Category Archives: Mars

Bruno Mars rumoured MGM debt drama Bruno Mars, wearing one of his made-to-measure Giorgio Armani suits in 2022. Photo: @brunomars/Instagram

MGM pooh-poohed reports that Mars, 38, was in debt. According to Billboard, the entertainment company said that its relationship with the musician is long-standing and rooted in mutual respect. Back in 2016, Mars announced a long-term deal with MGM, which resulted in his Vegas residency at the Park MGM.

In mid-March, TV network NewsNation published a report claiming that Mars was in US$50 million debt with the company. The story went viral, sparking concern for the beloved musician. In the report, a source was quoted as saying, MGM basically own him, because of the debt he had allegedly racked up.

But MGMs statement clearly explains its partnership with Mars, adding, Together, we are excited to continue creating unforgettable experiences for our guests.

Who is Tori Spellings wealthy mum, Candy and does she help her daughter?

Mars and MGMs partnership has been well documented. His residency, which was supposed to end in August 2023, was extended until September 2024, per Vulture.

Additionally, Mars just opened The Pinky Ring cocktail bar in collaboration with MGM hotel and casino, the Bellagio, in February. According to Las Vegas Weekly, the venue even has some of the singers Grammy awards on display and Mars touch can be traced all over this penthouse-style party pad.

The title of Mars 2016 album 24k Magic was apparently well chosen. With his estimated net worth of US$175 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, theres no denying that he knows how to make money. He spent much of the following two years touring as part of his sold-out 24k Magic World Tour, which reportedly earned him more than US$237 million, reported Forbes.

In this corner 5 of the richest boxers in the world net worths, ranked

In 2021, Billboard reported that Mars was only the second to make over US$50 million from a Park MGM residency. Lady Gagas Enigma residency made US$53.9 million, making it the highest earning residency ever.

It was his upbringing in Hawaii that encouraged him to open a bar, the SelvaRey Rum Bar at the Fairmont Orchid. I grew up in Hawaii, and Ive been performing in Oahu my whole life, he told People magazine. As a young kid, you see all this joy, and when Im performing on stage, everybodys got a beautiful cocktail in their hand. The name of the bar is based on SelvaRey, a rum brand launched in 2014 co-owned by the musician.

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Bruno Mars and Las Vegas from those MGM debt rumours to his new bar - Style

Subtle interactions between planetary orbits change Earths climate and geological processes. Scientists have picked up on such a signal in cyclic periods of heavy erosion on the floor of the deep sea.

The study, published in Nature Communications, found that gaps in sedimentation across the globe have occurred in 2.4-million-year cycles, which the authors say can be explained by the interactions of Marss and Earths orbits. The findings have implications for scientists understanding of Earths past and future.

Theres no other way to explain this cyclicity other than this orbital interaction between Earth and Mars.

The discovery came from an analysis of publicly available sedimentation data from the past 50 years of ocean drilling at hundreds of sites worldwide.

When analyzed together, data from 293 deep-sea drill holes showed a pattern: About every 2.4 million years, there was a gap in the sediment record, referred to as a hiatus.Researchers had initially identified the gaps as part of a study published in 2022 but only recently discovered their cyclicity after analyzing the patterns in the sediment record.

The hiatuses are likely a result of vigorous deep-sea currents that swept away sediment on a global scale, said geophysicist Dietmar Mller at the University of Sydney, a co-author on the new study. Overall, the researchers observed 27 cycles in the sedimentation data over the past 70 million years.

Because the pattern was cyclic, the team looked to the solar system for clues. Scientists have known for decades that other planets can influence Earths orbit and, subsequently, Earth systems, thanks to cycles on the order of 10,000100,000 years called Milankovitch cycles.

Longer cycles of millions to tens of millions of years, often called astronomical grand cycles, exist too, though less evidence has been found for them in the geological record.

A 2.4-million-year grand cycle involving the orbit of Mars is the most likely explanation for the patterns seen in the sedimentary data, according to the studys authors. Theres no other way to explain this cyclicity other than this orbital interaction between Earth and Mars, Mller said.

Benjamin Mills, a biogeochemist at the University of Leeds who was not involved in the research, said the data add to the limited records that show astronomical grand cycles affecting Earth.

Mills was part of a team that observed similar 2.4-million-year cycles in ocean oxygen levels and biodiversity. Hes working on new research that links these cycles of biodiversity to orbital changes. There are lots of interesting extensions of the work by Mller and his colleagues, Mills said.

The researchers methods were original, as most work to reveal orbital forcing on Earths paleoclimate is done by looking at sediment itself, rather than gaps in sediment, said Margriet Lantink, a geologist at the University of WisconsinMadison who was not involved in the new research. The data the team used to show the cyclicity are relatively convincing, she said.

The specific interaction the researchers point to involves Earths perihelionthe point in Earths orbit where its closest to the Sun. Every 2.4 million years, Marss orbit pulls Earths perihelion slightly closer to the Sun, increasing the solar radiation that hits Earth.

That extra solar radiation isnt much, but the researchers hypothesized that its enough to kick-start feedback loops on Earth that alter Earths processessuch as ocean currents. Warming spurred by the orbital changes could have led to an increase in cyclone activity that caused more vigorous ocean currents and seafloor erosion, Mller said.

The important thing for the rest of us in the field to do now is to start testing some of these ideas.

Scientists will need to do more work to demonstrate the link between orbitally forced warming and deep-sea currents, Mills said. The studys authors have done a good job in suggesting what might cause the actual hiatuses, but so far its just a suggestion, he said. The actual process of how you get from orbital change to what they see in the sedimentological recordthere could be many steps to that.

The important thing for the rest of us in the field to do now is to start testing some of these ideas, Mills said.

As well as offering an understanding of Earths past, the findings could help predictions of Earths future and, particularly, how Earth systems will respond to warming, Mller said. Humans are contributing to climate change much faster than any geological or astronomical processes, Mller said. But data on Earths past can still inform simulations of future climate effects by allowing scientists to rule out other drivers, such as Milankovitch cycles or astronomical grand cycles, he said.

Ultimately, it helps us differentiate anthropogenic changes to the system from naturally occurring changes, he said.

Grace van Deelen (@GVD__), Staff Writer

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Mars as a Driver of Deep-Sea Erosion - Eos

Many craters in the mid-latitudes of Mars are partially filled with deposits that have been interpreted to be ice-rich. We expect the deposits to have formed at an earlier (but relatively recent) time when Mars' orbital parameters were different and allowed ice to condense and deposit in these locations. The ice is covered by dust layers protecting it from sublimating away.

The ice deposits are probably no older than a few million years, which is recent in geological terms. However, we can observe that these deposits have been affected by even more recent movement of the crust (the curving trough) that clearly post-dates the ice deposits because it is cutting through them. A wider view allows us to trace this crustal movement or "fault," and we can see it is also affecting the crater wall and the area surrounding it. This observation indicates that Mars' interior is still (or at least until recently was) warm enough to sustain such activity.

The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 50.2 centimeters [19.8 inches] per pixel [with 2 x 2 binning]; objects on the order of 151 centimeters [59.4 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.

This is a stereo pair with ESP_081856_1470.

The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

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A Song of Ice and Tectonics - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The Self-Released Album That Produced Eternal Classics Like "Scarlet Begonias," "Ship of Fools" & "China Doll," Newly Remastered & Expanded With Unearthed Material

Listen To Previously Unheard Demo of "Wave That Flag,"

The Song That Became "U.S. Blues":

HERE

3CD & Digital Set Out June 21st, Featuring Unreleased Live Show From 5/12/1974; Black Vinyl, Zoetrope Picture Discs & Other Limited Edition Variants Available To

Pre-Order Now:

HERE

Good Ol' Grateful DeadcastLaunches Season 9 Tomorrow, Focusing onFrom The Mars Hotel& Story Behind The Grateful Dead's Famed Wall of Sound

50 years ago, theGrateful Deadwere cooking with gas. It was spring 1974, the band had successfully emerged from a series of hectic, harrowing times, and would soon follow their transformativeWake Of The Floodwith the second acclaimed album release on their very own Grateful Dead Records:From The Mars Hotel. During the mere eight months that had passed between those two beloved LPs, the group also played some of their most exploratory live music and largest venues to date, famously amplified by the homemade, 75-tonWall of Soundthat they debuted on March 23rd, 1974, at their hometown Cow Palace in Daly City, CA. Eternal staples such as "Scarlet Begonias," "Ship Of Fools" and "U.S. Blues" would first be introduced into setlists along that season's tour, before the Grateful Dead spent two months recording and honing them in the studio forFrom The Mars Hotel. Not to mention perennial classics like "China Doll" and "Loose Lucy," or "Pride of Cucamonga" and "Unbroken Chain" the final two tracks Phil Lesh would sing on a Grateful Dead studio album. Now, as Grateful Dead members and tributaries continue to celebrate and bring so many of these formative songs to the masses,From The Mars Hotelhas been remastered and expanded with newly unearthed material and rarities, in honor of its 50th Anniversary.

OutJune 21stvia Rhino, six days before the album's original release on June 27, 1974,From The Mars Hotel (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)features remastered audio by GRAMMY Award-winning engineer David Glasser, with Plangent Processes tape restoration and speed correction. Produced for release by Grateful Dead Legacy Manager and Audio Archivist, David Lemieux, the deluxe edition also includes demos of"China Doll"and"Wave That Flag" the song that became "U.S. Blues" as well as a previously unreleased live performance of the Grateful Dead atUniversity of Nevada-Renoon5/12/1974. As the band filled an outdoor football stadium with epic highs like a huge "China Cat Sunflower" > "I Know You Rider,"Mars Hotelcuts including "U.S. Blues" and classics such as "Brown-Eyed Women," "Tennessee Jed," "Mississippi Half-Step," "Truckin'" and "Sugar Magnolia," a massive wind storm was no match for the Wall of Sound. Designed to improve the listening and performance experience at what were becoming larger gigs and longer, more dynamic and varied sets, the Wall of Sound required 21 stage hands, and underlined the resounding effect the Grateful Dead were having on American audiences and culture at the time, even as the entire operation remained homespun and humble.

Pre-orderFrom The Mars Hotel (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)on 3CD and digital formats, and hear"Wave That Flag (Demo),"available on DSPs for the first time today

In addition to the50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition,From The Mars Hotel (50th Anniversary Remaster)will be released on June 21st as a single 180-gram black vinyl LP, limited edition Neon Pink vinyl, limited edition "Ugly Rumors" custom vinyl exclusive toDead.net, and a specially-designed picture disc created in partnership with zoetrope pioneerDrew Tetz. When viewed with a camera or strobe, the zoetrope LP will appear to animate, and can be pre-ordered along with the rest ofFrom The Mars Hotel (50th Anniversary Remaster)variantsHERE.

Recorded in San Francisco's Coast Recorders studio,From The Mars Hotelfinds Keith Godchaux particularly shining across a variety of keys, from the "China Doll" harpsichord to the pounding piano on Bob Weir's "Money Money," to the churchy organ that elevates "Ship Of Fools." Lyricist Robert Hunter packs "U.S. Blues" with a barrage of imagery, pop-culture references and sardonic asides as Canadian author Ray Robertson writes in the50th Anniversary Edition's liner notes, it "carries an undeniable whiff of late-capitalism ennuiit's the most fun you'll ever have dancing to the end of the American Empire." Jerry Garcia's jaunty lead guitar drives bouncing melodies across the LP, while guests include Ned Lagin's unnerving synth effects on "Unbroken Chain," Clover member John McFee's country-rock pedal steel on "Pride Of Cucamonga," and more.

From The Mars Hotelpeaked at #16 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1974, contributing to the Grateful Dead's historic achievement last month, when they broke the all-time record forMost Top 40 albums on the Billboard 200.

In tandem with today's announcement, theGood Ol' Grateful Deadcastwill premiere its ninth seasontomorrow, March 28th. Following 5 million downloads and counting, the official Grateful Dead podcast will now unlock the many secrets ofFrom The Mars Hotel. Along with a track-by-track breakdown of the album, this season will tell the story of the game-changing Wall of Sound, with archival audio of its mastermind legendary LSD chemist Owsley Stanley and new interviews with those who made the larger-than-life speaker system a reality.

Listen toGood Ol' Grateful Deadcast'sSeason 9 Trailer, and subscribe here for new episodes on a weekly basis:https://www.dead.net/deadcast

Photo by Richie Pechner

From The Mars Hotel (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)Tracklist

Disc 1

U.S. Blues

China Doll

Unbroken Chain

Loose Lucy

Scarlet Begonias

Pride Of Cucamonga

Money Money

Ship Of Fools

-Bonus Tracks-

China Doll (Demo)

Wave That Flag (Demo)

Disc 2

-Live From The University Of Nevada-Reno, 5/12/74-

Sugaree

Mexicali Blues

Tennessee Jed

Jack Straw

Brown-Eyed Women

Beat It On Down The Line

China Cat Sunflower>

I Know You Rider

El Paso

U.S. Blues

Greatest Story Ever Told

It Must Have Been The Roses

Me And Bobby McGee

Disc 3

-Live From The University Of Nevada-Reno, 5/12/74-

Deal

Around And Around

Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo

Truckin'>

The Other One>

Row Jimmy

Big River

Ship Of Fools

Sugar Magnolia

About the Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead is a social and musical phenomenon that grew into a genuine American treasure. In 1965, an entire generation was linked together by common ideals, gathering by the hundreds and thousands. This movement created a seamless connection between the band and its fans. As the band toured, Dead Heads would follow. Not because it was a part of popular culture but because it is a true counterculture that exists to this very day-one that earnestly believes in the value of its beliefs. By 1995, the Grateful Dead had attracted the most concertgoers in the history of the music business, and today remains one of the all-time leaders in concert ticket sales. Eventually, the caravan evolved into a community with various artists, craftsmen and entrepreneurs supplying a growing demand for merchandise that connected them to the music. Today, the connection is as strong as ever. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and received a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. Their final tally of 2,318 total concerts remains a world record. The Grateful Dead recently celebrated their 59th Top 40 album on the Billboard chart, a feat no other group has achieved.

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Grateful Dead From The Mars Hotel (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) - Shore Fire Media

The Province is supporting the preservation of a historic piece of B.C.s aviation history to ensure its story can be shared with residents and visitors for generations to come.

The Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber is a proud symbol of B.C.s ingenuity and innovation, representing cutting-edge technology in aviation firefighting of its time, said Lana Popham, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. We recognize the value the Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber holds for many people and have heard their desire to have it housed in the British ColumbiaAviation Museum, where it can be displayed and protected as an important piece of our provinces history.

To protect and preserve the Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber as a significant part of B.C.s aviation history, the Province is providing $250,000 in one-time funding to the British ColumbiaAviation Museum to establish the aircraft as the centrepiece of its new B.C. wildfire aviation exhibit. The new exhibit will be interactive, inviting visitors to explore the features of the aircraft up close, and foster an appreciation for its historical, cultural and aeronautical significance. The Hawaii is one of only two Martin Mars water bombers left in existence.

This is great news for people with an interest or who work in the aviation industry, and for B.C.s cultural and tourism sectors, said Bob DEith, Parliamentary Secretary for Arts and Film. Our government is pleased to support this co-operative effort to add this iconic water bomber to British ColumbiaAviation Museums permanent collection, where it is sure to become a part of the signature attractions B.C. has to offer our visitors and residents.

The water bombers final flight from Coulson Aviation Tanker Base in Port Alberni to Victoria International Airport is expected before the end of 2024 and will be a multi-phased process. This includes passing federal inspections, crew training and test flights.

The Hawaii Martin Mars can land and take off only on water. Therefore, its last flight will be from Sproat Lake to the Saanich Inlet beside Victoria International Airport. The final stage will take place on the Canadian Coast Guard Base Patricia Bay, a former seaplane port, where the aircraft will be brought up on a ramp, mounted on a trailer and transported across Victoria International Airport runways.

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To learn more about British ColumbiaAviation Museum, visit:https://bcam.net/

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Historic water bomber, Hawaii Martin Mars, to be displayed in BC museum - The Nelson Daily

Mars 2020's SHERLOC Instrument: A close-up view of an engineering model of SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals), one the instruments aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Full image and caption

The Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals has a nickname: SHERLOC. Mounted on the rover's robotic arm, SHERLOC uses cameras, spectrometers, and a laser to search for organics and minerals that have been altered by watery environments and may be signs of past microbial life. In addition to its black-and-white context camera, SHERLOC is assisted by WATSON, a color camera for taking close-up images of rock grains and surface textures.

Turret: 6.86 pounds (3.11 kilograms)

Body: 3.55 pounds (1.61 kilograms) body

Turret: 32.2 watts

Body: 16.6 watts

10.2 by 7.8 by 2.6 inches (26.0 by 20.0 by 6.7 centimeters)

2 Cameras

Autofocus and Context Imager: 10.1 micrometers

WATSON Camera: 15.9 micrometers

1 Laser: 100 micrometers

Imaging: 0.9 to 0.5 inches (2.3 by 1.5 centimeters)

Spectroscopy: 7 by 7 millimeters (0.275 inch)

"Key, driving questions are whether Mars is or was ever inhabited, and if not, why not? The SHERLOC investigation will advance the understanding of Martian geologic history and identify its past biologic potential."

SHERLOC Works All Shifts SHERLOC operates day or night.

SHERLOC: No Touch Required Perseverance places SHERLOC about two inches above its target to gather data. That way, it is close, but doesn't contaminate the scene of the investigation.

SHERLOC Has an Eye for Detail SHERLOC has a magnifying glass just like the fictional detective to see fine detail.

SHERLOC Collects Clues SHERLOC uses ultraviolet laser light to spot organic chemicals in much the same way modern crime scene investigators look for forensic clues.

SHERLOC Tests Spacesuits SHERLOC carries small pieces of spacesuit material. It targets them to test its accuracy and to see how they hold up in the harsh Martian environment.

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Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC) - NASA - NASA Mars Exploration

A small rover built in Europe has arrived in Japan in preparation for its voyage to Mars.

The autonomous 55-pound (25-kilogram) rover is called IDEFIX and is part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Martian Moon Exploration (MMX) probe that aims to collect samples of the Mars' moon, Phobos.

The little, four-wheeled rover recently arrived in Japan, according to a Feb. 26 post on X (formerly known as Twitter) written by the MMX mission account.

Related: New Japanese spacecraft aims to explore the mysterious moons of Mars

IDEFIX, named for the small white dog in the Asterix comics, was jointly built by the German Aerospace Center (known by the German acronym DLR) and the French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES).

The main MMX spacecraft aims to grab 0.35 ounces (10 grams) of Phobos' material in 2029. It will then send the precious cargo towards Earth; arrival is expected to occur in 2031. IDEFIX will play a part in this overall objective by landing on Phobos first and gathering key information in preparation for the landing of the main spacecraft. The rover will also analyze the Martian moon's surface composition and texture at selected locations, according to DLR if it can land and operate successfully in a near zero-gravity environment all by itself, that is.

"The biggest challenge for IDEFIX is that it has to carry out many operations particularly the uprighting after landing on Phobos fully autonomously in order to survive," Stphane Mary, CNES Project Manager for IDEFIX, said in a DLR statement. "It wouldn't survive if it waited for commands from Earth to arrive."

A key goal of MMX is to determine whether Phobos and its fellow Martian satellite Deimos are captured asteroids or a coalescence of fragments that were blown into orbit after a giant impact struck Mars.

MMX was originally scheduled to launch in September of this year, yet doubts over the readiness of the new Japanese H3 rocket meant JAXA took the decision to delay the mission until the next Mars launch window in 2026.

H3 has since reached Earth orbit for the first time, bouncing back from the failure of its debut launch in 2023. The mission will launch on an H3 rocket from Tanegashima Space Center in 2026, hopefully arriving in Mars orbit in 2027 to begin mapping and analyzing Deimos and Phobos. IDEFIX and the main MMX spacecraft will then be able to land on Phobos in 2029.

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This little rover will ride shotgun on Japan's ambitious Mars moon sample-return mission - Space.com

For all the wonders robotic space missions have to offer, they are limited by mass, power, and size requirements. We cant carry all our large, precise laboratory equipment to space. That limits us when we want to precisely know a rocks age, the conditions in which it formed, and whether it carries signatures of past life, said Jeffrey Johnson, a planetary geologist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Many Martian science objectives can only be achieved by analyzing returned samples in laboratories on Earth, he said. The sophisticated instruments at such facilities can detect subtle chemical, mineralogical, and morphological signatures with greater precision and accuracy than is possible with miniaturized robotic instruments on the Martian surface.

Whereas a single spacecraft instrument tends to be designed for one particular function, the samples we return from Mars can be subjected to the full range of current and future scientific tools available on Earth.

Its not that we cant miniaturize and flight-harden one instrument, its that we cant do it for all the instruments and analyses that wed be able to perform on these rocks once theyre returned to Earth, said Amy Williams, an assistant professor in geological sciences at the University of Florida.

Many important analytical tests performed on rock and soil samples require careful preparation using fluids or slicing at ultrafine, nanometer scales. That just cant happen on Mars. Nor can we bring to Mars the full range of equipment found in a single geosciences department, let alone the scope of advanced laboratories around the Earth. With returned samples, multiple labs will work together to validate, verify, and confirm key findings multiple lines of evidence for, and confidence in, important scientific discoveries. This level of certainty and reproducibility is critical for bombshell results such as a possible sign of past life.

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The science value of Mars Sample Return - The Planetary Society

As it trundles around an ancient lakebed on Mars, NASAs Perseverance rover is assembling a one-of-a-kind rock collection. The car-sized explorer is methodically drilling into the Red Planets surface and pulling out cores of bedrock that its storing in sturdy titanium tubes. Scientists hope to one day return the tubes to Earth and analyze their contents for traces of embedded microbial life.

Since it touched down on the surface of Mars in 2021, the rover has filled 20 of its 43 tubes with cores of bedrock. Now, MIT geologists have remotely determined a crucial property of the rocks collected to date, which will help scientists answer key questions about the planets past.

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

In a study appearing today in the journal Earth and Space Science, an MIT team reports that they have determined the original orientation of most bedrock samples collected by the rover to date. By using the rovers own engineering data, such as the positioning of the vehicle and its drill, the scientists could estimate the orientation of each sample of bedrock before it was drilled out from the Martian ground.

The results represent the first time scientists have oriented samples of bedrock on another planet. The teams method can be applied to future samples that the rover collects as it expands its exploration outside the ancient basin. Piecing together the orientations of multiple rocks at various locations can then give scientists clues to the conditions on Mars in which the rocks originally formed.

There are so many science questions that rely on being able to know the orientation of the samples were bringing back from Mars, says study author Elias Mansbach, a graduate student in MITs Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.

The orientation of rocks can tell you something about any magnetic field that may have existed on the planet, adds Benjamin Weiss, professor of planetary sciences at MIT. You can also study how water and lava flowed on the planet, the direction of the ancient wind, and tectonic processes, like what was uplifted and what sunk. So its a dream to be able to orient bedrock on another planet, because its going to open up so many scientific investigations.

Weiss and Mansbachs co-authors are Tanja Bosak and Jennifer Fentress at MIT, along with collaborators at multiple institutions including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech.

Profound shift

The Perseverance rover, nicknamed Percy, is exploring the floor of Jezero Crater, a large impact crater layered with igneous rocks, which may have been deposited from past volcanic eruptions, as well as sedimentary rocks that likely formed from long-dried-out rivers that fed into the basin.

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Mars was once warm and wet, and theres a possibility there was life there at one time, Weiss says. Its now cold and dry, and something profound must have happened on the planet.

Many scientists, including Weiss, suspect that Mars, like Earth, once harbored a magnetic field that shielded the planet from the suns solar wind. Conditions then may have been favorable for water and life, at least for a time.

Once that magnetic field went away, the suns solar wind this plasma that boils off the sun and moves faster than the speed of sound just slammed into Mars atmosphere and may have removed it over billions of years, Weiss says. We want to know what happened, and why.

The rocks beneath the Martian surface likely hold a record of the planets ancient magnetic field. When rocks first form on a planets surface, the direction of their magnetic minerals is set by the surrounding magnetic field. The orientation of rocks can thus help to retrace the direction and intensity of the planets magnetic field and how it changed over time.

Since the Perseverance rover was collecting samples of bedrock, along with surface soil and air, as part of its exploratory mission, Weiss, who is a member of the rovers science team, and Mansbach looked for ways to determine the original orientation of the rovers bedrock samples as a first step toward reconstructing Mars magnetic history.

It was an amazing opportunity, but initially there was no mission requirement to orient bedrock, Mansbach notes.

Roll with it

Over several months, Mansbach and Weiss met with NASA engineers to hash out a plan for how to estimate the original orientation of each sample of bedrock before it was drilled out of the ground. The problem was a bit like predicting what direction a small circle of sheetcake is pointing, before twisting a round cookie cutter in to pull out a piece. Similarly, to sample bedrock, Perseverance corkscrews a tube-shaped drill into the ground at a perpendicular angle, then pulls the drill directly back out, along with any rock that it penetrates.

To estimate the orientation of the rock before it was drilled out of the ground, the team realized they need to measure three angles, the hade, azimuth, and roll, which are similar to the pitch, yaw, and roll of a boat. The hade is essentially the tilt of the sample, while the azimuth is the absolute direction the sample is pointing relative to true north. The roll refers to how much a sample must turn before returning to its original position.

In talking with engineers at NASA, the MIT geologists found that the three angles they required were related to measurements that the rover takes on its own in the course of its normal operations. They realized that to estimate a samples hade and azimuth they could use the rovers measurements of the drills orientation, as they could assume the tilt of the drill is parallel to any sample that it extracts.

To estimate a samples roll, the team took advantage of one of the rovers onboard cameras, which snaps an image of the surface where the drill is about to sample. They reasoned that they could use any distinguishing features on the surface image to determine how much the sample would have to turn in order to return to its original orientation.

In cases where the surface bore no distinguishing features, the team used the rovers onboard laser to make a mark in the rock, in the shape of the letter L, before drilling out a sample a move that was jokingly referred to at the time as the first graffiti on another planet.

By combining all the rovers positioning, orienting, and imaging data, the team estimated the original orientations of all 20 of the Martian bedrock samples collected so far, with a precision that is comparable to orienting rocks on Earth.

We know the orientations to within 2.7 degrees uncertainty, which is better than what we can do with rocks in the Earth, Mansbach says. Were working with engineers now to automate this orienting process so that it can be done with other samples in the future.

The next phase will be the most exciting, Weiss says. The rover will drive outside the crater to get the oldest known rocks on Mars, and its an incredible opportunity to be able to orient these rocks, and hopefully uncover a lot of these ancient processes.

This research was supported, in part, by NASA and the Mars 2020 Participating Scientist program.

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Study determines the original orientations of rocks drilled on Mars - MIT News

If you suddenly found yourself standing on the surface of Mars, it would feel like youd been transported into a dusty space western. The arid soil lays a rocky palette of red powder across the horizon, where youd see sprawling canyons and old volcanoes with edges whipped sharp by unforgiving wind storms. But, 4.5 billion years ago, this barren wasteland was home to a rich system of groundwater, vast oceans and galloping rivers. And in the the past month, a growing tide of scientific research has begun uncovering a hidden history of Mars once-rushing waters.

Evidence of an ancient planet-wide groundwater system, previously only theorized, was discovered in 2019. But only recently, in early February, a NASA spacecraft brought back exciting images of Mars surface which contained evidence the planet teemed with flowing water across an ancient spread of now-dry lake beds, channels, valleys and gullies. The same week, the European Space Agencys Mars Express discovered ice buried under the equator, hinting at massive groundwater aquifers.

Unlocking the secret of how those aquifers recharge (or refill) is the next step in exploring a possible human future on Mars. Last November, a team of Chinese scientists found a way to create oxygen out of the water found on Mars. Now, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have combined a number of methods from new computer models to simple back-of-the-envelope calculations to uncover something curious about how that ice came to be in the first place. Despite a climate full of surging rainstorms, the scientists said, early Martian soil simply didnt absorb much of it. The groundwater systems refilled themselves, but we have no idea how.

Understanding groundwater flow can help inform where to find water today, said lead study author Eric Hiatt, in a university release. Whether youre looking for signs of ancient life, trying to sustain human explorers, or making rocket fuel to get back home to Earth, its essential to know where the water would most likely be.

"Understanding groundwater flow can help inform where to find water today."

The new findings, published in the journal Icarus, raise even more questions about how water systems work on Mars compared to those which exist on Earth today. And, because these groundwater systems likely fed Mars ancient network of lakes, finding out how long it took those lakes to fill up and overflow onto the surface could help us figure out whether, and where, life on Mars may have existed in the past.

The fact that the groundwater isnt as big of a process could mean that other things are, Hiatt said. It might magnify the importance of runoff, or it could mean that it just didnt rain as much on Mars. But its just fundamentally different from how we think about [water] on Earth.

Much of the groundwater mystery centers on one of Mars most notable features, called the great dichotomy. The term describes the stark difference in land height between two of the planets regions the northern lowlands and the southern highlands. This contrast in elevation is where we can see how groundwater aquifers surged up to the surface, creating markers and leaving a trail of evidence for scientists to follow today.

Researchers said most of the liquid water that existed on Mars billions of years ago resided in a vast ocean in the northern lowlands. But when Hiatts team used their new combination of computer modeling techniques to analyze the great dichotomy, they were able to estimate how much groundwater recharge occurred in the Martian southern highlands.

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The mystery deepened when researchers found the groundwater aquifers in the southern highlands on Mars only recharged about 0.03 millimeters (0.001 inches) per year. The Trinity and Edwards-Trinity Plateau aquifers which provide water for the city of San Antonio range between 2.5 to 50 millimeters (0.1 inches to 2 inches) per year. Thats 80 to 1600 times more annual recharge than Martian groundwater.

While other studies have simulated groundwater flow on Mars using similar techniques, this research by [Hiatt] published in [Icarus] is the first to incorporate the influence of the oceans that existed on Mars more than three billion years ago, in the Hellas, Argyre, and Borealis basins, the university said in a tweet.

Even as the sharp differences between Mars and Earths water systems emerge in the teams latest findings, research like this could also help us understand how to survive water and climate changes on our own planet. The technology were using to find water on Mars now, for instance, can also double in value for our own planets inhabitants. Using it to find leaks in public water systems has already proven to be a more effective and inexpensive than traditional methods.

"When we think about what Mars looked like 3.5 billion years ago, we probably should be thinking about an environment that in some ways looks a lot like Earth," said University of Texas Associate Professor Tim Goudge in a 2021 interview.

Mars atmosphere was thick and wet, with four times more pressure than Earths today and resulting raindrops that were so tiny they looked more like a dense fog and couldnt even penetrate the soil. As that pressure waned, though, rainfall came down hard on the Red Planets surface, carving grooves and valleys. Just as floods on Earth carved out the Grand Canyon, catastrophic floods accounted for a quarter of Mars surface erosion, according to UTA researchers.

Then things changed. Mars lost its magnetic field, and with it the vast oceans which contained more water than contained in the Earths Artic Ocean today. A new theory from the University of Chicago emerged on Feb. 14 after a duo of scientists examined sediment and erosion evidence on Mars and noticed a pattern in the planets history.

Like Earth, which has over the past billion years experienced periods of global glaciations and hyperthermals, the climate history of early Mars may have been intermittent, the study authors write in Nature Geosciences.

We suggest that Mars did not undergo a single wet-to-dry transition, but rather experienced seven major climate transitions, with the planet intermittently under climates warm enough to support surface liquid water even after 3.0billion years ago (Ga). However, there is evidence for long dry spells, with some locations fully dry after 3.6Ga.

The study also looks into the reasons driving these climate shifts testing hypotheses about volcanic eruptions and changes in the planets axial tilt. This new wave of Martian water research is quickly expanding our base of knowledge about alien climates, and understanding how a procession of climate changes could dramatically shape Mars could give us key insight into the challenges Earth may face as it encounters its own climate upheaval.

Critically, though, the more we can figure out about the mystery of Martian water, the sooner we can figure out how human life on a new planet could work and how, if ever, it worked in the past.

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The secret history of water on Mars: What ancient climate change tells us about the future on Earth - Salon