Tag Archives: water vapor

Trace Gas Orbiter: First science results

New evidence of the impact of the recent planet-encompassing dust storm on water in the atmosphere, and a surprising lack of methane, are among the scientific highlights of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter’s first year in orbit. Two papers [here … Continue reading

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James Webb Space Telescope will investigate how Mars went from wet to dry

The planet Mars has fascinated scientists for over a century. Today, it is a frigid desert world with a carbon dioxide atmosphere 100 times thinner than Earth’s. But evidence suggests that in the early history of our solar system, Mars … Continue reading

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Hydrogen escape from atmosphere linked to global dust storms

Some Mars experts are eager and optimistic for a dust storm this year to grow so grand it darkens skies around the entire Red Planet. This biggest type of phenomenon in the environment of modern Mars could be examined as … Continue reading

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Curiosity ends second Mars year at Gale Crater

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover today completes its second Martian year since landing inside Gale Crater nearly four Earth years ago, which means it has recorded environmental patterns through two full cycles of Martian seasons. The repetition helps distinguish seasonal effects … Continue reading

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Brines form at night when perchlorate absorbs water vapor from atmosphere

Researchers have long known that there was water in the form of ice on Mars. Now, new research from NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity shows that it is possible that there is liquid water close to the surface of Mars. The … Continue reading

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Mars multi-year global humidity map by seasons

Russian scientists from the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), together with their French and American colleagues, have created a “map” of the distribution of water vapour in … Continue reading

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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

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Was nitrogen in the early Mars atmosphere a key to ancient habitability?

Scientists have long suspected that ancient Mars had a thicker atmosphere and temperatures warmer and far more habitable than at present. But modelers have difficulties making the numbers come out right,

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