Latest Climate of Mars Stories
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Although lately it has been snapping images of Curiosity and its landing remnants, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) data has given scientists the clearest evidence yet of carbon dioxide snowfalls on Mars. Frozen carbon dioxide, or "dry ice," requires temperatures of about negative 193 degrees Fahrenheit, which is considered colder than needed for freezing water. Carbon dioxide snow reminds scientists that although some parts...
PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) data have given scientists the clearest evidence yet of carbon dioxide snowfalls on Mars. This reveals the only known example of carbon dioxide snow falling anywhere in our solar system. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Frozen carbon dioxide, better known as "dry ice," requires temperatures of about minus 193 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 125 Celsius), which...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute have dated climate history for Mars for the first time. The ice caps on Mars' poles are miles thick, composed of ice and dust and contain layers that can be seen in cliffs and valley slopes. The layers are believed to reflect past climate on Mars, in the same way that Earth's climate history can be seen from the ice caps on Greenland and Antarctica. The scientists were able to relate...
GREENBELT, Md., May 21, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Magnetometers built by scientists and engineers at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. for NASA's Mars Atmosphere And Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission have been delivered to the University of California at Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory for integration into the Particles and Field Package. (Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) "The team worked hard and completed delivery of the...
According to new research, Mars may have been arid for over 600 million years, making it inhospitable for life to survive. Researchers spent three years analyzing data on Martian soil that was collected during the 2008 NASA Phoenix mission to Mars. Phoenix touched down in the northern arctic region of the Red Planet to look for signs that it was habitable to support life by analyzing ice and soil on the surface. They found that the surface of Mars has been arid for hundreds of...
NASA said on Friday that it is planning new missions to Mars to investigate how the planet turned hostile. The space agency said it is planning two missions to the Red Planet, one that will roam the surface and another that will orbit the planet. "The Red Planet's thin atmosphere does little to shield the ground against radiation from the Sun and space," Bill Steigerwald of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center said in a NASA press release. "Harsh chemicals, like hydrogen peroxide,...
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) show sand dunes and ripples moving across the surface of Mars at dozens of locations and shifting up to several yards. These observations reveal the planet's sandy surface is more dynamic than previously thought. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) "Mars either has more gusts of wind than we knew about before, or the winds are capable of transporting more...
New analysis of data sent back by the SPICAM spectrometer on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft has revealed for the first time that the planet's atmosphere is supersaturated with water vapor. This surprising discovery has major implications for understanding the Martian water cycle and the historical evolution of the atmosphere. Although numerous spacecraft have visited Mars over the past half a century, very few direct measurements of the vertical structure of the planet's atmosphere...
The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission reached a major milestone last week when it successfully completed its Mission Critical Design Review (CDR).MAVEN, scheduled for launch in late 2013, will be the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere. The goal of MAVEN is to determine the history of the loss of atmospheric gases to space through time, providing answers about Mars climate evolution. It will accomplish this by measuring the current rate of...
Scientists on Wednesday said they believed they could explain why Mars is smaller than Earth. They report in the journal Nature that Mars had a growth spurt, developing in as little as two to four million years after the birth of the Solar System, but then suddenly stopped. Earth grew to its full size over 50 to 100 million years, most likely through agglomeration as it collided with other young space rocks. "Earth was made of embryos like Mars, but Mars is a stranded planetary embryo...
