Curiosity update: Driving back to Sgurr of Eigg

Posted on July 20, 2018 by rburnham

NLB_585253414EDR_F0712956NCAM00251M_-br2Sol 2116, July 19, 2018, update by MSL scientist Ken Herkenhoff: The Sol 2115 wheel imaging went well, and we received the images needed to plan a drive back to “Sgurr of Eigg,” near the Sol 1999 rover position. The >50-meter drive dominates the Sol 2116 plan, but leaves time for continued atmospheric and other scientific observations. Before the drive, Right Mastcam will image the ChemCam target selected by AEGIS on Sol 2115 and Navcam will monitor the opacity of the atmosphere. After the drive and the standard post-drive imaging needed to plan weekend… [More at link]

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Weather update from Gale Crater

Posted on July 20, 2018 by rburnham

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Wanted: A name for the ExoMars 2020 rover

Posted on July 20, 2018 by rburnham

ExoMars_rover_node_full_image_2The UK Space Agency has launched a competition to name a rover that is going to Mars to search for signs of life.

Due to launch in 2020, the UK-built rover is part of ESA’s ExoMars mission. It will investigate how Mars has evolved and whether there may be conditions for life.

The ExoMars rover will be the first of its kind to travel across the martian surface and drill down to determine if evidence of life is buried underground, protected from the Sun’s radiation that bombards the surface of the ‘Red Planet’.

The rover will collect samples and analyse them with next-generation instruments – a fully fledged automated laboratory on Mars.

The competition to name the rover was unveiled by ESA astronaut Tim Peake at the Farnborough International Airshow today. [The competition is open only to individuals residing in a member state of the European Space Agency and associate members.]

“Mars is a fascinating destination, a place where humans will one day work alongside robots to gather new knowledge and search for life in our Solar System,” says Tim. “The ExoMars rover is a vital part of this journey of exploration and we are asking you to become part of this exciting mission and name the rover that will scout the martian surface.”  [More at link, including how to submit a name]

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

THEMIS: Indus Vallis winds through layered terrain

Posted on July 20, 2018 by rburnham

Indus Vallis (THEMIS_IOTD_20180720)THEMIS Image of the Day, July 20, 2018. This VIS image shows a section of Indus Vallis. Indus Vallis is located in Terra Sabaea.

More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

HiRISE: Layers in Noctis Labyrinthus

Posted on July 20, 2018 by rburnham

tumblr_pbrvlpduzf1rlz4gso1_1280Layers in Noctis Labyrinthus. One might suppose that a place named “labyrinth of the night” would have layers of some kind, otherwise it would anticlimactic.

Beautiful Mars series. [More at links]

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Mars ‘storm chasers’ seek dusty secrets

Posted on July 20, 2018 by rburnham

Storm chasing takes luck and patience on Earth — and even more so on Mars.

For scientists watching the Red Planet from data gathered by NASA’s orbiters, the past month has been a windfall. “Global” dust storms, where a runaway series of storms creates a dust cloud so large it envelops the planet, only appear every six to eight years (that’s three to four Mars years). Scientists still don’t understand why or how exactly these storms form and evolve.

In June, one of these dust events rapidly engulfed the planet. Scientists first observed a smaller-scale dust storm on May 30. By June 20, it had gone global.

For the Opportunity rover, that meant a sudden drop in visibility from a clear, sunny day to that of an overcast one. Because Opportunity runs on solar energy, scientists had to suspend science activities to preserve the rover’s batteries. As of July 18th, no response has been received from the rover (…)

Based on the longevity of a 2001 global storm, NASA scientists estimate it may be early September before the haze has cleared enough for Opportunity to power up and call home…. [More at link]

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Mars Express: As the dust storm rolled in

Posted on July 19, 2018 by rburnham

Mars_dust_stormThe high resolution stereo camera on board ESA’s Mars Express captured this impressive upwelling front of dust clouds – visible in the right half of the frame – near the north polar ice cap of Mars in April this year.

It was one of several local small-scale dust storms that have been observed in recent months at the Red Planet, which is currently enduring a particularly intense dust storm season. A much larger storm emerged further southwest at the end of May and developed into a global, planet-encircling dust storm within several weeks.

The intensity of this major event means very little light from the Sun reaches the martian surface, a situation extreme enough that NASA’s 15-year old Opportunity rover has been unable to recharge its batteries and call home: it has been in hibernation mode since mid-June.

Dust storms on Mars occur regularly during the southern summer season when the planet is closer to the Sun along its elliptical orbit. The enhanced solar illumination causes stronger temperature contrasts, with the resulting air movements more readily lifting dust particles from the surface – some of which measure up to about 0.01 mm in size… [More at link]

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Curiosity update: New method of wheel imaging

Posted on July 19, 2018 by rburnham

2114MH0007560010802455E01_DXXX-br2Sol 2115, July 18, 2018, update by MSL scientist Ken Herkenhoff: The priorities for Sol 2115 are to image the rover’s wheels and acquire the images needed to plan a drive back to the Sol 1999 location, where we might start another drilling campaign. The MAHLI images of the wheels taken on Sol 2114 with the dust cover closed show that there is enough dust on the cover to make it difficult to see the wheels, so a different approach to wheel imaging was planned for Sol 2115. To minimize the risk of dust contamination of MAHLI’s optics while the cover is open, MAHLI will image only the wheels on the left side of the rover from above the wheels, keeping MAHLI… [More at link]

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

MAVEN: Webinar July 25 on restoring the martian atmosphere

Posted on July 19, 2018 by rburnham

DiaCXc1UwAAMurhMany people have suggested that future Mars colonists may want to thicken the Martian atmosphere and make it breathable for long-term habitation of the Red Planet.

Join MAVEN Co-Investigator Dr. Robert Lillis of the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory to hear a MAVEN update and learn about the challenges of re-creating a thicker Martian atmosphere.

Time: Wednesday, July 25 at 7 pm ET, 6 pm CT, 5 pm MT, 4 pm PT [More at link]

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

THEMIS: Doublet crater in Utopia Planitia

Posted on July 19, 2018 by rburnham

Doublet impact crater in Utopia Planitia (THEMIS_IOTD_20180718)THEMIS Image of the Day, July 19, 2018. Today’s VIS image shows a double impact – two meteors hitting simultaneously. The two meteors would have started as a single object, at some point prior to impact the object separated into parts. The two parts followed the same path to the surface, hitting at the same time in close proximity.

The linear feature at the center is where the shock waves intersected, its straightness showing the impacts were simultaneous (and nearly equal in size).

The ejecta created from the impact tends to be focused to the sides of the doublet, often forming a butterfly-like ejecta blanket. The butterfly pattern is most common at oblique angle impacts, but can also form by the interaction of the impact shock waves. These craters are located in Utopia Planitia.

More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.

Posted in Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off