Perseverance rover unearths clues about Martian geology and water history

[ad_1] Scientists anticipate that the rock samples collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover will provide a timeline for the planet’s geologic and water history. But they will have to wait an entire decade before the samples can be brought back from the red planet as part of the Mars Sample Return Campaign that is scheduled for […]

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NASA poised for historic Artemis I lunar launch from Florida

[ad_1] A half century after the end of NASA’s Apollo era, the U.S. space agency’s long-anticipated bid to return astronauts to the moon’s surface remains at least three years away, with much of the necessary hardware still on the drawing board. But NASA aims to take a giant leap in its renewed lunar ambitions with […]

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NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter turns ‘winter warrior’ for next flight

[ad_1] The last time we heard from the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, it was grounded temporarily ahead of winter and dust season on the red planet. But now, the NASA team working on the rotorcraft is preparing for its next flight, which could happen this week. Ingenuity’s 30th flight will be a short hop to check […]

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NASA will send more helicopters to Mars

[ad_1] The first helicopter that NASA sent to Mars worked so well that it is sending two more. The helicopters are similar to Ingenuity, the “Marscopter” that accompanied NASA’s Perseverance rover to Mars. But they’ll have the added ability of being able to grab and transport small tubes filled with bits of Martian rock. (Think […]

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ESA’s Mars Express captures image of ‘Martian Grand Canyon’ bigger than the real thing

[ad_1] The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express probe has captured images of the Valles Marineris, which is the largest canyon system in the Solar System. Valles Marineris is almost ten times longer, twenty times wider and five times deeper than the Grand Canyon. To put that into perspective, it spans a distance larger than […]

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Two companies aim to beat SpaceX to Mars with ‘audacious’ landing

[ad_1] SpaceX could lose the race to send the first private space mission to Mars. Maybe. For years, Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, has talked of making humanity an interplanetary species by someday sending colonists to Mars. The company is building a giant spacecraft, Starship, with that goal in mind. But a […]

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Scientists using Curiosity rover data to measure key life ingredient on Mars

[ad_1] Scientists are using data from NASA’s Curiosity rover to measure the total organic carbon in Martian rocks for the first time. Organic carbon is a key component in life molecules. There is evidence that the red planet’s climate was similar to Earth billions of years ago, with a thicker atmosphere and liquid water that […]

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Digging Deep: Mars could have had liquid oceans two billion years ago

[ad_1] We observe ancient shorelines, indicating the presence of a large standing body of liquid water, but little to no erosional activity in the form of rivers/valleys. We observe rock deposits from tsunamis that occurred in the past; but tsunamis would not have been possible had the ocean been completely frozen. This paradox has been […]

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