Garching Bei M -
Mars once hosted an ocean containing more water than the Arctic ocean. Not only that but this primitive Martian Sea covered a greater proportion of Mars’ surface than the Atlantic Ocean does on Earth.
Ancient glaciers shaped the landscape of Gale Crater on Mars, while, in lower lying areas, rivers and lakes of extremely cold liquid water formed landscapes resembling those found in Iceland and Alaska.
Scientists analysing data gathered by NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover mission have uncovered evidence pointing to an ancient lake that once existed on Mars that may have supported life.
The European Space Agency and the Russian federal space agency, Roscosmos, announced today that they entered a formal agreement to work together on the ExoMars programme, looking ahead to the launch of two missions to the planet Mars in 2016 and 2018.
NASA announced yesterday that its Mars rover Curiosity had drilled its first rock sample on the Red Planet, the first time any robotic explorer had successfully drilled for rock samples on another planet.
British geochemist Professor John Parnell of Aberdeen University and Dr. Joseph Michalski, planetary geologist at the Natural History Museum, have found evidence that the subsurface of Mars could potentially have teemed with microbial life.
The science community has been abuzz with rumours recently that Mars Curiosity rover had found something big on Mars but in a briefing at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union, NASA scientists played down the hype.
NASA talked tantalisingly about a discovery made by its Mars Curiosity Rover this week that could "get in the history books" but finding out what exactly that discovery may be will have to wait a few weeks until NASA has checked results.
NASA’s Curiosity rover sampled the air on Mars this week. At a teleconference on November 2, NASA announced Curiosity had not found any evidence of methane, which is often a sign of life, in the Martian atmosphere.
Decades after analysis of data from soil samples obtained by NASA's Viking probes concluded there was no life on Mars, new analysis has led to conclusion that the first analysis was flawed and that the probes actually found evidence of life on Mars.
NASA's latest Mars mission scheduled to launch on Nov. 25, will be seeking answers to questions that have intrigued scientists for decades. The most intriguing is whether there had ever been life on Mars, and whether life on Earth originated on Mars.
An artist’s impression shows how Mars may have looked about four billion years ago. The young planet Mars would have had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 140 metres deep, but it is more likely that the liquid would have pooled to form an ocean occupying almost half of Mars’s northern hemisphere, and in some regions reaching depths greater than 1.6 kilometers.
ESO/M. Kornmesser/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)
Scientists have discovered methane gas in samples taken from Martian meteorites.
Yale University - Michael Helfenbein.
Panoramic View From 'Rocknest' Position of Curiosity Mars Rover:
A mosaic of images taken by the Mast Camera on NASA Mars rover Curiosity while the rover was working at a site called "Rocknest" in October & November 2012.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems
Curiosity's First Sample Drilling: At the center of this image from NASA's Curiosity rover is the hole in a rock called "John Klein" where the rover conducted its first sample drilling on Mars. The drilling took place on Feb. 8, 2013
Possible Sources & Sinks of Methane on Mars: Potential non-biological sources include comets, degradation of interplanetary dust particles by ultraviolet light, and interaction between water and rock. A potential biological source would be microbes, if microbes ever lived on Mars. Potential sinks for removing methane from the atmosphere are photochemistry in the atmosphere and loss of methane to the surface.
Linear and lobate morphologies on the highest reaches of Aeolis Mons, shaped by glacial activity in the past. Right: Breiðamerkurjökull glacier, Iceland, a terrestrial analog of the glacial remains identified on Gale Crater, Mars.
The NASA Mars rover Curiosity used its left navigation camera to record this view of the step down into a shallow depression called Yellowknife Bay in Gale Crater on the red planet. The distinctive mudstone formation of the surrounding terrain can be seen in the background.
NASA JPL Caltech
False-color map shows the area within Gale Crater on Mars, where NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (Aug. 6, 2012 EDT) and the location where Curiosity collected its first drilled sample at the "John Klein" rock.