Monthly Archives: October 2013

Hematite ridge: site for Curiosity rover to explore ancient habitability?

A low ridge running along the foot of Mt. Sharp will likely become a prime target for Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory rover as it approaches the mound. The reason, outlined in a recent paper in Geology by Abigail Fraeman … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Spiral troughs in Mars polar caps are born in ‘cyclic steps’

Both Martian polar caps have deep spiral troughs that slice into them for dozens or hundreds of kilometers, but their origin and development has been much debated by scientists. New work by a team of researchers led by Isaac Smith … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Mars dust devils travel much faster than surface winds blow

Extending earlier work, a team of Mars scientists led by Dennis Reiss (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Germany) has made simultaneous (or near-) observations of dust devil speeds using cameras on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The cameras include CRISM, CTX, and HiRISE. The … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Supervolcanos in Arabia on Mars: Update

The idea of giant volcanos erupting in Arabia was proposed by Joseph Michalski (Planetary Science Institute) in a talk at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in March 2013. Michalski and coauthor Jacob Bleacher (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) have … Continue reading

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off