Mars News -- ScienceDaily

Mars News

January 20, 2016

Antarctic Research Informs Us of Life On Mars

Gullies On Mars Not Sculpted by Liquid Water

Mars Silica: 'Considerable Water Activity'

Evidence for More Recent Clay Formation On Mars

Latest Headlines

updated 1:10pm EST

Rover Rounds Martian Dune to Get to the Other Side

Jan. 5, 2016 — NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, partway through the first up-close study ever conducted of extraterrestrial sand dunes, is providing dramatic views of a dune's steep face, where ... read more

U.S. Demonstrates Production of Fuel for Missions to the Solar System and Beyond

Dec. 23, 2015 — The first U.S. production in nearly 30 years of a specialized fuel to power future deep space missions has been completed by ... read more

NASA Suspends 2016 Launch of InSight Mission to Mars

Dec. 23, 2015 — After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat ... read more

Mars Once Had a Moderately Dense Atmosphere

Nov. 24, 2015 — Scientists suggest that 3.8 billion years ago, Mars might have had only a moderately dense atmosphere. The scientists have identified a photochemical process that could have ... read more

Mars to Lose Its Largest Moon, Phobos, but Gain a Ring

Nov. 24, 2015 — Mars' largest moon -- one of only two in our solar system moving inward towards its planet -- will eventually be torn apart by tidal forces and distributed in a ring around ... read more

Dust Devils Detected by Seismometer Could Guide Mars Mission

Nov. 9, 2015 — Buried in the shallow soft mud of a dry California lake bed, a seismometer was able to detect the tiny tilts of the ground as it was pulled up by passing dust devils. The ... read more

Mars' Moon Phobos Is Slowly Falling Apart

Nov. 10, 2015 — The long, shallow grooves lining the surface of Phobos are likely early signs of the structural failure that will ultimately destroy this moon ... read more

NASA Mission Reveals Speed of Solar Wind Stripping Martian Atmosphere

Nov. 5, 2015 — NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission has identified the process that appears to have played a key role in the transition of the Martian climate from ... read more

Signs of Acid Fog Found on Mars

Nov. 2, 2015 — While Mars doesn't have much in the way of Earth-like weather, it does evidently share one kind of weird meteorology: acid fog. A planetary scientist has pieced together a ... read more

Farming on Mars? The Martian Raises Questions About Soil

Oct. 29, 2015 — In the recent sci-fi hit, The Martian, the main character, astronaut Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon), manages to grow potatoes on the planet with a mix of ingenuity, science, and a bit of ... read more

Curiosity Rover Report: First Visit to Martian Dunes

LISA Pathfinder Satellite Successfully Launched

The Universe in False Color Imagery

NASA: Sun Stripping Away Martian Atmosphere

Rewrite of Onboard Memory Planned for NASA Mars Orbiter

Oct. 29, 2015 — Tables stored in flash memory aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) tell locations of Earth and the sun for the past 10 years, but not their locations next year. That needs to be ... read more

Robots for Future Human Missions to Mars

Oct. 28, 2015 — Scientists have developed a communication solution that can allow orbiting space station in outer space to maintain uninterrupted contact with robots working on the surface of a planet. The ... read more

Why Earth Is So Much Bigger Than Mars: Rocky Planets Formed from 'Pebbles'

Oct. 27, 2015 — Using a new process in planetary formation modeling, where planets grow from tiny bodies called 'pebbles,' scientists can explain why Mars is so much smaller than Earth. This same process ... read more

You Too Can Learn to Farm on Mars

Oct. 20, 2015 — Scientists are helping students figure out how to farm on Mars, much like astronaut Mark Watney, played by Matt Damon, attempts in the critically acclaimed movie 'The ... read more

To Save on Weight, a Detour to the Moon Is the Best Route to Mars

Oct. 14, 2015 — Launching humans to Mars may not require a full tank of gas: A new study suggests that a Martian mission may lighten its launch load considerably by refueling on the ... read more

Pebbles on Mars Likely Traveled Tens of Miles Down a Riverbed, Study Finds

Oct. 13, 2015 — A University of Pennsylvania-led team uses a new method to determine that rounded pebbles on Mars traveled roughly 30 miles down an ancient riverbed, providing additional evidence for the idea that ... read more

Climate Models Used to Explain Formation of Mars Valley Networks

Oct. 13, 2015 — The extensive valley networks on the surface of Mars were probably created by running water billions of years ago, but the source of that water is unknown. Now, researchers are using climate models ... read more

Wet Paleoclimate of Mars Revealed by Ancient Lakes at Gale Crater

Oct. 8, 2015 — Scientists have described ancient water flows and lakes on Mars, and what this might mean about the ancient ... read more

Rock Samples from Western US Teach How to Hunt for Life on Mars

Oct. 1, 2015 — With news coming this week that NASA has confirmed the presence of flowing saltwater on the surface of Mars, the hunt for life on the Red Planet has new momentum. Now, Eocene rock samples from the ... read more

Mars: New Hypothesis on the Origin of the Megafloods

Sep. 30, 2015 — A recent study puts forward a new explanation for the Martian megafloods: enormous discharges of subterranean water that dug out the biggest flood channels in the solar system over 3 billion years ... read more

Walk the Line: NASA Studies Physical Performance After Spaceflight

Sep. 29, 2015 — Walking an obstacle course on Earth is relatively easy. Walking an obstacle course after being in space for six months isn't so simple. NASA's Human Research Program is focusing on ... read more

Liquid Water Flows on Today's Mars: NASA Confirms Evidence

Sep. 28, 2015 — New findings from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars. Using an imaging spectrometer on MRO, ... read more

What Happened to Early Mars' Atmosphere? New Study Eliminates One Theory

Sep. 3, 2015 — 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 ... read more

Earth's Extremes Point the Way to Extraterrestrial Life

Aug. 26, 2015 — Astrobiologists draw upon what is known about Earth's most extreme lifeforms and the environments of Mars and Titan, Saturn's moon, to paint a clearer picture of what life on other planets ... read more

Salt Flat Indicates Some of the Last Vestiges of Martian Surface Water

Aug. 7, 2015 — Mars turned cold and dry long ago, but researchers have discovered evidence of an ancient lake that likely represents some of the last potentially habitable surface water ever to exist on the Red ... read more

Curiosity Rover Finds Evidence of Mars' Primitive Continental Crust

July 14, 2015 — The ChemCam laser instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover has turned its beam onto some unusually light-colored rocks on Mars, and the results are surprisingly similar to Earth's granitic ... read more

Planet Mars Behaving Like a Rock Star

June 22, 2015 — If planets had personalities, Mars would be a rock star according to recent preliminary results from NASA's MAVEN spacecraft. Mars sports a 'Mohawk' of escaping atmospheric particles ... read more

Scientists Find Methane in Mars Meteorites

June 16, 2015 — Scientists have discovered traces of methane in Martian meteorites, a possible clue in the search for life on the Red ... read more

Unveiling the Ancient Climate of Mars

June 15, 2015 — The high seas of Mars may never have existed. According to a new study that looks at two opposite climate scenarios of early Mars, a cold and icy planet billions of years ago better explains water ... read more

Martian Glass: Window Into Possible Past Life

June 8, 2015 — Researchers have found large deposits of glass formed by impactors on the surface of Mars. On Earth, impact glasses have been shown to sometimes preserve signatures of ancient life. That makes these ... read more

Thursday, October 29, 2015