Category Archives: Mars

A Mars game coming to PC in 2024 will get a big boost from a planetary scientist.

Konstantin Batygin, who is best known for his search for the mysterious Planet Nine that may be far out in the solar system, will join the team behind "Mars Horizon 2," an upcoming game that has players search for fictional Red Planet life.

Batygin, a California Institute of Technology planetary scientist, has pledged to help the gaming team with Mars mission design and fact-checking the research, developer Auroch Digital and publisher Secret Mode wrote in a release (opens in new tab).

"His invaluable knowledge and expertise will ensure that'Mars Horizon 2'is as authentic as possible, accurately portraying space exploration and extrapolation beyond present day as the search for life in the universe continues," the statement added. For his own part, Batygin retweeted the announcement (opens in new tab) Thursday (May 11) from the official Mars Horizon 2 Twitter account.

Related: Hunt for alien biosignatures in 'Mars Horizon 2: The Search for Life' on PC

Mars Horizon 2 is the successor to the "space race"-like Mars Horizon, which released in 2020. The original game allowed players to design virtual rocket programs based on real-life space hardware from NASA, the European Space Agency and other worldwide space groups.

Of the successor game, the developers wrote on March 7, players will "race to make discoveries ahead of rival agencies, using established scientific methodology in tandem with modern and near-future technologies to seek, recover, and analyze alien biosignatures."

Both Mars Horizon games are somewhat similar to the popular Kerbal Space Program (KSP) series; KSP 2 released on Feb. 24 and is still delivering early access updates for players. Kerbal also has players managing space programs, but focuses a little more on real-life physics. The Mars Horizon games hone in on Mission Control elements like managing staff, building facilities or making difficult decisions when missions face issues in space.

Real-life space agencies also have numerous Mars missions on the go in the quest to find ancient life on its surface. For example, NASA and the European Space Agency are engaging in a sample return campaign aiming to bring Red Planet rocks to Earth as soon as 2033.

The Perseverance rover has already collected and stored 10 twin samples of material, one set on the surface of the Red Planet and one inside its belly. The mission design, still being reviewed, for now suggests that Perseverance may deliver the samples to a spacecraft that will relay the material back to our planet. If the rover is disabled, two fresh fetch helicopters would do the planetary deliveries themselves.

Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of "Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?" (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book about space medicine. Follow her on Twitter@howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter@Spacedotcom (opens in new tab)orFacebook (opens in new tab).

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'Mars Horizon 2' lets players search for Red Planet life with real ... - Space.com

This gullied crater in the Tempe Terra region of Mars was captured using the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The small crater shows evidence of possible water gullies, reminiscent of channels carved by flowing water.

This suggests that liquid water may have flowed across the Martian surface in the past, potentially creating habitable environments for microbial life.

In addition to the water gullies, Tempe Terra shows evidence of potential glacial features known as eskers. Eskers are sinuous ridges formed by glacial activity, typically found on Earth.

While the presence of Liquid water, a fundamental requirement for life as we know it, has been confirmed by various missions, it is unclear how long ago it may have flowed on the Martian surface.

These findings by NASA's HiRISE fuel speculation about the planet's past habitability and the potential for future exploration.

HiRISE is flying onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars since 2006. The powerful camera, designed to capture high-resolution, detailed images of the Martian surface, is a vital tool in unravelling the mysteries of Mars and paving the way for future exploration missions to the Red Planet.

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This mall crater on Mars shows evidence of possible water gullies - Devdiscourse

SBM Offshore has contracted Modern American Recycling Services Europe (MARS) to greenly recycle its retiring Capixaba floating production, storage and offloading vessel that is coming to the end of its working life.

The Capixaba FPSO is currently deployed in a water depth of 1350 metres on Petrobras Cachalote field in the Campos basin offshore Brazil. MARS workscope includes the engineering, preparation, dismantling and green recycling of the 362-metre floater has a light displacement tonnage of 54,656 tonnes.

The Capixaba FPSO is expected to arrive at MARS yard in the Port of Frederikshavn in Denmark at the end of 2023 or in early 2024.

"We are glad that SBM Offshore has chosen to retire and green recycle [the] FPSO Capixaba at our EU approved green recycling facility in the Port of Frederikshavn, compliant with all local, national and international rules and regulations," said MARS.

Located in Frederikshavn in northern Denmark, near the North Sea, the contractor hails its MARS Europe facility as the only purpose built site that includes a draining system under a surface of granular material of well compacted crushed rock, to ensure no harm to groundwater.

Our waste segregation system ensures a recycling percentage well above 90% and provides an effective and environmentally friendly recycling process. Our water filtration system with channels throughout the yard ensures that all water being released to the port basin is cleaned, states MARS website.

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End of life FPSO to land on MARS - Upstream Online

By India Today Science Desk: Mars is known not just for its characteristic reddish glow, but also for its vicious volcanoes that were once active in the planet's ancient past. Europe's Mars Express has now peered on one such structure that is taller than Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth.

The probe operated above Mars by the European Space Agency (ESA) has imaged the pitted, fissured flank of the planets second-tallest volcano, named Ascraeus Mons, using its High-Resolution Stereo Camera.This image from ESAs Mars Express shows the southern flanks of Ascraeus Mons, the second-tallest volcano on Mars. (Photo: ESA)

Ascraeus Mons stands tall with a towering height of 18 kilometers, but its slopes are gentle, with an average incline of seven degrees. It is the northernmost and tallest of three prominent volcanoes found in the Tharsis region of Mars, which is a volcanic plateau in the western hemisphere of the Red Planet.

Also Read | Mini-Neptune covered in mysterious haze seen by James Webb telescope

While it is 18 kilometers in height, the volcano has a huge base diameter of 480 kilometers, which gives it a footprint roughly the size of Romania on Earth. Ascraeus is only surpassed by Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano not only on Mars but in the entire Solar System.Several key features are labelled across the frame, including lava flows, chains of craters, channel-like rilles seen on Mars. (Photo: ESA)

The image beamed back by the Mars Express shows the lower southern flank of the volcano and astronomers noticed a dramatic difference in elevation from one side to the other, with the left side of the frame sitting about 10 km lower than the right side.

The probe observed the chasms of the volcano that encompasses an enormous patch of collapsed terrain over 70 km across. The structures reveal lava flows and tubes, chains of craters, channel-like rilles, and large fissures spanning tens of km in length. "These features knit together to form a scene resembling trails of ink dispersing artfully in water," ESA said in a statement.This image shows the region surrounding the martian volcanoes Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons and Arsia Mons. (Photo: ESA)

The spacecraft also observed numerous wrinkled lava flows chains of pit craters, features where strings of circular or near-circular depressions have combined and coalesced to form troughs. Geologists believe that these chains and troughs form where hidden voids lie below the surface, causing the ground to become unstable and collapse a bit like a sinkhole.

Also Read | Largest explosion with brightness two trillion times than our Sun seen in deep space

"It is still unclear how these structures formed, but their creation may involve flows of lava, ash, or water or a combination of the three," ESA added.

The Mars Express has been orbiting the Red Planet since 2003, imaging the surface, mapping minerals, identifying the composition and circulation of the tenuous atmosphere, and probing beneath Red Planet's crust.

Also Read | Evidence of raging wild river found on Mars by Perseverance rover

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Looking into 2nd highest volcano on Mars that is taller than Mount ... - India Today

The post David Bowies Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture Returning to Theaters appeared first on Consequence.

Exactly 50 years to the date of David Bowies final performance as Ziggy Stardust, digitally restored footage of the performance will be shown at the very venue where it happened. On July 3rd, 2023, Londons Eventim Apollo Hammersmith will host a screening of the 1979 concert film Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture, now restored in 4K.

Known as the Odeon back in 1973, the Eventim Appolo Hammersmith will roll out the red carpet to commemorate Ziggy Stardusts legacy, welcoming a fleet of some of his frequent collaborators and musical successors for an on-stage panel ahead of the screening.

The restoration of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars: The Motion Picture also contains famed guitarist Jeff Becks performance scenes, which were cut from its original iteration. Shot by filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker (Monterey Pop, Bob Dylan Dont Look Back, Depeche Mode 101), the new version complete with 5.1 sound revitalized stellar onstage antics along with candid backstage moments of Bowie and The Spiders from Mars, plus a guest appearance from Ringo Starr.

In addition to the Eventim Appolo screening, simultaneous one-night-only screenings of the Q&A and the film will also go down on July 3rd in cinemas in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, and Australia. Screenings in Canada, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary will take place throughout July, while additional screenings will be announced in the US, Latin America, Asia, France, Spain, Belgium, and Scandinavia.

Ticket information and additional details can be found on Bowies website. See a trailer for the restoration below.

If you cant make it to the theater, you can watch Brett Morgens 2022 Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream, which is now streaming on HBO Max.

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David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars: The ... - Yahoo Entertainment

SPENCER The Le Mars Community boys tennis team competed in the Class 1A substate tournament on Friday.

The team opened up against Missouri River Activities Conference rival Bishop Heelan. The Bulldogs were the No. 4 seed in the bracket while the Crusaders were the No. 5 seed.

Le Mars won the regular season meeting by a 7-2 score which featured four singles wins. The Bulldogs did even better this time around, winning five of the six singles matches in order to clinch the win to advance.

Michael Meis won at No. 1 by a 6-2, 6-0 score over Luka Ernesti. The No. 2 match was by the same scores in the other order as Evan Pratt beat Brady Schultz.

No. 4 singles went to Ian Penne by a 6-1, 6-2 score over Jack Bousquet.

The bottom two singles matches went to three sets. Jacob McGill won at No. 5 over Ikey Scott by a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 score. Devin DeVall claimed No. 6 by a 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 score.

The only loss was at No. 3 as Caden Wurth fell to Jason Breen 6-2, 7-5.

The Bulldogs advanced to play top-seeded an No. 4 ranked Spencer in the next round. The Tigers won their first round contest 5-0 over Cherokee.

When Le Mars and Spencer met in non-conference action earlier in the season the Tigers won by a 9-0 score. It was a similar outcome this time around with the Tigers clinching all of the singles wins necessary to advance.

At No. 1, Sam Feldmann won a close 7-6 (7-5) tiebreaker in the first set over Michael Meis before winning 6-2 in the second set.

Owen Kierscht won by identical 6-1 set scores against Evan Pratt at No. 2.

The Tigers took No. 3 by a 6-3, 6-1 score as Riley DeWitt defeated Caden Wurth.

In the No. 4 matchup, Parker Bergstadt beat Ian Penne 6-1, 6-1.

At No. 6, Gavin Honkomp defeated Devin DeVall 6-4, 6-0.

The only set win for the Bulldogs came at No. 5 as Jacob McGill picked off the second set by a 6-3 score over Quinn Baker. The other set was a 6-1 win for Baker and he led the tiebreaker set before the Tigers clinched the victory with their fifth singles win.

Le Mars finishes 10-4 in dual competition.

Spencer advances to play Spirit Lake in Wednesdays substate final.

On Saturday, the Le Mars girls lost 5-1 to Estherville-Lincoln Central in the first round of their Class 1A regional bracket, ending their season winless in dual action. Individual results for that contest were unavailable.

The Midgets went on to lost 5-2 to Cherokee in the next round. The Braves advanced to play No. 4 ranked Spirit Lake in the next round.

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Le Mars tennis teams bow out of bracket - nwestiowa.com

Today is not the end; just the end of classes for a while. With those words, keynote speaker Doug Buchanan encouraged the Mars Hill University class of 2023 to keep alive their love of learning in order to better prepare them for a productive future of work and service. In total, the university conferred degrees on 159 graduates during its spring commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 6, 2023.

Seventeen graduates received masters degrees, in criminal justice or management. Undergraduate degrees presented were the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and Bachelor of Social Work. The bachelors degrees were spread across many of the universitys 35 majors and included the first graduate to earn one of the newest majors: interdisciplinary studies.

President Tony Floyd made a special presentation to the family of Json Pitts, who died in a car crash in 2021 during his sophomore year and who would have been part of the class of 2023.

The nine Bachelor of Science in Nursing Students also were honored on Friday during a pinning and lamp-lighting ceremony to mark their passage from the student role to the medical practice role.

Piper Elizabeth Alexander, a social work major from Andrews, North Carolina, gave the invocation to begin the ceremony. Margaret Marie Crisp, a psychology major from Weaverville, North Carolina, was the student speaker representing the Adult and Graduate Studies students. Nursing major Allie Grace Jones, from Leicester, North Carolina, was the student speaker representing the traditional undergraduate students.

Special music was performed by a sextet of graduates receiving their Bachelor of Music degrees: Christian Andrew Kraemer of Hendersonville, North Carolina; Julia V. Pearson of Hollister, California; Tyler Raymond Reese of Cornelius, North Carolina; Hannah Rose Shoaf of Salisbury, North Carolina; Abigail Elizabeth Wilson of Candler, North Carolina; and Isaac Heath Woodlee of Fairview, North Carolina.

Keynote speaker Doug Buchanan is chair of the universitys board of trustees. He is a graduate of the Mars Hill class of 1988 and the first graduate of the universitys Continuing Education Program (a forerunner of the current Adult and Graduate Studies)-as well as first enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians-to serve as trustee chair. He is a retired vice president of Schneider Electric. In his words to the graduates, he focused on the positive benefits of higher education and cautioned them not to listen to naysayers who downplay the educational and economic value of a college degree. Today is actually the next step in a lifetime of learning. If youre receiving your bachelors [degree] today, go for your masters. If youre receiving your masters today, go for your doctorate. You will not regret it.

Additional photos at https://photos.app.goo.gl/RbpRa5wh6Y7x4FBLA.

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Mars Hill University Confers Degrees on 159 Spring Graduates - WKYK

Set in both 1973 and the early 2000s, Steeltown Murders centres on the hunt to catch the killer of three young women in the Port Talbot area and the remarkable story of how - in the first case of its kind - the mystery was solved almost 30 years later using pioneering DNA evidence.

The drama has been written by Ed Whitmore, who's already brought us real-life crime dramas - Manhunt with Martin Clunes and Rillington Place - and is made by Severn Screen, the company behind The Pembrokeshire Murders and Hidden/Craith.

You'll recognise so many faces in this series, which runs for four episodes, including Philip Glenister, Steffan Rhodri, Stella's Karen Paullada, Pembrokeshire Murders' Oliver Ryan and Keith Allen and original Broadchurch murderer, Matthew Gravelle.

The drama also introduces (relative) newcomers Calista Davies and Jade Croot as the two girls whose tragic murders viewers will see took decades to solve.

And you'll find loads more information about the drama, including the real-life story behind it, how they made it and how the stars approached their real-life characters, here.

Read more: All the massive TV shows made in Wales

The drama starts on Monday, May 15 at 9pm and all episodes will stream on iPlayer after the first episode has aired. For the latest TV and showbiz news sign up to our newsletter here.

Here's your essential guide to the main cast:

Playing another copper, Philip Glenister is front and centre in Steeltown Murders as DCI Bethell, the man whose determination finally gets the cases solved. Philip, whose family lives down the Mumbles in Swansea, is synonymous with his epic portrayal of DI Gene Hunt from Life on Mars, opposite John Simm. Although part of Steeltown Murders is set in the 1970s, Philip isn't involved in those scenes and his detective in it, couldn't be further from the un-PC Gene Hunt.

Phil also starred in Life on Mars spin-off Ashes to Ashes, Vanity Fair, State of Play, Mad Dogs, Big School and Outcast.

A Welsh actor who doesn't need much introduction with a long career on Welsh TV including Belonging, Keeping Faith, Yr Amgueddfa, Hinterland, Stella and roles in Last Kingdom, House of the Dragon and Wonder Woman, Swansea's Steffan is irreplaceable as Dave Coaches in Gavin & Stacey. Read more with Steffan in our big interview with the star, here.

With parts in Amazon's Good Omens, movie Borg McEnroe, Llangnnech-born actor Scott plays the younger version of Philip Glenister's character. Scott has also provided voices in several video games, including Elden Ring.

The co-lead (with Sian Reese) in BBC's Hidden/Craith, Sion has also been in Netflix's The Sandman, BBC's Requiem and Welsh horror, The Feast.

Merthyr's Richard is another Welsh actor with a long-standing career on TV, one of his biggest roles being DCI Tom Mathias in Hinterland. But he's also been seen in Poldark, Death in Paradise, The Crown, Gangs of London and in the recent big screen sequel, Fisherman's Friends: One and All. In Steeltown he's Colin Dark, who studies the DNA that finally solves the murders.

The Stella star is unrecognisable from her role as perma-tanned Nadine on Ruth Jones' Sky dramedy and in Steeltown she is the no-nonsense DS who pulls in Paul Bethell to try and solve the cold cases.

Here's the list of the full cast of Steeltown Murders

Nia Roberts - Karina Bethell (2002)

Elinor Crawley - Karina Bethell (1973)

Gareth John Bale - DC Geraint Bale

Priyanga Burford - Sita Anwar (2002)

Sharon Morgan - Pat Williams (2002)

Keith Allen - Dai Williams (2002)

Rhys Rusbatch - Dai Williams (1973)

Natasha Vasandani - Sita Anwar (1973)

Calista Davies - Geraldine Hughes

Jade Croot - Pauline Floyd

Kriss Dosanjh - Rohan Anwar

Mathew Gravelle - Seb

Richard Corgan - DS Chris Lewis

Oliver Ryan - DS Ray Allen

Dyfan Dywfor - DS Vic Jenkins

Steve Nicolson - DI Tony Warren

Aneurin Barnard - Joseph Kappen

William Thomas - Denver Hughes

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BBC Steeltown Murders: Full cast list as stars of Life on Mars and Gavin & Stacey lead real-life drama - Wales Online

NASA's car-sized Perseverance rover parachuted down to a region of Mars called the Jezero Crater, a place planetary scientists suspect once teemed with water. Now, two years later, the space agency's scientists may have spotted evidence of a once "rollicking river."

The telltale formation, shown in the image below, shows curving rocks which indicates past vigorous water flow made of larger, coarse sediments.

"Those indicate a high-energy river thats truckin and carrying a lot of debris. The more powerful the flow of water, the more easily its able to move larger pieces of material," Libby Ives, a researcher at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement(opens in a new tab). "Its been a delight to look at rocks on another planet and see processes that are so familiar," Ives added.

Scientists previously saw these curved shapes from space. The six-wheeled Perseverance rover a laser-zapping laboratory on wheels allowed them to look much closer.

Curved rock formations indicating evidence of vigorous past river flow on Mars.Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS

The mosaic picture shows a Martian area composed of 203 images joined together. The curves might be from a shifting river bank, or perhaps sandbars whittled down by billions of years of wind-driven sand-blasting. A question that looms large is what this powerful waterway was like back when Mars was a warmer, bluer planet.

"Scientists are now debating what kind of powerfully flowing water formed those curves: a river like the Mississippi, which winds snakelike across the landscape, or a braided river like Nebraskas Platte, which forms small islands of sediment called sandbars," NASA wrote.

Generally, there's clear evidence, etched into the Mars desert, of a past, water-rich world. This includes dried-up lakes(opens in a new tab), dried streams, and even ancient waves.

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Yet there remains zero evidence of Martian life. Indeed, NASA's rovers have detected organic materials on Mars, which essentially means molecules like carbon that can compose life as we know it, but there's nothing suggesting primitive microbes ever lived on the surface (though the subsurface remains unexplored).

A primary mission of the Perseverance rover is to seek out hints of life, if it ever existed, however difficult the task might be. A good place to look is in an area that once harbored water and perhaps a deep, vigorous river.

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NASA rover just found evidence of a once roaring river on Mars - Mashable

Enlarge / Orbital image of the Utopia Planitia region of Mars.

Most of Mars appears to be an endless expanse of alien desert, without a river or lake in sight. However, liquid water definitely existed in the planets distant past. A new paper has also suggested that it's also possible small quantities of water still might exist in places that otherwise appear barren.

Before Chinas Zhurong (also known as Phoenix) rover went into hibernation mode last May, researchers from the National Astronomical Observatories and the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences discovered something unexpected. Zhurong was exploring the Utopia Planitia region, which is near the planets equator. No liquid water was thought to exist at those latitudes. Yet when the rover beamed back data from its Multispectral Camera (MSCam), Navigation and Terrain Camera (NaTeCam), and Mars Surface Composition Detector (MarSCoDe), there was possible evidence for liquid water having been present less than half a million years ago.

[Our findings] suggest [features] associated with the activity of saline water, indicating the existence of water process on the low-latitude region of Mars, the researchers said in a study recently published in Science Advances.

Zhurong is part of Chinas Tianwen-1 Mars mission, which has helped expand our understanding of the environment on Mars. But evidence suggesting there was recently (at least in geological terms) liquid water is unexpected. Because Mars has lost most of its atmosphere and is exposed to intense radiation and solar wind, it was previously thought that water could not exist as a liquid there. Any that did form should quickly freeze or evaporate due to the extremely low pressure and a lack of water vapor.

It is especially dry at the lower latitudes where there are no glaciers, but Zhurong found features on dune surfaces that made the researchers, led by geologist Xiaoguang Qin, suspicious. These include cracks and crusts that must have been left behind when liquid water evaporated from the reddish soil. Further investigation revealed that the surfaces of these dunes were hiding hydrated silica and sulfates, minerals that contain water molecules, along with certain iron oxides and what seem to be chlorides.

Both the presence of these substances and the surface features observed by Zhurong most likely indicate that frost or snow had once fallen, melted, and seeped into the upper layer of the soil. It formed a brine after interacting with salt in the dunes and formed something of a cement when combined with grains of sand. These cements become crusts after they evaporate.

But if there really was water at the lower latitudes no more than 1.4 million and as little as 400,000 years ago, how did it get there?

Mars has gone through different epochs just like Earth. Its Amazonian period began some 2.9 billion years ago and extends to the present. After the transition from the Hesperian to the Amazonian period, Mars was no longer barraged by asteroids, while volcanic activity (some of which was triggered by those collisions) dropped considerably. Although most of its atmosphere had vanished by then, and the climate was drying out, there were still warm and humid periods.

Qin and his team think it was during these periods that water vapor from the frozen poles would spread to the warmer equator. This vapor would solidify into snow or frost during cooler weather and fall to the ground. It would then melt and evaporate when temperatures rose, leaving salty crusts behind.

This discovery could have implications for past or present habitability on Mars. As the climate evolved, so did the planets potential for hosting life (though whether it ever did remains a mystery). Future rovers may search for signs of life in areas that were overlooked before, especially where there are crusts, cracks, and depressions that might be telltale signs of water once having been present.

As saline water once existed at various latitudes on the surface of Mars, the researchers said, priority should be given to salt-tolerant microbes in future missions searching for extant life on Mars.

Science Advances, 2023. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add886 (About DOIs).

Elizabeth Rayne is a creature who writes. Her work has appeared on SYFY WIRE, Space.com, Live Science, Grunge, Den of Geek, and Forbidden Futures. When not writing, she is either shapeshifting, drawing, or cosplaying as a character nobody ever heard of. Follow her on Twitter @quothravenrayne.

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Chinese Mars rover sends back images of recent water-shaped crusts - Ars Technica