For more information about life on mars check the Wikipedia article here
As the search for life on Mars intensifies, it’s good to remember that there are other places in our own solar system that are much more likely to host life. This may be a “captain obvious” moment for some, but may come as quite the surprise for others. Europa, despite its frozen surface, is thought [...]
Thu, Feb 21, 2013
Despite some initial worry, Curiosity’s drill worked out just fine, and now, the rover has revealed historic images that confirm it has obtained the first samples from the inside of another planet. No other rover or device has drilled to another planet and collected a sample from its interior. “Seeing the powder from the drill [...]
Thu, Jan 31, 2013
Ridges of Martian impact craters could be fossils of cracks in the Martian surface, formed by minerals deposited by flowing water, according to a new research. The findings, accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, one of the most prestigious journals in the field, could explain a mysterious network of ridges that vein across the [...]
Mon, Jan 21, 2013
Exobiologists have found what they believe to be the clearest evidence that Mars supported life – though it may not seem obvious at a first glance. The research published in Nature Geoscience shows all the needed ingredients for life in a huge crater that goes up to 5km below the planet’s surface. The McLaughlin crater, [...]
Fri, Jan 18, 2013
Using combined imagery delivered by the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) and recent color channel data, the European Space Agency has recently discovered the vestiges of an ancient river that used to flow through Mars’ highlands. The river is 1,000 miles long and at some points 4 miles wide and 1,000 feet deep. The images are simply [...]
Wed, Jan 16, 2013
The first sample from underground Mars will come from a rockbed that showcases unexpected mineral veins of gypsum. A Martian candy store Astronomers and geologists are now in the equivalent of a Martian candy store of scientific objectives: the lowest point of Gale crater, called Yellowknife Bay is literally teeming with minerals that could only [...]
Fri, Nov 23, 2012
A few days ago, the Curiosity rover staff made an announcement that sent echoes throughout the entire scientific community – and not only. They announced that they have made a discovery ‘for the history books’, one that is so spectacular they want to quadruple check before they publish it, just to make sure it’s not [...]
Mon, Nov 5, 2012
Curiosity took a break from its usual rock sampling activities and instead focused on the air, trying to figure out how Mars lost the biggest part of its atmosphere, leaving it with 100 times less than what Earth has. Researchers believe in the distant past, Mars was a pretty different sight from what we [...]
Thu, Oct 18, 2012
It’s dinner time, and you know what there’s on the menu? Rocks! Martian rocks, to be more precise. After what seemed at times to be an excruciating series of baby steps, the rover has finally managed to extract the first samples and place it in CheMin – one of the two miniature laboratories located inside [...]
Fri, May 25, 2012
A new study conducted by NASA indicates that large molecules containing carbon came to Earth from Mars – molecules which are a key ingredient for life as we know it. Studying meteorites that landed on Earth and originated on Mars, the Carnegie Institution for Science alongside NASA researchers concluded that the reduced carbon – carbon [...]
Fri, May 4, 2012
Several studies performed in the last decade have shown Mars used to be warmer and wetter, but scientists still haven’t figured out exactly why we are seeing these clues and how our red neighbor used to look like ages ago. Now, a new study concluded that Mars was much, much wetter than previously believed and [...]
Mon, Apr 16, 2012
When the administration gives you budget cut lemons, make a different scientific lemonade – that’s pretty much what NASA is trying to do in light of these decisions. Less money, more problems Citing lack of funds, the Obama administration is cutting healthy chunks of the NASA budget, placing a big question mark on many important [...]
Thu, Nov 3, 2011
There is still a good chance we might find life on Mars, but if we really want to do this, we’re going to have to dig a little deeper – literally. A new study conducted by NASA claims that if there ever was any life on the red planet, then it probably thrived below the [...]
Tue, Mar 29, 2011
Time is growing shorter and shorter for the people working on the development of the Mars exploration program, and as we are getting closer to the launch date, some plans are continued, while others are scraped. Such was the case with the 3D camera for the next robotic rover that will be sent to Mars, [...]
Wed, Mar 9, 2011
They came from Mars; they invaded our planet billions of years ago. But they were small, and came with rocks instead of spaceships. At least that’s what Christopher Carr from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) thinks. He claims that sheltered within meteorite rocks, microbial Martians could have survived the cold dark space, and make [...]
Mon, Feb 14, 2011
After months of anticipation, three death defying astronauts set foot on Mars; well, actually, in a dark sand-filled room designed specifically to simulate walking on Mars. The explorers make up half of the team behind the Mars500 mission, a project started with the goal of showcasing the psychological effects a walk on the red planet [...]
Thu, Dec 2, 2010
NASA has excited pretty much everybody’s mind when they announced a press conference for today on the topic of extraterrestrial life and their recent findings in the field. “NASA will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. PST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of [...]
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Fri, Feb 22, 2013
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