Category Archives: Mars

In a Nov. 8, 2021 op-ed, When will we finally set foot on Mars? we argued that NASA should provide greater clarity and definition concerning how humanity will return to the Moon by the mid-2020s and then go to Mars by the mid-2030s. Since then, NASA Administrator Bill NelsonClarence (Bill) William NelsonWhy science and religion come together when discussing extraterrestrial life In dramatic shift, national intelligence director does not rule out 'extraterrestrial' origins for UFOs Russia dismisses US concerns of space debris after weapons test MORE has articulated NASAs revised timeline for returning to the Moon, now no sooner than 2025. We now call on NASA and its partners to also clarify the timeline for initial human missions to Mars as well.

Two options under consideration are a long-stay (or conjunction class) mission, with approximately one and a half years on the Martian surface, during which considerable science and preparation for future missions can be performed by the astronauts; and a short-stay (or opposition class) mission, which enables significantly less overall time that the astronauts will be away from Earth but which allows for only approximately 30 days on the surface. Short-stay missions will last nearly two years in total, whereas long-stay missions will last about two and a half to three years. One of the justifications for the short-stay (opposition class) mission trajectory option is crew safety.

Regardless of which mission profile is used, crews on missions to Mars will face significant challenges and potential dangers. Crews will be traveling in an isolated vehicle in the vacuum of space, and they will also face extended time during transit to and from Mars in a microgravity environment (and with one-third Earths gravity on the surface of Mars).

During transit, they will face greater exposure to solar and galactic cosmic radiation, as well as the risk of potential serious or even catastrophic accidents resulting from mechanical failure or crew medical emergencies. As such, at first glance, the short stay option would seem to be preferable. The less time in space, the argument goes, the less potential exposure to danger.

But that is not necessarily the case, and the decision as to which trajectory to use will involve a balancing of many factors. While there are some advantages to shortening the time of the overall mission, there are also significant challenges and dangers that come with a short-stay approach.

It is true that astronauts on short-stay missions will be away from Earth for a shorter period of time. But due to the trajectory required for such missions, they will be subject to a significantly greater period in transit (to and from Mars) in deep space; that is, approximately 650 days as opposed to about 450 days for the long-stay mission. The periods in which the crew are traveling to and from Mars are considered potentially the most hazardous parts of the trip, being exposed to the deep-space environment. In fact, in the short-stay mission scenario, the crew will have to travel inside the orbit of Venus, far closer to the Sun than is the Earth, during their return trip, greatly increasing the potential dangers from solar radiation and making thermal control more difficult.

In addition, favorable launch windows for short-stay (opposition class) missions occur only once every 12-15 years, whereas launch windows occur every two years for long-stay (conjunction class) missions. One of the launch windows being considered for the first human landing (earlier Mars orbital precursor missions are also under consideration) is a short-stay mission in 2039. But 2039 is not an optimal year for an opposition class mission and would be marginal in performance even for advanced propulsion systems.

Short-stay (opposition class) missions are possible using chemical propulsion, but would require an enormous amount of propellant in comparison to that required for long-stay/conjunction class missions. Nuclear propulsion could offer significant performance advantages. But it has not yet been developed and proven, and in fact that will take many years even under the most optimistic predictions. It may not be ready by 2039 or even later, potentially delaying the first mission to long after what could be possible with conventional propulsion methods that are available today.

The development of advanced propulsion such as nuclear propulsion could be advantageous to long-term human activities on Mars, and because of the relatively long period of time that will be required to come online, its development should begin as soon as possible. But it should not be placed in the critical path to achieve having humans on Mars. It is a technology that should be integrated when it is ready. Initial Mars missions can and should be planned to utilize near-term conventional propulsion technology.

As outlined in a recent Explore Mars white paper, no matter which trajectory or mission design we chose to utilize, going to Mars will be extremely challenging and difficult. It is also possible that a short-stay option might be most practical to utilize on the very first voyage to the surface to Mars with subsequent missions utilizing the long-stay option.

Ultimately, we will need to find the right balance to best achieve mission success, taking into consideration all aspects of the journey, including crew safely, productivity and political and programmatic momentum (the importance of which should not be understated).

But we also must not be unreasonably inhibited by the risk. If we are not willing to accept some level of risk, we will never send humans to Mars or anywhere else in the cosmos. As a nation and as international partners, it is time for the United States to fully commit not only to surface activities by humans on the lunar surface starting in 2025, but also to a fully integrated program that leads to women and men walking on the surface of the red planet by the mid-2030s.

Chris Carberry is CEO of Explore Mars, Inc. and author of the book Alcohol in Space: Past, Present, Future. Rick Zucker is vice president, policy for Explore Mars, Inc.

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Two trajectories to Mars by the 2030s | TheHill - The Hill

Amplitude Studios 4X strategy Humankindwas released just three months agoand only received its first beta modding tools earlier this month nonetheless, modders are already offering up some truly amazing offerings, including recreations of popular locations like Skyrim or Azeroth or whole new factions including the Swiss.

Modding tools for Humankindarrived on Steamon November 5, hot on the heels of the most recentFabius Maximus update.Even though Amplitude confirms that the mod tools are still in beta and emphasised that players should keep in mind that these tools are unfinished and we are still testing them, there are already some great mods for Humankind out there already.

The most popular mod type seems to be various expansive maps that recreate some well-known locations. Modders have already put together maps based on The Elder Scrolls Tamriel, Warcrafts Azeroth, the Warhammer world based on the Total War: Warhammer series, and even a terraformed Mars.

There are also a large number of different starting cultures being added to the game, even for specific eras. Some impressive ones include the Chinese Han Empire, Thracians boasting that its the first mod to feature a unique 3D unit with a custom icon Atlanteans,Canadians, and multiple eras for the Swissfor some reason.

There are also more technical mods too, including a rework of the Colonization triggerto advanced balance modsthat change cost, population counts, and more. The modding scene for Humankind is clearly hotting up, and we imagine itll get even hotter when the mod tools finally release out of beta.

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Humankind mods allow you to conquer Tamriel, Azeroth, Mars, and the Swiss - PCGamesN

Nearly nine years have passed since my time spent at MARR, and because of their program, my life becomes richer with each day. MARRs recognition of addiction as a disease, along with an insistence that we must take responsibility for our own behavior, is the proper mix for understanding a complicated medical, social and psychological condition. I maintain close contact with them to this day and recommend any addict with whom I counsel to enroll in their program.

MARR has been a life saver for my son-in-law and my daughter. He has been working the program for over two years. It has not been an instant fix for all the problems he has had to face. Through MARR, he is learning how to stay in recovery with the help of God, the dedicated staff, his sponsor, and all his good friends he has made throughout this remarkable program. His support system is always there to help him whenever needed. His whole life is changing because of MARR.

My daughter has become very spiritual and learned many new life skills to handle what has come her way. MARR has taught her how to stay healthy mentally and physically in order to take care of herself and her family. Her faith has grown in leaps and bounds and is felt throughout her whole family. She continues to expound on the value of MARR in her life often. She is such a better person because of MARR.

MARR has given me my daughter back and has helped me make life-long friends. The staff is awesome.

I came to MARR in June of 2006. I had tried getting sober at numerous other facilities and on my own. I felt it was my last chance. I did not know how to live life without drugs and alcohol. I was unable to be honest with myself and others. MARR helped me in more ways than can be explained. The community atmosphere and independent living is very helpful. I stayed in MARR for 18 months and stayed close after I left. I continued attending my Spiritual Life group until I moved from Atlanta in November of 2009. I can honestly say that there is no place like MARR. It reunited me with my friends and family and a God of my understanding. For that I will always be grateful. Anytime someone comes to me about a loved one in need of help, I always suggest MARR to them.

After years of alcohol and drug abuse, my daughter entered MARR. I was hopeful but not convinced that this program would help her finally end her battle with these addictions. She successfully completed the program and would not have the life she leads today without the support and services of MARR. But unexpectedly along with the journey that my daughter made, because of MARR's dedication to serving the family also, I was able to take my own life back and have recently enrolled in college, found a wonderful church home that has been a source of great fulfillment and fellowship, and have become very active again. I have never been happier and I thank MARR and their wonderful staff and support for showing both my daughter and myself how to live a wonderful, clean and sober life.

After years of alcohol and drug abuse, my daughter entered MARR. I was hopeful but not convinced that this program would help her finally end her battle with these addictions. She successfully completed the program and would not have the life she leads today without the support and services of MARR. But unexpectedly along with the journey that my daughter made, because of MARR's dedication to serving the family also, I was able to take my own life back and have recently enrolled in college, found a wonderful church home that has been a source of great fulfillment and fellowship, and have become very active again. I have never been happier and I thank MARR and their wonderful staff and support for showing both my daughter and myself how to live a wonderful, clean and sober life.

Twenty-five years of drinking led me to a place of increasing isolation, poor choices and countless attempts to control the alcohol and manageability of my life. Driving drunk and losing control of my car ultimately took the life of a young woman, injuring her husband as well. Deep in a pit of despair, I was led to MARR, where I discovered there was hope for the emotional, physical and mental bankruptcy of my soul. MARR's genuine love and expertise saved my life, introduced me to a God of grace and forgiveness, and showed me the tools I need to stay sober one day at a time. I dare imagine what my life would now be like without them.

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Atlanta Addiction Treatment Centers | MARR Addiction

November 19, 2021

This year, NASA is observing the 20th anniversary of the 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter, the longest-lived spacecraft at the Red Planet; and a mission that has helped locate water ice, find landing sites and study Mars mysterious moons. The spacecraft launched on April 7, 2001, and arrived at the Red Planet on Oct. 24, 2001.

One of the scientific instruments onboard Odyssey is called the Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS for short, which is led by Regents Professor Philip Christensen of Arizona State University'sSchool of Earth and Space Exploration. THEMIS is a dual camera system that takes both visual and infrared images. The infrared camera allows scientists to measure the surface temperature day and night and determine what physical materials exist on Mars, such as rock, sand or dust. The ASU-led Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) instrument on the Mars Odyssey orbiter is a dual camera system that takes both visual and infrared images of Mars.Credit: SBRS/ASU Download Full Image

Twenty years ago this October, Christensen and his team, including lead engineer Greg Mehall, acquired the first thermal infrared image of Mars from the THEMIS instrument and have continued to post an Image of the Day ever since. In that time, they have collected more than a million images of Mars and provided unique views of Mars moons, Phobos and Deimos. Collectively, these images have led to complete global maps of Mars and allowed scientists to chart valley networks and craters; map water ice; spot sandstone, iron-rich volcanic rocks and clays and ultimately lend deeper insight to Mars story.

THEMIS has been the most enjoyable project Ive worked on, Christensen said. The very first nighttime temperature image we took revealed a surface that was very different from what we expected. What we discovered is that Mars is very diverse and variable, which indicates that a wide range of processes wind, water, ice and lava have shaped the surface over millions of years. Twenty years later and we continue to be surprised by what we see in the THEMIS images.

To commemorate this historic 20th anniversary, the ASU THEMIS team, including mission planners Jonathon Hill and Kelly Bender, have compiled commemorative images from the instrument taken 20 years after the arrival of the spacecraft at Mars. The images feature craters, impact basins, valleys and canyons taken with the visual camera and infrared in both day and nighttime. Additional images are available on the THEMIS Flickr account. THEMIS images below are credited as follows: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University.

1.This first visual image from THEMIS shows an unnamed crater in the vast lowland plains of the northern hemisphere of Mars. A sand sheet with surface dunes surrounds part of the crater's central peak. This impact crater is bowl-shaped with steep sides, indicating that it is relatively young. Sand has begun to accumulate, blown in by the wind. With the passage of time, and the influx of materials, crater floors tend to fill in and flatten.

2. This second image features a nighttime infrared image from THEMIS showing part of the southeastern margin of Chryse Planitia, thought to be an ancient impact basin. At the center of the image is an impact crater surrounded by a dark rayed halo, flower-like in shape. The dark part of this feature shows where the impact explosion has blasted the surface, both removing and depositing material. This feature fades with time, indicating that this is a relatively young crater. Infrared images taken during the nighttime show mainly the physical properties of the surface. The effects of daytime solar heating dissipate quickly after nightfall. Thermophysical effects then dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and therefore appear relatively bright at night (rocks are dark during the day). In contrast, dust and other fine-grain materials cool very quickly and appear dark in nighttime infrared images.

3.In this third feature, a daytime infrared image from THEMIS shows part of Aram Chaos, a large crater formed by a big impact. Over time the crater interior was modified by several different processes, including liquid water. Chaos terrain is typified by areas of blocky, often steep-sided mesas separated by deep valleys. With time and erosion, the valleys widen and the mesas become smaller. In this region of chaos, the valleys are still narrow and the mesas are large. Infrared images taken during daytime show both the landforms and the physical properties of the surface. Landscape details are visible because sun-facing slopes receive more energy than those facing away. This creates warm (bright) slopes and cool (dark) slopes that mimic the light and shadow of a visible wavelength image. Also, because dust heats up more quickly than rocks, dusty areas appear bright and rocky areas dark.

4.In this fourth feature, a THEMIS visual image shows part of northwestern Terra Cimmeria. The linear feature in the center of the image is part of a graben system. (A graben is a valley with a distinct escarpment on each side.) In this particular case, the graben crosses Terra Cimmeria from Amenthes Planum to the south all the way to Utopia Planitia in the north, a distance of over 400 km (248 miles). With a graben, two parallel faults form by extension of the crust, and the rock in between the faults drops downward. Here the graben faults lie at right angles to the extention forces, which are pulling the crust apart toward the upper left (northwest) and lower right (southeast).

5. This final image in this series features a visual image from THEMIS that spans Ganges Chasma. At the foot of the canyon's northern wall, a large landslide deposit is visible, while most of the canyon floor is covered in sand. At the very bottom of the image is part of a water-carved channel called Elaver Vallis. Ganges Chasma is located north of the main canyon system of Valles Marineris and is 574 km (356 miles) long.

As mission planners, Hill and Bender are responsible for telling the THEMIS cameras when to take an image of Mars as the spacecraft flies over interesting locations. Several times per day the spacecraft is in contact with Earth and the images are sent via radio signal to large dishes in three locations on Earth Canberra, Australia; Madrid; and Goldstone in California through NASAs Deep Space Network. NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which leads the Odyssey mission, then combines this data, which is then transferred to the THEMIS team at ASU.

The THEMIS camera system is very much like a normal digital camera, Bender said. The camera takes an image which gets stored in memory.

From there, THEMIS data archivist Kimm Murraytakes the data through several automated processes to produce the final images. These images are then made available to the public and to scientists studying Mars, including on platforms like NASAs Planetary Data System, the THEMIS websiteand the Mars data viewer.

In addition, THEMIS provides data for a geospatial information system (GIS) called theJava Mission-planning and Analysis for Remote Sensing, or JMARS for short, which has been publicly available since 2003; and a related smartphone app called JMARS AR Viewer, which is downloadable for free fromAppleandAndroidstores.

The teams contributions are not limited to the digital platform. Hill compiled 24,000 individual images taken by THEMIS to design a basketball court-size map of Mars. The map can be transported to schools and events so science enthusiasts of all ages can walk on Mars. The map has even traveled to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where visitors could take a stroll on the Red Planet, go on a geographical scavenger hunt and talk to Mars scientists.

Even after two decades of images from THEMIS, there is still more to explore. The next special set of observations the ASU THEMIS team is planning involves rolling the Odyssey spacecraft to the sides to look at the horizon of Mars. Imaging the horizon and space above it will allow the team to collect a detailed view of the Martian atmosphere at various heights above the surface, all the way up to space.

These unique observations will help to explore the atmosphere in ways that havent been done before by Odyssey, Bender said.

In addition, they plan to combine data from THEMIS with two other instruments that were built by Christensen and his team at ASU the Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS) on the United Arab Emirates Hope spacecraft that is currently orbiting Mars and the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES), an instrument on the now-decommissioned Mars Global Surveyor. By combining the data from these three instruments, the team hopes to create a powerful database of surface temperature and mineral measurements of Mars.

There are many space missions collecting data in orbit and on the surface of Mars, said Bender, who was present at Odysseys launch from Kennedy Space Center more than 20 years ago. But THEMIS is still the only NASA infrared imager at the Red Planet, so it remains a very powerful and unique instrument exploring the surface.

With 20 years of data, there are mountains of research related to THEMIS, but principal investigator Christensen does have his own top five list of discoveries listed here in rank order. To read about more discoveries, visit the ASU THEMIS webpage.

1. Mars has large expanses of exposed bedrock: THEMIS results show winds have scoured many areas of Martian bedrock clear of sand and dust.

2. Evolved lavas: At Syrtis Major, THEMIS found volcanos and flows of dacite, a chemically evolved lava that implies a complex volcanic history for Mars.

3. Gas jets spawn dark spidersand spots on Mars ice cap: Scientists use THEMIS data to discover that sand-spewing gas jets are the cause of mysterious dark markings that appear every spring on the Martian south polar cap.

4. Melting snow carved gullies: Water from melting snow eroded many of the geologically recent gullies on Mars and snowpacks still linger on many poleward-facing slopes in the middle latitudes.

5. Olivine-rich rocks point to cold, dry Martian past: In Syrtis Major, THEMIS mapped the largest known exposure of olivine-rich rocks on Mars. Because olivine decomposes easily when wet, its survival from ancient times suggests Mars has been cold and dry for much of its history.

About NASAs Mars Odyssey Orbiter

NASAs 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft launched on April 7, 2004, and arrived on Oct. 24, 2001. The orbiter, which takes its name from Arthur C. Clarkes classic sci-fi novel 2001: A Space Odyssey (he blessed its use before launch), was sent to map the composition of the Martian surface, providing a window to the past so scientists could piece together how the planet evolved. But it has done far more than that, uncovering troves of water ice, serving as a crucial communications link for other spacecraft and helping pave the way not just for safer landings but astronauts.

THEMIS was built and is operated by Arizona State University in Tempe. Odyssey's Gamma Ray Spectrometer was provided by the University of Arizona, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Russian Space Research Institute. The prime contractor for the Odyssey project, Lockheed Martin Space in Denver, developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California.

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ASU team celebrates 20th anniversary of NASA's Mars Odyssey Orbiter arrival at the Red Planet - ASU Now

NASA's Perseverance rover has socked away another Martian sample to send home to Earth.

The car-sized Perseverance rover drilled a core sample on Monday (Nov. 15), filling a titanium tube with Red Planet rock for the third time ever.

"Another little piece of Mars to carry with me. My latest sample is from a rock loaded with the greenish mineral olivine, and there are several ideas among my science team about how it got there. Hypotheses are flying! Science rules," Perseverance team members wrote via the rover's official Twitter account on Tuesday (Nov. 16), where the team posted a few photos from the sampling operation.

Related: Where to find the latest Mars photos from NASA's Perseverance rover

Olivine is a magnesium iron silicate that constitutes most of Earth's upper mantle. Tuesday's tweet didn't provide details about the flying olivine hypotheses, but the Perseverance team will probably clue us in over the coming days and weeks.

Perseverance landed this February on the floor of the 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) Jezero Crater, which harbored a lake and river delta in the ancient past. The rover's main jobs are to hunt for signs of past Mars life and collect dozens of samples, which will be returned to Earth by a joint NASA-European Space Agency campaign, perhaps as early as 2031.

The six-wheeled robot collected its first two samples in early September, both of them from a Red Planet rock the mission team dubbed "Rochette." (The twin successes at Rochette came after a try in early August that failed because the target rock was surprisingly crumbly.) Perseverance has roved several hundred meters since then and is now exploring a rugged, dune-filled patch of Jezero known as Stah (which means "amongst the sand" in the Navajo language).

Stah sports a diversity of many-layered rocks, which intrigued the science team enough to grab a sample there.

"Each layer records information about the environmental conditions present when the rock formed, and changes in layer thicknesses or textural expressions indicates an environmental change," Perseverance student collaborator Erin Gibbons, of McGill University in Canada, wrote in a blog post on Nov. 12.

"Further, by studying the directions that the layers tilted, we determined that the rocks of Stah are likely the most ancient rocks exposed in all of Jezero Crater," Gibbons wrote. "Stah therefore represents the beginning of the accessible geologic record and offers a once-in-a-mission opportunity to explore the full breadth of landscape evolution."

Perseverance has gotten some help recently from a little robotic buddy the Mars helicopter Ingenuity, which landed with the rover back in February. Ingenuity initially embarked on a technology-demonstrating mission but has performed so well that it's now conducting scouting work for Perseverance, which is particularly helpful in rugged regions such as Stah.

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

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NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars just collected its 3rd sample of the Red Planet (photos) - Space.com

Is there water on Mars? The fourth planet from our sun, Mars, is named after the Roman God of War, so dubbed because of its bloody red color, according to NASA. In 1897, novelist H. G. Wells in his book "The War of the Worlds" described that this color was owed to organic red weeds that covered the planet's surface.

However when Mariner 9, the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, cruised around the red world it revealed an endless landscape of dry, barren desert. In stark contrast to an abundant bounty of weed life, the reality of the Red Planet is a desolate biome covered in iron-rich dust and rocks, according to NASA. But on and underneath the rock surfaces, chasms and crevices of this world there is a compelling mystery. The more scientists look, the more they find evidence of water on Mars, or at least that water may once have been abundant on Mars; and some think that liquid water is still there.

Water is considered integral to the origin of life on Earth. As such, when exploring the Martian world, NASA adopted a similar strategy to Earth colonists exploring new lands and opted to "follow the water." Looking at the dry and barren surface, this strategy may appear misguided. But today's appearance doesn't mean the world was always this way. Mars is a cold planet, being 1.5 times as distant from the sun as Earth, according to NASA. It is also smaller than Earth and thus supports less gravity, meaning Mars now retains a thin atmosphere.

These characteristics of Mars mean it has the potential to have once been covered in swaths of ocean, and yet would be reduced to little or nothing today. Spacecraft, orbiters and rovers, are currently busy scouring the planet's geology and atmosphere for evidence of water on Mars.

Related: The solar system: Facts about our cosmic neighborhood

Geologists on Earth know that the flow of water leaves a powerful impression on the landscape. On a large scale, flowing water carves out riverbeds. On a smaller scale, water picks up and carries smaller minerals as it flows, slowly polishing them over time into smooth spheroids that are deposited somewhere downstream. Striking observations from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and its predecessors found evidence of large rock formations that appeared to be dry riverbeds, according to NASA. And the Curiosity rover has observed small, round stones littering a suspected former riverbed in the Gale Crater.

As well as these features, an accidental discovery by the Spirit rover revealed a layer of silica, which could have been deposited by hydrothermal springs, near a suspected former volcanic hydrothermal region in the Gusev Crater. The serendipitous finding reaffirmed for many scientists that the area was once home to a hot spring.

Any ancient riverbeds of Mars would be long gone, but water may have persisted in other forms into the modern day. The thin atmosphere would mean evaporated liquid water would soon be lost to space, but water could persist if the cold allowed it to freeze solid, or if it was protected underground. Like Earth, the poles of Mars are the coldest regions on the planet. Unlike Earth, temperatures on Mars can plummet to minus 195 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 125 degrees C), according to Space.com.

This means that huge sheets of ice cover the poles of Mars. However, carbon dioxide freezes at these temperatures, and approximately 95% of the Martian atmosphere is composed of this molecule, according to NASA. Therefore, the ice may be water ice, carbon dioxide ice or a combination containing both. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe used infrared scans to help solve this riddle, revealing evidence for water ice existing in a cocktail with Martian dust at the southern pole.

Related: 7 solar system worlds where the weather is crazy

While there may have been abundant oceans in the past and water ice persisting in the present, could there be lingering liquid water on Mars? Tantalizingly, the answer may be yes. Using radar technology that penetrates the ground, the Mars Express orbiter found signals suggesting that bodies of liquid water also existed underground at the south pole, according to NASA.

For water to be a liquid at these temperatures, it would have to be salty, almost a brine. But could such a briny salt water also allow liquid water to appear on the surface?

In 2011, the MRO captured images of dark streaks that appeared seasonally in Martian slopes and which seemed to flow downhill. While some scientists argue that these streaks are owed to flowing sand, others believe they are the result of subsurface salt water that rises to the surface in more temperate temperatures, according to NASA's MRO webpage. Remnants of water may therefore endure on the Martian surface billions of years after it lost its oceans.

The Perseverance rover is carrying this insight into the future of Mars exploration, and it will use these signatures of water on Mars as a guide to search for ancient microbial life that may have once blossomed on the Red Planet.

The discovery of alien life would arguably represent the most significant discovery in the history of humanity. Most of the galaxy will likely forever remain out of our reach, but we may only need to peer across to our neighbouring planet to find it, according to the Natural History Museum. The potential presence of liquid water on Mars could mean that the conditions at one time were sufficient to allow for the emergence of microbial life, according to NASA.

The idea of extant microbial life on modern-day Mars is highly suspect, due to the pervasive arid and cold climate that presents a hostile environment for life. However, research into extremophile microbes (those that have adapted to live in extreme environments) on Earth may offer clues as to how microbes could endure in salty water under the Martian surface, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

If microbes on Mars are now extinct, there is still much hope that scientists can find evidence of the biological relics they left behind.

One of the key mission directives during Perseverance's Surface Operations in the Jezero Crater is to collect samples that a future mission could bring back to Earth. For this to happen, the rover will need to place the samples in a designated location on the Martian surface, known as a Sample Cache, according to NASA.

However, to make sure that scientists don't misinterpret Earth contaminants sent on the rover for something native to Mars, the rover is equipped with so-called witness tubes, which are similar to sample tubes and are all opened at the same time.

These witness tubes don't collect any samples, but instead take in the ambient atmosphere at the sample site, according to NASA. Only if something is present in the sample tube and absent in the witness tube will it be considered native to the Red Planet.

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Is there water on Mars? - Livescience.com

About a million years ago, an asteroid smacked into the normally tranquil surface of Mars. The impact released a fountain of debris, and some of the rocky fragments pierced the sky, escaping the planets gravity to journey through the dark.

Some of the rocks eventually found their way to Earth and survived the plunge through our planets atmosphere to thud into the surfaceincluding a hefty 15-pound shard that crashed into Morocco in 2011. Now known to scientists as the depleted shergottites, this collection of more than a dozen space rocks makes up an intriguing portion of the 317 known Martian meteoritesthe only material from Mars we have on Earth.

Determining what part of Mars these meteorites came from is a critical part of piecing together the planets historybut its proven to be a major scientific challenge. Now, with the assistance of a crater-counting machine learning program, a team of researchers studying the depleted shergottites may have finally cracked the case: They concluded that these geologic projectiles came from a single crater atop Tharsis, the largest volcanic feature in the solar system.

This ancient volcanic behemoth on Mars is adorned with thousands of individual volcanoes and extends three times the area of the continental United States. It was built over billions of years by countless magma injections and lava flows. It is so heavy that, as it formed, it effectively tipped the planet over by 20 degrees.

If these meteorites do come from Tharsis, as the analysis published in Nature Communications suggests, then scientists have their hands on meteorites that can help identify the infernal forces that fueled the construction of this world-tipping edifice.

This could really change the game about how we understand Mars, says Luke Daly, a meteorite expert at the University of Glasgow who was not involved with the study.

Most Martian meteorites are in a category called the shergottites, named after the Indian town of Sherghati where one was seen falling from the heavens in 1865. The shergottites are all volcanic rocks with similar compositions, but a handful of them, the depleted shergottites, possess a strange chemical signature.

On Mars, certain elements such as neodymium and lanthanum dont like to bond with minerals in the mantle, the solid-but-squidgy part of the planet below the crust. The depleted shergottites are lacking in these elementshence the name depletedsuggesting they are from Marss mantle.

But how did these rocks get close enough to the surface to be ejected in an impact? On Earth, mantle rock can work its way to the surface in two ways: when two tectonic plates move apart and permit the mantle to ascend, or when a fountain of superhot mantle matter known as a plume rises from the deep. Mars doesnt appear to have ever had plate tectonics, so a mantle plume is the most likely scenario.

Scientists also know the rocks all came from a relatively young volcanic siteperhaps a stack of lava flow depositsbased on the radioactive decay of specific elements in themeteorites.

If these spacefaring volcanic rocks all came from a single impact, then it must have been quite powerful, leaving a crater at least two miles across and potentially much bigger. And the crater would have to be about 1.1 million years old, as cosmic rays that bombarded and altered the meteorites surfaces over time reveal how long they were traveling through space after the impact.

Even with these clues, however, tracing these bits of Martian rock back to their original location has proven extremely difficult. They are like individual jigsaw pieces separated from the rest of the puzzle: Without knowing what their original environment looked like, it is almost impossible to place them in a specific part of the planet.

As geologists, we record loads of information about where we collect rock samples from, because context matters, says ine OBrien, a doctoral student studying Martian meteorites at the University of Glasgow who was not involved with the study. With Martian meteorites, because we dont know the context, we have to make a very well educated guess at what happened to it to form it.

And to make that educated guess, scientists turned to a new tool in planetary science: machine learning.

The only way to definitively determine the age of a planets surface is to take a physical sample and study its radioactive compounds. But until NASA and the European Space Agencys Mars Sample Return campaign brings some pristine Martian rocks back to Earth in the 2030s, researchers need to rely on a technique to estimate surface ages known as crater counting.

On Earth, strong winds, flowing water, erupting lava, and a cornucopia of living things speedily erase craters from old impacts. Not so on Mars, a geologically comatose world with weak winds and no surface water. There, sizable craters remain intact for hundreds of millions or even billions of years. Assuming the rate of impacts over time is known, a surface on Mars with more craters would be older than one with fewer craters.

Scientists can use other tricks to deduce a craters age. When an asteroid impacts the surface, a bunch of debris will be ejected, says Anthony Lagain, a planetary geologist at Curtin University and the new studys lead author. The bits that fall back to Mars impact the surface and make small, secondary craters around the original primary crater. Even on Mars, these secondary craters are eroded by wind within a few million years, so any large crater surrounded by secondary craters must have been made very recently in the planets history.

In order to get a better idea of ages, you need to get to smaller and smaller craters, says Gretchen Benedix, an astrogeologist at Curtin University and co-author of the study. Smaller impacts are more common than larger ones, so you can use minor differences in the number of smaller craters across two surfaces to work out more detailed timelines.

To figure out if a crater was exactly 1.1 million years old, the team had to catalog Marss small craters and use them to precisely date the surface. Doing this manually would have been torturous. Instead, they fed orbital imagery of Mars into a machine learning program and trained it to find craters less than two-thirds of a mile long.

It quickly found about 90 million, says Kosta Servis, a data scientist at Curtin University and co-author of the study. With that timeline of craters in hand, the team was able to start narrowing down the possible origins of the depleted shergottites.

After sifting through the data, the team identified 19 large craters in volcanic regions on Mars that were surrounded by multiple secondary cratersa sign that these planetary scars could be as young as the 1.1-million-year-old crater they sought. Using the catalog of 90 million small craters, the researchers were then able to precisely date the blankets of debris radiating from the larger craters, which revealed more accurate estimates of their ages.

Some of the craters were about the right age, but that wasnt enough. The formation age of the surrounding terrain had to match the ages of the minerals found in the meteorites as well. To check, the team once again used its crater catalog to date the volcanic plains.

Out of those 19 craters, just two were excavated from youthful volcanic deposits by an impact event 1.1 million years ago: crater 09-00015 and Tooting crater. The latter (named after a district in London) looks to have been formed by a powerful oblique impactthe kind of collision that would propel a lot of Martian meteorites into space.

Tooting crater has a special type of multi-layered ejecta deposit that suggests there was ice or water around at the time of the impact, says Peter Grindrod, a planetary scientist at Londons Natural History Museum who was not involved with the study. Impact simulations show that ice and water can generate more debris, plenty of which can escape into space if given enough momentum.

With all this evidence, the team identified the 19-mile-long Tooting crater as the prime suspect for the source of the depleted shergottites. Its a really well put together argument, Daly says. Everything seems to fit.

The scientists have not completely ruled out crater 09-00015, but the important thing is that both craters lie in the Tharsis region, where a vast hotspot, or superplume, has long been thought to have produced the massive bulge on the surface of Mars, Grindrod says. Regardless of which specific crater the meteorites came from, they can tell us about the history of the largest volcanic region on Mars.

Crater counting has previously revealed that some of Tharsiss features were made over 3.7 billion years ago, but the younger depleted shergottite meteorites are just a few hundred million years old. That suggests the Tharsis superplume is almost as old as Mars itself, and it continued producing magma long after many other volcanic centers on the planet died out.

Like Earths plumes, Marss mantle plumes helped shape the evolution of the planets surface, erupting enormous volumes of atmosphere-altering gases while dramatically changing its topography. The Tharsis superplume may have had a near-continual influence on the red planets development.

Marss days of frequent and prolific eruptions are long gone. But Tharsiss prolonged volcanism bolsters the notion that even small planets, those that should have lost their internal heat eons ago, can remain volcanically active for far longer than anyone originally suspected.

Buoyed by their discovery, Lagains team is hoping to identify the source craters of other Martian meteoritesincluding some of the very oldest, which could reveal more about Marss waterlogged past.

But future success, as well as this studys implications, depend on whether the machine learning program properly counted its craters. Crater counting is rife with difficulties: the rate of impacts over time is estimated, for example, and small circular structures on Mars that resemble craters could potentially fool a computer program.

Machine learning is a really inventive way of trying to tackle this problem, says Lauren Jozwiak, a planetary volcanologist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory not involved with the study. Boy, I hope this method works, she says, because if it does, it would be really cool to take this and apply it to other planets.

The studys authors concur. Mars is cool, Benedix says. But this algorithm and this methodology isnt just applicable to Mars. Its going to the moon. Its going to Mercury.

If machine learning really has solved this long-standing meteorite mystery, it opens the door to all sorts of undreamt-of possibilities. We are arguably only just starting to see the implications of machine learning in planetary science, Grindrod says.

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Odd Martian meteorites traced back to largest volcanic structure in the solar system - National Geographic

In March, Bruno Mars and the rapper Anderson .Paak released Leave the Door Open, a shimmering retro serenade that is as goofy as it is sincere. My house clean (House clean), my pool warm (Pool warm) / Just shaved, smooth like a newborn, they sing, with Mars suggestively accenting .Paaks entreaties. The single was the first song the duo released under the name Silk Sonic, and it became clear that the two musiciansboth devotees of classic soul who first distinguished themselves in other genreswere well-matched, with .Paaks tender vocals pleasantly accentuated by Marss fuller tone. The pair had met on tour, in 2017, and found a knack for making music out of their in-jokes. Pandemic lockdowns allowed them to go all in on their extracurricular collaboration. As the lead single, Leave the Door Open already feels like a relic of two different epochs: seventies soul, with its fidelity and showmanship, and the winter months of the pandemic, with its emphasis on domestic comforts and its palpable longing for connection in close quarters.

After a lengthy, ten-month promotional cyclethe incessant tinkering that Mars is known for seems to have delayed the records releasetheir collaborative album, An Evening with Silk Sonic, has arrived, no worse for wear. Brandishing the earnestness and style of seventies rhythm and blues, the album summons the flash and presentation of Earth, Wind & Fires September music video, and the songs take an analog instrumental approach, layering in bass, strings, horns, and keys. (Mars, for his part, plays electric guitar, conga drums, and even the sitar.) This is a dutiful homage, down to the last detail: Silk Sonic equipped its instrumentalists with the specific drum skins, guitar pics, and gauged strings that would recreate the seventies sound, duplicated old-school playing styles, and even tried to re-stage their forebears recording conditions, using only a few mics on musicians playing together in the same room. Projects this reliant on nostalgia rarely stand up on their own, but that doesnt mean the records feel-good charms and technical flourishes cant be appreciated for what they are: well-intentioned restorations of a form that doesnt need much updating.

Neither artist is a stranger to these sounds. After devising some of the biggest hits of the twenty-tens, Mars, a pop polyglot famous for his histrionic ballads, made a definitive move toward the finesse of retro R. & B. (Theres an impulse to mark his 2014 boogie collaboration with Mark Ronson, Uptown Funk, as the waypoint delineating his pop past from his funk future, but watch his performance of the funk-pop ditty Treasure at the Billboard Music Awards, in 2013, and it becomes clear that the genre was always an undercurrent in his music.) While Mars made his soul transformation, .Paak was coming into his own, imbuing timeless funk tunes with a rap sensibility. After a breakout role on Dr. Dres comeback album, Compton, .Paak released his sophomore album, Malibu, showcasing his textured voice, which easily transitions from singsong cadences to lyrical verse.

An Evening with Silk Sonic isnt much more than a carefully designed simulacrum, but its a low-stakes achievement nonetheless. Mars and .Paak are diligent, talented students of their subject, and the result is polished and pleasurable, even if it isnt imaginative or bracing. And at least some of the fun here comes from watching two charismatic leads who have undeniable chemistry make something out of their shared obsession. Mars and .Paak, seeming to portray the same character interchangeably, take turns out front and tactfully swap places. They boost each other with harmony, ad-lib in the margins, and playfully echo each other. Gorgeous full-band arrangements are attentively arrayed around them. The record is as much an over-the-top riff between kindred spirits as it is a meticulous pastiche.

The P-Funk legend Bootsy Collins lends the project some gravitas, with his suave voice signalling shifts in programming. Fellas, I hope you got somethin in your cup. And ladies, dont be afraid to make your way to the stage for a band that I named Silk Sonic, he intones on the intro. (Collins did, in fact, give the group its name.) Teaming up with prominent soul figures of the past and presentthe R. & B. crooner Babyface, the H.E.R. producer DMile, the bassist Thundercat, the multi-instrumentalist Boo Mitchell, and othersSilk Sonic creates a detailed genre study that highlights both the artists individual talents and their compatibility. Mars is an exacting impersonator driven by big, unavoidable hooks, and .Paak is a freewheeling fusionist who plays off the energy in the room. On After Last Night, they achieve perfect synchronization, their voices fully entwined until they part for solo turnsbut, even then, the figure outside the spotlight is always close behind with something to add.

A tenuous arc is teased out across the album: a romantic invitation is sent, the conditions of compatibility are met, love is made, and then things turn sour. On Smoking out the Window, the duo sings of mounting problems created by the object of affectiontens of thousands of dollars spent at Tiffanys, bratty kids running around the penthouse, an ex whos eager to brawl. They caricature their own vexation: Not to be dramatic, but I want to die, .Paak sings. After the breakup comes debauchery, and then, finally, the possibility of reconciliation. The duo maneuvers through this emotional gauntlet by playing to their unique strengths. Mars lets his svelte vocals dazzle in the gliding hook of Skate and the soaring refrain of Blast Off. To embody the swaggering mack energy required for songs like Fly As Me and 777, .Paak, the self-described pretty motherfucker with some money to blow, bursts into raps, hitting every beat as if strutting. Though only nine tracks longfour of them previously releasedthe album proves worth the wait, if only for Put On a Smile, a charged avowal that finds the two playboys penitent. In the verses, .Paak shares some raspy-voiced consternation: When I called you out your name / that was my ego, my pride and pain. Together, the two lament the performative emptiness of their partying, and then Mars launches into the chorus, crooning the key wordssmile, dying, fool, youas if holding on to them for dear life.

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Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paaks Soul Simulacrum - The New Yorker

Latest Collaborative Effort Connects Qualified Pet Foster Volunteers with Animal Shelters Across the U.S. and Marks 10 Years of Partnership

Today Greater Good Charities with the support of longtime partner, Mars Petcare announced a new foster program called Good Home, designed to connect shelter pets with potential fosters.

Seattle, Nov. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today Greater Good Charities with the support of longtime partner, Mars Petcare announced a new foster program called Good Home, designed to connect shelter pets with potential fosters. The program also provides educational support and training to foster volunteers and shelters through Mars Foster to Furever. The program is the latest collaboration between the organizations aimed at ending pet homelessness. Over the course of the decade-long partnership, Greater Good Charities has helped facilitate the donation of more than 100 million meals from Mars Petcare and its brands to shelter dogs and cats in need across the country. The two organizations have also worked closely to place thousands of pets in loving forever homes through multiple joint collaborations.

The Good Home and Foster to Furever programs will help facilitate foster matches for pets in needs and lift some of the stress on the animal welfare system. The program allows potential pet foster volunteers to search registered animal shelters near them to be matched with a pet in need. For animal shelters that register with Good Home, the team will help find local pet foster volunteers, provide instructions on how to manage the foster list, and offer training and resources to support a successful foster program.

The need for foster families is steadily increasing once again, and the introduction of Good Home and Foster to Furever will make it more seamless to connect foster families with pets in need, said Silja Schiller-Moumtzidis, Director of Global Shelters and Pet Adoptions at Mars Petcare. Collaborative programs and partnerships like this help us reach our goal of ending pet homelessness, and help more animals find loving homes.

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According to recent PetPoint data, cat populations in shelters have returned to pre-2020 levels, and shelter dog populations have surpassed 2019 levels. Driven by a decrease in adoptions, decrease in animal transfer, and increase in length of stay, many shelters all over the country are above capacity, with euthanasia is up 72% since February 2021.

Greater Good Charities believes fostering pets is a key solution to the animal shelter overpopulation issue and finding at-risk pets forever homes, said Liz Baker, CEO for Greater Good Charities. Our shelter partners have been reporting that adoptions and fostering have slowed in 2021 and we want to be able to support them with a sustainable program during this challenging time and beyond.

The Good Home program, and Foster to Furever program will be run by two websites, one for dog and one for cat, both presented by Mars Petcare brands. FidoFoster.org, presented by PEDIGREE brand, and FelineFoster.org presented by Royal Canin, are resources for the Good Home communities that is focused on improving the care for homeless dogs and cats by supporting a national network of foster caregivers and helping animal welfare organizations become foster-centric.

To learn more about Good Home visit greatergood.org/good-home.

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About Greater Good CharitiesGreater Good Charities, is a 501(c)(3) national nonprofit organization, with a 100/100 rating on Charity Navigator, that works to amplify the good in the world to improve the health and well-being of people, pets, and the planet. Since 2007, Greater Good Charities has given over $350 million in cash and in-kind grants to over 5,000 charitable partners worldwide and funded projects in 121 countries. To date, Greater Good Charities has provided over $28 million in support for COVID-19 disaster-relief, including cash grants, in-kind supplies, and programmatic support. To learn more about how Greater Good Charities is amplifying the good across the globe, please visit greatergood.org or follow Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok.

About Mars PetcarePart of Mars, Incorporated, a family-owned business with more than a century of history making diverse products and offering services for people and the pets people love, the 85,000 Associates across 50+ countries in Mars Petcare are dedicated to one purpose: A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS. With 85 years of experience, our portfolio of almost 50 brands serves the health and nutrition needs of the worlds pets including brands PEDIGREE, WHISKAS, ROYAL CANIN, NUTRO, GREENIES, SHEBA, CESAR, IAMS and EUKANUBA as well as the WALTHAM Petcare Science Institute which has advanced research in the nutrition and health of pets for over 50 years. Mars Petcare is also a leading veterinary health provider through an international network of over 2,000 pet hospitals and diagnostic services including BANFIELD, BLUEPEARL, VCA, Linnaeus, AniCura and Antech. Were also active in innovation and technology for pets, with WISDOM PANEL genetic health screening and DNA testing for dogs, the WHISTLE GPS dog tracker, and LEAP VENTURE STUDIO accelerator and COMPANION FUND programs that drive innovation and disruption in the pet care industry. As a family business and guided by our principles, we are privileged with the flexibility to fight for what we believe in and we choose to fight for: A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS.

2021 Mars or Affiliates.

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GREATER GOOD CHARITIES AND MARS PETCARE LAUNCH GOOD HOME, A NEW FOSTERING PROGRAM TO HELP THOUSANDS OF HOMELESS PETS - Yahoo Finance

Original Want went wrong graphic from page one of The HeraldCredit:

There was no way of knowing where any wreckage might have landed, or even if any had survived the flaming fall.

Mr Howard said at a press conference that by the time Mr Clinton phoned he had already chaired a meeting of the National Security Council which had called on the Defence Forces to make preparations to deal with any emergency.

A Defence Department spokesman, Colonel Andrew Reynolds, said space debris emergency search teams had been put on standby.

Armed with radiation detectors and special containers, it would have been their job to find and collect any debris contaminated with plutonium 238.

Mars 96 was launched from Kazakhstan on Sunday morning, Sydney time, aboard a Proton rocket. Its fourth stage failed, stranding the craft in an 87-minute Earth orbit.

With friction slowing the craft, it completed about 19 orbits before falling to Earth.

Russias Mars 96 would have been one of the most complex spacecraft yet fired at the red planet.

Launched on Sunday morning, Sydney time, it was supposed to circle the world once before the fourth stage of its Proton rocket was to reignite, sending the 6.7-tonne craft on its 10-month journey to Mars.

It was really five spacecraft bolted together. Five days before reaching Mars it would have released two landing craft, each weighing 75 kilograms.

The landing craft were carrying cameras as well as instruments designed by Finland, France and the United States.

Each landing craft was fitted with microchips carrying the names of 100,000 members of The Planetary Society, an international group of space enthusiasts, as well as CD-ROMs loaded with novels, art work and even a recording of the radio broadcast War of the Worlds.

Mars 96 also carried two arrow-like penetrators, designed to bury themselves six metres below the surface, where some scientists believe water, or even life, might be found. Each landing craft and penetrator was powered by a tiny pencil-sized container of plutonium.

The main body of Mars 96 was to map the planet from orbit.

Russia has attempted at least 18 Mars missions. The first two, in 1960, failed even to reach Earths orbit. Another three, launched in 1962 and 1971, fell back after being stranded in Earths orbit - failures repeated at the weekend by Mars 96.

In 1971 Mars 2 crashed while trying to land on the planet. Mars 3 landed safely, but all contact was lost seconds later.

Russia launched four Mars probes in 1973 but only one, an orbiter, was a complete success. Two Russian missions to land on Phobos, a moon of Mars, failed in 1989. Russia is planning one more Mars probe, in 2001.

An American probe was launched earlier this month to map Mars from orbit. Another NASA mission is to be launched on December 2.

Russias failed explorer, Mars 96, which crashed back to Earth yesterday, was just one of more than 8,000 man-made objects circling the globe yesterday.

Space junk - running our of space.Credit:

Every object larger than 10 centimetres is tracked by the US Space Commands global radar network.

The US Space Command is the worlds most sophisticated, if not only, capability to survey space and predict such re-entries, a spokesman, Lt Col Don Planalp, said.

On Saturday, the Space Command was keeping tabs on 8,674 man-made objects in space, including 2,296 satellites, 6,301 bits of debris from burnt-out rocket stages to spacecraft window covers, and 77 probes travelling out beyond Earth orbit.

Since the dawn of the space age, on October 4, 1957, when the then Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, 15,948 objects have already fallen back to Earth, including 2,430 satellites.

This is a frequent occurence, Lt Col Planalp said of falling satellites.

It happens a couple of times a week. When there are 8,000 objects in orbit around the Earth something is coming down all the time.

Most burn up in the atmosphere. Others, like Mars 96, which carry electric generators powered by plutonium, attract more attention.

In 1964, an American plutonium-powered satellite crashed into the Atlantic after failing to reach orbit. Four years later, a Nimbus weather satellite crashed after a launch failure but its plutonium generators were found and used again.

The Apollo 12 to 17 missions all carried plutonium generators to power instruments left on the Moon. Apollo 13s nuclear generator crashed into the Pacific Ocean, along with the remains of its lunar module. All efforts to trace the plutonium failed.

Several dozen Soviet spy satellites, designed to track the US Navy, carried plutonium generators. After completing their missions, rockets blasted the generators into high Earth orbit, where they should remain for hundreds of years.

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However, several malfunctioned and fell back to Earth. In January 1978, one nuclear spy satellite, Cosmos 954, crashed into Canada, spewing plutonium over a wide area.

Mars 96 carried its 200 grams of plutonium in four pencil-sized containers to power four probes to be dropped on to the Martian surface.

The Voyager missions to the outer planets and Galileo, now circling Jupiter, all have nuclear generators.

Cassini, a NASA mission to be launched next October to orbit Saturn, will also carry a plutonium power system.

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From the Archives 1996: Red alert as Mars probe falls to Earth - The Sydney Morning Herald