![deadpresidents:
The signatures of President Obama, Vice President Biden, and other U.S. officials on a plaque. On Mars.
[Via NASA]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_maptk1wjdt1qz9szto1_500.jpg)
The signatures of President Obama, Vice President Biden, and other U.S. officials on a plaque. On Mars.
[Via NASA]
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Sulfur-Rich Rocks on Mars
Photograph courtesy NASA/JPL/Cornell
Sulfur-rich rocks in the Columbia Hills on Mars stand out in bright blue in this false-color image from the Spirit rover. Spirit used its rock abrasion tool, or RAT, to grind a hole in the rock. The rock’s high sulfur content and softness are probably evidence of past alteration by water.
First photograph of sunset on Mars, 2005
New Study Says Large Regions of Mars Could Sustain Life
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The question of whether present-day Mars could be habitable, and to what extent, has been the focus of long-running and intense debates. The surface, comparable to the dry valleys of Antarctica and the Atacama desert on Earth, is harsh, with well-below freezing temperatures most of the time (at an average of minus 63 degrees Celsius or minus 81 Fahrenheit), extreme dryness and a very thin atmosphere offering little protection from the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Most scientists would agree that the best place that any organisms could hope to survive and flourish would be underground. Now, a new study says that scenario is not only correct, but that large regions of Mars’ subsurface could be even more sustainable for life than previously thought.
Scientists from the Australian National University modeled conditions on Mars on a global scale and found that large regions could be capable of sustaining life – three percent of the planet actually, albeit mostly underground. By comparison, just one percent of Earth’s volume, from the central core to the upper atmosphere, is inhabited by some kind of life. They compared pressure and temperature conditions on Earth to those of Mars to come up with the surprising results.
The paper is currently available for free here.
(via universetoday)
MRO catches Mars sand dunes in motion
Images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show sand dunes and ripples moving across the surface of Mars at dozens of locations and shifting up to several yards. These observations reveal the planet’s sandy surface is more dynamic than previously thought.
While red dust is known to swirl all around Mars in storms and dust devils, the planet’s dark sand grains are larger and harder to move. Scientists thought the dunes and ripples on Mars either did not budge or moved too slowly for detection. Initial images from the (HiRISE) camera documented only a few cases of shifting sand dunes and ripples. Now, after years of monitoring the Martian surface, the spacecraft has documented movements of a few meters per year in dozens of locations across the planet.
The air on Mars is thin, so stronger gusts of wind are needed to push a grain of sand. Wind-tunnel experiments have shown that a patch of sand would take winds of about 80 mph (nearly 130 kilometers per hour) to move on Mars compared with only 10 mph (about 16 kilometers per hour) on Earth. Measurements from the meteorology experiments on NASA’s Viking landers in the 1970s and early 1980s, in addition to climate models, showed such winds should be rare on Mars.
Mars in a Minute: How Do You Get to Mars? (by NASASolarSystem)
What does it take to get a spacecraft to Mars? This 60-second video covers a few key things to remember when planning a trip to the Red Planet.
The sun, as seen from mars.
I love this picture.
Click the link. Do it.
cwnl:
NASA’s Next Mars Rover to Launch in 15 Days
The Mars Science Laboratory, the largest and most complex machine that has ever landed on another planet, is on target to launch on Nov. 25 at 7:25 a.m. PST.
“MSL has been assembled, tested, encapsulated, placed atop an ATLAS rocket and is ready to go,” said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA’s Mars Program, during a briefing at NASA headquarters on Nov. 10.
The rover, nicknamed Curiosity, weighs in at nearly 1 ton and is a little bigger than a Mini Cooper. The probe is expected to survey the Martian landscape with HD cameras, examine the chemical surface composition within 20 feet of the rover, monitor the planet’s weather, and search for signs of habitability and life, past or present.
Curiosity also has a six-foot arm that can reach down to place sensors on Martian rocks to investigate their chemical makeup. It will be able to drill inside rocks and deliver samples back to a suite of laboratory instruments carried inside the rover, something never done before in Mars.
“This is a Mars scientists’ dream machine,” said Ashwin Vasavada, MSL deputy project scientist, at the briefing.
You Are The Sun
^___^ pretty
