Tag Archives: atmosphere

MARCI weather report, May 27-June 2, 2019

There was a slight uptick in dust activity this past week on Mars. The week began with a couple of arcuate-shaped dust storms extending over the retreating seasonal north polar ice cap in Acidalia and Arcadia. Looking to the southern … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: A many-layered plan

Sols 2427-28, June 5, 2019, update by MSL scientist Claire Newman: The main focus of today’s plan was observations of the interbedded thick and thin layers we found at Woodland Bay before we drive away again, perhaps as early as … Continue reading

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How the James Webb Space Telescope will study Mars

In the summer of 2018, a dust storm blanketed the entire planet Mars. From the surface, the Sun would have looked like tiny orb in a murky brown sky. Dust carpeted the solar panels of NASA’s intrepid Opportunity rover, which … Continue reading

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Curiosity catches clouds, and a cache of clay

NASA’s Curiosity rover has confirmed that the region on Mars it’s exploring, called the “clay-bearing unit,” is well deserving of its name. Two samples the rover recently drilled at rock targets called “Aberlady” and “Kilmarie” have revealed the highest amounts … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report, May 20-26, 2019

Last week on Mars, water ice clouds and small dust-lifting events continued to be observed along the retreating seasonal north polar ice cap edge. Near the end of the week, larger pulses of dust activity were spotted over the plains … Continue reading

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Comet chemistry suggests way to get breathable oxygen on Mars

Science fiction stories are chock full of terraforming schemes and oxygen generators for a very good reason—we humans need molecular oxygen (O2) to breathe, and space is essentially devoid of it. Even on other planets with thick atmospheres, O2 is … Continue reading

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Mars sand moves under different conditions than Earth sand

Wind has shaped the face of Mars for millennia, but its exact role in piling up sand dunes, carving out rocky escarpments or filling impact craters has eluded scientists until now. In the most detailed analysis of how sands move … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report, May 13-19, 2019

Afternoon condensate water-ice clouds continued to be the dominant feature over all the major Martian volcanoes this past week. A few arcuate dust storms were observed along the edge of the seasonal north polar ice cap. On the other side … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report, May 6-12, 2019

We are now well into northern spring, and dust storm activity is picking up in the northern hemisphere. Numerous dust storms were observed near the seasonal north polar cap edge (presently ~60° N) throughout the past week. Several of these … Continue reading

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Lightning on Mars is probably rare and weak

[Editor’s note: From a paper by Gerhard Wurm and four co-authors recently published in Icarus.] A Challenge for Martian Lightning: Limits of Collisional Charging at Low Pressure • Collision experiments on identical grains show a strong dependence of charging on … Continue reading

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