Tag Archives: regolith

HiRISE: Small craters in Promethei Terra

Small craters in Promethei Terra. The target area is for the theoretical landing of a rover, in a flat area close by. The craters in the target area are important because they are a potential source of rock samples that … Continue reading

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HiRISE: Surface texture

Surface texture. Interesting how the dune ripples within these shallow craters all seem to have a similar orientation. This image is within a crater in the Arabia Terra region. HiRISE Picture of the Day archive [More at links]

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Many bedrock plains are clastic rocks, not lavas

The Martian surface is dominated by loose dust, sands, and rocks, but high spatial resolution imaging has permitted the detection of numerous flat-lying exposures of ancient, intact bedrock. These “bedrock plains” have previously been interpreted as lava sequences, perhaps similar … Continue reading

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Seeking microbial biosignatures for studying Mars rocks

Scientists around Tetyana Milojevic from the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Vienna are in search of unique biosignatures, which are left on synthetic extraterrestrial minerals by microbial activity. The biochemist and astrobiologist investigates these signatures at her own … Continue reading

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No-bake recipe for bricks from Mars soil

Explorers planning to settle on Mars might be able to turn the planet’s red soil into bricks without needing to use an oven or additional ingredients. Instead, they would just need to apply pressure to compact the soil—the equivalent of … Continue reading

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