Tag • #mars

chevron_right

Nasa rover discovery hints at ancient microbial life on Mars

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Yesterday - 12:23

A 3ft by 2ft rock marked with off-white spots may offer fossilised record of microbes dating back billions of years

A spotty, vein-filled rock found by a Nasa rover on Mars contains features that suggest it may have hosted microbial life billions of years ago.

The arrowhead-shaped rock, named Cheyava Falls, was discovered by Nasa’s Perseverance rover on 21 July as it trundled along the northern edge of Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley carved by water flowing into the red planet’s Jezero crater.

chevron_right

No, NASA hasn’t found life on Mars yet, but the latest discovery is intriguing

news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · 2 days ago - 18:44

Enlarge / NASA’s Perseverance rover discovered “leopard spots” on a reddish rock nicknamed “Cheyava Falls” in Mars’ Jezero Crater in July 2024. (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

NASA's Perseverance rover has found a very intriguing rock on the surface of Mars.

An arrowhead-shaped rock observed by the rover has chemical signatures and structures that could have been formed by ancient microbial life. To be absolutely clear, this is not irrefutable evidence of past life on Mars, when the red planet was more amenable to water-based life billions of years ago. But discovering these colored spots on this rock is darn intriguing and has Mars scientists bubbling with excitement.

"These spots are a big surprise," said David Flannery, an astrobiologist and member of the Perseverance science team from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, in a NASA news release . "On Earth, these types of features in rocks are often associated with the fossilized record of microbes living in the subsurface."

Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

chevron_right

Expiring medications could pose problem for Mars astronauts

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 4 days ago - 09:38

Researchers say many drugs have shelf life of three years or less, with a mission expected to take about 36 months

When it comes to crewed missions to Mars there is no shortage of hazards, from space radiation to a hostile environment. Now researchers have found another snag: many of the medicines astronauts may take with them are likely to expire before they return to Earth.

Researchers say they have discovered a host of medications used in space have a shelf life of three years or less – a problem given Nasa expects a mission to Mars to take roughly 36 months .

chevron_right

Curiosity n’aurait jamais fait cette découverte épatante sur Mars s’il n’avait pas roulé dessus

news.movim.eu / Numerama · 7 days ago - 09:40

Sur la planète rouge, le rover Curiosity de la Nasa a roulé sur un rocher. C'est ainsi qu'il a trouvé par hasard du soufre pur, une découverte tout à fait inédite sur Mars.

chevron_right

Seismic data shows Mars is often pummeled by planet-shaking meteorites

news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 16 July - 18:32

Enlarge / One of the craters identified seismically, then confirmed through orbital images. (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona )

Mars trembles with marsquakes, but not all of them are driven by phenomena that occur beneath the surface—many are the aftermath of meteorite strikes.

Meteorites crash down to Mars every day. After analyzing data from NASA’s InSight lander, an international team of researchers noticed that its seismometer, SEIS, detected six nearby seismic events. These were linked to the same acoustic atmospheric signal that meteorites generate when whizzing through the atmosphere of Mars. Further investigation identified all six as part of an entirely new class of quakes known as VF (very high frequency) events.

The collisions that generate VF marsquakes occur in fractions of a second, much less time than the few seconds it takes tectonic processes to cause quakes similar in size. This is some of the key seismological data that has helped us understand the occurrence of earthquakes caused by meteoric impacts on Mars. This is also the first time seismic data was used to determine how frequently impact craters are formed.

Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments

chevron_right

Phases de la Lune, conjonction de planètes : que voir dans le ciel en juillet 2024 ?

news.movim.eu / Numerama · Monday, 1 July - 06:15

Les soirées estivales sont arrivées ! Il est temps de découvrir les phénomènes célestes faciles à observer tout au long du mois de juillet 2024.

chevron_right

Scientists find desert moss ‘that can survive on Mars’

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Sunday, 30 June - 15:00

Moss that grows in Mojave desert and Antarctica may help establish life on the red planet, researchers say

While Matt Damon relied on potatoes cultivated in crew biowaste to survive in the hit film The Martian, researchers say it is a humble desert moss that might prove pivotal to establishing life on Mars.

Scientists in China say they have found Syntrichia caninervis – a moss found in regions including Antarctica and the Mojave desert – is able to withstand Mars-like conditions, including drought, high levels of radiation and extreme cold.

chevron_right

Sur Mars, l’ESA a trouvé de l’eau à un endroit « impossible »

news.movim.eu / JournalDuGeek · Wednesday, 12 June - 13:25

Olympus Mons Givre

La découverte d'eau sous forme de givre au sommet des reliefs du Tharsis, qui héberge notamment le plus grand volcan du système solaire, a surpris les chercheurs autant qu'elle les a ravis.

chevron_right

Early morning frost spotted on some of Mars’s huge mountains

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 10 June - 15:00

Thin dusting of water ice appears to form overnight in summit craters and evaporate after sunrise, scientists say

Early morning frost has been spotted on some of the largest mountains in the solar system – the colossal Martian volcanoes that rise up to three times the height of Mount Everest near the planet’s equator.

In colder months the fine dusting of ice, thinner than a human hair, appears to form overnight in the volcanoes’ summit craters, or calderas, and on sections of their rims and then to evaporate a few hours after sunrise.