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- Aeolis Serpens, Mars’ longest sinuous ridge, is an ancient riverbed
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- Gale’s winds sculpted the Mt. Sharp mound as they built it
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Tag Archives: Mars Express
Grooving on Phobos
Phobos, the larger moon of Mars, has a surface covered in craters, dust, boulders – and a great many semi-parallel and intersecting grooves. One theory for the grooves’ origin, proposed in 2011, holds that they are impact scars from chains … Continue reading
UV light makes methane from meteorites
Methane gas, which can arise from both biological and geological sources, was detected in the Martian atmosphere by observations from Earth-based telescopes in 2003 and from the Mars Express orbiter (2004). As methane breaks down relatively quickly under Martian conditions, … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, Mars Express, meteorites, methane, Murchison, ultraviolet light, UV light
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Sea cliffs in Libya Montes?
New work suggests that three possible shorelines from ancient lakes or seas in Isidis Planitia lie in Libya Montes. These mountains form the southern rim of Isidis, a Noachian-age impact basin 1,225 kilometers (760 miles) in diameter. They lie along … Continue reading
Hidden valley at the north pole
The north polar cap of Mars has a wide, deep trough called Chasma Boreale that slices into the polar cap for 560 kilometers (350 miles). The floor of the chasma exposes a layer of sand and dust cemented with water … Continue reading
Water-carved channels on crater debris
Medium-size craters less than 3 billion years old often show water-carved channels in their debris aprons, according to a new study of mid-latitude craters in Arabia Terra. Previous studies had reported that such features on ejecta aprons were rare. Nicolas … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Context Camera, craters, CTX, ejecta, fluvial landforms, High Resolution Stereo Camera, HRSC, Mars Express, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, water
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MARSIS detects “Oceanus Borealis” sediments
The ground-penetrating radar instrument MARSIS on the Mars Express orbiter has measured the electrical properties of the north and south polar regions. The results, reported in Geophysical Research Letters by Jérémie Mouginot (University of California, Irvine) and colleagues, strongly support … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged climate change, ice, Mars Express, MARSIS, Oceanus Borealis, Phoenix, Vastitas Borealis Formation
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Devilry in the air
With all the spacecraft orbiting Mars, it’s slightly surprising that there aren’t more observations of dust devils shared by two or more instruments. Writing in the September 2011 issue of Icarus, a team of scientists led by Dennis Reiss (Westfälische … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, Claritas Fossae, dust, dust devils, HRSC, Mars Express, Mars Global Surveyor, MOC, Syria Planum, wind
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Hadriaca Patera’s heavy footprint
On the northeast edge of the giant Hellas impact basin, the thick stack of lava in the volcano Hadriaca Patera weighed so much it depressed the Martian surface immediately around it. This bent and cracked the crust on the volcano’s … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Dao Vallis, Hadriaca Patera, Hellas, High Resolution Stereo Camera, HRSC, Mars Express, Niger Vallis, outflow channels, volcanos
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