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Tag Archives: hematite
Gale Crater’s rock-ingredient stew seen as plus for habitability
Editor’s note: Press conference video here. NASA’s Curiosity rover is climbing a layered Martian mountain and finding evidence of how ancient lakes and wet underground environments changed, billions of years ago, creating more diverse chemical environments that affected their favorability … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Aeolis Mons, boron, calcium sulfates, clay minerals, Curiosity, Gale Crater, hematite, Mars Science Laboratory, mineral veins, Mount Sharp, MSL, mudstones, Murray Formation, NASA, Stimson Formation
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THEMIS: The Martian, Part 3: Meridiani Planum
THEMIS Image of the Day, October 14, 2015. All this week, the THEMIS Image of the Day is following on the real Mars the path taken by fictional astronaut Mark Watney, stranded on the Red Planet in the book and … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Arizona State University, ASU, hematite, Mark Watney, Mars Exploration Rover, Mars Odyssey, MER, Meridiani Planum, NASA, Opportunity, sandstones, The Martian, THEMIS, Thermal Emission Imaging System
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Curiosity finds an orbital hematite match
Reddish rock powder from the first hole drilled into a Martian mountain [Confidence Hills] by NASA’s Curiosity rover has yielded the mission’s first confirmation of a mineral mapped from orbit. “This connects us with the mineral identifications from orbit, which … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Aeolis Mons, Alexander Hills, Book Cliffs, Chinle, Comb Ridge, Confidence Hills, Curiosity, Gale Crater, Gilbert Peak, hematite, Mars Science Laboratory, Mount Sharp, MSL, NASA, Pahrump Hills, Pink Cliffs, Salsberry Peak, Whale Rock
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Could Mars gypsum preserve microbes?
Sulfate minerals, such as calcium sulfates (gypsum), are common in areas on Mars, having been documented with data from satellites, landers, and rovers. Could these minerals also preserve the remains of ancient life, ask Kathleen Counter Benison and Francis Karmanocky III … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged alunite, bacteria, clay minerals, diatoms, green algae, gypsum, halite, hematite, hydrated sulfates, jarosite, life, sulfur
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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 CRISM, Curiosity, Gale Crater, habitability, hematite, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Science Laboratory, water
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“Blueberries” could date when Meridiani rocks were last wet
The relative amount of three chemical elements contained in Martian “blueberries” might offer scientists a way to date when these spherules were last inundated with water, according to recent research. Rich in the iron mineral hematite, blueberries are small concretions, … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged concretions, Curiosity, Gale Crater, hematite, jarosite, Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Science Laboratory, MER, Meridiani Planum, Opportunity, water
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Mars in the Mojave?
Where do you go to order up some Mars on Earth? Several places, actually, such as the Atacama Desert in Peru (which is very dry), the Dry Valleys of Antarctica (dry and cold), and Houghton Island in Canada’s high arctic … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged astrobiology, carbonate minerals, hematite, life, Mojave Desert
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