only one mission will win the coveted rocket launch, NASA officials said. The investigation team for each mission proposal will receive $3 million for a preliminary design stage, they added.

After NASA reviews these concept studies, the space agency will choose one to continue development leading up to launch as part of NASA's Discovery Program, whose missions have included the Messenger probe to Mercury, the asteroid-chasing Dawn spacecraft, as well as the agency's Stardust, Deep Impact and Genesis probes. The final mission will have a fixed budget of $425 million, not including the cost of its launch vehicle. Space.com

Dry ice find hints Mars was a wetter place

 WASHINGTON (AFP) – NASA has discovered that the south pole of Mars is home to 30 times more dry ice than previously believed, suggesting that the red planet was once a much wetter place, said a study on Thursday.

Taking data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers found "large quantities of ancient atmospheric carbon dioxide may be trapped in the solid chunks of dry ice," said the study published in the journal Science. "The results add to a growing pile of evidence suggesting that long ago, ancient Mars had a thicker, carbon dioxide-filled atmosphere and flowing bodies of water," said the study.

The dry ice reservoir is nearly 3,000 cubic miles, similar in volume to Lake Superior, the largest of the Five Great Lakes of North America, NASA said in a statement. The red planet's atmosphere is about 95 percent carbon dioxide, compared to Earth's which is about .04 percent carbon dioxide.

Mars Science Laboratory: Video

The roving Mars Science Laboratory "Curiosity" will attempt a unique landing on the Red Planet in 2012, seen in this dramatic animation + a look at some of the mission's science.



Launch date, November 25, 2011. Which is the Friday following Thanksgiving. Planetary alignments seem to love making us all work over holidays! The actual launch period will go from November 25 to December 18, 2011. Launch within that period will result in a Mars landing between August 6 and August 20, 2012. MadOne

Mars Science Lab "Curiosity" in the Lab is will launch to the Red Planet later this year.

Mars Hides More Water Than Thought, Study Suggests

A photo of Mars from NASA's Viking spacecraft, which launched in 1975.
The Viking Project/NASA

The poles of Mars might not be the only place where water ice might be hidden on the Red Planet — now scientists suggest it could also lurk at the equator in craters. This ice could impact future exploration of Mars, and perhaps even serve as a source of life-sustaining water for any human missions there. Past research had suggested that water could once be found at the Martian equator. Now, however, the Red Planet's climate is thought to be too harsh, generally, for water to exist — the air on Mars is so thin that any ice on or near the surface of the relatively warm equator would quickly vaporize. 

However, scientists have unearthed evidence that ice could be found right below the surface much closer to the equator than expected. Radar scans of equatorial hills on Mars also suggest those might harbor as much water as a polar ice cap, although researchers could not rule out the possibility their findings might reflect fluffy, dusty or loosely packed material that holds only a small amount of ice. 


Furthermore, "equatorial sites are attractive destinations for future exploration due to increased insolation — more direct sunlight — and warmer temperatures," Shean said. "These conditions are desirable for solar-powered rovers, but they are also important considerations for future human exploration, which will require accessible water as a life-sustaining resource." Space.com

Mars Rover Makes Detour

Opportunity Rover

SAN FRANCISCO – NASA's Mars rover Opportunity is chugging toward some interesting mineral deposits on the rim of a fresh crater, guided by a sharp set of eyes from above.

Opportunity arrived at Mars' Santa Maria crater in the last few days, and it should make it to the crater's southeast rim in a few weeks. Once there, it will investigate a patch of minerals that likely formed in the presence of water billions of years ago, researchers said here today (Dec. 16) during a press conference at the 2010 fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union. The rover knows where to look thanks to NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which detected the minerals, known as hydrated sulfates, from 150 miles (250 kilometers) up while circling the Red Planet. This level of teamwork between rover and spacecraft is unprecedented, researchers said. 

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

 The Santa Maria stop marks a slight detour for Opportunity, which is making its slow, steady way to a giant crater called Endeavour. space.com

Russia Wants Nuclear-Powered Spaceships and Space Debris Shields

Russia has begun some ambitious space projects, including a new system to protect spacecraft from space junk and a nuclear-powered engine for future spaceships, according to Russian news reports. 

Space junk is such a risk that Russia is also reportedly developing a $2 billion spacecraft that would sweep the orbital space around Earth from satellite debris, according to China's state-run Xinhua news service and Russia's Interfax news agency.

Another project to develop nuclear-powered spaceships will also be a complex undertaking.

Officials from Russia's main space contractor, RSC Energia, said on Tuesday the company is planning to start working on space modules with nuclear-powered propulsion systems next year, and the first launches of such modules could come in 2020, according to Ria Novosti. Russia is also reportedly targeting a moon- or Mars-based nuclear power station, according to the newspaper. That station could operate for 10 to 15 years, Russian space officials said. Space.com

Search for Life on Mars a Top Priority for Robot Probes, Scientists Say

Mars Science Laboratory

The first and only attempts to search for life on Mars were the Viking missions launched in 1975. Now scientists are suggesting the next decade of robotic probes sent to the Red Planet should make the search for life the highest priority.

After the Viking missions, the general consensus was that cold, radiation, hyper-aridity and other environmental factors ruled out the chances for microbial activity on or near the surface of Mars. This assumption — based largely on how Viking's instruments did not detect organic compounds that would have indicated Martian life — has been reinforced by each follow-up mission since then.

The Mars Science Laboratory, scheduled for launch in 2011, is dedicated to searching for evidence that the Martian environment was once capable of supporting life on the Red Planet. However, some scientists argue the strategy for Mars exploration should center on the search for life itself – "extant" life that is either active today or is dormant but still alive. Space.com

Habitable Hotspots on Mars? Volcano Vents May Be Signs

This volcanic cone in the Nili Patera caldera on Mars has hydrothermal mineral deposits on the southern flanks and nearby terrains, hinting that it may be the most recent habitable hotspot on Mars. Two of the largest deposits are marked by arrows. The discovery suggests that the vents once served as tiny habitable pockets on Mars where primitive forms of life on Mars, if any ever existed, could have found refuge. To date, however, no definitive proof that Mars has ever supported any form of life has been found. "When you have water and heat, as you have at this site, you have the opportunity for habitability — a place where conditions for life, if it was there, could have been supported," study co-author John Mustard told space.com 

Oceans of Ancient Mars May Have Sprung From Slow Leaks

Mars depicted with an Ocean.

Although Mars is cold and dry today, water is thought to have covered much of the Red Planet in the distant past. This could explain, for instance, why the northern lowlands hold extensive sedimentary deposits that resemble those seen in the abyssal plains of Earth's ocean floors. The origin of these deposits is controversial. One theory suggests ancient Mars' oceans formed after huge volumes of water and sediment were suddenly released from zones of collapsed crust known as chaotic terrains. However, these zones of collapse are rare on Mars on the whole, while the plains deposits are widespread. 

A new study suggests this water emerged from aquifers, through extensive and widespread fractures in the floors of continent-scale Martian basins. Frequent, long-lived discharges of groundwater would lead to the development of river systems and cause large-scale regional erosion, sedimentary deposits and water ponding, the research scientists say.

If life existed underground on Mars, these discharges of water could have brought it up to the surface. Organisms and their fossils may therefore be preserved within some of these sedimentary deposits. The bag keeps opening bigger on the question of life on Mars? MadOne.

Deep Hotspots on Ancient Mars Looked Habitable

Picture from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of  Mars Deep Spots      

An ancient meteor strike on Mars has revealed the first direct evidence of how warm liquid water may have shaped a habitable underground environment. Images taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed the first carbonate rocks found inside Leighton Crater at a level that was once buried 4 miles (6 km) below the red planet's surface.

Carbonates hold carbon dioxide and can form readily in the presence of water, but have previously been found only in a few scattered locations on Mars. 

This first-time discovery of carbonates in an underground location points to a warmer epoch in the ancient Martian past with more atmospheric carbon dioxide, as well as ancient seas. The carbonates also turned up alongside silicate minerals and clays that suggest the presence of hydrothermal systems — similar to the deep sea vents on Earth.

"This discovery doesn't really hint at life, but it does reveal a very strong candidate for a habitable environment, perhaps the best discovered so far."

The ancient rocks may date back as far as 3.5 or 4 billion years. That means they don't necessarily reflect the Martian underground as it exists today, but they do point to processes which could make the Mars subsurface a habitable place.

Researchers have long looked to the underground environment in hopes of finding Martian life, because cold, dry conditions coupled with ultraviolet radiation on the surface of Mars makes existence up above unlikely.

We are getting closer and closer to an official announcement of life on Mars and elsewhere. Learn more about space, NASA, and Ancient Mars. Power Your Mind. MadOne.

Robot Airplanes Could Unlock Mars Mysteries

Concept art for ARES robot plane

Various orbiters, landers and rovers that have explored Mars in the past three decades have revealed tantalizing evidence of the conditions for life, from frozen water at the planet’s North Pole to methane plumes in the atmosphere. For atmospheric scientist Joel Levine, the evidence has made the case for flying an airplane over Mars stronger than ever.

Levine champions the ARES Mars airplane mission at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. He believes that a robotic, rocket-powered airplane is the perfect platform for unraveling the Red Planet’s biggest mysteries.

Soaring at an altitude of 1.6 kilometers, an airplane could cover hundreds of kilometers, gathering visual images and remote sensing data that it transmits back to Earth. "A powered airplane flying a mile above the surface can obtain measurements over inaccessible parts of Mars and collect a whole bunch of data that no rover can collect," Levine said. As opposed to orbiters, meanwhile, the airplane would be close enough to the ground to get high-resolution images and chemical sensing data. 

ARES, which stands for Aerial Regional-Scale Environmental Surveyor.
Astrobiology Magazine/ Space.com

Another new mission NASA sets to launch for Mars.

Illustration of MAVEN spacecraft.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US space agency NASA announced it has given the green light to a mission to Mars aimed at investigating the mystery of how the "red planet" lost its atmosphere.

NASA gave the approval Monday for "the development and 2013 launch of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission," the agency said in a statement, noting that the project may also show Mars' history of supporting life.

"A better understanding of the upper atmosphere and the role that escape to space has played is required to plug a major hole in our understanding of Mars."

Three main scientific instruments will be launched to Earth's neighbor aboard a craft in November 2013 as part of the 438-million-dollar project.

Clues on Mars' surface, including features that resemble ancient riverbeds and minerals that could only form in the presence of liquid water, suggest the planet "once had a denser atmosphere, which supported the presence of liquid water on the surface," said NASA.

However, most of the Martian atmosphere was lost as part of a dramatic climate shift. "Mars can't protect itself from the solar wind because it no longer has a shield, the planet's global magnetic field is dead," said Jakosky, describing how the magnetic field disappeared and the atmosphere then exposed to the punishing solar wind.

MAVEN will examine all known ways the sun is currently swiping the Martian atmosphere, and may discover new ones as well. It will also watch how the loss changes as solar activity changes over a year. The project is said to be a vital complement to past, present, and future Mars missions.

Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin will manufacture the spacecraft based on designs of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey, launched in 2005 and 2001, respectively.