#Ashwin Vasavada

[diariodigitalnoticias]

Rover Curiosity de la NASA descubre rocas de azufre puro en Marte

PASADENA, California (DDN) – El rover Curiosity de la NASA ha realizado un hallazgo sin precedentes en Marte: rocas compuestas de azufre puro. El descubrimiento ocurrió de manera fortuita cuando el vehículo de exploración de una tonelada aplastó accidentalmente una roca, revelando cristales de color verde amarillento nunca antes vistos en el planeta rojo. Ashwin Vasavada, científico del proyecto…

[mindblowingscience]

NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered an abundance of pure sulfur on Mars after it recently drove over a rock and cracked it open, stunning scientists. The six-wheeled rover has spotted sulfur on Mars before, but only in a mixture with other minerals, including magnesium and calcium. Pure sulfur, an odorless element that forms in very specific conditions that planetary scientists hadn't linked to the rover's location, appears to be infused in many rocks across the region, according to a NASA statement. "Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert," Ashwin Vasavada, who is the mission's project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said in the statement. "It shouldn't be there, so now we have to explain it."

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[spacenutspod]

On May 30, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover, currently exploring Gale Crater on the red planet, drove over a small rock on the Martian surface. The rock cracked open while driving over the rock, revealing its interior composition. Scientists on Curiosity’s team were stunned to find yellow sulfur crystals within the rock — the first time these crystals have been spotted on Mars. What’s more, the rock these crystals were found in is made of elemental, or pure, sulfur, unlike the more common sulfur-based minerals Curiosity has previously detected. Since October 2023, Curiosity has been investigating a region of Gale Crater rich with sulfates, a kind of salt that forms as water evaporates and contains sulfur. Scientists aren’t yet sure if there is a connection between the pure sulfur found in the rock and the sulfur-based rocks that have been found in the past. Sulfur can only form in a very narrow set of conditions. Curiosity’s scientists haven’t associated the region the rover is exploring with these conditions, which is why the team was shocked by sulfur crystals within the rock. This also isn’t the only rock in this region like this — the team has since identified an entire field of similar rocks in the area around the rover. The rock Curiosity drove over and subsequently discovered sulfur crystals within. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) “Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert. It shouldn’t be there, so now we have to explain it. Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting,” said Ashwin Vasavada, a Curiosity project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. See AlsoCuriosity Mission UpdatesSpace Science CoverageNSF StoreClick here to Join L2 In September 2014, Curiosity began climbing Mount Sharp (also referred to as “Aeolis Mons”), a large 5.5 km tall mountain in the center of Gale Crater. Along its trek up, Curiosity has explored several different regions of the mountain. Its latest stop was at the Gediz Vallis channel — a large groove in the side of Mount Sharp that winds down to the base of the mountain. Each layer of Mount Sharp that Curiosity encounters on its climb represents a different part of Mars’ history. Gediz Vallis is one of the main reasons Curiosity’s science team selected Gale Crater as the rover’s landing location before its launch in 2011. The team believes that the channel was carved out by large and long flows of liquid water and debris. In addition to the channel’s geographical nature, the 3.2 km-long ridge of boulders and sediment that extends down the mountain is evidence for these water flows. When Curiosity arrived at the channel, the team’s main goal was to develop an understanding of how the landscape was carved billions of years ago. Since then, Curiosity has studied whether ancient floods or landslides formed the ridge that rises from the channel’s floor. Curiosity’s findings suggest that both floods and landslides played a role in some way, as some of the sediment and rock piles in the ridge appear to be left by violent flows of water. Other piles appear to be the result of landslides. Panoramic image of the Gediz Vallis channel, taken by Curiosity. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) To reach these conclusions, the team commands Curiosity to investigate various rocks found within the debris piles, as the shapes and appearance of these rocks help determine their past and origin. For example, rounded stones that look similar to river rocks were likely carried by water flows, whereas angular rocks were likely deposited by dry avalanches. Once all of these rocks settled into their mounds within the ridge, water soaked into all of the material. This water then caused chemical reactions that likely created the sulfur-based and pure sulfur rocks that Curiosity is now discovering. “This was not a quiet period on Mars. There was an exciting amount of activity here. We’re looking at multiple flows down the channel, including energetic floods and boulder-rich flows,” said Planetary Science Institute scientist Becky Williams, who also serves as the deputy principal investigator of Curiosity’s Mastcam instrument. The team’s initial expectations for their findings in the channel were much less complex than expected. The more Curiosity explores, the more complex the region becomes, and the team was eager to drill into of one of the rocks in the channel to better understand its composition and history. On June 18, they got their chance as Curiosity drilled into a large sulfur rock named “Mammoth Lakes” using its drill at the end of its two-meter-long robotic arm.  Most sulfur rocks are too small and brittle to be drilled into and sampled, but Mammoth Lakes was an exception. Even with Mammoth Lakes’ large size, though, the team had to search for a part of the rock that would allow for safe drilling and sampling. What’s more, the team had to find a safe spot for Curiosity to park while it drilled, as the surrounding surface was loose and sloping. After drilling into Mammoth Lakes — the 41st time the rover had performed drilling during its mission — the rover poured the now-powdered rock into a set of instruments inside of the rover. Those instruments have since investigated the rock, and teams are now analyzing the data from those instruments to learn more about the rock and its internal composition. After successfully drilling into Mammoth Lakes, Curiosity drove away and is currently exploring other areas of the channel to learn more about its history and what it means for Martian history. (Lead image: Curiosity takes a selfie at the Murray Buttes region of Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) The post Curiosity discovers pure sulfur rocks, continues to explore Mount Sharp on Mars appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Takes a Last Look at Mysterious Sulfur

NASA’s Curiosity rover is preparing for the next leg of its journey, a monthslong trek to a formation called the boxwork, a set of weblike patterns on Mars’ surface that stretches for miles. It will soon leave behind Gediz Vallis channel, an area wrapped in mystery. How the channel formed so late during a transition to a drier climate is one big question for the science team. Another mystery is the field of white sulfur stones the rover discovered over the summer.

Curiosity imaged the stones, along with features from inside the channel, in a 360-degree panorama before driving up to the western edge of the channel at the end of September.

The rover is searching for evidence that ancient Mars had the right ingredients to support microbial life, if any formed billions of years ago, when the Red Planet held lakes and rivers. Located in the foothills of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain, Gediz Vallis channel may help tell a related story: what the area was like as water was disappearing on Mars. Although older layers on the mountain had already formed in a dry climate, the channel suggests that water occasionally coursed through the area as the climate was changing.

Scientists are still piecing together the processes that formed various features within the channel, including the debris mound nicknamed “Pinnacle Ridge,” visible in the new 360-degree panorama. It appears that rivers, wet debris flows, and dry avalanches all left their mark. The science team is now constructing a timeline of events from Curiosity’s observations.

The science team is also trying to answer some big questions about the sprawling field of sulfur stones. Images of the area from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) showed what looked like an unremarkable patch of light-colored terrain. It turns out that the sulfur stones were too small for MRO’s High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) to see, and Curiosity’s team was intrigued to find them when the rover reached the patch. They were even more surprised after Curiosity rolled over one of the stones, crushing it to reveal yellow crystals inside.

Science instruments on the rover confirmed the stone was pure sulfur — something no mission has seen before on Mars. The team doesn’t have a ready explanation for why the sulfur formed there; on Earth, it’s associated with volcanoes and hot springs, and no evidence exists on Mount Sharp pointing to either of those causes.

“We looked at the sulfur field from every angle — from the top and the side — and looked for anything mixed with the sulfur that might give us clues as to how it formed. We’ve gathered a ton of data, and now we have a fun puzzle to solve,” said Curiosity’s project scientist Ashwin Vasavada at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Spiderwebs on Mars

Curiosity, which has traveled about 20 miles (33 kilometers) since landing in 2012, is now driving along the western edge of Gediz Vallis channel, gathering a few more panoramas to document the region before making tracks to the boxwork.

Viewed by MRO, the boxwork looks like spiderwebs stretching across the surface. It’s believed to have formed when minerals carried by Mount Sharp’s last pulses of water settled into fractures in surface rock and then hardened. As portions of the rock eroded away, what remained were the minerals that had cemented themselves in the fractures, leaving the weblike boxwork.

On Earth, boxwork formations have been seen on cliffsides and in caves. But Mount Sharp’s boxwork structures stand apart from those both because they formed as water was disappearing from Mars and because they’re so extensive, spanning an area of 6 to 12 miles (10 to 20 kilometers).

“These ridges will include minerals that crystallized underground, where it would have been warmer, with salty liquid water flowing through,” said Kirsten Siebach of Rice University in Houston, a Curiosity scientist studying the region. “Early Earth microbes could have survived in a similar environment. That makes this an exciting place to explore.”

NASA’s Curiosity captured this panorama using its Mastcam while heading west away from Gediz Vallis channel on Nov. 2, 2024, the 4,352nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The Mars rover’s tracks across the rocky terrain are visible at right. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this last look at a field of bright white sulfur stones on Oct. 11, before leaving Gediz Vallis channel. The field was where the rover made the first discovery of pure sulfur on Mars. Scientists are still unsure exactly why theses rocks formed here. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Scientists think that ancient groundwater formed this weblike pattern of ridges, called boxwork, that were captured by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Dec. 10, 2006. The agency’s Curiosity rover will study ridges similar to these up close in 202… Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

This weblike crystalline structure called boxwork is found in the ceiling of the Elk’s Room, part of Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota. NASA’s Curiosity rover is preparing for a journey to a boxwork formation that stretches for miles on Mars’ su… Credit: NPS Photo/Kim Acker

[cosmoscaitlyn]

Curiosity’s still got it

Since sending the first successful rover to Mars in 1996, NASA has sent a slew of missions to our neighbor. And while Perseverance may have been their most recent venture to the Red Planet, it certainly isn’t the only rover gaining new ground.

NASA’s Curiosity rover has been exploring Mars for over a decade, traveling some 17.64 miles (28.39 kilometers) from its landing site. Since 2014, Curiosity has been traversing the foothills of Mount Sharp where lakes and streams once flowed. Ascending Mount Sharp allows scientists to trace the, now ancient, history of Mars’ water, tracking how the planet evolved from one that was Earth-like to the freezing desert we know it as today.

But last fall Curiosity arrived at a what researchers call a “sulfate-bearing unit” and evidence of Mars’ watery past finally dried up. Or so they thought.

Instead, the team found the “missions clearest evidence yet of ancient water ripples that formed within lakes,” according to a NASA press release. The ripples are the remnants of waves disturbing sediment in a shallow lake. This movement created rippled texture in the rocks at the bottom of the lake.

“This is the best evidence of water and waves that we’ve seen in the entire mission,” said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “We climbed through thousands of feet of lake deposits and never saw evidence like this – and now we found it in a place we expected to be dry.”

Curiosity has tried to collect samples from these rippled rocks, but the layer is so hard that attempts have been unsuccessful. Scientists plan to continue looking for soft rocks over the next week as they head toward another promising site on Mars: Gediz Vallis.

A pile of car-sized boulders and debris sit within this valley. Researchers suspect a small river may have caused wet landslides resulting in the debris. As it is one of the youngest features of Mount Sharp, the team is eager to get a closer look.

Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

[snehagoogle]

red yellow smoke dust

red yellow smoke dust

atmosphere of mars

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

red yellow smoke dust

atmosphere of mars

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

Many craters everywhere

Some dry, some crystals

So there are four seasons

Autumn summer, winter, spring

So there are four seasons

Autumn summer, winter, spring

Many craters everywhere

Some dry, some crystals

So there are four seasons

Autumn summer, winter, spring

So there are four seasons

Autumn summer, winter, spring

red yellow smoke dust

atmosphere of mars

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

red yellow smoke dust

atmosphere of mars

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

Crater Jezero Gale

Our identity

Perseverance Curiosity where

Took the help of landing

Perseverance Curiosity where

Took the help of landing

Crater Jezero Gale

Our identity

Perseverance Curiosity where

Took the help of landing

Perseverance Curiosity where

Took the help of landing

red yellow smoke dust

atmosphere of mars

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

red yellow smoke dust

atmosphere of mars

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

You know friends, it is the craters of Mars that gave us the craze to know about Mars. By the way, there are many craters present on Mars. Among those craters, the most famous are Jezero and Gale craters where NASA's Perseverance Curiosity Rover landed. Did NASA name Jezero and Gale craters?

Yes, NASA named both Jezero Crater and Gale Crater on Mars:

Jezero Crater: Named after a Bosnian town, Jezero Crater is a crater on Mars that was once a lake. NASA's Perseverance rover landed in Jezero Crater to study the region's formation and evolution, and to search for signs of ancient life.

Gale Crater: The landing site of NASA's Curiosity rover. 

NASA names many places on Mars, including craters larger than 37 miles in diameter, which are named after famous scientists or science fiction authors. Smaller craters are named after towns with populations of less than 100,000.

NASA Gives a Name to Every Spot It Studies on Mars

NASA (.gov)

https://www.nasa.gov › solar-system › why-and-how-na...

8 Jun 2023

Why – and How – NASA Gives a Name to Every Spot It Studies on Mars

Martian maps are full of monikers recognizing places on Earth, explorers, and even cartoon characters.

NASA’s Perseverance rover is currently investigating rock outcrops alongside the rim of Mars’ Belva Crater. Some 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) away, NASA’s Curiosity rover recently drilled a sample at a location called “Ubajara.” The crater bears an official name; the drill location is identified by a nickname, hence the quotation marks.

Both names are among thousands applied by NASA missions not just to craters and hills, but also to every boulder, pebble, and rock surface they study.

“The No. 1 reason we pick all these names is to help the team keep track of what they’re finding each day,” said Ashwin Vasavada, the Curiosity mission’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Later on, we can refer to the many hills and rocks by name as we discuss them and eventually document our discoveries.”

Just how scientists come up with the identifiers has evolved since the early days, 25 years ago, when they used cartoon character names. Here’s a closer look.

Official Names

The difference between an official name on Mars and an unofficial one is seemingly simple: Official monikers have been approved by a body of scientists known as the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The IAU sets standards for naming planetary features and logs the names in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.

For example, craters larger than 37 miles (60 kilometers) are named for famous scientists or science-fiction authors; smaller craters are named after towns with populations of less than 100,000 people. Jezero Crater, which Perseverance has been exploring, shares the name from a Bosnian town; Belva, an impact crater within Jezero, is named after a West Virginia town that is, in turn, named after Belva Lockwood, the suffragist who ran for president in 1884 and 1888.

More than 2,000 locations on Mars bear official names, but even more unofficial nicknames dot the Martian map.

Evolving Nicknames

Early Mars missions sometimes took a whimsical route with nicknames, even using cartoon character names. “Yogi Rock,” “Casper,” and “Scooby-Doo” were among the unofficial names applied by the team behind NASA’s first rover, Sojourner, in the late 1990s.

The philosophy changed with the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, whose teams started using more intentional names. For instance, the Opportunity team nicknamed a crater “Endurance” to honor the ship that carried explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated expedition to Antarctica. The names for the spots where Curiosity and Perseverance landed honor science-fiction writers Ray Bradbury and Octavia E. Butler, respectively. The InSight team named a rock that had been jostled by the lander’s retrorockets during touchdown “Rolling Stones Rock,” after the band. And the Curiosity team named a Martian hill after their colleague Rafael Navarro-González, who died from COVID-19 complications.

Earth on Mars

Despite occasional exceptions, the Curiosity and Perseverance missions stick to nicknames based on terrestrial locations. Before Curiosity landed in 2012, the rover’s team created a geological map of the landing area. They started by drawing a grid, making squares, or quadrants, equivalent to about 0.7 miles (1.2 kilometers) on each side. These quadrants would be themed around a site of geological significance on Earth.

Then, as now, team members suggested ideas for themes based on sites where they have worked or that they have a personal connection to, and they informally discussed which would be the most interesting to include, keeping in mind that various names would be memorialized in future scientific papers. Once a theme is picked, hundreds of names fitting into that theme are compiled. That many are needed because the available names can dwindle quickly, given that Curiosity may stay in a quadrant for several months.

For Curiosity’s latest quadrant, the rover’s team chose a theme named after Roraima, the northernmost state of Brazil, and for Mount Roraima, the highest peak in the Pacaraima Mountains, located near the border of Venezuela, Brazil, and Guyana. This marked the first South American quadrant theme. The sulfate-enriched region Curiosity is currently exploring, with its flat-topped hills and steep slopes, reminded them of the “tabletop” mountains in the Pacaraima range.

For Perseverance, scientists chose to go with national park themes. The rover is now exploring the Rocky Mountain quadrant and recently drilled into rocks at a location bearing the nickname of Rocky Mountain National Park’s “Powell Peak.”

Andrew Good

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-393-2433

andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

Karen Fox / Alana Johnson

NASA Headquarters, Washington

301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501

karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

2023-082

red yellow smoke dust

atmosphere of mars

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

red yellow smoke dust

atmosphere of mars

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

Many craters everywhere

Some dry, some crystals

So there are four seasons

Autumn summer, winter, spring

So there are four seasons

Autumn summer, winter, spring

Many craters everywhere

Some dry, some crystals

So there are four seasons

Autumn summer, winter, spring

So there are four seasons

Autumn summer, winter, spring

red yellow smoke dust

atmosphere of mars

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

red yellow smoke dust

atmosphere of mars

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

Crater Jezero Gale

Our identity

Perseverance Curiosity where

Took the help of landing

Perseverance Curiosity where

Took the help of landing

Crater Jezero Gale

Our identity

Perseverance Curiosity where

Took the help of landing

Perseverance Curiosity where

Took the help of landing

red yellow smoke dust

atmosphere of mars

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

red yellow smoke dust

atmosphere of mars

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

No water, no soil

Surface rusty iron details

Translate Hindi

लाल पीला धुएं धूल

मंगल की वातावरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

लाल पीला धुएं धूल

मंगल की वातावरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

हर ओर कई क्रेटर

सूखे कुछ में कुछ क्रिस्टल

तो ही चार ऋतुएं

शरद ग्रीष्�� शीत बसंत दरअसल

तो ही चार ऋतुएं

शरद ग्रीष्म शीत बसंत दरअसल

हर ओर कई क्रेटर

सूखे कुछ में कुछ क्रिस्टल

तो ही चार ऋतुएं

शरद ग्रीष्म शीत बसंत दरअसल

तो ही चार ऋतुएं

शरद ग्रीष्म शीत बसंत दरअसल

लाल पीला धुएं धूल

मंगल की वातावरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

लाल पीला धुएं धूल

मंगल की वातावरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

क्रेटर जेजेरो गेल

पहचान में हमारा

परसेवरेंस क्यूरोसिटी जहां 

लैंडिंग का लिया सहारा

परसेवरेंस क्यूरोसिटी जहां 

लैंडिंग का लिया सहारा

क्रेटर जेजेरो गेल

पहचान में हमारा

परसेवरेंस क्यूरोसिटी जहां 

लैंडिंग का लिया सहारा

परसेवरेंस क्यूरोसिटी जहां 

लैंडिंग का लिया सहारा

लाल पीला धुएं धूल

मंगल की वातावरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

लाल पीला धुएं धूल

मंगल की वातावरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

आपको पता है दोस्तों मंगल ग्रह की गड्ढों ने ही मंगल को हमें जानने की उन्मादणा दी

वैसे कई कई गड्ढों की मौजूदगी है मंगल ग्रह में

उन गड्ढों में से काफी मशहूर है जेजेरो और गेल क्रेटर जहाँ नासा की परसेवरेंस क्यूरोसिटी रोवर लैंडिंग की थी

क्या जेजेरो और गेल क्रेटर की नामकरण नासा ने की

हां, नासा ने मंगल ग्रह पर जेज़ेरो क्रेटर और गेल क्रेटर दोनों का नाम रखा है:

जेज़ेरो क्रेटर: बोस्नियाई शहर के नाम पर, जेज़ेरो क्रेटर मंगल ग्रह पर एक गड्ढा है जो कभी झील हुआ करता था। नासा का पर्सिवियरेंस रोवर इस क्षेत्र के निर्माण और विकास का अध्ययन करने और प्राचीन जीवन के संकेतों की खोज करने के लिए जेज़ेरो क्रेटर में उतरा।

गेल क्रेटर: नासा के क्यूरियोसिटी रोवर का लैंडिंग स्थल।

नासा ने मंगल ग्रह पर कई स्थानों के नाम रखे हैं, जिनमें 37 मील से अधिक व्यास वाले क्रेटर भी शामिल हैं, जिनका नाम प्रसिद्ध वैज्ञानिकों या विज्ञान कथा लेखकों के नाम पर रखा गया है। छोटे क्रेटरों का नाम 100,000 से कम आबादी वाले शहरों के नाम पर रखा गया है।

नासा ने मंगल ग्रह पर अध्ययन किए जाने वाले प्रत्येक स्थान को एक नाम दिया

NASA (.gov)

https://www.nasa.gov › solar-system › why-and-how-na...

8 जून 2023

क्यों – और कैसे – नासा ने मंगल ग्रह पर अध्ययन किए जाने वाले प्रत्येक स्थान को एक नाम दिया

मंगल ग्रह के नक्शे पृथ्वी पर स्थानों, खोजकर्ताओं और यहाँ तक कि कार्टून चरित्रों को पहचानने वाले नामों से भरे पड़े हैं।

NASA का Perseverance रोवर वर्तमान में मंगल ग्रह के बेलवा क्रेटर के किनारे चट्टानों की जांच कर रहा है। लगभग 2,300 मील (3,700 किलोमीटर) दूर, NASA के क्यूरियोसिटी रोवर ने हाल ही में "उबजारा" नामक स्थान पर एक नमूना ड्रिल किया। क्रेटर का एक आधिकारिक नाम है; ड्रिल स्थान को एक उपनाम से पहचाना जाता है, इसलिए उद्धरण चिह्न हैं।

ये दोनों नाम NASA मिशनों द्वारा न केवल क्रेटर और पहाड़ियों के लिए, बल्कि उनके द्वारा अध्ययन किए जाने वाले प्रत्येक बोल्डर, कंकड़ और चट्टान की सतह के लिए भी इस्तेमाल किए गए हज़ारों नामों में से हैं।

दक्षिणी कैलिफोर्निया में नासा की जेट प्रोपल्शन प्रयोगशाला में क्यूरियोसिटी मिशन के परियोजना वैज्ञानिक अश्विन वासवदा ने कहा, "इन सभी नामों को चुनने का नंबर 1 कारण टीम को यह ट्रैक करने में मदद करना है कि वे प्रत्येक दिन क्य��� खोज रहे हैं।" "बाद में, हम कई पहाड़ियों और चट्टानों को नाम से संदर्भित कर सकते हैं क्योंकि हम उन पर चर्चा करते हैं और अंततः अपनी खोजों का दस्तावेजीकरण करते हैं।" वैज्ञानिकों ने पहचानकर्ताओं के साथ कैसे काम किया है, यह शुरुआती दिनों से विकसित हुआ है, 25 साल पहले, जब उन्होंने कार्टून चरित्र के नामों का इस्तेमाल किया था। यहाँ एक नज़दीकी नज़र है। आधिकारिक नाम मंगल ग्रह पर एक आधिकारिक नाम और एक अनौपचारिक नाम के बीच का अंतर सरल प्रतीत होता है: आधिकारिक उपनामों को वैज्ञानिकों के एक निकाय द्वारा अनुमोदित किया गया है जिसे अंतर्राष्ट्रीय खगोलीय संघ (IAU) के रूप में जाना जाता है। IAU ग्रहों की विशेषताओं के नामकरण के लिए मानक निर्धारित करता है छोटे क्रेटरों का नाम 100,000 से कम आबादी वाले शहरों के नाम पर रखा गया है। जेज़ेरो क्रेटर, जिसकी पर्सिवियरेंस खोज कर रही है, उसका नाम बोस्नियाई शहर से लिया गया है; जेज़ेरो के भीतर एक प्रभाव क्रेटर बेल्वा का नाम वेस्ट वर्जीनिया के एक शहर के नाम पर रखा गया है, जिसका नाम बेल्वा लॉकवुड के नाम पर रखा गया है, जो 1884 और 1888 में राष्ट्रपति पद के लिए चुनाव लड़ने वाले मताधिकारवादी थे।

मंगल ग्रह पर 2,000 से ज़्यादा जगहों के आधिकारिक नाम हैं, लेकिन मंगल ग्रह के नक्शे पर इससे भी ज़्यादा अनौपचारिक उपनाम हैं।

उपनामों का विकास

मंगल के शुरुआती मिशनों में कभी-कभी उपनामों के साथ एक सनकी रास्ता अपनाया जाता था, यहाँ तक कि कार्टून चरित्रों के नामों का भी इस्तेमाल किया जाता था। "योगी रॉक", "कैस्पर" और "स्कूबी-डू" 1990 के दशक के अंत में नासा के पहले रोवर, सोजर्नर के पीछे की टीम द्वारा रखे गए अनौपचारिक नामों में से थे।

स्पिरिट और ऑपर्च्युनिटी रोवर्स के साथ दर्शन बदल गया, जिनकी टीमों ने ज़्यादा जानबूझकर नामों का इस्तेमाल करना शुरू कर दिया। उदाहरण के लिए, ऑपरच्यूनिटी टीम ने एक क्रेटर का नाम "एंड्योरेंस" रखा, जो उस जहाज के सम्मान में था, जिसने खोजकर्ता अर्नेस्ट शेकलटन के अंटार्कटिका के दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण अभियान को अंजाम दिया था। क्यूरियोसिटी और पर्सिवियरेंस के उतरने वाले स्थानों के नाम क्रमशः विज्ञान-कथा लेखकों रे ब्रैडबरी और ऑक्टेविया ई. बटलर के सम्मान में रखे गए हैं। इनसाइट टीम ने बैंड के नाम पर एक चट्टान का नाम "रोलिंग स्टोन्स रॉक" रखा, जो लैंडिंग के दौरान लैंडर के रेट्रोरॉकेट से हिल गई थी। और क्यूरियोसिटी टीम ने अपने सहयोगी राफेल नवारो-गोंजालेज के नाम पर एक मार्टियन पहाड़ी का नाम रखा, जिनकी कोविड-19 जटिलताओं से मृत्यु हो गई थी।

मंगल ग्रह पर पृथ्वी

कभी-कभार अपवादों के बावजूद, क्यूरियोसिटी और पर्सिवियरेंस मिशन स्थलीय स्थानों के आधार पर उपनामों से चिपके रहते हैं। 2012 में क्यूरियोसिटी के उतरने से पहले, रोवर की टीम ने लैंडिंग क्षेत्र का एक भूगर्भीय मानचित्र बनाया। उन्होंने एक ग्रिड बनाकर शुरुआत की, जिसमें प्रत्येक तरफ लगभग 0.7 मील (1.2 किलोमीटर) के बराबर वर्ग या चतुर्भुज बनाए गए। ये चतुर्भुज पृथ्वी पर भूवैज्ञानिक महत्व के किसी स्थल के इर्द-गिर्द थीम बनाए जाएँगे।

फिर, जैसा कि अब भी है, टीम के सदस्यों ने उन स्थलों के आधार पर थीम के लिए विचार सुझाए जहाँ उन्होंने काम किया है या जिनसे उनका व्यक्तिगत संबंध है, और उन्होंने अनौपचारिक रूप से चर्चा की कि कौन सा शामिल करना सबसे दिलचस्प होगा, यह ध्यान में रखते हुए कि भविष्य के वैज्ञानिक पत्रों में विभिन्न नामों को याद किया जाएगा। एक बार थीम चुन लिए जाने के बाद, उस थीम से मेल खाने वाले सैकड़ों नाम संकलित किए जाते हैं। इतने सारे नाम इसलिए ज़रूरी हैं क्योंकि उपलब्ध नाम जल्दी ही कम हो सकते हैं, यह देखते हुए कि क्यूरियोसिटी कई महीनों तक एक चतुर्थांश में रह सकता है।

क्यूरियोसिटी के नवीनतम चतुर्थांश के लिए, रोवर की टीम ने ब्राजील के सबसे उत्तरी राज्य रोराइमा के नाम पर एक थीम चुनी, और वेनेजुएला, ब्राजील और गुयाना की सीमा के पास स्थित पकाराइमा पर्वत की सबसे ऊंची चोटी माउंट रोराइमा के लिए। यह दक्षिण अमेरिकी चतुर्थांश की पहली थीम थी। सल्फेट से समृद्ध क्षेत्र क्यूरियोसिटी वर्तमान में खोज कर रहा है, इसकी सपाट-शीर्ष वाली पहाड़ियाँ और खड़ी ढलानें उन्हें पकाराइमा रेंज में "टेबलटॉप" पहाड़ों की याद दिलाती हैं। दृढ़ता के लिए, वैज्ञानिकों ने राष्ट्रीय उद्यान थीम के साथ जाना चुना। रोवर अब रॉकी माउंटेन क्वाड्रंट की खोज कर रहा है और हाल ही में रॉकी माउंटेन नेशनल पार्क के "पॉवेल पीक" के उपनाम वाले स्थान पर चट्टानों में ड्रिल किया है। एंड्रयू गुड

जेट प्रोपल्शन लेबोरेटरी, पासाडेना, कैलिफ़ोर्निया

818-393-2433

andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

करेन फॉक्स / अलाना जॉनसन

नासा मुख्यालय, वाशिंगटन

301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501

karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

2023-082

लाल पीला धुएं धूल

मंगल की वातावरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

लाल पीला धुएं धूल

मंगल की वातावरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

हर ओर कई क्रेटर

सूखे कुछ में कुछ क्रिस्टल

तो ही चार ऋतुएं

शरद ग्रीष्म शीत बसंत दरअसल

तो ही चार ऋतुएं

शरद ग्रीष्म शीत बसंत दरअसल

हर ओर कई क्रेटर

सूखे कुछ में कुछ क्रिस्टल

तो ही चार ऋतुएं

शरद ग्रीष्म शीत बसंत दरअसल

तो ही चार ऋतुएं

शरद ग्रीष्म शीत बसंत दरअसल

लाल पीला धुएं धूल

मंगल की वातावरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

लाल पीला धुएं धूल

मंगल की वातावरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

क्रेटर जेजेरो गेल

पहचान में हमारा

परसेवरेंस क्यूरोसिटी जहां 

लैंडिंग का लिया सहारा

परसेवरेंस क्यूरोसिटी जहां 

लैंडिंग का लिया सहारा

क्रेटर जेजेरो गेल

पहचान में हमारा

परसेवरेंस क्यूरोसिटी जहां 

लैंडिंग का लिया सहारा

परसेवरेंस क्यूरोसिटी जहां 

लैंडिंग का लिया सहारा

लाल पीला धुएं धूल

मंगल की वातावरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

लाल पीला धुएं धूल

मंगल की वातावरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

ना पानी ना मिट्टी

सतह जंगे लोहे की विवरण

[dertaglichedan]

NASA’s Curiosity rover makes ‘mind-blowing’ discovery on Mars

Someone alert Elon Musk.

NASA’s Curiosity rover made a “mind-blowing” discovery on Mars — yellowish-green crystals of pure sulfur, never before seen on Earth’s mysterious red neighbor, according to scientists.

The literal ground-breaking find was made after the one-ton Curiosity drove over a pile of rocks and cracked one open while probing the deep and winding Gediz Vallis channel, believed to have been formed by water 3 billion years ago.

“I think it’s the strangest find of the whole mission and the most unexpected,” Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory [JPL] in Pasadena, California, told CNN. “I have to say, there’s a lot of luck involved here. Not every rock has something interesting inside.”

The rover’s operators spotted white stones in the distance and mission scientists wanted to investigate further. On May 30, Vasavada and his team reviewed images from the rover that showed a crushed rock in the wheel’s tracks.

[astroimages]

ROVER CURIOSITY FAZ DESCOBERTA INÉDITA EM MARTE

CONSIDERE APOIAR O TRABALHO DO SPACE TODAY, ASSINANDO A PLATAFORMA SPACE TODAY PLUS PREMIUM, POR APENAS R$29,00 POR MÊS, MENOS DE 1 REAL POR DIA!!! https://spacetodayplus.com.br/premium/ ADQUIRA JÁ O SEU INGRESSO PARA A APRESENTAÇÃO : "SERÁ QUE ESTAMOS SOZINHOS?", DIA 17 DE AGOSTO 20H NO TEATRO GAZETA, NA AVENIDA PAULISTA, 900!!! LINK PARA COMPRAR O INGRESSO: https://bileto.sympla.com.br/event/91890/d/264513/s/1807391 Entre várias descobertas recentes, o rover encontrou rochas feitas de enxofre puro — uma novidade no Planeta Vermelho. Cientistas ficaram surpresos em 30 de maio quando uma rocha sobre a qual o rover Curiosity da NASA passou se abriu e revelou algo nunca visto antes no Planeta Vermelho: cristais de enxofre amarelos. Desde outubro de 2023, o rover tem explorado uma região de Marte rica em sulfatos , um tipo de sal que contém enxofre e se forma à medida que a água evapora. Mas onde as detecções anteriores foram de minerais à base de enxofre — em outras palavras, uma mistura de enxofre e outros materiais — a rocha que a Curiosity recentemente abriu é feita de enxofre elementar, ou puro. Não está claro qual relação, se houver, o enxofre elementar tem com outros minerais à base de enxofre na área. Enquanto as pessoas associam o enxofre ao odor de ovos podres (resultado do gás sulfídrico), o enxofre elementar é inodoro. Ele se forma apenas em uma faixa estreita de condições que os cientistas não associaram à história deste local. E a Curiosity encontrou muito dele — um campo inteiro de rochas brilhantes que parecem semelhantes àquela que o rover esmagou. “Encontrar um campo de pedras feitas de enxofre puro é como encontrar um oásis no deserto”, disse o cientista do projeto Curiosity, Ashwin Vasavada, do Laboratório de Propulsão a Jato da NASA no sul da Califórnia. “Ele não deveria estar lá, então agora temos que explicar. Descobrir coisas estranhas e inesperadas é o que torna a exploração planetária tão emocionante.” É uma das várias descobertas que a Curiosity fez enquanto estava off-road dentro do canal Gediz Vallis, um sulco que serpenteia por parte do Monte Sharp de 3 milhas de altura (5 quilômetros de altura) , cuja base o rover tem subido desde 2014. Cada camada da montanha representa um período diferente da história marciana. A missão da Curiosity é estudar onde e quando o terreno antigo do planeta poderia ter fornecido os nutrientes necessários para a vida microbiana, se alguma já se formou em Marte. Essas conclusões são baseadas em rochas encontradas nos montes de detritos: enquanto as pedras carregadas pelos fluxos de água se tornam arredondadas como pedras de rio, alguns dos montes de detritos estão cheios de rochas mais angulares que podem ter sido depositadas por avalanches secas. Finalmente, a água penetrou em todo o material que se assentou aqui. Reações químicas causadas pela água branquearam formas de “halo” brancas em algumas das rochas. A erosão do vento e da areia revelou essas formas de halo ao longo do tempo. “Este não foi um período tranquilo em Marte”, disse Becky Williams, cientista do Planetary Science Institute em Tucson, Arizona, e vice-investigadora principal da Mast Camera, ou Mastcam, da Curiosity . “Houve uma quantidade empolgante de atividade aqui. Estamos observando múltiplos fluxos no canal, incluindo inundações energéticas e fluxos ricos em pedras.” FONTE: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-science-laboratory/curiosity-rover/nasas-curiosity-rover-discovers-a-surprise-in-a-martian-rock/#hds-sidebar-nav-4 #MARS #LIFE #CURIOSITY

[bilisimnethaber]

NASA duyurdu: Mars'ta suyun varlığına dair en güçlü kanıt bulundu

ASA, uzay aracı Curiosity’nin 2012’den beri keşif gezisi yaptığı Mars’ta milyonlarca yıl önce var olmuş gölün oluşturduğu ve dalgaların kaya yüzeylerinde bıraktığı izleri anımsatan görüntüleri gönderdiğini duyurdu. California’daki Jet İtki Laboratuvarı’nda proje sorumlusu Ashwin Vasavada, yaptığı açıklamada, “Bu, tüm görevimiz boyunca su ve dalgaların varlığına dair elde edebildiğimiz en…

[best2daynews]

Mars rover finds rippled rocks caused by waves: Nasa - Times of India

WASHINGTON: Nasa’s Curiosity rover has found wave-rippled rocks — evidence of an ancient lake — in an area of the planet expected to be drier, the US space agency said Wednesday.“This is the best evidence of water and waves that we’ve seen in the entire mission,” said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s project scientist at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.The rover, which has been…

[diilchasp]

That’s why the hexagons are a useful tool for Mars climatologists. The hexagons reveal these episodic changes, as their initial T-shaped junctions likely formed when the wet surface dried up. When water returned and softened up these cracks, they turned into Y-shaped junctions that make the hexagonal patterns.

According to a NASA statement that describes the findings, water does not always equate life-friendly conditions. There must be a finesse.

“Although water is essential to life, a careful balance is needed — not too much water, not too little. The kinds of conditions that sustain microbial life — those that allow a long-lasting lake, for example — aren’t the same as the conditions scientists think are required to promote chemical reactions that might lead to life,” write agency officials.

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The hexagons on Mars’ surface are a sign that the right conditions may have existed to make polymers, the long chains of carbon-based molecules that act like the building blocks of life as we know it.

Polymers are forged through special chemical reactions. It turns out that polymers can form from short-term episodes of wet and dry conditions, like those behind the hexagonal shapes.

According to NASA, these cycles control the concentration of chemicals that feed the reactions required to form these building blocks of life.

Curiosity scientists are thrilled about the new findings. “Over 11 years, we’ve found ample evidence that ancient Mars could have supported microbial life,” Curiosity project scientist Ashwin Vasavada shares in the NASA statement. “Now, the mission has found evidence of conditions that may have promoted the origin of life, too.”

[spaceexp]

8 Martian Postcards to Celebrate Curiosity's Landing Anniversary

NASA - Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) logo. Aug. 3, 2020 The NASA rover touched down eight years ago, on Aug. 5, 2012, and will soon be joined by a second rover, Perseverance. NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has seen a lot since Aug. 5, 2012, when it first set its wheels inside the 96-mile-wide (154-kilometer-wide) basin of Gale Crater. Its mission: to study whether Mars had the water, chemical building blocks, and energy sources that may have supported microbial life billions of years ago.

Curiosity drilling on Mars. Animation Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Curiosity has since journeyed more than 14 miles (23 kilometers), drilling 26 rock samples and scooping six soil samples along the way as it revealed that ancient Mars was indeed suitable for life. Studying the textures and compositions of ancient rock strata is helping scientists piece together how the Martian climate changed over time, losing its lakes and streams until it became the cold desert it is today. The Curiosity mission is led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, and involves almost 500 scientists from the United States and other countries around the world. Here are eight postcards the rover has sent from Mars. Most of the panoramas were taken by the rover's Mast Camera, or Mastcam, led by Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. A Dusty Scientist

Image above: A self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity rover taken on Sol 2082 (June 15, 2018). A Martian dust storm has reduced sunlight and visibility at the rover's location in Gale Crater. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Curiosity took this selfie on June 20, 2018 (Sol 2082) as a global dust storm enshrouded Mars, filtering sunlight and obscuring the view. The rover drills rocks to analyze their composition and takes a selfie afterward to capture the landscape each sample was taken from (this one is called "Duluth"). Selfies are created by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on the end of the rover's robotic arm. If you're wondering why you can't see the arm in this photo, read more about how selfies are taken here. Mount Sharp Towers Above

Image above: The Mast Camera, or Mastcam, on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its telephoto lens to capture Mount Sharp in the morning illumination on Oct. 13, 2019, the 2,555th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The panorama is composed of 44 individual images stitched together. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Look up from Curiosity's current location, and you'd be met with this dramatic view of Mount Sharp, the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) peak that Curiosity is exploring. Composed of 44 individual images stitched together, this portrait was taken by the Mastcam on Oct. 13, 2019 (Sol 2555). Curiosity will never venture to the upper portion of the mountain; instead, it's exploring the many layers found lower down. Each has a different story to tell about how Mars, which was once more like Earth (warmer and wetter), changed over time. The rover it will reach the next layer later this year. "I love this image because it tells two stories – one about the mission and one about Mars," said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity's project scientist at JPL. "The crater rim and floor where we started at eight years ago peek in from the left, while spread out before us is the future as Curiosity climbs higher on the mountain." You Are Here

Image above: This image, taken back when NASA's Curiosity rover was at the base of Mount Sharp on March 24, 2014, indicates the rover's approximate location as of July 30, 2020 – about 3 1/2 miles away (about 5 1/2 kilometers). Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Shot near Mount Sharp's base on March 24, 2014 (Sol 580), this panorama shows just how far Curiosity has traveled in a little over six years. The arrow indicates the rover's location today, about 3 1/2 miles away (about 5 1/2 kilometers), "I can’t help but also think about the corresponding distance we've traveled in our understanding of Mars' habitable past since the time we took this picture," said Abigail Fraeman of JPL, Curiosity's deputy project scientist. You Were There

Curiosity at Martian Scenic Overlook.

Video above: NASA’s Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada gives a descriptive tour of the Mars rover's view in Gale Crater. The scene from "Vera Rubin Ridge" looks back over the journey so far, including buttes, dunes and other features along the route. Video Credits: NASA/JPL. "I still can't get over how amazingly clear the skies were when we took this, and how we could see for miles and miles and miles," Fraeman said of this 2018 panorama, which shows the floor of Gale Crater as seen from higher up the mountain, at a location called Vera Rubin Ridge. "How spectacular would the rim of Gale Crater have looked to an astronaut if they were standing on Mount Sharp that day?" Vasavada narrated this video tour of the journey up the mountain. Martian Spaghetti Western

(Click on the image for enlarge)

Image above: This wide panorama was taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Dec. 19, 2019, the 2,620th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. On the righthand foreground is Western Butte; the ridge with a crusty cap in the background is the Greenheugh pediment, which Curiosity ascended in March of 2020. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Parts of the Martian desert resemble the American Southwest. This wide panorama, shot by the Mastcam on Dec. 19, 2019 (Sol 2620), includes 130 images stitched together. In the foreground on the right is "Western Butte"; the slope with a crusty cap in the background is the "Greenheugh Pediment," which Curiosity ascended in March 2020 for a sneak peek of terrain scientists hope to investigate later in the mission. A Sea of Dunes

(Click on the image for enlarge)

Image above: Two sizes of wind-sculpted ripples are evident in this view of the top surface of a Martian sand dune. Sand dunes and the smaller type of ripples also exist on Earth. The larger ripples -- roughly 10 feet (3 meters) apart -- are a type not seen on Earth nor previously recognized as a distinct type on Mars. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. This location, part of "Namib Dune," shows two different-sized ripples that the wind sculpted in the sand. Curiosity discovered that the larger kind, standing roughly 10 feet (3 meters) apart, are found on Mars only as a result of its thin atmosphere. The panorama was taken on Dec. 13, 2015 (Sol 1192). Staring at Clouds

Animation above: NASA's Curiosity Mars rover imaged these drifting clouds on May 17, 2019, the 2,410th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, using its Navigation Cameras (Navcams). Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Curiosity occasionally studies clouds to learn more about the Martian atmosphere. There is vanishingly little water in the Martian air, which is 1% as dense as Earth's air, but water-ice clouds do sometimes form. The clouds shown here, which are likely water-ice, were captured about 19 miles (31 kilometers) above the surface on May 17, 2019 (Sol 2410), using the rover's black-and-white Navigation Cameras. Curiosity's Hole Story

Image above: These 26 holes represent each of the rock samples NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has collected as of early July 2020. A map in the upper left shows where the holes were drilled along the rover's route, along with where it scooped six samples of soil. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. These 26 holes represent each of the pulverized rock samples NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has collected with its robotic arm as of early July 2020. A map in the upper left shows where the holes were drilled on the rover's route, along with where it scooped six samples of soil for analysis. Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity) or MSL: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html Images (mentioned), Animations (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Tony Greicius/Alana Johnson/Grey Hautaluoma/JPL/Andrew Good. Greetings, Orbiter.ch Full article

[scifigeneration]

NASA's Curiosity Rover finds an ancient oasis on Mars

If you could travel back in time 3.5 billion years, what would Mars look like? The picture is evolving among scientists working with NASA's Curiosity rover.

Imagine ponds dotting the floor of Gale Crater, the 100-mile-wide (150-kilometer-wide) ancient basin that Curiosity is exploring. Streams might have laced the crater's walls, running toward its base. Watch history in fast forward, and you'd see these waterways overflow then dry up, a cycle that probably repeated itself numerous times over millions of years.

That is the landscape described by Curiosity scientists in a Nature Geoscience paper published today. The authors interpret rocks enriched in mineral salts discovered by the rover as evidence of shallow briny ponds that went through episodes of overflow and drying. The deposits serve as a watermark created by climate fluctuations as the Martian environment transitioned from a wetter one to the freezing desert it is today.

Scientists would like to understand how long this transition took and when exactly it occurred. This latest clue may be a sign of findings to come as Curiosity heads toward a region called the "sulfate-bearing unit," which is expected to have formed in an even drier environment. It represents a stark difference from lower down the mountain, where Curiosity discovered evidence of persistent freshwater lakes.

Gale Crater is the ancient remnant of a massive impact. Sediment carried by water and wind eventually filled in the crater floor, layer by layer. After the sediment hardened, wind carved the layered rock into the towering Mount Sharp, which Curiosity is climbing today. Now exposed on the mountain's slopes, each layer reveals a different era of Martian history and holds clues about the prevailing environment at the time.

"We went to Gale Crater because it preserves this unique record of a changing Mars," said lead author William Rapin of Caltech. "Understanding when and how the planet's climate started evolving is a piece of another puzzle: When and how long was Mars capable of supporting microbial life at the surface?"

He and his co-authors describe salts found across a 500-foot-tall (150-meter-tall) section of sedimentary rocks called "Sutton Island," which Curiosity visited in 2017. Based on a series of mud cracks at a location named "Old Soaker," the team already knew the area had intermittent drier periods. But the Sutton Island salts suggest the water also concentrated into brine.

Typically, when a lake dries up entirely, it leaves piles of pure salt crystals behind. But the Sutton Island salts are different: For one thing, they're mineral salts, not table salt. They're also mixed with sediment, suggesting they crystallized in a wet environment -- possibly just beneath evaporating shallow ponds filled with briny water.

Given that Earth and Mars were similar in their early days, Rapin speculated that Sutton Island might have resembled saline lakes on South America's Altiplano. Streams and rivers flowing from mountain ranges into this arid, high-altitude plateau lead to closed basins similar to Mars' ancient Gale Crater. Lakes on the Altiplano are heavily influenced by climate in the same way as Gale.

"During drier periods, the Altiplano lakes become shallower, and some can dry out completely," Rapin said. "The fact that they're vegetation-free even makes them look a little like Mars."

Signs of a Drying Mars

Sutton Island's salt-enriched rocks are just one clue among several the rover team is using to piece together how the Martian climate changed. Looking across the entirety of Curiosity's journey, which began in 2012, the science team sees a cycle of wet to dry across long timescales on Mars.

"As we climb Mount Sharp, we see an overall trend from a wet landscape to a drier one," said Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the Mars Science Laboratory mission that Curiosity is a part of. "But that trend didn't necessarily occur in a linear fashion. More likely, it was messy, including drier periods, like what we're seeing at Sutton Island, followed by wetter periods, like what we're seeing in the 'clay-bearing unit' that Curiosity is exploring today."

Up until now, the rover has encountered lots of flat sediment layers that had been gently deposited at the bottom of a lake. Team member Chris Fedo, who specializes in the study of sedimentary layers at the University of Tennessee, noted that Curiosity is currently running across large rock structures that could have formed only in a higher-energy environment such as a windswept area or flowing streams.

Wind or flowing water piles sediment into layers that gradually incline. When they harden into rock, they become large structures similar to "Teal Ridge," which Curiosity investigated this past summer.

"Finding inclined layers represents a major change, where the landscape isn't completely underwater anymore," said Fedo. "We may have left the era of deep lakes behind."

Curiosity has already spied more inclined layers in the distant sulfate-bearing unit. The science team plans to drive there in the next couple years and investigate its many rock structures. If they formed in drier conditions that persisted for a long period, that might mean that the clay-bearing unit represents an in-between stage -- a gateway to a different era in Gale Crater's watery history.

"We can't say whether we're seeing wind or river deposits yet in the clay-bearing unit, but we're comfortable saying is it's definitely not the same thing as what came before or what lies ahead," Fedo said.

For more about NASA's Curiosity Mars rover mission, visit:

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/

https://nasa.gov/msl

[spacenutspod]

5 Min Read Why is Methane Seeping on Mars? NASA Scientists Have New Ideas Filled with briny lakes, the Quisquiro salt flat in South America’s Altiplano region represents the kind of landscape that scientists think may have existed in Gale Crater on Mars, which NASA’s Curiosity Rover is exploring. Credits: Maksym Bocharov The most surprising revelation from NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover — that methane is seeping from the surface of Gale Crater — has scientists scratching their heads. Living creatures produce most of the methane on Earth. But scientists haven’t found convincing signs of current or ancient life on Mars, and thus didn’t expect to find methane there. Yet, the portable chemistry lab aboard Curiosity, known as SAM, or Sample Analysis at Mars, has continually sniffed out traces of the gas near the surface of Gale Crater, the only place on the surface of Mars where methane has been detected thus far. Its likely source, scientists assume, are geological mechanisms that involve water and rocks deep underground. If that were the whole story, things would be easy. However, SAM has found that methane behaves in unexpected ways in Gale Crater. It appears at night and disappears during the day. It fluctuates seasonally, and sometimes spikes to levels 40 times higher than usual. Surprisingly, the methane also isn’t accumulating in the atmosphere: ESA’s (the European Space Agency) ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, sent to Mars specifically to study the gas in the atmosphere, has detected no methane. Why do some science instruments detect methane on the Red Planet while others don’t? “It’s a story with a lot of plot twists,” said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which leads Curiosity’s mission. Methane keeps Mars scientists busy with lab work and computer modeling projects that aim to explain why the gas behaves strangely and is detected only in Gale Crater. A NASA research group recently shared an interesting proposal. Reporting in a March paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, the group suggested that methane — no matter how it’s produced — could be sealed under solidified salt that might form in Martian regolith, which is “soil” made of broken rock and dust. When temperature rises during warmer seasons or times of day, weakening the seal, the methane could seep out. Led by Alexander Pavlov, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the researchers suggest the gas also can erupt in puffs when seals crack under the pressure of, say, a rover the size of a small SUV driving over it. The team’s hypothesis may help explain why methane is detected only in Gale Crater, Pavlov said, given that’s it’s one of two places on Mars where a robot is roving and drilling the surface. (The other is Jezero Crater, where NASA’s Perseverance rover is working, though that rover doesn’t have a methane-detecting instrument.) Pavlov traces the origin of this hypothesis to an unrelated experiment he led in 2017, which involved growing microorganisms in a simulated Martian permafrost (frozen soil) infused with salt, as much of Martian permafrost is. Pavlov and his colleagues tested whether bacteria known as halophiles, which live in saltwater lakes and other salt-rich environments on Earth, could thrive in similar conditions on Mars. The microbe-growing results proved inconclusive, he said, but the researchers noticed something unexpected: The top layer of soil formed a salt crust as salty ice sublimated, turning from a solid to a gas and leaving the salt behind. Permafrost on Mars and Earth “We didn’t think much of it at the moment,” Pavlov said, but he remembered the soil crust in 2019, when SAM’s tunable laser spectrometer detected a methane burst no one could explain. “That’s when it clicked in my mind,” Pavlov said. And that’s when he and a team began testing the conditions that could form and crack hardened salt seals. Pavlov’s team tested five samples of permafrost infused with varying concentrations of a salt called perchlorate that’s widespread on Mars. (There’s likely no permafrost in Gale Crater today, but the seals could have formed long ago when Gale was colder and icier.) The scientists exposed each sample to different temperatures and air pressure inside a Mars simulation chamber at NASA Goddard. Periodically, Pavlov’s team injected neon, a methane analog, underneath the soil sample and measured the gas pressure below and above it. Higher pressure beneath the sample implied the gas was trapped. Ultimately, a seal formed under Mars-like conditions within three to 13 days only in samples with 5% to 10% perchlorate concentration. This is a sample of mock Martian regolith, which is “soil” made of broken rock and dust. It’s one of five samples that scientists infused with varying concentrations of a salt called perchlorate that’s widespread on Mars. They exposed each sample to Mars-like conditions in the Mars simulation chamber at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The brittle clumps in the sample above show that a seal of salt did not form in this sample because the concentration of salt was too low. NASA/Alexander Pavlov This image is of another sample of mock Martian “soil” after it was removed from the Mars simulation chamber. The surface is sealed with a solid crust of salt. Alexander Pavlov and his team found that a seal formed after a sample spent three to 13 days under Mars-like conditions, and only if it had 5% to 10% perchlorate salt concentration. The color is lighter in the center where the sample was scratched with a metal pick. The light color indicates a drier soil underneath the top layer, which absorbed moisture from the air as soon as the sample was removed from the simulation chamber, turning brown. NASA/Alexander Pavlov That’s a much higher salt concentration than Curiosity has measured in Gale Crater. But regolith there is rich in a different type of salt minerals called sulfates, which Pavlov’s team wants to test next to see if they can also form seals. Curiosity rover has arrived at a region believed to have formed as Mars’ climate was drying. Improving our understanding of methane generation and destruction processes on Mars is a key recommendation from the 2022 NASA Planetary Mission Senior Review, and theoretical work like Pavlov’s is critical to this effort. However, scientists say they also need more consistent methane measurements. SAM sniffs for methane only several times a year because it is otherwise busy doing its primary job of drilling samples from the surface and analyzing their chemical makeup. In 2018, NASA announced that the Sample Analysis at Mars chemistry lab aboard the Curiosity Rover discovered ancient organic molecules that had been preserved in rocks for billions of years. Findings like this one help scientists understand the habitability of early Mars and pave the way for future missions to the Red Planet.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterDownload this video in HD formats from NASA Goddard’s Scientific Visualization Studio “Methane experiments are resource intensive, so we have to be very strategic when we decide to do them,” said Goddard’s Charles Malespin, principal investigator for SAM. Yet, to test how often methane levels spike, for instance, would require a new generation of surface instruments that measure methane continuously from many locations across Mars, scientists say. “Some of the methane work will have to be left to future surface spacecraft that are more focused on answering these specific questions,” Vasavada said. By Lonnie ShekhtmanNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Share Details Last Updated Apr 22, 2024 Contact Lonnie Shekhtman lonnie.shekhtman@nasa.gov Location Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Curiosity (Rover) Goddard Space Flight Center Mars Mars Exploration Program Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Missions NASA Directorates Planetary Science Division Science Mission Directorate The Solar System

[doonitedin]

Watch the panoramic view of Mars like never before!

Watch the panoramic view of Mars like never before!

The composite photo features 1.8 billion pixels.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has given us its sharpest-ever view of the Red Planet.

The Curiosity team just released a 1.8-billion-pixel panorama that features Glen Torridon, a region on the flanks of Mars’ 3.4-mile-high (5.5 kilometers) Mount Sharp that the rover has been exploring recently.

The new photo is a composite of more than 1,000 images…

[morganalab]

Basandosi sulle ultime fotografie scattate il 25 ottobre 2017 dalla sonda Curiosity, la N.A.S.A. ha prodotto un video inedito che ci fa vedere Marte come non si era mai visto prima. Un panorama nitido e spettacolare, che il rover ha potuto catturare in alta definizione durante una giornata particolarmente limpida dell’inverno marziano. Nel racconto dello scienziato Ashwin Vasavada lo stupore e l’orgoglio del video, che ripercorre anche tutto il percorso di Curiosity dal 2012, quando è atterrato sul pianeta rosso, ad oggi.