Latest Michael C. Malin Stories

By JOHN JOHNSON JR. NASA scientists announced Wednesday that they had found evidence that water still flows over the surface of Mars - sporadic gushers that increase the possibility that the Red Planet could harbor some form of life. Using images obtained by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, the researchers concluded that geologic changes in the shapes and sizes of gullies cut into the walls of two Martian craters were likely made by flowing water. The team looked at two sets of images...

By Warren E. Leary Pictures of Martian gullies taken several years apart strongly suggest that water still flows at least occasionally on the surface of the planet, scientists have announced. While water ice and water vapor have long been known to exist below the surface of Mars in the relatively recent past, and water ice has been seen at the poles, this is "the strongest evidence to date that water still flows occasionally on the surface of Mars," Michael Meyer, the lead scientist for...

NASA sees hint of liquid water on Mars WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Images sent back by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter suggest the existence of liquid water on Mars which heightens the potential for microbial life on the Red Planet, NASA scientists said on Wednesday. NASA scientists made the judgement based on images taken in 2004 and 2005 revealing bright new deposits seen in two gullies on Mars that suggest water carried sediment through them sometime during the past seven...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA photographs have revealed bright new deposits seen in two gullies on Mars that suggest water carried sediment through them sometime during the past seven years. "These observations give the strongest evidence to date that water still flows occasionally on the surface of Mars," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program, Washington. Liquid water, as opposed to the water ice and water vapor known to exist at Mars, is...

NASA photographs have revealed bright new deposits seen in two gullies on Mars that suggest water carried sediment through them sometime during the past seven years. "These observations give the strongest evidence to date that water still flows occasionally on the surface of Mars," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program, Washington.Liquid water, as opposed to the water ice and water vapor known to exist at Mars, is considered necessary for life. The...

During its first week of observations from low orbit, NASA's newest Mars spacecraft is already revealing new clues about both recent and ancient environments on the red planet. Scientists hope the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will answer questions about the history and distribution of Mars' water by combining data from the orbiter's high-resolution camera, imaging spectrometer, context camera, ground-penetrating radar, atmospheric sounder, global color camera, radio and accelerometers.Between...

LOS ANGELES -- The climate on Mars is showing a warming trend and recent images have shown the first evidence of seismic activity on Earth's neighbor planet, scientists said on Tuesday.New gullies that did not exist three years ago have been pictured on a Mars sand dune -- just another of what scientists say are surprising discoveries found by cameras aboard the 8-year-old Mars Global Surveyor that are changing notions about the climate and formation of Mars."To see new gullies and...

JPL -- New gullies that did not exist in mid-2002 have appeared on a Martian sand dune.That's just one of the surprising discoveries that have resulted from the extended life of NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, which this month began its ninth year in orbit around Mars. Boulders tumbling down a Martian slope left tracks that weren't there two years ago. New impact craters formed since the 1970s suggest changes to age-estimating models. And for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen...

JPL -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched on Aug. 12, has completed one of the first tasks of its seven-month cruise to Mars, a calibration activity for the spacecraft's Mars Color Imager instrument."We have transitioned from launch mode to cruise mode, and the spacecraft continues to perform extremely well," said Dan Johnston, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter deputy mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.The first and largest of four trajectory...

JPL -- NASA has selected eight proposals to provide instrumentation and associated science investigations for the mobile Mars Science Laboratory rover, scheduled for launch in 2009. Proposals selected today were submitted to NASA in response to an announcement of opportunity released in April. The Mars Science Laboratory mission, part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, would deliver a mobile laboratory to the surface of Mars to explore a local region as a potential habitat for past or...