-
Recent Posts
Tags
Aeolis Mons Arizona State University ASU atmosphere Beautiful Mars Cape Tribulation clouds craters Curiosity dunes dust Endeavour Crater ESA European Space Agency Gale Crater High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment HiRISE Malin Space Science Systems Marathon Valley MARCI Mars Color Imager Mars Exploration Rover Mars Odyssey Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Science Laboratory mass wasting MER Mount Sharp MRO MSL MSSS Murray Formation NASA Opportunity sand dunes Stimson Formation storms THEMIS THEMIS Image of the Day Thermal Emission Imaging System University of Arizona Vera Rubin Ridge volcanics weather windArchives
Links
general
mission instruments
- CRISM: Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars
- CTX: Context Camera
- HiRISE: High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment
- MARSIS: Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding
- SHARAD: Shallow Radar
- THEMIS: Thermal Emission Imaging System
missions
- All Mars missions list
- Curiosity rover
- ExoMars
- Hope (al-Amal) orbiter
- InSight
- Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN)
- Mars Exploration Rovers (MER)
- Mars Express (MEX)
- Mars Odyssey
- Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) / Mangalyaan
- Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
- Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)
- Perseverance Rover
- Tianwen-1 orbiter/rover
news
Monthly Archives: May 2011
Home Plate: Worth a second visit?
In Gusev Crater’s Columbia Hills, explored by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, a low plateau about 100 yards wide dubbed Home Plate has turned out to be a Pretty Big Deal. Although a deep bed of soft sand on its … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged geysers, Gusev Crater, Home Plate, hot springs, Mars Exploration Rovers, MER, silica, Spirit
Comments Off
About that methane….
Methane is a greenhouse gas that on Earth most often has a biological origin, although it can also come from volcanic activity. Because of the biological implications – and because any Martian methane will be destroyed by oxygen in the … Continue reading
How to date a volcano
Without rock samples to analyze in a laboratory, how can you tell the age of a Martian volcano? A team led by Stuart Robbins (University of Colorado) used high-resolution images to count craters in the calderas (summit collapse pits) of … Continue reading
Big bangs
Really large meteorites produce impact scars big enough to be called basins. Although not defined by a particular size, basins differ from smaller craters in that the floor of a basin follows the planet’s curvature. New calculations published in the … Continue reading
Chips off the old block?
Are Martian moons Phobos and Deimos escaped asteroids, as sometimes proposed? Robert Craddock (National Air and Space Museum) suggests in a paper in the February 2011 issue of Icarus they may have come from a large impact on Mars instead. … Continue reading
Killing Earth bugs thoroughly
Mars seems earthlike in numerous ways, but it’s still a rugged environment for life. A team of scientists led by A. P. Johnson (Indiana University) examined just how rough Mars is for several terrestrial organisms and amino acids by subjecting … Continue reading