Monthly Archives: June 2021

Much more liquid water may lie beneath the south pole of Mars than scientists had thought or there may be something going on down there that they don't fully understand.

In 2018, researchers analyzing radar data gathered by Europe's Mars Express spacecraft announced they'd found evidence of a big subsurface lake in the Red Planet's south polar region. The lake appears to be about 12 miles (19 kilometers) wide, and it lies about 1 mile (1.6 km) beneath the dry, frigid surface, the scientists reported.

The same core research team soon followed up on the find, using the same Mars Express instrument Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding, or MARSIS for short to study the subsurface in a wide area around the apparent lake. This work turned up evidence for three more underground lakes, each of them about 6 miles (10 km) wide, the scientists reported in a study last year.

Related: The search for life on Mars (a photo timeline)

Now, a different team has taken a very deep dive into the data. Arizona State University doctoral student Aditya Khuller and MARSIS co-principal investigator Jeffrey Plaut, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, analyzed 44,000 observations MARSIS made of the Martian south polar region over 15 years. (MARSIS was built by the Italian Space Agency and JPL.)

The duo found dozens of radar reflections similar to the four that have been interpreted as buried lakes, over a wide range of horizontal and vertical distances. But many of the newfound signals were spotted relatively close to the surface, in places seemingly too cold to support liquid water even the briny stuff hypothesized to exist in the Martian underground.

"Were not certain whether these signals are liquid water or not, but they appear to be much more widespread than what the original paper found," Plaut said in a statement. "Either liquid water is common beneath Mars south pole, or these signals are indicative of something else."

It's unclear what could keep so many relatively shallow lakes if the newfound signals do indeed indicate lakes from freezing over on frigid Mars. Volcanism is one possibility that researchers have raised, said Khuller, who conducted the new research while an intern at JPL.

"However, we havent really seen any strong evidence for recent volcanism at the south pole, so it seems unlikely that volcanic activity would allow subsurface liquid water to be present throughout this region," Khuller said in the same statement.

Neither Khuller nor Plaut can explain what exactly the newfound MARSIS reflections mean. But they hope their results, which were published online last week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, will not remain mysterious for long.

"Our mapping gets us a few steps closer to understanding both the extent and the cause of these puzzling radar reflections," Plaut said.

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

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Mars may have dozens of lakes beneath its south pole - Space.com

Putting a Selfie Together, Piece by Piece: This shows the sequence in which NASAs Perseverance Mars rover took 62 individual images with its WATSON camera, on April 6, 2021, before they were stitched together into a single selfie. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Download image

The historic image of the rover beside the Mars Helicopter proved to be one of the most complex rover selfies ever taken. Video, with bonus audio, sheds light on the process.

Ever wondered how Mars rovers take a selfie? Color video from NASAs Perseverance shows how the rover captured the historic April 6, 2021, image of itself beside the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. As a bonus, the rovers entry, descent, and landing microphone captured the sound of the arms motors whirring during the process.

Selfies allow engineers to check wear and tear on the rover. But they also inspire a new generation of space enthusiasts: Many rover team members can cite a favorite image that sparked their interest in NASA.

I got into this because I saw a picture from Sojourner, NASAs first Mars rover, said Vandi Verma, Perseverances chief engineer for robotic operations at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Verma worked as a driver for the agencys Opportunity and Curiosity rovers, and she helped to create Curiositys first selfie, snapped on Oct. 31, 2012. When we took that first selfie, we didnt realize these would become so iconic and routine, she said

Video from one of Perseverances navigation cameras shows the rovers robotic arm twisting and maneuvering to take the 62 images that compose the image. What it doesnt capture is how much work went into making this first selfie happen. Heres a closer look.

Teamwork

Perseverances selfie came together with the help of a core group of about a dozen people, including rover drivers, engineers who ran tests at JPL, and camera operations engineers who developed the camera sequence, processed the images, and stitched them together. It took about a week to plot out all the individual commands required.

Everyone was working on Mars time (a day on the Red Planet is 37 minutes longer than on Earth), which often means being awake in the middle of the night and catching up on sleep during the day. These team members sometimes passed up that sleep just to get the selfie done.

JPL worked with Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) in San Diego, which built and operates the camera responsible for the selfie. Called WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering), the camera is designed primarily for getting close-up detail shots of rock textures, not wide-angle images. Because each WATSON image covers only a small portion of a scene, engineers had to command the rover to take dozens of individual images to produce the selfie.

The thing that took the most attention was getting Ingenuity into the right place in the selfie, said Mike Ravine, Advanced Projects Manager at MSSS. Given how small it is, I thought we did a pretty good job.

When images come down from Mars, the MSSS image processing engineers began their work. They start by cleaning up any blemishes caused by dust that settled on the cameras light detector. Then, they assemble the individual image frames into a mosaic and smooth out their seams using software. Finally, an engineer warps and crops the mosaic so that it looks more like a normal camera photo that the public is used to seeing.

Computer Simulations

Like the Curiosity rover (this black-and-white video from March 2020 show how it takes a selfie), Perseverance has a rotating turret at the end of its robotic arm. Along with other science instruments, the turret includes the WATSON camera, which stays focused on the rover during selfies while being angled to capture a part of the scene. The arm acts like a selfie stick, remaining just out of frame in the final product.

Commanding Perseverance to film its selfie stick in action is much more challenging than with Curiosity. Where Curiositys turret measures 22 inches (55 centimeters) across, Perseverances turret is much bigger, measuring 30 inches (75 centimeters) across. Thats like waving something the diameter of a road bike wheel just centimeters in front of Perseverances mast, the head of the rover.

JPL created software to ensure the arm doesnt collide with the rover. Each time a collision is detected in simulations on Earth, the engineering team adjusts the arm trajectory; the process repeats dozens of times to confirm the arm motion is safe. The final command sequence gets the robotic arm as close as we could get to the rovers body without touching it, Verma said.

They run other simulations to ensure that, say, the Ingenuity helicopter is positioned appropriately in the final selfie or the microphone can capture sound from the robotic arms motors.

The Sound of Selfies

Along with its entry, descent, and landing microphone, Perseverance carries a microphone in its SuperCam instrument. The mics mark a first for NASAs Mars spacecraft, and audio promises to be an important new tool for rover engineers in the years ahead. Among other uses, it can provide important details about whether something is working right. In the past, engineers would have to settle for listening to a test rover on Earth.

Its like your car: Even if youre not a mechanic, sometimes you hear a problem before you realize somethings wrong, Verma said.

While they havent heard anything concerning to date, the whirring motors do sound surprisingly musical when reverberating through the rovers chassis.

More About the Mission

A key objective for Perseverances mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planets geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASAs Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

For more about Perseverance:

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

https://nasa.gov/perseverance

News Media Contacts

Andrew GoodJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-2433andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

Karen Fox / Alana JohnsonNASA Headquarters, Washington301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

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Watch (and Hear) How NASA's Perseverance Rover Took Its First Selfie NASA's Mars Exploration Program - NASA Mars Exploration

A Long March-7 Y3 carrier rocket carrying the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on May 29, 2021 in Wenchang, Hainan Province of China.

Yuan Chen | VCG | Getty Images

GUANGZHOU, China China plans to send its first crewed mission to Mars in 2033 as it continues to boost its space ambitions in a battle with the U.S.

The world's second-largest economy is planning regular crewed missions to the Red Planet.

Wang Xiaojun, head of the state-owned China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, outlined the country's Mars plans for the first time this month at a space conference in Russia, according to the academy.

It comes just weeks after China landed a remote-controlled rover called Zhurong on Mars, making it the only country after the U.S. to do so.

Wang said the first step in China's plans is to use robots to explore Mars to sample its surface and help select a place to build a base. The next stage would be to send astronauts up to Mars to build a base station there. Then China wants large-scale Earth-to-Mars cargo missions.

China has earmarked 2033, 2035, 2037, 2041 and 2043 for such missions and said it will explore technology to fly astronauts back to Earth.

A roundtrip to Mars would have a flight time of "hundreds of days," the academy said.

The revelation of China's Mars goals come after a string of successful space missions. China has begun construction of its own space station and earlier this month sent the first astronauts up there. It was the first time China sent a crewed mission to space since 2016.

Earlier this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to the astronauts, congratulating them and highlighting how the country's space ambitions are supported from the top. Space is an area China wants to lead as part of a broader technology battle with the U.S.

NASA says it plans to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.

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China plans to send its first crewed mission to Mars in 2033 and build a base there - CNBC

China has released video and sound clips from its rover exploring the surface of Mars.

The files were published by China National Space Agencyon Sunday.

The sound is of the Zhurong roverleaving its lander before taking its first ridein May, and can be heard in the video below.

The eerie noises are made by the rover moving on the rack, said Jia Yand, deputy chief designer of the Mars rover project

The sound is somewhat muffled, and doesn't quite sound like what could be expected on Earth.

It could provide clues about the environment and conditions on Mars, including figuring out the density of the atmosphere, according to Jizhong, deputy commander of the exploration program.

Liu said its main purpose is to listen to the wind.

This is not the first sound recording to come back from Mars.

NASA's Perseverance rover, which landed about a month before Zhurong, sent backits first audio recording in February.

Since then, NASA has released more sounds from Mars, includingthe sounds of the rover driving aroundandof its laser firing at rocks.

Since it landedin May,the rover has moved 236 meters (about 774 ft), CNSA said.

A video shows a 360 degree view caught by the rover's onboard camera. Its tracks lead to the lander which can be seen in the distance.

The full 360-degree panoramacan be seen here.

Another video, below, shows the rover backing away from a camera that it dumped it on the groundto take a selfie with its lander platform. It can be seen rotating in place, showing that it is in good working condition,the China National Space Agency (CNSA) said.

One last video released on Sunday shows the rover's landing in May, including the deployment of its parachute and the moment it touched down.

The rover is expected to remain active around another 48 days.

During its mission, it is meant to be analyzing the chemical make-up of Martian soil and looking for signs of water on the Utopia Planitia region where it landed,Insider's Aylin Woodward reported on May 22.

This article was originally published by Business Insider.

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Listen to The Eerie Noise of China's Mars Rover as It Sets Off to Explore - ScienceAlert

Johnny Horne| Correspondent

Remember back just before Christmas when bright planets Jupiter and Saturn appeared dramatically close together in the evening sky?

July will bring another evening planetary pairing, but this time planets Venus and Mars will appear to huddle close together.

The Venus and Mars pairing wont feature as tight of a pairing as last Decembers event with the two worlds appearing about degree apart on July 11-12. The apparent diameter of the moon spans about degree.

You can watch the two planets draw closer to one another over the next several evenings.

Venus is easiest to spot because it glows brilliantly low in the western sky soon after sunset. Unless the moon is in the sky, no object shines brighter than Venus on July evenings. Venus sets early,however, dipping below the horizon shortly after 10 p.m., so youll need a spot with an unobstructed western horizon to spot Venus.

More: Backyard Universe: Like eclipses? Here's when people in Fayetteville area can see them in 2021

Mars is a little tougher to spot and appears as a medium bright reddish star to the upper left of Venus around the first of July.Mars has moved far from its close passage by Earth back in October when it appeared very bright. Its on the far side of the sun now from our perspective and has dimmed considerably.

Over the coming nights, Venus will appear to move to the left along the southern horizon each night while Mars will appear to sink lower in the sky.

The nights of July 10-14 have both planets very close together, with July 12 being the night of closest separation. The observing window for viewing the pairing starts around 8:45 and continues until both planets set.

With Mars so much fainter than Venus, binoculars may be helpful in spotting tiny dim Mars in such close proximity to the blazingly bright Venus.

Unlike the compelling view last December of planets Jupiter and Saturn in the same telescope field of view, pointing a telescope toward Venus and Mars in July wont be nearly as impressive.

The planet Venus is perpetually and completely covered by clouds so no surface features are visible through any earth-based telescope. Because Venus is an inner planet whose orbits lies totally within Earths orbit, Venus shows phases as it orbits the sun and our viewing angle on it changes. A telescope view of Venus in July will show a gibbous phase…or just shy of being full."

Mars was very cool to observe with a telescope with its white polar cap and dark surface features when it was at a close opposition last October. But the red planet in July is about six times more distant from us during July compared to last October.

That makes Mars appear as little more than a red dot in the eyepiece of even large telescopes. Mars is only half the size of Earth so the 230 million miles separating us from the planet in July makes for a tiny looking planet, though Mars still appears red. During mid-July Venus lies about 132 million miles from us.

Not only will Venus and Mars huddle close to one another on the evening of July 11, but a slim crescent moon will hang to the lower right near both planets on that same evening. The following evening, July 12, the moon will also be present but will above the planetary pair.

The low western sky position of the bodies can help with showing them in close proximity to foreground objects and scenes along the western horizon.

If skies are clear, theres a nice picture to be made the evening of July 11and 12 showing the two planets and slim crescent moon above a compelling foreground scene.

If you have a question about astronomy, send it to Backyard Universe P.O. Box 297, Stedman, NC 28391 or emailjohnnyhorne937@gmail.com

Support local journalism with a subscription to The Fayetteville Observer. Click the "subscribe'' link at the top of this article.

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Backyard Universe: Here's how to see Venus and Mars together next month over the Fayetteville area - The Fayetteville Observer

This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 3158. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download image

Todays workspace sports a lot of sand, which of course will be a target for our investigations. But it also has interesting looking rocks, which seem very rubbly and structured. The image above shows the area the team was looking at very closely and that has all of todays targets.

But before I get to the details, allow me to look at a little history. Sol 3160, what an achievement, and only one other rover has ever lived that many sols on Mars. Do you remember, which one? Of course, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity! Sol 3160 on her mission fell into December 2012 here on Earth, and she explored the rim of Endeavour crater; you can find out all about the investigation here. Remember, that in December of 2012, Curiosity had just landed and was three digit sol-numbers (just over 130!) back then, and had not even investigated Yellowknife Bay or done our first drill. We had seen our first conglomerates, though, right at the start, when sol number still had two digits only. Remember that? Here it is, if you love looking back in the family album of Martian rocks as much as I do.

Now, back to tosols activities! Curiosity has a busy weekend plan ahead. With so many interesting rocks, APXS and MAHLI are looking at two of them, the targets Simeyrols and Rouffignac, respectively. ChemCam has two LIBS active observation on targets Pressignac and La Lizonne, which are on rubbly looking rocks. Potential differences in mineralogy in those rocks are in focus of the ChemCam passive observation at Rouffignac. ChemCam also looks into the distance, at Rafael Navarro Mountain to study the details of the sedimentology there. Mastcam supports the observations at Rafael Navarro Mountain and surrounding area with a large mosaic, but it is also takes an image of the laser targets, and does multispectral observations at La Lizonne, and Simeyrols.

I said, a lot of science, didnt I? After the drive, Curiosity will make several routine observations of the clouds and dust in the atmosphere. Since it's nominally the cloudy season on Mars, cloud measurements happen more often at the moment, and tosol they include a 'Cloud Altitude Observation' where Curiosity takes a movie at zenith to watch any clouds drift by, and also look at the slopes of Mt Sharp to see if their shadows move over the slopes of the mountain. Having both allows the team back on Earth to compute the altitude at which clouds have formed, as well as the wind direction and speed at that altitude. And on top of all that, there also is a ChemCam measurement of the atmosphere, timed to coincide with a measurement by an instrument on the European ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, which will be passing overhead.

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Sol 3160-3162: It's Sandy Out There NASA's Mars Exploration Program - NASA Mars Exploration

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk turns 50 today, and while his mother Maye Musk posted a throwback picture of him as a baby to wish her son, netizens decided to celebrate the day with creative memes.

Born on June 28, 1971, Musk has a following of over 57 million on Twitter, where he often shares witty tweets, posts and information on subjects such as cryptocurrencies Dogecoin, Tesla, space explorations, and Mars travel plans. Interestingly, on Fathers Day, Musk, who is among the top five richest people in the world, was also called Dogefather of the crypto world.

On his birthday, his fans and followers decided to make the most of the day to wish the billionaire. Soon, hashtags such as #happyBirthdayMusk, #Dogefather, #Tesla began trending on the microblogging website.

Here, take a look at some of the many memes and jokes shared online.

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Next 50th on Mars: On Elon Musks birthday, netizens celebrate with memes - The Indian Express

In this installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, Galen Druke and Nate Silver open the mailbag to answer listeners questions about politics, polling and hot dogs. Specifically, listeners want to know what to make of New York Citys mayoral race, whether primary elections tell us anything about the midterm elections, which voting system is the best, the likelihood of filibuster reform and, of course, whether hot dogs are considered sandwiches.

You can listen to the episode by clicking the play button in the audio player above or bydownloading it in iTunes, theESPN Appor your favorite podcast platform. If you are new to podcasts,learn how to listen.

The FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast is recorded Mondays and Thursdays. Help new listeners discover the show byleaving us a rating and review on iTunes. Have a comment, question or suggestion for good polling vs. bad polling? Get in touch by email,on Twitteror in the comments.

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Politics Podcast Mailbag Edition: What Alaska And Mars Have In Common - FiveThirtyEight