Category Archives: Mars

No matter how advanced our civilization here on Earth becomes, theres a sobering fact we have no choice but to reckon with: Earths resources are finite. That not only includes the resources we typically think of, like minerals, clean water, and breathable air, but also something even more fundamental and restrictive: land area. No matter how thoroughly we develop, theres only a finite amount of continental land area to inhabit on our planet.

While floating cities on the seas and oceans may someday become a possibility, the finite surface area of planet Earth ensures that, beyond a certain point, well need to leave our home planet if we want our civilization to continue to grow. Although many of us have dreamed of living on another world, we have yet to find even a hint of life on a world beyond Earth, much less a fully inhabited planet or one habitable by humans. If we want a world to be suitable for us to live on, it looks like our only option will be to transform a presently uninhabitable planet into one that humans can survive on a process called terraforming. Despite the popular sentiment that Mars is the right world to terraform within our solar system, there may be an even better option closer to home: the Moon. Heres the science of why.

At first glance, it might appear that Mars is much better suited for terraforming than the Moon. After all, Mars already has large quantities of water on it: in both the solid and gaseous phases. Mars had a past where liquid water was rife on the surface, and probably spent more than the first billion years of its existence with oceans and rivers throughout its surface. Mars is larger and more massive than the Moon; it has a higher gravitational acceleration than the Moon does at its surface; and its atmosphere, while thin, is rich in carbon dioxide.

But Mars also faces issues that the Moon doesnt. For one, Mars is farther from the Sun, meaning that we receive less energy from the Sun on every square meter of area. For another, Marss atmosphere is a tremendous hazard, with high winds, routine sandstorms, and terrain that changes as readily as sand dunes do on Earth. Mars, having no protective magnetic field like Earth does, is also subjected to bombardment by solar wind particles. If anyone living on the surface didnt want to be given a lethal dose of radiation on timescales far, far less than a human lifetime, they would have to move underground: a possibility afforded only by the copious existence of enormous lava tubes on Mars.

None of these are insurmountable obstacles, of course; with a large enough investment of resources, practically anything is possible. But the more resources you have to bring with you both to survive and thrive in the new environment and also to protect you from the harmful effects of all that surrounds you the more difficult this task becomes. On Mars, we have to consider many factors that work against us.

By contrast, the Moon is a much more favorable environment by many metrics. A one-way journey to the Moon takes mere days, the same as it did in the Apollo era. Messages get exchanged very quickly between the Earth and the Moon, with a one-way light-travel-time of only about 1.25 seconds. An observer on the near side of the Moon the side that always faces us would be in constant contact with Earths infrastructure, whereas any other world, including Mars, would need an orbital array to enable communications when Earth is invisible from that worlds surface.

The Moon offers many benefits that Mars simply doesnt have, even considering that:

In many ways, these conveniences make the Moon our top candidate for our first terraforming location. In terms of radiation, the Moon has Mars beat. Sure, the Moon and Mars both have dead cores, and surface magnetic fields that vary incoherently over the surface of those worlds. Offering negligible protection compared to Earths magnetosphere, these worlds themselves do little to shield any surface dwellers from the particles and radiation emitted by the Sun.

You might think that being closer to the Sun, the Moon would have it worse than Mars. You might realize that the Moon lies outside of the Van Allen Belts that surround Earth, meaning that our planet provides negligible protection from that effect. All of that is true.

But in 2007, a detailed analysis demonstrated that Earths magnetic field does a remarkable job of shielding the Moon from the solar wind, significantly reducing the effects of radiation that a surface-dweller would receive. Additionally, the Moon picks up a positive charge during the day, slowing down and reducing the harmful effects of protons and other positively charged ions. In terms of radiation safety, the Moon has Mars beat.

In terms of infrastructure and accessibility, its really no contest. The Moon is closer, always has a view of Earth, can exchange signals and deliverables hundreds of times more quickly than can be exchanged between Earth and Mars, and is easier to land on and take off from. Certain infrastructure could be easily shared between the Earth and the Moon, such as the internet, whereas Mars would likely, due to its remote nature, need its own standalone infrastructure.

But perhaps the biggest benefit, as anyone well-versed in real estate will tell you, is location. On the Moon, solar power is a tremendous asset, as theres no atmosphere, no cloud cover, and no absorption of radiation that occurs on the way down. You can set up a solar panel on the surface and receive the same amount of incident radiation youd receive from an orbiter, and would only need to clean dust-like particles off of the panels every few decades. (Remember, dusty solar panels are what eventually killed both NASAs Spirit and Opportunity rovers!) Meanwhile, the incident flux on Mars is just 43% of what it is on the Moon, and thats at the top of the Martian atmosphere. In terms of the bang for your buck that you get from the Sun, the Moon is more than twice as efficient.

But by far the best asset on the Moon is something you might not think of as an asset at all: the lunar regolith, or the dusty outer layer of soil found on the Moon. Mars has terrain thats varied in terms of composition, elevation, and dustiness versus compactness; many have likened it to the fresh volcanic, basaltic soils found in Hawaii. However, the material found on the Moon isnt just similar to Earth; it is the Earth.

Part of the reason that we know the Moon and Earth formed from the same ancient event an early collision that kicked up debris, not a circumplanetary disk around the Earth is because weve brought back samples from the Moon and analyzed them in laboratories here on Earth. In terms of the elements that both worlds are made out of, the chemical compositions of the compounds we find, and the isotope ratios of the materials present, the Moon and the Earth have a common history. With the exception of the biological components found in Earths topsoil, the composition of the Moons regolith is identical to the composition of Earths crust.

If the material thats present on the Moon is not just similar, but identical to the material we have on Earth, that makes the prospect of terraforming the Moon a much easier task than we might have considered otherwise. Yes, theres no air, no atmosphere, and no easy source of liquid water on the surface. But if we bring:

Simply crushing lunar rocks to make soil will be sufficient to begin the process of lunar agriculture. Theres even a chance that we wouldnt have to bring our own water, as the permanently shadowed craters on the Moon are known to contain large amounts of frozen water: like a dirty, slushy snow-cone. In 2008, researchers went to test out the suitability of using lunar soil to grow terrestrial plants by testing out marigolds. When bacteria were added, the resulting plants were entirely healthy.

Then, in 2019, Chinas Change-4 spacecraft, which landed on the far side of the Moon, ran an experiment involving a small, 2.6 kilogram biosphere. Inside a series of seeds, eggs, and dormant, single-celled organisms were aboard. During the lunar day, which lasts 14 Earth days, a cotton plant grew from seed: the first time ever that a seed sprouted on the Moon. Two leaves sprouted, and its suspected that the plant only died when lunar night fell: when temperatures can drop to as low as -190 C.

The successes of these experiments, combined with the known composition, location, and other properties of the Moon, make a strong case for it to be the first world beyond Earth that we attempt to build an extraterrestrial civilization on. If we ever hope to become a multi-planet species, there will be many lessons to learn, many obstacles to encounter and overcome, and many small steps to take before were truly ready for the big prize: of becoming an interstellar civilization. Even though the space age only began in 1957 less than a single human lifetime ago the largest obstacle to terraforming is the investment of resources. On the Moon, with no deleterious environmental factors, we have the luxury of going one dome at a time.

If our goal is to terraform the Moon, then, we now have a blueprint for how to do it:

By following these steps, we could create our first long-term home for humanity beyond the confines of planet Earth. It could be built on the Moons near side, in constant communication with Earth.

As long as we have sufficient battery power to sustain, heat, and possibly illuminate the environment during the long lunar nights, the first human extraterrestrial civilization is well within the realm of reality. Rather than attempt to terraform an entire planet, going to the Moon would give us the luxury of terraforming only the area of interest, a little bit at a time, while we learn valuable lessons that could potentially be applied worldwide. For each world thats out there, we only get one chance to do things properly. When it comes to the question of terraforming, wed be mighty fools not to go after the low-hanging fruit first.

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Terraforming: why the Moon is a better target than Mars - Big Think

As Elon Musk has made very clear this week, he is not in favor of the billionaire tax proposed by Democratic leadership, which would raise hundreds of billions of dollars to help fund Joe Bidens Build Back Better bill and make life better for millions of Americans. In the mind of the Tesla cofounder, who is worth $292 billion, he already pays more than his fair share in taxes, even though, like many of the richest people in the country, he actually forks over a relative pittance to the IRS. In 2018, for example, the now richest man in the world paid a grand total of nothing in income taxes, and between 2014 and 2018, he paid what ProPublica calls a true tax rate of 3.27%. Which, as any nonbillionaire can attest, is a f--k ton less than what normal people who dont own their own rocket ship companies part with every tax season.

According to Musk, though, the proposal by Democrats is a nefarious plot that must be stopped. Without a scintilla of irony, the Tesla cofounder warned on Monday that taxing him on the increase in value of his publicly traded assets will ultimately hurt people who wont make as much money in their lifetimes as he does in one hour. Eventually, they run out of other peoples money and then they come for you, he warned, trying to convince people to contact their representatives by letter and write: Although the proposal targets billionaires and not myself, the government of elected representatives have a track record of scope creep when writing new taxes. I anticipate that any new unrealized capital gains taxes will slowly make their way down to middle class retirement investments over the next several years. It will start with billionaires, then eventually millionaires, then the modest investments will get hit possibly within a decade. Which is deeply rich considering the plan proposed by Biden, which the 700 richest people in the country could help fund without making a real dent in their net worths, would include universal preschool for all three- and four-year olds; subsidized child care; a one-year extension on the current expanded Child Tax Credit, which impacts roughly 35 million households; and a four-year extension on pandemic-related Affordable Care Act subsidies, i.e. things that would make peoples live much easier.

So, where does Musk prefer to spend his cash? If you guessed outer space, congratulations, you know your billionaires. Per Bloomberg:

The worlds richest person, Elon Musk, said he plans to use his money to get humanity to Mars and preserve the light of consciousness as Democrats weigh a billionaires tax for the wealthiest Americans that could hit him hardest of all. TheTesla Inc.CEO was responding to a tweet by Washington Post reporter Christian Davenport, who said that Musk andAmazon.com Inc.founder Jeff Bezoss tax bills under the proposed planas much as $50 billion and $44 billion over the first five yearscould pay for a mission to Mars. Bezos and Musk have a combined net worth thatapproached$500 billion Wednesday, according to theBloomberg Billionaires Index. The tax plan promoted by some congressional Democrats explicitly targeted appreciated public shareholdings, which have been a main driver of billionaires steep wealth gains in recent years.

Musk, whose net worth reached about$292 billion, has been particularly vocal on Twitter against the billionaires tax. He argued in an earlier tweet that spending is the real problem and that taxing all billionaires at 100% would only make a small dent in the U.S. national debt.In anothertweet, Musk said that the unrealized capital gains tax proposal targeted at billionaires could eventually be widened to the middle class.

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Elon Musk Would Rather Spend His Money on Mars Than Help People on Earth - Vanity Fair

Next month on Mars, the ESA and China's National Space Administration (CNSA) will try something that's never been attempted before in space: Sending data from a planet-based rover to an orbiter that it can't receive any messages from. Specifically, China's selfie-taking Zhurong rover, which has been on the Red Planet since May, will try to shoot data over to the ESA's Mars Express Orbiter.

As the ESA explains, Zhurong can't actually receive any communications from the Express Orbiter, due to a radio incompatibility. That means it can't hear the hail signal sent from the orbiter, which is typically what a rover waits for before it starts sending out data. Instead, next month Mars and the ESA will attempt a new method that's previously only been tested on Earth. During five tests, Zhurong will send a signal blindly into space, and the Mars Express will listen for that signal and any potential data.

"If [Mars Express] detects the magic signal, the radio will lock on to it and begin recording any data," ESA's Josh Tapley writes. "At the end of the communication window, the spacecraft will turn to face Earth and relay these data across space the same way it does for other scientific Mars missions. When the data arrive at ESOC, they will be forwarded on to the Zhurong team for processing and analysis."

It's not unusual for rovers to send data to foreign orbiter that's commonly been seen as a smart backup method but this test opens the door for communication between incompatible systems. That'll be useful if China has any issues with its Tianwen-1 orbiter down the line, or if the US and other countries need help in turn.

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ESA will try to fetch data from China's Mars rover with a new method: listening - Yahoo Tech

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is once again criticizing the proposed billionaire tax, which could cost him up to $50 billion if passed. He claims that the tax is put toward his goal of reaching Mars using rockets built by his firm, SpaceX.

The billionaire, who also happens to be the world's richest person, has other plans for his vast fortune - he wants to make humanity interplanetary.

"My plan is to use the money to get humanity to Mars and preserve the light of consciousness,"he tweetedtoday.

The New York Timesreported on Tuesday that Senate Democrats propose to tax billionaires on unrealized increases in value for liquid assets like stocks as part of a $1.5 trillion spending proposal.

This is why Musk is denouncing a proposed billionaire tax in the United States Congress, which, if passed, would require him to pay $50 billion in government dues. Business Insiderexplained that Musk might be spending his $50 billion on SpaceX rockets and technology that will carry people to Mars.

But Elon Musk, as Fortunepoints out, has frequently relied on government subsidies to build his firms, including a $465 million loan from the US Energy Department in 2010.

In addition, NASA awarded SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to create a lunar lander as part of the Human Landing System program.

SpaceX CEO has long believed that the best thing mankind can do is create outposts on other planets, particularly Mars.

(Photo : Getty Images)US entrepreneur and business magnate Elon Musk gestures during a visit at the Tesla Gigafactory plant under construction, on August 13, 2021 in Gruenheide near Berlin, eastern Germany. (Photo by Patrick Pleul / POOL / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK PLEUL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

ALSO READ: NASA Delays SpaceX Crew-3 Mission to November 3 Due to Weather Conditions

@twiiter|https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1453852886933377028?@

In a tweet, SpaceX shared their "Gateway to Mars" in a 90-second video that showed the Starship being wheeled to the launch pad, lifting off, doing intricate flips, and landing safely on the ground.

Musk also shared an incredible photo of the Starship and Super Heavy at the company's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, with a full moon behind them. In the tweet, he said, "Starbase under development."

Musk plans to create an Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) for regular flights to Mars using SpaceX's 120-meter Starship spacecraft atop a Super Heavy rocket as part of his space tourism objective. The spaceship would be capable of transporting 100 people from Earth to Mars and back.

For those Mars voyages, he plans to launch 1,000 or more ITS spacecraft, each with a capacity of 100 passengers. According to Space.com, Musk is planning an architecture that will deliver one million people to Mars over the next century, producing a thriving colony.

Musk predicts a cost of $100,000 to $200,000, which he claims is less expensive than the predicted $10 billion costs of traditional spaceflight technologies. He also calculated that constructing a metropolis on Mars would cost $10 trillion.

SpaceX plans to fly its first orbital Starship test mission in the coming month, ahead of a 2024 Moon landing with the first woman and person of color under NASA's Artemis program.

RELATED ARTICLE: Honda Makes Engine For Reusable Rocket Prototype; Are They Joining Space Race?

Check out more news and information on SpaceX in Science Times.

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Wants to Spend $50 Billion To Bring Humanity to Mars - Science Times

Artificial intelligence could be a huge help to Mars rovers like NASAs Curiosity or Perseverance, but first these A.I. systems need to be trained on what to look for. A NASA project invites members of the public to help identify features of the Martian landscape, in order to train an algorithm that future rovers could use to navigate around the red planet.

The AI4Mars project was launched last year, and users have already labeled nearly half a million images to help develop the Soil Property and Object Classification (SPOC) algorithm. This algorithm identifies features of the landscape like sand and rock, and does so correctly nearly 98% of the time. In the future, this algorithm could be incorporated into Mars rovers autonomous driving capabilities like the AutoNav technology used by Perseverance.

Now, the researchers want to expand SPOC to get more detailed information about rock formations such as the presence of float rocks or nodules. By automatically classifying the types of rock imaged by rovers, the researchers can send driving instructions back to the rovers more quickly.

Its not possible for any one scientist to look at all the downlinked images with scrutiny in such a short amount of time, every single day, explained Vivian Sun, a JPL scientist who helps coordinate Perseverances daily operations and consulted on the AI4Mars project. It would save us time if there was an algorithm that could say, I think I saw rock veins or nodules over here, and then the science team can look at those areas with more detail.

To help develop this algorithm, NASA is inviting members of the public to go to the AI4Mars page on Zooniverse and look at images of the Martian surface captured by the Curiosity rover. They are asked to draw polygons around particular features like sand, soil, bedrock, and large rocks. The results of thousands of classifications made by the public are then collated and checked by scientists to make sure that the labeling is accurate.

Over time, as more individual pieces of data are labeled, the algorithm can learn to distinguish features for itself.

Machine learning is very different from normal software, said lead researcher for the AI4Mars project, Hiro Ono. This isnt like making something from scratch. Think of it as starting with a new brain. More of the effort here is getting a good dataset to teach that brain and massaging the data so it will be better learned.

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You can help teach NASA rovers to explore Mars with the AI4Mars project - Digital Trends

A quick, uninformed look at the image we have here might leave one with the impression theyre looking at an overhead view of some spectacular shoreline here on Earth, a picture shot in black and white for some aesthetic reason. That couldnt be further from the truth.

Thats how high the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was spinning back in 2020, when this image was captured with the help of the HiRISE camera, the main supplier of all great Mars orbit photos for decades.

What were looking at here appears at first as a very steep shoreline, bathed at its base by the calm waters of the Red Planet. But thats, of course, only an illusion, or at best a glimpse into how the past of the neighboring planet might have looked like.

As per NASA and University of Arizona scientists working with the HiRISE, what were looking at is in fact a collection of an iron oxide called hematite, rocks, soil, and the dark basaltic sand that forms the apparent waves at the base.

A spectacular view, like the many the Meridiani Planum has to offer, some of which weve featured here not long ago (and well probably do some more, as HiRISE keeps sending back tons of amazing photos of the place).

The region is believed to have once harbored hot springs and liquid water, and this is why it became the main target of the Opportunity rover, which landed there in 2004, and died, also there, in 2019. But not before visiting no less than nine impact craters, and significantly advancing our knowledge of the place.

Continued here:

Steep Shoreline on Mars Seems to Bathe in Gentle Waves, That's Not What's Happening - autoevolution

Sheinelle Jones may have won Halloween.

Jones dressed up as pop star Bruno Mars, deftly mimicking his 2014 Super Bowl halftime performance, as part of TODAY's Football "Fright" in America theme Friday.

Dressed in the same black slacks, white shirt, black tie and glittery gold jacket that Mars wore that day, Sheinelle, who also sported his famous pompadour, put on an MVP performance, singing along to the Grammy winner's track Runaway Baby that he sang at the big game.

Sheinelle Jones as Bruno Mars (TODAY)

She also showed off some serious dance moves that wowed fans on Twitter.

@SheinelleJones THOSE MOVES!!!!!! Stole the show! one impressed viewer wrote.

@SheinelleJonesyour dance moves always blow me away! Another great Halloween show! another person commented.

Can we all just agree that you cant have #TodayShow Halloween without THE @SheinelleJones?!? WNBC reporter Tracie Strahan wrote.

Sheinelle Jones as Bruno Mars (TODAY)

Yess @SheinelleJones killing it as Bruno Mars, gushed another fan.

@SheinelleJones OMG! Completely crushed it with your Bruno Mars!!!! another blown away viewer wrote.

@SheinelleJones WON Halloween on @TODAYshow! Shes been the queen of the Halloween show for the past 3 years! someone else raved.

Sheinelle Jones as Bruno Mars (TODAY)

@TODAYshow @SheinelleJones OMG Bruno!! Not only did you have the moves but also energy and essence. So so good! another person wrote.

Al Roker also channeled some halftime entertainment this Halloween as The Weeknd. He lip-synched the hit Blinding Lights, which the singer performed during the Super Bowl halftime show earlier this year.

TODAY show team in costume for Halloween 2021 (Nathan Congleton / TODAY)

Savannah Guthrie and Jenna Bush Hager kicked things up a notch as Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, while Carson Daly and Willie Geist unleashed their inner bros as Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammates Rob Gronkowski and Tom Brady.

Weekend TODAY co-anchors Peter Alexander and Kristen Welker got in on the action by re-creating Sam Elliott and Lil Nas X's roles in last year's Doritos Super Bowl commercial.

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Sheinelle Jones crushed Bruno Mars' Super Bowl performance in TODAY Halloween show - Yahoo News

Third match with Argyris Giannikis on the bench and an equal number of victories for AEK that prevailed on Mars in the big match of the 8th game of the Super League with 2-1.

Thus, the "Union" returned to the 2nd place in the point by the champion Olympiakos. The match was quality with a very good rhythm. The hosts tried to surprise but Mandalo's fish head was blocked by Cuesta and after an awkward shot Rota shot high.

Aris then took the ball with Bertoglio, Gama and Ganea forcing Stankovic to save.

The Austrian goalkeeper assisted by Mitoglou (key for the 3rd match) who made saves against Bertoglio kept zero, with the young defender scoring his maiden goal as an AEK player in the 16th minute with a one-piece shot after a foul by Manta.

And after Brabets had a header after a corner (23 ) AEK reached the 2nd goal playing its favorite game of counterattacks.

Chuber found Mandalos and Brabets's marking inside the area was considered a violation (also by the VAR) with the result that the AEK leader made it 2-0 from the penalty spot.

In the replay, the image of the match did not change until 71 when the yellow card shown by the referee for pulling the attacking Kamara, by Mitoglou, turned red after VAR surgery and study of the video.

Two minutes later, the Thessalonians took advantage of their numerical advantage by reducing with a header by Mateo Garcia.

However, despite the pressure until the end, having opportunities with Mancini and Sasha (96 ), the guests did not find the equalizer.

AEK Mars 2-1

OAKA ("Spyros Louis")

Scorers: 16 'Mitoglou, 37' pen. Mandalos - 73 'Mateo Garcia

Referee: Diamantopoulos (Arcadia).

Yellow cards: Rota, Mandalos, Simoes, Vranies, Tzavellas - Fabiano, Dzego, Iturbe, Kamara.

Red cards: Mitoglou.

AEK (Argyris Giannikis): Stankovic - Rota (26 'Michelen), Vranjes, Mitoglou, Mohammadi - Simanski (77' Tzavellas), Simoes - Tankovic (60 'Livai Gasia), Mandalos (60' Le Talek) 77 'Araoucho).

Aris (Akis Mantzios): Cuesta - Sundgren, Fabiano, Brabets, Ghana - Dzego (61 'Sasha), Entiage (78' Iturbe) - Garcia, Bertoglio (88 'Hajovic), Gama (61' Mancini) - Kama.

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AEK 2-1 on Mars and only in second place ATHENS 9,84 - 9.84

NASAs Perseverance rover captures a geologic feature with details that offer clues to the areas mysterious past.

Ask any space explorer, and theyll have a favorite photograph or two from their mission. For Jorge Nez, an astrobiologist and planetary scientist working on the science team of NASAs Perseverance rover, one of his current favorites is a rovers-eye panorama of the South Stah region of Mars Jezero Crater. Exploring the geologic unit was among the major objectives of the teams first science campaign because it may contain some of the deepest, and potentially oldest, rocks in the giant crater.

Just like any excited tourist approaching the end of a major road trip, we stopped at a lookout to get a first view of our destination, said Nez, who is based at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. This panorama is spectacular because you feel like you are there. It shows not only the incredible scale of the area, but also all the exploration possibilities South Stah has to offer. With multiple intriguing rocky outcrops and ridgelines, each one is seemingly better than the last. If its not a field geologists dream, its pretty close.

Composed of 84 individual enhanced-color images that were later stitched together, the mosaic was taken on Sept. 12 (the 201st Martian day, or sol, of the mission) by the Mastcam-Z camera system as the rover was parked on an elevated overlook just outside its entry point into South Stah. Perseverance had just completed a record 190-yard (175-meter) drive the previous sol.

The mosaic was taken at the highest magnification and stretched to allow subtle color differences in the rocks and soil to be visible to the naked eye. Left of center and halfway up the image are the gray, darker gray, and Swiss-coffee-colored rocky outcrops of the ridge nicknamed Faillefeu (after a medieval abbey in the French Alps). The distinctly thin, at times tilted layering evident in several of Faillefeus rocks would have been high on the science teams list of things to explore, because tilted layering suggests the possibility of tectonic activity. But similar features along with other compelling geology were visible on another ridgeline that the missions science team opted to explore instead.

The Martre Ridge (named after a commune in southeastern France) is like Faillefeu except three times as big. It contains not only low-lying flat rocks near the base of the ridge, but also rocky outcrops with thin layering at the base and massive caprocks near and at the ridges peak. The caprocks are usually made of harder, more resistant material than those stacked below them, suggesting potential differences in how the material was deposited.

Another cool thing about this image is that one can also see in the background, on the right, the path Perseverance took as it made its way to South Stah, said Nez. And finally, there is the peak of Santa Cruz far in the distance. Were currently not planning on going there; its too far out of our way. But it is geologically interesting, reinforcing just how much great stuff the team gets to pick and choose from here at Jezero. It also looks cool.

More About Perseverance

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

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

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

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

For more about Perseverance:

mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ and nasa.gov/perseverance

DC AgleJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-9011agle@jpl.nasa.gov

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

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My Favorite Martian Image: the Ridges of 'South Stah' NASA's Mars Exploration Program - NASA Mars Exploration

Published: Oct. 15, 2021 at 3:27 AM MDT|Updated: 15 hours ago

BEIJING, Oct. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 30th, Mars Pet Nutrition China (Mars PN China) and Beijing Radio and Television (BRTV) co-hosted the first pet-themed activation of the 9th Beijing Citizen Consumption Season, a Beijing Municipal government-sponsored program.

At the event, Mars PN China has presented a pet-friendly fair, pet adoption fair, and the Ceremony of Better Cities for Pets, partnering with BRTV, Capital Animal Welfare Association (CAWA), COFCO Commercial Real-Estate. The event was greatly welcomed by the crowd.

During the ceremony, Mars PN China Volunteers Champion Program was officially established, committing to helping homeless pets and pet adoption. 40 dogs and cats from rescuers and shelters were posted up for adoption by Mars volunteers at the fair. New pet parents who were carefully vetted, were presented a Mars Care Package to welcome their new pet home. Both Mars PN China and the CAWA shared pet care and pet rescue knowledge onsite.

11 pet-friendly stores at COFCO Shopping Center from well-known consumer brands, such as Starbucks, ECCO, Baker&Spice, Evisu, etc., were acknowledged by the Mars Better Cities for Pets Program and BRTV during the ceremony.

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SOURCE Mars Pet Nutrition China

The above press release was provided courtesy of PRNewswire. The views, opinions and statements in the press release are not endorsed by Gray Media Group nor do they necessarily state or reflect those of Gray Media Group, Inc.

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Mars Pet Nutrition Held the First Pet-themed Activation of the Beijing Citizen Consumption Season, Advocating Ending Pet Homelessness in China through...