Category Archives: Mars

Humanity has been wondering about whether life exists beyond our little backwater planet for so long that weve developed a kind of cultural bias as to how the answer to this central question will be revealed. Most of us probably imagine that NASA or some other space agency will schedule a press conference, an assembled panel of scientific luminaries will announce the findings, and newspapers around the world will blare WE ARE NOT ALONE! headlines. Weve all seen that movie before, so thats the way it has to be, right?

Probably not. Short of an improbable event like an alien spacecraft landing while a Google Street View car was driving by or receiving an unambiguously intelligent radio message from the stars, the conclusion that life exists now or once did outside our particular gravity well is likely to be reached in a piecewise process, an accretion of evidence built up over a long time until on balance, the only reasonable conclusion is that we are not alone. And thats exactly what the announcement at the end of last year that the Mars rover Perseverance had discovered evidence of organic molecules in the rocks of Jezero crater was another piece of the puzzle, and another step toward answering the fundamental question of the uniqueness of life.

Discovering organic molecules on Mars is far from proof that life once existed there. But its a step on the way, as well as a great excuse to look into the scientific principles and engineering of the instruments that made this discovery possible the whimsically named SHERLOC and WATSON.

Defining what exactly constitutes biological life is difficult, and there are plenty of philosophical arguments that muddy the waters even when you reduce life to characteristics such as the transformation of energy or the ability to reproduce. But at the end of the day, such macroscale characteristics dont help much when looking for microscopic life on other planets especially when you suspect that youre just looking for the remains of ancient microbial life, as is likely the case on Mars.

To explore the possibility that Mars once harbored life, the Mars 2020 missions Perseverance rover science payload includes a range of instruments designed to search for the smallest remains of past life. Chief among these instruments is SHERLOC, for Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals a somewhat forced but impressively descriptive acronym.

At the heart of SHERLOC, which rides at the end of the rovers two-meter robotic arm, is an ultraviolet laser Raman spectrometer, designed to identify the specific signatures of the so-called CHNOPS elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur. Something like 98% of the biomass on Earth is composed of these six elements; finding them on Mars will be pretty good evidence that life once existed there. But simply finding the CHNOPS elements doesnt make a sample biologically relevant. Its how those elements are organized and the structures they form that determine whether a sample might have the remains of ancient life, and figuring that out is what Raman spectroscopy is really good at.

Raman spectroscopy takes advantage of whats known as inelastic scattering, or Raman scattering. Normally, electromagnetic waves interact with particles of matter by elastic, or Rayleigh, scattering. When incoming photons interact with molecules, they excite them from the ground state to a higher-energy virtual state. In Rayleigh scattering, the excited state quickly collapses and the particle returns to the ground state without any loss of the kinetic energy the incident photon had. Its like a moving billiard ball that transfers all its kinetic energy into a motionless ball, which then goes on to move while the first ball stops dead.

But about one out of every 100 million scatterings results in dropping from the excited virtual state to a state different from where the molecule started. To stretch the earlier analogy, this would be like the moving billiard ball hitting a motionless ball with a crack in it. The cracked ball would still absorb the energy of the incoming ball, but the crack would attenuate some of it, sending the ball off at a different speed than the incoming ball, and perhaps even in a different direction than would occur in a purely elastic collision.

Just as the difference in speed and direction could reveal information about the characteristics of the cracked ball, so too can Raman scattering be used to probe the structure of a molecule. The difference in energy between the incident photons and the scattered photons depends on the vibrational and rotation states of the chemical bonds within the molecule. This results in a population of photons with different wavelengths that represent the different chemical bonds within a molecule. When spread out onto a detector with a diffraction grating, these photons create a fingerprint thats characteristic of the molecules in the sample.

While Raman has been used for decades on Earth to analyze all sorts of chemical samples, SHERLOC is the first time the technique has been used on another world. And as youd imagine, it takes some special engineering to package up all the optics and electronics and make it not only robust enough to survive the rigors of space travel, but also to operate autonomously.

To accomplish all this, SHERLOC is divided into two major assemblies: the SHERLOC Body Assembly (SBA) and the SHERLOC Turret Assembly (STA). The STB is where all the command and data handling circuits are located, and where the power supply lives. The STA is the business end of SHERLOC, and lives at the end of Perseverances robotic arm. The heart of the STA is the deep-UV (DUV) laser, a heavily modified off-the-shelf neon-copper metal-vapor laser. It provides a highly stable 248.60 nm pulse and is expected to last long enough to deliver 3 million spectra, which is about seven times the design life of the rover.

As with any Raman spectroscope, the optics of SHERLOC are a complicated set of lenses, mirrors, beam splitters, and filters. Unlike most of its Earth-bound cousins, though, SHERLOC has to handle the S in its name: scanning. Rather than rely on fine control of the robotic arm to position its beam, SHERLOC has a scanner subsystem thats quite similar to the galvanometers used for beam steering in laser shows. The scanner gives SHERLOC control of the beam over a 7 mm x 7 mm sample area with a step size of less than a micron in both dimensions, allowing it to gather data from the smallest of features without having to rely on robot arm moves.

Another way in which SHERLOC differs from other Raman instruments is in the need to correlate spectra with spatial information about a sample. Its not enough to get the spectral fingerprint of a particular section of a sample; rather, SHERLOC must also determine the context of what that exact spot on the sample looks like in visible light. To accomplish this, SHERLOC requires the help of two cameras: the Autofocus and Context Imager (ACI), a high-resolution grayscale camera that shares the optical path of the Raman spectroscope, and WATSON, the Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering camera. WATSON is a separate, full-color, high-resolution camera with a macro capability down to 1.78 cm focal length. WATSON and the ACI together are basically the equivalent of a geologists hand lens, allowing SHERLOC to overlay visible light images with Raman data over a wide range of operating distances.

Finally, SHERLOCs Raman spectroscope is designed to survive the long trip to Mars, the high-energy landing, and the harsh conditions of the cold, dusty world. While the SBA is nestled safely inside the hull of Perseverance, the STA has to be exposed to the elements to do its job. SHERLOC is mounted on a hexapod arrangement of spring-loaded struts that dampen vibrations encountered both during spaceflight and rover operations. The STA is also equipped with a complex thermal management system, including survival heating elements that keep the electronics and optics warm enough to survive the worst-case Martian cold.

While most of the publics attention to the Mars 2020 mission so far has understandably been drawn to the wildly successful Ingenuity helicopter, SHERLOC has been busily gathering data pretty much non-stop since Perseverance arrived on Mars back in March of 2021. The confirmation of organics in Jezero crater came from a series of samples analyzed back in September of 2021, and one rock in particular, which was dubbed Garde. The rovers arm-mounted tool assembly was used to grind away some of the weathered rock before SHERLOC was swung into place to analyze the sample.

Thanks to the power of SHERLOC and its ability to overlay visible light images with Raman data, planetary scientists were able to determine that Garde contains both olivine minerals, which indicate an igneous history, and carbonate minerals, which suggest a past period of water reacting with the rock. This is consistent with what we already know about the Jezero crater and the river delta that once flowed into it. Finding organic materials in a rock with that kind of geological history is a tantalizing bit of data, and may someday prove to be part of the evidence that life once teemed on Mars.

Read more from the original source:

SHERLOC And The Search For Life On Mars - Hackaday

Veronica Mars is an American telly series that falls under mystery, drama, neo-noir, and is all about teenagers. The series has been produced by Joel Silver, Rob Thomas, Diane Ruggiero, Jennifer Gwartz, Danielle Stokdyk, and Kristen Bell. Since the four seasons, many production companies have been associated with its fabrication like Stu Segall Productions, Silver Pictures Television since season 1 to 3, Rob Thomas Productions from season 1 to 3, Spondoolie Productions in Season 4, and Warner Bros. Television.

The series aired on 22 September 2004 and continued until 19 July 2019. The series revolves chiefly around Veronica Mars.

This series has a lot of genres that are hard to miss. From action to drama or mystery, you will get all here. Each season has different storylines, and each episode is always fresh and brilliantly structured. Veronica has faced a lot of struggles since her childhood, and when she got happiness in the end, little did she know that it would last for a few hours.

Every fan can relate with the protagonist, which is why this series has been highly praised, making it worth streaming. Read the article and decide whether it deserves watching or not.

Veronica loses her best friend Lily in the first season, and it seems complicated to accept the truth. Her family also struggles a lot as her father lost his job, and her mother abandons them. He also falls victim consumes drugs without knowledge and goes through physical assault.

There were two significant incidents upon which the entire season was built in the following season. First, several people lost their lives when a bus comprised of students from Neptune High falls from a cliff killing almost everyone, and Veronica takes charge of knowing the truth behind it. Logan Echolls, on the other hand, is said to have killed a biker after he conflicts with Eli Weevil Navarro.

In the third season, Veronica is depicted as a student of Hearst College and is also an investigator. The story portrays Parker Lee as another rape victim, and Veronica is all set to find out the culprits behind this. This season had a lot of variety and thus got both praised and ridiculed.

The fourth season Depicted Veronica and her father working as investigators in Neptune, California. Logan Echolls approach Veronica to marry him, but she rejects him. A bombing happens, inviting investigation about it from then onwards. A lot of ups and downs happen in Veronicas life, but she seems happy after getting married to Logan, who eventually gets killed in a bombing accident as well.

The ending of the 4th season was quite surprising as well as depressing since no one knew that Veronica was going to face the deepest pain in Logans death. There is plenty of room for the 5th season to occur since fans believe Veronica deserves a happy ending but as of now, be sure that there is no news of the 5th season. We have to wait until we get any official news, so stick with us until then.

The rest is here:

Veronica Mars (Season 1-4): Should You Stream It Or Skip It? What Our Critic Has To Say? - Gizmo Story

Pete Williamson is one of the UKs leading freelance astronomers

As it settled on Mars seven months later, and began its explorations of the Red Planet, the name of Whittington was buried deep in one of its microchips. The villages name is still there now as Perseverance scuttles around, drills into rocks, gets blasted by tornadoes of dust and continues to seek Martian life.

The man responsible for Whittingtons presence 30 million miles from Earth is Pete Williamson, who has lived in Shropshire for the past 32 years. Pete responded to NASAs open invitation to personalise the Mars probe with reminders of home, adding the name of his north-west Shropshire village as a way of getting fellow residents energised by his passion for space.

I was sitting at home, and I thought, Im sitting here doing what Im doing but nobody round here really knows what I do, Pete says.

"I thought Id get the village involved. I put a post up [on the Nextdoor social network] that the village had gone to Mars and away it went. The village is interested now, and I like to see the fact that were on Mars.

When Pete, aged 65, is doing what hes doing, he is one of the UKs leading freelance astronomers, regularly in contact with major space agencies across the world. He works mostly for Cardiff University, accessing data sent from Perseverance to NASAs labs and processing spectacular images captured by the probe.

His photographic posts on Nextdoor, which he titles 'Whittington on Mars' or 'Whittington in Space', are greeted with reliable awe from a dedicated following. Some photos depict breathtaking rock formations and craters; dramatic and barren landscapes. Others show dazzling nightscapes and incredible nebulae captured above familiar landmarks in Shropshire or North Wales.

One Nextdoor commenter wrote: I might not have got to be an astronaut but you have made me a very happy earthbound person.

Its all in a days work for Pete, who is both a researcher and an educator on everything related to space, and a talented photographer.

Before Covid intervened, he used to give more than 200 talks a year to schools and associations, either introducing the world of astronomy to young students, or relaying the latest developments to captivated crowds. He presents a programme about astronomy on BBC Radio Shropshire, manages an astronomy-themed radio station from his home and organises, with his daughter Sarah, the Solarsphere Astronomical & Music Festival, in Builth Wells.

He has remote access to telescopes located across the globe South Africa, Australia, Hawaii with which he can peer across our galaxy and beyond. He is a true space explorer, without ever leaving the Whittington home that he shares with his wife Sybil.

Its a very surreal job, he says. One minute I am working with data live from the surface of Mars, the next wandering round an ancient castle for a break. Or at night you log on and you're looking on Mars. You can see the surface. Then you step outside, look up, and see that little dot and think I've been working on there.

Pete first fell in love with astronomy as a 12-year-old and built himself his first crude telescope a year later. Although a career in music meant he could pursue astronomy only as a hobby for much of his adult life he was in several successful bands an injury to tendons in his left arm meant he could no longer play bass guitar. Musics loss became astronomys gain.

By that point, he had moved to Whittington and founded what became the Shropshire Astronomical Society, with help from Sir Patrick Moore. He had also created an early astronomy bulletin board, with Queens Brian May among the first subscribers. Pete is still in touch with May, who is a keen astronomer, but its not Petes only brush with celebrity. He also became friends with Neil Armstrong, a hero to all stargazers.

I was 13 when they landed on the moon, Pete says. We look at the pictures now and theyre hazy and blurred and you can hardly see anything. But at the time it was Wow! Thats the moon! Hes on the moon!

Pete says the wow factor is crucial to get young people involved in science, and space offers hundreds of fantastic facts and staggering stats. He demonstrates one on the table in the Whittington Castle tea room, where we meet. Placing one finger next to another, he says: If I put the Earth there and Pluto there where would the nearest star be apart from the sun? I tell him I dont know.

New York.That's the scale we're talking.

He says he loves watching young people discover space for the first time.

When I first go into schools, or if I've got kids at a telescope, I show them the moon, Pete says.

You can't miss it. But to see it through a telescope they look at it and they see craters and mountains.They realise its real, it's here. And then maybe Saturn with its rings around it.

Like many astronomers, Pete is tormented more than anything these days by light pollution and talks with dismay about the proliferation of residential security lights, plus intrusive street lighting, whose ambient glow makes stargazing much more difficult.

When we first moved here 30-odd years ago, it was very rural, he says.

Youd go and stand in the garden and youd never see a light. But now you just step in the garden and its like living in the middle of a city.

He has campaigned to the council to install lights from which there is less leakage, but says he hasnt gained much traction. He also points out that its not just astronomers whose lives are adversely affected by the lights.

If youve got something lit up all the time, the wildlife doesnt know if its night or day and tends to stay away, Pete says.

It affects the ecology. Those animals move out of the area and other animals will move in. It changes things.

Pete is officially retiring this year but shows few signs of giving up any of his numerous roles. After an enforced two-year break, tickets are selling fast for the 2022 Solarsphere Festival, while Pete is lining up more guests for the radio and arranging new talks and lectures for recent space converts.

And Pete himself remains as fascinated by everything as ever.

Its Harry Potter stuff, he says. To be able to operate all this stuff remotely, as far as Mars, or going round Jupiter. When I was a kid, did I ever imagine Id be able to do that? No. We hadnt even been into space.

"Its a surreal experience. I never undervalue what Im doing.

Learn the night sky - where and when different constellations are up

Decide whether you need a telescope. Pete recommends binoculars to start with.

Join an astronomy club and test their telescopes

Decide what you want to look at and learn which telescope is best

Assess your surroundings and tailor your stargazing to your rural or city setting

Dark Sky Discovery Sites, Carding Mill

Alwyn Reservoir, Corwen, North Wales

Horseshoe Pass, outside Llangollen

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Meet the astronomer who sent a little bit of Shropshire to Mars - shropshirestar.com

The dogs are out in full force today amid a clear pupcoin rally taking hold of the cryptocurrency market. Meme-coin darlings Dogecoin (CCC:DOGE-USD), Shiba Inu (CCC:SHIB-USD), GamingShiba (CCC:GAMINGSHIBA-USD) and Floki Inu (CCC:FLOKI-USD) are all in the green today after a disastrous start to the year. However, it seems Dogelon Mars (CCC:ELON-USD) may end up king of the canine coins today. ELON is up nearly 20%. Dogelon Mars price predictions are in full force after this surprise contender entered the meme-coin ring.

Source: Margaret Jung/Shutterstock.com

What do you need to know about Dogelon today?

Dogelon is the latest and greatest meme coin making waves. To be fair, whats not to like? Its a combination of two pop culture staples: Dogecoin (CCC:DOGE-USD) and Elon Musk. In fact, its likely that its origin in the two is why its barking higher today. Yesterday, the Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Chief Executive tweeted out, claiming he would eat a happy meal on tv if @McDonalds accepts Dogecoin.

Its not exactly a first for Musk. He frequently tweets out in glowing adoration of his favorite meme coin, and you can almost always count on the currency reacting well. Today marks a milder reaction. Indeed, Dogecoin is only up 2.8%, which, compared to previous jumps following Musk tweets, is quite muted. Instead, it seems Dogelon is stealing the limelight. The space-centric meme coin has been on a non-stop rollercoaster since launching this past April.

The coin has few use cases, despite being built on the Ethereum blockchain. It doesnt yet have a roadmap and is seemingly riding on the inherent humor found in the concept of a Shiba Inu puppy traveling through time and space. Regardless, it has grown fairly substantially in popularity.

With ELON sitting at $0.00000088 per token, lets see where the experts think the crypto is heading.

On the date of publication, Shrey Dua did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.comPublishing Guidelines.

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Dogelon Mars Price Predictions: Where Will New Pupcoin Rally Take the ELON Crypto? - InvestorPlace

Kristen Bell is an iconic actress with a huge range. In addition to starring in films like Frozen and Bad Moms, shes had an excellent television career as well. From her breakout role as Veronica Mars to her newest project Netflix crime comedy The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window lets break down her six best TV roles.

Veronica Mars Heads You Lose Episode 404 Convinced the bomber is still at large, Veronica visits Chino to learn more about Clyde and Big Dick. Mayor Dobbins request for help from the FBI brings an old flame to Neptune. Veronica confronts her mugger. Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell), shown. (Photo by: Michael Desmond/Hulu)

You cant make a list like this without including Veronica Mars. Bell is charismatic and captivating as the titular character of this teen mystery-drama. Witty and smart, its impossible not to root for her as she solves crimes happening throughout the town of Neptune. Not only was there a 2014 movie after the beloved series wrapped the first time, but the show was also revived for another season by Hulu in 2019.

Where to watch: Hulu

Co-starring Don Cheadle (who was nominated for an Emmy for this role in 2012) and Ben Schwartz, House of Lies is a Showtime comedy about a group of ruthless management consultants. Bell stars as Jeannie Van Der Hooven, an ambitious and flirtatious up-and-coming member of the firm.

Where to watch: Showtime

THE GOOD PLACE Whenever Youre Ready Episode 413/414 Pictured: (l-r) Ted Danson as Michael, Kristen Bell as Eleanor (Photo by: Colleen Hayes/NBC)

The Good Place will go down in history as one of the smartest, most innovative sitcoms of all time. With pitch-perfect writing, acting, and directing, Bells performance is crucial to this whacky, heartfelt show working. Starring as Eleanor Shellstrop an unethical pharmaceutical representative who finds herself in The Good Place by accident Bell has never been more hilarious or relatable.

Where to watch: Netflix

This one may be a little surprising considering Bell is only actually seen in one episode of this show for a meta-cameo. However, her voice is one of the most crucial elements of the teen soap. Come on, tell us youve never tried to say XOXO, Gossip Girl in her tone of voice.

Where to watch: HBO Max

Burning Love is one of the most underrated comedies of all time. Featuring an all-star cast that includes Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, June Diane Raphael, Adam Scott, Michael Cera, and Adam Brody (among many others!), the show is a laugh-out-loud parody of The Bachelor. Running three seasons, each installment is more hilarious and absurd than the last.

Where to watch: Pluto TV

The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window. Kristen Bell as Anna in episode 101 of The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window. Cr. Colleen E. Hayes/Netflix 2021

Lets face it: the crime drama has become a little predictable lately. With movie adaptations of The Girl on the Train and The Woman in the Window, The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window is clearly meant to parody the genre. Using all the tropes copious amounts of wine, nosy neighbors, and no-nonsense detective if theres one person who can shine in a satire like this, its Bell.

Where to watch: Netflix

Whats your favorite Kristin Bell TV role? Comment below!

Original post:

6 best Kristen Bell TV roles, from Veronica Mars to The Good Place - Show Snob

Before and After Perseverance Sample Tube Shake: An animated GIF depicts the Martian surface below the Perseverance rover, showing the results of the January 15, 2022, percussive drill test to clear cored-rock fragments from one of the rovers sample tubes. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The team has made good progress implementing the initial recovery steps outlined last week. Our first success: The upper two pebbles were ejected from the bit carousel during a test. This is great news, as these small chunks of debris are believed to be the cause of the unsuccessful transfer of the drill bit and sample tube into the carousel back on December 29. Our second success: We appear to have removed most if not all of the cored rock that remained in Sample Tube 261.

Here is the latest

On Monday, January 17, the WATSON camera imaged the bit carousel and its pebbles and also took images underneath the rover to establish just what was down there before any recovery strategies were applied. Later that same Martian day, we rotated the bit carousel about 75 degrees before returning it back to its original position. WATSON imaging showed the two upper pebbles were ejected during the process. Tuesday night we also received the second set of under-rover images, which show two new pebbles on the surface, indicating the ejected pebbles made it fully through bit carousel and back onto the surface of Mars as planned.

Rotating Perseverances Bit Carousel: An annotated GIF depicts a rotational test of Perseverances bit carousel in which two of four rock fragments were ejected. The five images that make up the GIF were obtained by the rovers WATSON imager on January 17, 2022. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

The other two pebbles, located below the bit carousel, remain. It is interesting to note that some of the initial trials performed on our testbed here on Earth indicate that the location of the two leftover pebbles may not pose a significant problem with bit carousel operation, but we are continuing analysis and testing to confirm this.

On Saturday, January 15, the team performed an experiment using Perseverances rotary-percussive drill. After the robotic arm oriented the drill with Sample Tube 261s open end angled around 9 degrees below horizontal, the rovers drill spindle rotated and then extended. Our remarkable Mastcam-Z instrument (which has video capability previously used to document some of Ingenuitys flights) captured the event. The imagery from the experiment shows a small amount of sample material falling out of the drill bit/sample tube. Later that same Martian day, the bit was positioned vertically over Issole (the rock that provided this latest core) to see if additional sample would fall out under the force of gravity. However, Mastcam-Z imaging of 261s interior after this subsequent maneuver showed it still contained some sample.

Perseverance Expels Rock Fragments: A portion of a cored-rock sample is ejected from the rotary percussive drill on NASAs Perseverance Mars rover. The imagery was collected by the rovers Mastcam-Z instrument on January 15, 2022. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Given that some of the sample had already been lost, the team decided it was time to return the rest of the sample to Mars and hopefully completely empty the tube to ready it for potentially another sampling attempt. On Monday, January 17, the team commanded another operation of the rotary percussive drill in an attempt to dislodge more material from the tube. With the tubes open end still pointed towards the surface, we essentially shook the heck out of it for 208 seconds by means of the percussive function on the drill. Mastcam-Z imagery taken after the event shows that multiple pieces of sample were dumped onto the surface. Is Tube 261 clear of rock sample? We have new Mastcam-Z images looking down the drill bit into the sample container that indicate little if any debris from the cored-rock sample remains. The sample tube has been cleared for reuse by the project.

Perseverances Sample Tube Looks Clean: This image, taken by the Mastcam-Z camera aboard NASAs Perseverance Mars rover on January 20, 2022, shows the rover successfully expelled the remaining large fragments of cored rock from a sample tube held in its drill. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

The team is still reviewing the data and discussing next steps. Like all Mars missions, weve had some unexpected challenges. Each time, the team and our rover have risen to the occasion. We expect the same result this time by taking incremental steps, analyzing results, and then moving on, we plan to fully resolve this challenge and get back to exploration and sampling at Jezero Crater.

Written by Rick Welch, Deputy Project Manager at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

More here:

NASA Mars Perseverance Rover: Ejecting Martian Pebbles

NASA helicopter on the Mars 2020 mission

Ingenuity, nicknamed Ginny, is a small robotic helicopter operating on Mars as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission along with the Perseverance rover, which landed on February 18, 2021. Two months later, on April 19, Ingenuity successfully completed the first powered controlled extraterrestrial flight by an aircraft taking off vertically, hovering, and landing, for a flight duration of 39.1seconds.[5][6][7] As of December 15, 2021, the helicopter has made 18 successful flights.

Ingenuity was designed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Other contributors include NASA's Ames Research Center, NASA's Langley Research Center,[8] AeroVironment, Inc., SolAero, and Lockheed Martin Space.[9] Ingenuity's rotors measure 1.2m (4ft),[1][10][11] while its entire body is 0.49m (1ft 7in) tall.[1] Its fuselage measures 13.6cm 19.5cm 16.3cm (5.4in 7.7in 6.4in), and sports four landing legs that are 0.384m (1ft 3.1in) long each.[1] Ingenuity is operated by solar-charged batteries that power dual counter-rotating rotors mounted one above the other. During its 30-day technology demonstration, Ingenuity was intended to fly up to five times at altitudes ranging 35m (1016ft) above the ground for up to 90 seconds each.[1][12] The expected lateral range was exceeded in the third flight, and the flight duration was exceeded in the fourth flight. With those technical successes, Ingenuity achieved its original objectives. The flights proved the helicopter's ability to fly in the extremely thin atmosphere of another planet over a hundred million miles from Earth without direct human control. Ingenuity operates autonomously, performing maneuvers planned, scripted and transmitted to it by JPL.

After the brief demonstration phase, JPL then began more flights as operational demonstrations, to show how aerial scouting can benefit future exploration of Mars and other worlds.[13][14] In its operational role, Ingenuity is observing areas of interest for possible examination by the Perseverance rover.[15][16][1][17]

Ingenuity travelled to Mars attached to the underside of Perseverance, which touched down at the Octavia E. Butler Landing site in Jezero crater on February 18, 2021.[18][19][20] The helicopter was deployed to the surface on April 3, 2021,[21][22] and Perseverance drove approximately 100m (330ft) away to allow the drone a safe "buffer zone" in which it made its first flight.[23] Success was confirmed three hours later in a livestreaming TV feed of JPL mission control.[25][26][27] On its fourth flight, April 30, 2021, Ingenuity became the first interplanetary spacecraft whose sound was recorded by another interplanetary spacecraft, Perseverance.[28]

Ingenuity carries a piece of fabric from the wing of the 1903 Wright Flyer, the Wright Brothers' airplane used in the first controlled powered heavier-than-air flight on Earth. The initial take-off and landing area for Ingenuity is named Wright Brothers Field as a tribute.[29] Before Ingenuity, the first flight of any kind on a planet beyond Earth was an unpowered balloon flight on Venus, by the Soviet Vega 1 spacecraft in 1985.[30]

The lower gravity of Mars (about a third of Earth's) only partially offsets the thinness of the 95% carbon dioxide atmosphere of Mars[35] thus making it much harder for an aircraft to generate adequate lift. The atmospheric density of the Red Planet is about 1100 as that of Earth at sea level, or approximately the same as 87,000ft (27,000m), an altitude never reached by existing helicopters. To keep Ingenuity aloft, its specially shaped blades of enlarged size must rotate at a speed at least 2400 and up to 2900 rpm, or about 10 times faster[10] than what is needed on Earth.[36][37] The helicopter uses contra-rotating coaxial rotors about 1.2m (4ft) in diameter. Each rotor is controlled by a separate swashplate that can affect both collective and cyclic pitch.[38]

There are two cameras on board: the downward-looking black-and-white navigation camera (NAV) and the color camera to make terrain images for return to Earth (RTE).[17] Although it is an aircraft, it was constructed to spacecraft specifications in order to endure the acceleration and vibrations during launch.[37] It also includes radiation-resistant systems capable of operating in the environment of Mars. The inconsistent Mars magnetic field precludes the use of a compass for navigation, so Ingenuity relies upon different sensors grouped in two assemblies. All sensors are commercial off-the-shelf units.

The Upper Sensor Assembly with associated vibration isolation elements is mounted on the mast close to the center-of-mass of the vehicle to minimize the effects of angular rates and accelerations. It consists of a cellphone grade Bosch BMI-160 Inertial measurement unit (IMU) and an inclinometer (Murata SCA100T-D02), which is used only on the ground prior to flight to calibrate the IMU accelerometers biases. The Lower Sensor Assembly consists of an altimeter (Garmin LIDAR Lite v3), both of the cameras and a secondary IMU, all mounted directly onto the Electronics Core Module and not onto the mast. The down-facing Omnivision OV7251 camera supports visual odometry, in which images are processed to produce navigation solutions that calculate helicopter position, velocity, attitude, and other variables.[17]

The helicopter uses solar panels to recharge its batteries, which are six Sony Li-ion cells with 3540Wh (130140kJ) of energy capacity[34] (nameplate capacity of 2 Ah).[17] Flight duration is not constrained by the available power, but by the motors heating up 1C every second.[39]

The helicopter uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with a Linux operating system.[40] Among other functions, this processor controls the visual navigation algorithm via a velocity estimate derived from terrain features tracked with the navigation camera.[41] The Qualcomm processor is connected to two flight-control microcontroller units (MCUs) to perform the necessary flight-control functions.[17]

The telecommunication system consists of two identical radios with monopole antennae which support the data exchange between the helicopter and the rover. The radio link is built upon the low-power Zigbee communication protocols, implemented via 914 MHz SiFlex 02 chipsets mounted in both the rover and helicopter. The communication system is designed to relay data at 250kbit/s over distances of up to 1,000m (3,300ft). The antenna located on the solar panel of the helicopter weighs 4 grams and may communicate equally in all directions.[42]

The Mars Helicopter team in 2018

Some of the Ingenuity team in 2019

The history of the Mars Helicopter team dates back to 2012, when MiMi Aung was leading then JPL director Charles Elachi on a tour of the Autonomous Systems Division. Looking at the drones demonstrating onboard navigation algorithms in one of the labs, Elachi asked, "Hey, why don't we do that on Mars?" Engineer Bob Balaram briefed Elachi about feasibility, and a week later Elachi told him, "Okay, I've got some study money for you". By January 2015 NASA agreed to fund the development of a full-size model, which came to be known as the "risk reduction" vehicle. As project manager, Aung assembled a multidisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, and technicians leveraging all of NASA's expertise.[43]

The JPL team was never larger than 65 full-time-equivalent employees, but program workers at AeroVironment and NASA AMES and Langley research centers brought the total to 150.[43] Team members include:

On June 15, 2021, the team behind Ingenuity was named the 2021 winner of the John L. "Jack" Swigert, Jr. Award for Space Exploration from the Space Foundation.[63]

NASA's JPL and AeroVironment published the conceptual design in 2014 for a scout helicopter to accompany a rover.[8][64][65] By mid-2016, $15 million was being requested to continue development of the helicopter.[66] By December 2017, engineering models of the vehicle had been tested in a simulated martian atmosphere[17][10] and models were undergoing testing in the Arctic, but its inclusion in the mission had not yet been approved or funded.[67] The United States federal budget, announced in March 2018, provided $23 million for the helicopter for one year,[68][69] and it was announced on May 11, 2018, that the helicopter could be developed and tested in time to be included in the Mars 2020 mission.[70] The helicopter underwent extensive flight-dynamics and environment testing,[17][71] and was mounted on the underside of the Perseverance rover in August 2019.[72] NASA spent about $80 million to build Ingenuity and about $5 million to operate the helicopter.[73]

In April 2020, the vehicle was named Ingenuity by Vaneeza Rupani, a girl in the 11th grade at Tuscaloosa County High School in Northport, Alabama, who submitted an essay into NASA's "Name the Rover" contest.[74][75] Known in planning stages as the Mars Helicopter Scout,[32] or simply the Mars Helicopter,[11] the nickname Ginny later entered use in parallel to the parent rover Perseverance being affectionately referred to as Percy.[76]

Ingenuity was designed to be a technology demonstrator by JPL to assess whether such a vehicle could fly safely. Before it was built, launched and landed, scientists and managers expressed hope that helicopters could provide better mapping and guidance that would give future mission controllers more information to help with travel routes, planning and hazard avoidance.[77][78][79] Based on the performance of previous rovers through Curiosity, it was assumed that such aerial scouting might enable future rovers to safely drive up to three times as far per sol.[80][81] However, the new AutoNav capability at Perseverance significantly reduced this advantage, allowing the rover to cover more than 100 meters per sol.

In 2019, preliminary designs of Ingenuity were tested on Earth in simulated Mars atmospheric and gravity conditions. For flight testing, a large vacuum chamber was used to simulate the very low pressure of the atmosphere of Mars filled with carbon dioxide to approximately 0.60% (about 1160) of standard atmospheric pressure at sea level on Earth which is roughly equivalent to a helicopter flying at 34,000m (112,000ft) altitude in the atmosphere of Earth. In order to simulate the much reduced gravity field of Mars (38% of Earth's), 62% of Earth's gravity was offset by a line pulling upwards during flight tests.[34] A "wind-wall" consisting of almost 900 computer fans was used to provide wind in the chamber.[84]:1:08:051:08:40

After deployment, the rover drove approximately 100m (330ft) away from the drone to allow a safe flying zone.[21][22] The Ingenuity helicopter was expected to fly up to five times during a 30-day test campaign, early in the rover's mission.[1][12]

Each flight was planned for altitudes ranging 35m (1016ft) above the ground, though Ingenuity soon exceeded that planned height.[1] The first flight was a hover at an altitude of 3m (9.8ft), lasting about 40 seconds and including taking a picture of the rover. The first flight succeeded, and subsequent flights were increasingly ambitious as allotted time for operating the helicopter dwindled. JPL said the mission might even stop before the 30-day period ended, in the likely event that the helicopter crashed,[84]:0:49:500:51:40 an outcome which did not occur. In up to 90 seconds per flight, Ingenuity could travel as far as 50m (160ft) downrange and then back to the starting area, though that goal was also soon exceeded with the fourth flight.[1] The helicopter uses autonomous control during its flights, which are telerobotically planned and scripted by operators at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It communicates with the Perseverance rover directly before and after each landing.[84]:1:20:381:22:20

After the successful first three flights, the objective was changed from technology demonstration to operational demonstration. The goal shifted towards supporting the rover science mission by mapping and scouting the terrain.[85] While Ingenuity would do more to help Perseverance, the rover would pay less attention to the helicopter and stop taking pictures of it in flight. JPL managers said the photo procedure took an "enormous" amount of time, slowing the project's main mission of looking for signs of ancient life.[86] On 30 April 2021, the fourth flight successfully captured numerous color photos and explored the surface with its black-and-white navigation camera. On May 7, Ingenuity successfully flew to a new landing site.

On 5 September 2021, after successful completion of the Operations Demonstration phase, the mission was extended indefinitely.[87]

Perseverance dropped the debris shield protecting Ingenuity on March 21, 2021, and the helicopter deployed from the underside of the rover to the martian surface on April 3, 2021.[89] That day both cameras of the helicopter were tested taking their first b/w and color photos of the floor of Jezero Crater in the shadow of the rover.[90][91]

Ingenuity's rotor blades were successfully unlocked on April 8, 2021 (mission sol 48), and the helicopter performed a low-speed rotor spin test at 50 rpm.[92][93][94][95]

A high-speed spin test was attempted on April 9, but failed due to the expiration of a watchdog timer, a software measure to protect the helicopter from incorrect operation in unforeseen conditions. On April 12, JPL said it identified a software fix to correct the problem. To save time, however, JPL decided to use a workaround procedure, which managers said had an 85% chance of succeeding and would be "the least disruptive" to the helicopter.

On April 16, 2021, Ingenuity successfully passed the full-speed 2400 rpm rotor spin test while remaining on the surface.[26] Three days later, April 19, JPL flew the helicopter for the first time. The watchdog timer problem occurred again when the fourth flight was attempted. The team rescheduled the flight, which succeeded on April 30. On June 25, JPL said it had uploaded a software update the previous week to permanently fix the watchdog problem, and that a rotor spin test and the eighth flight confirmed that the update worked.

The Ingenuity team plans to fly the helicopter every two to three weeks during its indefinitely extended mission.[87] The helicopter's longer-than-expected flying career lasted into a seasonal change on Mars, when the atmospheric density at its location became even lower. The flight team prepared by commanding Ingenuity to ground-test a faster rotor blade rotation, needed for sufficient lift. JPL said the higher planned flight speed of 2700 rpm would pose new risks, including vibration, power consumption and aerodynamic drag if the blade tips approach the speed of sound. The test speed was 2800 rpm, giving a margin for increase if the intended flight speed of 2700 is not enough. Ingenuity faced another challenge to remain functional during the Martian winter and solar conjunction, when Mars moves behind the Sun, blocking communications with Earth and forcing the rover and helicopter to halt operations. The shutdown happened in mid-October 2021, for which preparations started in mid-September.[98][99] The helicopter remained stationary at its location 575 feet (175 meters) away from Perseverance and communicated its status weekly to the rover for health checks.[100] JPL intended to continue flying Ingenuity since it survived solar conjunction.[101][102]NASA leadership has acknowledged that extending the mission adds to the original Ingenuity budget of $80 million but has stated that any increase would be minimal compared to what NASA is learning.[103]

(Record values highlighted)

This was the first time the helicopter had to land at an airfield which was not surveyed by any means other than MRO satellite imagery.[116][117]

(Sol 254)

(Sol 268)

Ingenuity has two commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) cameras on board. The Sony IMX 214 with 4208 x 3120 pixel resolution is a color camera with a global shutter to make terrain images for return to Earth (RTE). The Omnivision OV7251 (640 480) VGA is the downward-looking black and white rolling shutter navigation camera (NAV), which supplies the onboard computer of the helicopter with the raw data essential for flight control.[17]

While the RTE color camera is not necessary for flight and may be switched off (as in flights 7 and 8), the NAV camera works throughout each flight, catching the first frame before takeoff and the last frame after landing. Its frame rate is synchronized with blade rotation to ease online image processing.

During flight, all NAV frames must be carefully stored in the onboard helicopter computer, with each frame assigned the unique timestamp of its creation. Loss of a single NAV image timestamp was an anomaly that caused the helicopter to move erratically during flight 6.

The longer a flight lasts, the more NAV photos must be stored. Each new record flight duration automatically means a record number of images taken by the NAV camera. The frequency and timing of the camera's operations are predetermined not for the sake of records, but due to the technical necessity. A huge number of NAV files does not overload the local storage of the helicopter. Less than 200 NAV files are uploaded to the NASA storage after each flight starting from the 8th, and the total volume of this package is only about 5 Megabytes[148] The limitations are imposed by weakness of local telecommunications: when landed, helicopter relays data to the rover in a slow mode of 20 kbit/s.[17] Another significant inconvenience here is caused by the location of the antenna on the side of the rover: if turned wrong side to the helicopter, it may impede signal propagation with its massive metal body.

Most of the NAV files are not transmitted to the rover base station for return to Earth. After the fourth flight, MiMi Aung confirmed that "images from that navigation camera are typically used by Ingenuity's flight controller and then thrown away unless we specifically tell the helicopter to store them for later use". From more than 4000 NAV files acquired on flight four, only 62 were stored.[152]

With the end of the flight technology demonstration, Perseverance project manager Jennifer Trosper relinquished her team's responsibilities for photographing Ingenuity to concentrate exclusively on the rover science mission of searching for signs of ancient Martian life. Without pictures from the rover, the flight team relied more heavily on photos taken by the helicopter NAV camera to confirm Ingenuity's location. The helicopter, however, does not create or refine the maps, but rather, depends upon work coordinated by the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Science Center and performed by the NASA Mars and Lunar Cartography Working Groups.[citation needed]

To support the Mars-2020 mission, USGS used photos by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to produce Context Camera (CTX) and Digital Terrain Models (DTM) and orthoimage mosaics. Those images were used by the Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN) feature on the Perseverance descent vehicle and helped determine the safest landing location.[153] Using maps created from photos and radar elevation data previously acquired by the MRO and other NASA missions, planetary cartographers manually correlate them with terrain features seen by Ingenuity's small and lens-distorted NAV images.[citation needed] After each NAV frame is assigned a georeference, the resulting flight maps are shown at NASA's Mars-2020 tracking service.[88] NAV frames from Ingenuity are also used to produce moving images that show the Martian terrain passing under Ingenuity during its flights.

In November 2021 the Ingenuity team started to supply scientists a new kind of photographic materials the color photos taken on the ground during the interflight periods. By December, 3 two such photos were received on Earth, the first one acquired on November 15 (sol 263)[150] and another on November 27 (sol 274).[151]

Flight 3 (April 25, 2021)

Flight 4 (April 30, 2021)

Flight 6 (May 23, 2021)last 39 seconds

Flight 7 (June 8, 2021)(48 seconds)

Flight 8 (June 22, 2021)(75 seconds)

Flight 9 (July 5, 2021)full real-time animation

Flight 10 (July 24, 2021)full real-time animation

Flight 11 (August 5, 2021)full real-time animation

Flight 12 (August 16, 2021)full real-time animation

Flight 13 (September 5, 2021)full real-time animation

Flight 14 (October 24, 2021)full real-time animation

Flight 15 (November 6, 2021)191 frames

Flight 16 (November 21, 2021)full real-time animation

Flight 17 (December 5, 2021)full real-time animation

Flight 18 (December 15, 2021)full real-time animation

Unlike Perseverance, Ingenuity does not have a special stereo camera for taking twin photos for 3D pictures simultaneously. However, the helicopter has made such images by taking duplicate color photos of the same terrain while hovering in slightly offset positions, as in flight 11, or by taking an offset picture on the return leg of a roundtrip flight, as in flight 12.[154]

As of December 16, 2021, 2091 black-and-white images from the navigation camera[146] and 104 color images from the terrain camera (RTE)[155] have been published.

NASA and JPL officials described the first Ingenuity flight as their "Wright Brothers moment", by analogy to the first successful airplane flight on Earth.[29][156] A small piece of the wing cloth from the Wright brothers' 1903 Wright Flyer is attached to a cable underneath Ingenuity's solar panel.[157] In 1969, Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong carried a similar Wright Flyer artifact to the Moon in the Lunar Module Eagle.

NASA named Ingenuity's first take-off and landing airstrip Wright Brothers Field, which the UN agency ICAO gave an airport code of JZRO for Jezero Crater,[158] and the drone itself a type designator of IGY, call-sign INGENUITY.[159][160][161]

The Ingenuity technology demonstrator could form the foundation on which more capable aircraft might be developed for aerial exploration of Mars and other planetary targets with an atmosphere like Mars Science Helicopter.[77][17][162] The next generation of rotorcraft could be in the range between 5 and 30kg (11 and 66lb) with science payloads between 0.5 and 5kg (1.1 and 11.0lb).[163] These potential aircraft could have direct communication to an orbiter and may or may not continue to work with a landed asset.[22] Future helicopters could be used to explore special regions with exposed water ice or brines, where Mars microbial life could potentially survive.[73][17]

Data collected by Ingenuity is supporting planning of a future helicopter design by engineers at JPL, NASA's Ames Research Center and AeroVironment. The Mars Science Helicopter, a proposed successor to Ingenuity, would be a hexacopter, or six-rotor helicopter, with a mass of about 30kg (66lb) compared to 1.8kg (4.0lb) of Ingenuity. Mars Science Helicopter could carry as much as 5kg (11lb) of science payloads and fly up to 10km (6.2mi) per flight.[163]

March 29, 2021: after Ingenuity was extended vertically into place after being rotated outward from its horizontal position on the belly of the rover, Perseverance takes photos for the panorama, catching in its field of view the debris shield which protected Ingenuity during landing and was dropped on March 21, 2021

Debris shield released and dropped

Ingenuity swings down, with two of its four legs extended

Ingenuity with all legs extended

Rotor blades are unlocked for tests and flying

The slow-speed (50 rpm) spin up test on sol 48

The high-speed (2400 rpm) spin up test on sol 55

The Wright Brothers Field and the overlook location

The Wright Brothers Field

View of the field from the rover

Rover track and Wright Brothers Field

Flight profile for Ingenuity's Flight 15

Topography between Mars helicopter and rover for Flight 17

Landed after flight 3 (25 April 2021)

Landed after flight 5 at Airfield B (7 May 2021)

One day after sixth flight (Sol 92)

Four days after 7th flight (Sol 111)

Seven days after 8th flight (Sol 127)

Sol 45 (6 April 2021): grounded before flights

In-flight image (19 April 2021, altitude 1.2m (3ft 11in))

Landing after the first flight (19 April 2021)

First color aerial photo (22 April 2021, altitude 5.2m (17ft), flight 2)

Flight 3, rover is seen left-up from the 5.0m (16.4ft) height

Flight 3, the rover (enlarged)

Heading towards Airfield B (flight 4, 30 April 2021)

Flight 5, altitude 10m (33ft) (7 May 2021)

Perseverance rover (left) viewed about 85m (279ft) away from 5.0m (16.4ft) height (April 25, 2021)

Flight 6, view from 10m (33ft) towards Stah

Flight 7, above the terrain (8 June 2021)

Flight 8, landed (22 June 2021)

Flight 9, flying over the Stah (July 5, 2021)

Flight 11 NW along Stah

The first ground photo after conjunction (sol 236)

Slow speed blade rotation test (sol 240)

Flight 15 (6 November 2021)

Flight 16 (21 November 2021)

Post-flight 16 rover view

Originally posted here:

Ingenuity (helicopter) - Wikipedia

If a rock falls on Mars, and no one is there to see it, does it leave a trace? Yes, and its a beautiful herringbone-like pattern, new research reveals. Scientists have now spotted thousands of tracks on the red planet created by tumbling boulders. Delicate chevron-shaped piles of Martian dust and sand frame the tracks, the team showed, and most fade over the course of a few years.

Rockfalls have been spotted elsewhere in the solar system, including on the moon and even a comet. But a big open question is the timing of these processes on other worlds are they ongoing or did they predominantly occur in the past?

A study of these ephemeral features on Mars, published last month in Geophysical Research Letters, says that such boulder tracks can be used to pinpoint recent seismic activity on the red planet. This new evidence that Mars is a dynamic world runs contrary to the notion that all of the planets exciting geology happened much earlier, said Ingrid Daubar, a planetary scientist at Brown University who was not involved in the study. For a long time, we thought that Mars was this cold, dead planet.

To arrive at this finding, Vijayan, a planetary scientist at the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, India, who uses a single name, and his colleagues pored over thousands of images of Marss equatorial region. The imagery was captured from 2006 through 2020 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and revealed details as small as 10 inches across.

We can discriminate individual boulders, Dr. Vijayan said.

The team manually searched for chain-like features a telltale signature of a rock careening down an incline on the sloped walls of impact craters. Dr. Vijayan and his collaborators spotted more than 4,500 such boulder tracks, the longest of which stretched over a mile and a half.

Sometimes the tracks change direction and occasionally new tracks suddenly branch off, Dr. Vijayan said. Such changing tracks are likely evidence that a boulder disintegrated mid-fall and that its offspring continued bouncing downslope.

Roughly one third of the tracks the researchers studied were absent in early images, meaning that they must have formed since 2006. The bounce marks of all of these young tracks are framed by a chevron-shaped pile of Martian regolith. That material, which Dr. Vijayan and his colleagues nicknamed boulder fall ejecta, is kicked out each time a boulder impacts the surface, the researchers propose.

And that boulder fall material is transient: By tracing the same tracks in images obtained at different times, the team found that boulder fall ejecta tends to remain visible for only about four to eight years. The researchers suggest that winds continuously sweeping over the surface of Mars redistribute dust and sand and erase the ejecta.

Because boulder fall ejecta fades so rapidly, seeing it implies that a boulder was dislodged recently, the team suggest. And a common cause of rockfalls, on Earth and elsewhere, is seismic activity.

Dr. Vijayan and his collaborators found that roughly 30 percent of the boulder tracks in their sample with boulder fall ejecta were concentrated in the Cerberus Fossae region of Mars. Thats far more than expected, the researchers say, since this region encompasses only 1 percent of the studys area. The surrounding craters have lots of boulder falls, Dr. Vijayan said. A few of them even have multiple falls in the same location.

That makes sense, said Alfred McEwen, a planetary geologist at the University of Arizona and the principal investigator of HiRISE, not involved in the research. The geography near Cerberus Fossae, namely the Tharsis volcanic region, predisposes the area to seismic activity. These giant masses of dense rock loaded up on the surface creates stresses throughout the surrounding crust of Mars, Dr. McEwen said.

Since 2019, hundreds of marsquakes have been detected by NASAs InSight lander, and two of the largest occurred last year in the Cerberus Fossae region.

In the future, Dr. Vijayan and his collaborators plan to extend their analysis to Marss polar regions. The HiRISE camera will hopefully oblige, Dr. McEwen said, despite the instrument being significantly past its design lifetime. HiRISE is still going strong.

Read the original post:

Bouncing Boulders Point to Quakes on Mars - The New York Times

NASA's Perseverance rover managed to spit out pieces of rock that had been blocking its Mars-sampling gear since late December.

Although the un-choking procedure hadn't been previously tested, the engineers on the Mars mission found it was rather "straightforward," the team said in an earlier blog post. It involved pointing the drill containing a clogged test tube to the ground and rotating it at speed until the rocks fell out.

The team even managed to capture the moment when the Perseverance rover spat out the pebbles with its Mastcam-Z science camera. The video, shared on Twitter, shows the rover's drill rotating as a small piece of rock comes out onto the red Martian surface.

Related: Tour Mars' Jezero Crater with this gorgeous Perseverance rover mosaic (video)

"In order to keep #SamplingMars, I've emptied my latest partial sample," the team said in the tweet. "Watch closely to see one piece of cored rock drop to the surface in this movie. Thankfully, I can reuse this tube for another sample from the same rock."

The unclogging procedure took place in two steps, with the first part of the stuck sample dislodged on Saturday (Jan. 15) and the rest coming out after some extra effort on Thursday (Jan. 20).

The sampling attempt was the sixth carried out by Perseverance since its landing on Mars in February last year. The rover is building a collection of rock samples that will be brought to Earth in the early 2030s by a Mars sample mission that is being developed jointly by NASA and the European Space Agency.

The engineers realized something was wrong on Dec. 29, when the rover's robotic arm attempted to place the freshly drilled sample into the rover's bit carousel, a rotating wheel-like structure on its chassis that stores the samples. The data revealed resistance when the arm tried to seal the tube with the sample.

The ill-fated sample originated from a rock that scientists call Issole. The team might attempt to drill into this rock once more, the engineers said in the statement.

Follow Tereza Pultarova on Twitter @TerezaPultarova. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

See the rest here:

Watch Perseverance Mars rover spit out a stuck rock after choking on sample - Space.com

Radar images of Marss southern ice cap indicated that there could be a lake there but a new set of simulations hints that it could be volcanic rock instead

By Leah Crane

The icy cap over Marss south pole, photographed by Mars Express

ESA/DLR/FU Berlin / Bill Dunford

There may not be a huge lake of liquid water at Marss south pole after all. In 2018, the European Space Agencys Mars Express spacecraft spotted bright radar reflections under the ice cap there that seemed to indicate a lake of liquid water 20 kilometres across. But a new study shows that the signal could simply indicate iron-rich volcanic rocks under the ice.

The original signal was promising, but it was difficult to understand how the Martian climate could support a long-lived lake, even under the ice cap. We do not understand how liquid water could be there, because we wouldnt expect to have enough energy and pressure to melt water there, even if the water is salty, says Cyril Grima at the University of Texas at Austin.

To dig into what else the signal may be, Grima and his colleagues performed a simulation of what the entire surface of Mars would look like if, like the south pole, it were buried under 1.4 kilometres of ice. They found bright reflections like the ones that Mars Express spotted scattered everywhere across the planet, covering up to 2 per cent of its surface.

These bright areas tended to match up with the locations of volcanic plains, terrain created when iron-rich lava flowed across the surface of Mars early in its history. That indicates that the signal from beneath the ice may have come from volcanic rock, not liquid water.

Mars is known to have these terrains all over the planet, so its far more likely to have this terrain under the ice than liquid water, says Grima. We arent ruling out this water, but its lowering by far the likelihood that its there.

The best way to find out for sure would be to visit the south pole of Mars and take measurements from the surface, he says.

Journal reference: Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: 10.1029/2021GL096518

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Mars 'lake' may actually be volcanic rocks buried beneath the ice cap - New Scientist