Rock-Eating Martian Microbes?
A recently published study of a 30-pound martian meteorite found in Antarctica suggests the presence of indigenous carbon-rich material, ancient water erosion, and a number of tiny structures that resemble the sort of features that we see rock-eating microbes leaving in basaltic glasses here on Earth.
Mystery of Mars ‘Doughnut’ Rock Solved
About a month ago an intriguing pair of images from NASA’s Opportunity rover on Mars showed a curious rock that had seemingly appeared our of nowhere during the course of 12 days.
Winter in the Antarctic Shows What It Will Take to Live on Mars
Concordia station offers the isolation and hardships explorers will face on the Red Planet. Here, where participants can’t be rescued from an unforgiving environment, the danger is real
Will Heat from Our Dying Sun Make Mars Habitable? [Video]
Emily Rice, astrophysics researcher at the American Museum of Natural History, answers question submitted to Scientific American's Space Lab channel.
The Jumping Rocks of Mars
Now you don’t see it, now you do. Ten years into a mission that was originally going to only last a few months, NASA’s Opportunity rover continues to turn up surprises on Mars.
Something’s Cooking on Mars
What do you get when you cook buried martian mudstone in your oven? The answer appears to be the kind of gases you’d expect if you cooked organic material here on Earth.
5 Signs of Life on Mars – The Countdown, Episode 37
Could Mars support life? In this episode of The Countdown, we run through five intriguing lines of evidence that the red planet was not always as desolate as it appears, and may even be habitable today.
4 Billion Years of Martian History in 2 Minutes
In honor of a slew of new results coming from NASA’s Curiosity rover, here’s a two-minute simulation of our current best-bet for how the martian environment has evolved over the past 4 billion years.
NASA’s MAVEN Mission, as told by LeVar Burton
I am having quite the space-filled weekend! Today, we just had a hangout with astronaut Chris Hadfield and now I’m packing up to head to Cape Canaveral to watch an ATLAS V rocket send the next Mars Orbiter, MAVEN, to space!
Live Chat at Noon Today on “Dreams of Other Worlds” and NASA’s Next Mars Mission
Robotic exploration of space is fascinating, complex and quite important to our understanding of the universe. To learn more about how scientists and engineers overcome challenges of robotic space exploration for successful data collection, join us for a live chat today (Tuesday, October 29) at noon EDT with Chris Impey, astronomer and author of Dreams of [...]
The Great Martian Storm of ’71
On November 14th 1971 NASA’s Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to successfully orbit another planet.
Water on Mars, and More – The Countdown, Episode 32
More to explore: Universe May Be Curved, Not Flat (Scientific American) http://www.s