Category Archives: Mars

Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and environment news from around the Golden State and the country (and the galaxy). In Palm Springs, Calif., Im Mark Olalde.

America is back on Mars! If you're anything like me, that means you spent the past week obsessively consuming news about NASA's Perseverance rover that landed on the red planet. If not, then I've got you covered. First, check out this AP video of the moment that touchdown was confirmed because cheering scientists either mean you're watching the end of a '90s movie or we just did something wild. Then, check out this USA Today piece on how the mission team has taken steps toward diversity. Next, Florida Today has more information on some quirks of the Mars mission.And, finally, head over to Perseverance's Twitter feed for a plethora of cool stuff, ranging from sounds recorded on Mars to insights from NASA.

Back on Earth, here's some other important reporting....

NASA's Perseverance rover is lowered onto the surface of Mars in a harrowing landing.(Photo: NASA)

Politics as usual.Currently, all eyes in Washington, D.C., are on U.S. Department of the Interior confirmation hearings, where Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., could become the first Native American to hold a cabinet position. But, conservatives aren't making life easy for her, as they argue she would be bad for fossil fuels Haaland previously came out in favor of the progressive Green New Deal. HuffPost has an interesting look at the irony of politicians who voted against action on climate change lecturing her to "respect the science."Still, as CNN reports, fossil fuel-friendly Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced he will support her, likely meaning she'll be confirmed. Meanwhile, the Detroit Free Press reports thatformer Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who has pushed for both electric vehicles as well as renewables, has been confirmed by the Senate to helm the Department of Energy.

High water mark.Next up, here's one that you might not have heard about but could make your wallet a lot slimmer or a lot fatter, depending on where you live. USA Today reports on new data that speaks to an overhaul of the federal flood insurance program. The datafrom research group First Street Foundationestimates that average insurance rates need to quadruple in placesto keep the program solvent. "For some 265,000 properties, annual premiums would need to climb $10,000 or more to match the actual risk," the team writes. This story is complete with helpful maps and tools, so if you live anywhere near water, take a look at how you might be impacted.

Lights out.After a cold snap brought much of Texas' grid to its knees, it's supposed to be 72 degrees in Dallas tomorrow. Welcome to the modern, wildly variable climate. The thaw is also bringing time to reflect on what exactly went wrong afterrolling blackouts caused by a variety of factors not least of which was natural gas infrastructure that wasn't weatherized left people without power for days. ProPublica and The Texas Tribune are out with a deep dive on the event, chronicling how "lawmakers and regulators, including the (Texas Public Utility Commission) and the industry-friendly Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry, have repeatedly ignored, dismissed or watered down efforts to address weaknesses in the states sprawling electric grid." Meanwhile, the Austin American-Statesman, which previously reported that members of the board overseeing the majority of Texas' grid did not live in the state, writes that five members are resigning.

Rep. Deb. Haaland on Dec. 19, 2020, in Wilmington, Delaware.(Photo: Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)

California courtroom.I grew up watching legal dramas with my mom, so, now that I cover the Golden State, I've realized a courtroom TV show about California environmental litigation is long overdue. For The Desert Sun, I've got the details about two important cases currently underway in the state. First, a judge refused to strip temporary protections from Joshua trees in a case that has implications on whether climate change is a justifiable reasonto protect species. Then, an environmental group is targeting state oil regulators, filing a suit to compel them to more closely follow environmental laws when handing out drilling permits.

Don't cross the Delaware.Speaking of hydrocarbons, there's some big news out East, where thePocono Record reports that fracking has been banned on 13,539 square miles of land surrounding the Delaware River.This comes from a vote by representatives of the governors of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and New York.

Legislating lumens.Back in the West, Sam Metz of AP reports thatNevada's Senate unanimously upvoted a bill to recognize "dark sky places." The legislation will "create a state program aligned with the International Dark Sky Association" to protect areas around the state that have some of the best stargazing in the world.

Battery battles.And finally on the U.S. politics front this week, High Country News published a feature that looks at the debate over America's nascent lithium mining industry. On one hand, lithium plays a key role in the batteries that will store the energy fueling the clean energy transition. On the other hand, tribes, environmentalists and ranchers argue that rushed mining proposals are threatening land in states like Nevada. Take a look at how this conflict is playing out near theFort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Reservation.

Site of Thacker Pass mining project in Nevada.(Photo: Lithium Americas)

Disaster on the horizon.This week, I want to briefly take you around the world, where some important environmental stories are quickly unfolding. Let's start in Yemen, where the ongoing war could have a surprising victim the country's coastal and marine ecosystems.For Newlines Magazine, Lylla Younes reportsthat an oil tanker has been sitting moored 4 miles offshore for five yearsafter it was abandoned. The ship holds more than 1 million barrels of crude, and neglect and saltwater are eating away at it. If the tanker isn't pulled to shore and emptied soon, then it could cause a spill four times as massive as the infamous Exxon Valdez.

Extreme extraction.Humans aren't so great at the three R's reduce, reuse, recycle leading us to ever more extreme ways of digging up new resources. The latest international battle is centered on seabed mining, which is the fledgling practice of stripping the bottom of the ocean for minerals and dumping the refuse back into the water. If practiced on a large scale, it's expected to be hugely destructive. Under increasing pressure, though, a territory in Australia has outright banned the mining technique, The Guardian reports.

Breaking the ice.In a dizzying sign of the times, Bloomberg writes that a tanker made the first-ever February trip through Arctic sea ice after another hot year. Russia's deputy prime minister's response was that he's "confident that the Northern Sea Route is competitive." Without a shred of irony, the expedition was a return trip after dropping off a load of liquified natural gas in China.

Broken sea ice emerges from under the hull of the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as it sails through the Victoria Strait while traversing the Arctic's Northwest Passage on July 21, 2017.(Photo: David Goldman, AP)

Much ado about nothing.And to kick this week's edition, let's keep things international, where Politico digs into the latest intergovernmental attempt to address a changing climate. "When it comes to climate change, bombs dont work, so the United Nations Security Council prefers words to action," reporter Karl Mathiesen writes. But Russia, which asa permanent member of the council has veto power, warned against any move to recognize warming as a threat to global security.

Scientists agree that to maintain a livable planet, we need to reduce the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration back to 350 ppm. Were above that and rising dangerously. Here are the latest numbers:

Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases continue rising.(Photo: George Petras)

Thats all for now. Dont forget to follow along on Twitter at @MarkOlalde. You can also reach me at molalde@gannett.com. You can sign up to get Climate Point in your inbox for free here. And, if youd like to receive a daily round-up of California news (also for free!), you can sign up for USA Todays In California newsletter here. Mask up; were doing it! Cheers.

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Climate Point: We made it back to Mars, but your earthly home might be in flood zone - USA TODAY

An artist's depiction of a nuclear powered spacecraft of the sort that might one day carry people to Mars. Nuclear could allow for faster journeys, according to the experts. USNC-Tech hide caption

An artist's depiction of a nuclear powered spacecraft of the sort that might one day carry people to Mars. Nuclear could allow for faster journeys, according to the experts.

When NASA's Perseverance rover touched down on the Martian surface last week, humans cheered from the confines of planet Earth.

But if the space agency or others hope to leave and send astronauts to Mars, experts say they need to consider a technology that was studied decades ago but never fully developed: nuclear-powered rockets.

"If we decide to send humans to Mars, nuclear propulsion is likely to be central to that journey," says Roger Myers, an independent aerospace consultant and co-chair of a panel convened by the National Academies to study nuclear propulsion.

A new report out from Myers and his colleagues suggests that NASA should begin studying nuclear propulsion now, if it hopes to use it in a Mars mission in 2039. Although NASA does spend some money studying the technology, Myers says, funding is "going to have to be ramped up significantly if we're going to hit 2039."

The idea of using nuclear reactors for propulsion dates back to the earliest days of the U.S. space program. In the 1950s and 1960s, scientists with what was then called the Atomic Energy Commission developed a series of nuclear rockets. The program was conducted in collaboration for NASA and developed working prototypes. But it was cancelled in the early 1970s, after it became clear the missions for which it was needed, to travel to Mars and the moon, were unlikely to go forward.

The technology has had sporadic funding in the years since, even as other technologies for space travel have continued to develop. Most notably in the case of Mars, Myers says scientists and engineers have made incredible strides in robotic technology to explore the Red Planet.

"We can do a tremendous amount of fantastic science with robots, as we're discovering today," Myers says.

Getting humans to Mars is another matter. "There are many factors that need to be considered, including such things like how fast can you get there? How long do you have to stay on Mars? How quickly and how reliably can you get back?" he says.

Those questions, he says, are all about one thing: minimizing the time from when astronauts leave earth, to when they return. The trip must be as fast as possible, but going quickly takes fuel. For even the most basic human trip to Mars, Myers and the panel believe around a thousand tons of propellant would be necessary.

A documentary showing early work on nuclear rocketry.

That would come from Earth, on many dozens of little rockets that could be used to gas up a larger, Mars-bound spacecraft. It would be expensive and dangerous, and even with all the propellant, astronauts would be required to stay on Mars for 500 days while waiting for a planetary alignment that would let them get back to earth using as little propellant as possible.

Nuclear power, by contrast, could allow the mission to be completed with less fuel and in a shorter amount of time. Because of the extra thrust provided by nuclear rocket motors, astronauts would be able to take a shortcut back to Earth by spiraling around the Sun and Venus. The mission would also mean a shorter first stay on Mars of only about a month, as opposed to 500 days.

"If you want to go to Mars, nuclear is a smart choice," says Vishal Patel, a nuclear rocket scientist with the company called Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation.

Patel and his colleagues are working on the version of a nuclear rocket previously tested by the U.S. It involves shooting hydrogen gas through the core of a specially designed nuclear reactor. The hydrogen would cause the reactor to heat up, which in turn would make the hydrogen expand out of a nozzle, causing thrust.

Patel says so far, the design looks promising. "The chemistry looks good, the nuclear physics looks good, the manufacturing seems to be going in the right direction," he says.

A second kind of nuclear rocket would use the nuclear reactor in a more conventional way. In this version, the reactor would generate electricity that could then be used to power a different rocket motor, such as an "ion thruster" of the sort used on some satellites.

The National Academies found each design had significant challenges that would need to be overcome before they were ready for humans. For the nuclear rocket using hydrogen, materials would have to be developed that could tolerate the enormous temperatures inside the reactor core. The rocket would also need advanced hydrogen storage so that its fuel didn't leak.

The nuclear electric system, by contrast, would need giant radiator panels protruding from the spaceship to help deal with heat generated by the reactor. It would also require more research to figure out how to integrate the reactor with different kinds of thrusters and power systems.

Patel recognizes that launching a nuclear reactor from earth might make some people nervous, but he says Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation is working hard to make it...ultra safe.

"We'll be using conventional rockets to get it up into space, and we'll have safety measures in places just in case the chemical rocket does malfunction," he says.

A nuclear rocket can look a lot like a conventional one, but operates using nuclear power. USNC-Tech hide caption

A nuclear rocket can look a lot like a conventional one, but operates using nuclear power.

The nuclear reactor would remain shut off throughout its trip off of Earth's surface, and even if the rocket exploded, it would not melt down. Astronauts would not activate the nuclear rocket system until their Mars-bound spacecraft was a safe distance from earth.

The reactor would also be shielded to protect the astronauts from its radiation, Patel says. But Myers adds the larger radiation risk comes from space itself. Both the Sun and the Milky Way galaxy put out powerful radiation that can be harmful to anyone outside of Earth's atmosphere. Nuclear rockets would protect astronauts by keeping the travel time through space as short as possible, he says.

Ultimately it remains unclear whether nuclear rockets will be able to get off the ground. Developing the technology is enormously expensive, and there are still many obstacles to making it work. In a statement, NASA said it would "will further review the committee's recommendations and share them with stakeholders."

Myers says he believes NASA should at least begin investing to see whether such rockets could play a role in humanity's first trip to Mars. "Right now we don't have the data to make good decisions on these systems," he says.

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Nuclear-Powered Rockets Could Be The Best Option For Bringing Humans To Mars - NPR

Think about it. In roughly 50 years, our knowledge of Mars went from this

to this.

Thanks to orbiters, landers, and rovers, were getting a grip on the planet that has gripped human imagination for millennia: Mars. Now the latest rover Perseverance could begin answering a question weve had all alongIs there other life in the universe?

Im an executive producer at Smithsonian Channel and I had the pleasure of making the documentary Making Tracks on Mars, which premiered February 14, 2021. A lot of documentaries tackle this subject as a science story. For me, its an adventure story. I think this is Magellan or Lewis and Clark-level explorationtrailblazing in the highest order. We made our film feel like an adventure because most people think of Mars as a frontier. We surely get into the science, but at its core the story taps into our primal drive to explore.

Were also taking our storytelling beyond the screen and into the realm of augmented reality. We worked with the National Air and Space Museum to create a companion app called Missions to Mars AR that allows you to explore Mars in 3D in ways that are both educational and laugh-out-loud fun. From driving a rover down your street to walking onto the surface of Mars yourself, its the next best thing to being thereuntil we actually get there, anyway. Check it out at sc.tv/MarsAR.

For the documentary, we worked closely the Museums Center for Earth and Planetary Studies (CEPS). We conducted interviews with several scientists and took a few into the field to show how Earth compares and contrasts with Mars. Heres one clip featuring Ross Irwin, geologist and Chair of CEPSwhat better way to describe past water on Mars than by putting Ross in a canoe? (These are the things scientists do for TV producers.)

We also asked Mariah Baker, a post-doctoral fellow at the Museum, to help us understand wind on Mars. Shes traveled to some of Earths most Mars-like places to try to square how wind shapes both planetsand how it contributed to the demise of rover Opportunity. We filmed her segment at the coast (we had no trouble convincing Mariah to go to the beach).

The film focuses on Perseverance, but historic context makes its journey even more stunning. We unfold the story of Mars as humans discovered itmission by mission, question by question. Mariner 4s flyby, Mariner 9s orbits, the seminal Viking landingseach exponentially advanced our knowledge of Mars. We marvel at the radical pace of innovation that took us from microwave-sized Sojourner to SUV-sized Perseverance. And we take a good look at what is sure to capture much of the attentionIngenuity, the first space helicopter. If it works, it will be Mars Wright Brothers moment, and humanitys first powered flight on another planet. Science fact is catching up to science fiction.

In addition to the science of Perseverance, we meet some of the people behind its design. We unpack the drama behind the scenes. Theres a pandemic to overcome. Theres fear of watching a decades worth of toil blow up on the launch pad (or as John Grant, senior scientist at the Museum, says in our film, were placing a $2.4 billion rover on top of a giant bomb). And of course, the building anxiety over the aptly-named Seven Minutes of Terror, when Perseverance could have burned-up in the Martian atmosphere or crashed on the surface if only one of a thousand things went wrong.

If TV writers are always looking for dramatic nail-biting moments, this story comes with a robotic armful. No overhype or embellishment necessary. Its just a flat-out great adventure story, as were all overjoyed at the happy endingand beginningthat began on February 18.

Dan Wolf is an executive producer at Smithsonian Channel and produced thedocumentary Making Tracks on Mars.

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Making Tracks on Mars - An Adventure Story - National Air and Space Museum

Last week, NASA successfully landed the Perseverance rover in theJezero Crater on Mars.

Because NASA's key goals with this mission are to acquire data on the unknowns of Marsatmospheric conditions, landscape, and microbial life, for instanceNASA outfitted the rover with a host of sensors, many of which are commercial-off-the-shelf components.

One kit of sensors on Perseverance's heatshield, known as the MEDLI2, is designed to measure the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) of the rover to better aid future missions.

We recently discussed the design challenges of powering the Perseverance rover from afar. But flight sensors experience their own challenges during space travel and landing.

In space, sensors need to survivefluctuating extreme temperatures, random vibrations, shock, vacuum, and ionizing radiations. For these reasons, components purpose-built forspacecraft must be tested and qualified by performing applicable environmental tests.

Inertial measurement units (IMU), gyroscopes, magnetometers, thermocouples, and pressure transducers are commonly-used sensors in deep space probes. NASA engineers must conduct extensive environmental and lifecycle testing to validate their reliability and ruggedness for the space environment. Typically, the systems are also designed conservatively with safety margins and backup/redundant units in place to increase reliability and minimizerisk.

Designing and manufacturing space-grade avionics can be notablydifferent from commercial products. For instance, printed circuit boards cannot use pure tin-based solderin the vacuum ofspace, which could induce catastrophic mechanical stress. Further, tin-based solder mayproduce "tin whiskers," which are electrically-conductive and can cause arcing.Tin whiskers can be especially hazardous inspacecraft without the ability toreplace the PCBs once the payload launches.

Still, NASA was able to use some commercial components in MEDLI2 without consequence.

MEDLI2 is the second version of NASA'sentry, descent, and landing instrumentation. This instrumentation package includesthree types of sensors located on the backshell and heatshield of Perseverance, including 17 pressure transducers, 17 thermal plugs, and 3 heat flux sensors. Its purpose is to gain data on critical aerodynamic, aerothermodynamic, and thermal protection system (TPS) performance parameters during the EDL.

Previouslyduring the MSL mission, the original MEDLI did not measure heat flux in the backshell, so flight data for this phase was among the many firsts with this new mission. The new MEDLI can collect data on:

This data will allow researchers to compare flight data with predicted data and update analytical models.

Heat flux sensors are vulnerable to high mechanical and thermal stress, which can severely affect their functionality. MEDLI2tested commercially-available heat flux gauges for accuracy and survivability. The candidates for the sensor kitincluded Gardon gauges, a thermopile, and Schmidt-Boelter gauges.

NASA performedbenchtop tests (environmental tests with aerothermal loads) on thefunctionality and ecological impact of each of these gauges. The engineers ultimately chose Schmidt-Boelter gauges because of their performance during testing.

Hypersonic stagnation pressure is measured using a pressure transducer for the 035,000 Pa range that spans the entire test period, including the peak dynamic pressure environment.

One of the key findings from MEDLI was that the hypersonic pressure transducers do not provide sufficient accuracy at lower pressures during supersonic flight. Therefore, in MEDLI2,it was necessary to include a separate set of supersonic transducers that are accurate over the 07000 Pa range. Another pressure transducer is located on the vehicle's backshell to measure low pressures of 0-700 Pa.

How exactly did the MEDLI2 fare during Perseverance's entry last week? NASA reports that thesensors successfully indicated heating and pressure dynamics as the entry vehicle passedthrough the Martian atmosphere. MEDLI2 continued collecting data after the spacecraft reachedpeak heating (up to 1300C) and peak pressure. During the final 100 seconds of the entry, the vehicle remainedin the supersonic flight phase.

From the wind speed, the MEDLI2 pressure transducers then collected data on direction and vehicle performance.MEDLI2 usedmany othersensors to gain more relevant data based on the missing details from past missions as well. NASA hopes insights obtained from this mission will eventually drive the design of crewed missions to Mars.

JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) recently stated that some of the high-definition cameras used in this mission were commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) parts, which opens the possibility of commercial sensors being used in future missions. It's possible that NASA maybalance radiation-hardened and COTS components in other future projects as well.

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MEDLI2, the Sensors That Monitored the Perseverance Rover's Landing on Mars - News - All About Circuits

As NASAs Perseverance rover successfully landed on Mars, it has created a huge buzz online among space enthusiasts, who cant wait to catch images of the Red Planet. Now, a 360-degree visualisation from Mars surface has gone viral, leaving many mesmerised with an incredible sky lit with zillions of stars the only problem is that its photoshopped and not real.

Hugh Hou, a videographer from the US who specialises in 360-degree imagery, recently created an artistic 360-degree visualisation and the stunning creation got more than 1.6 million shares on Facebook. To make the experience worthwhile, Hou urged netizens to wear their VR headsets while experiencing Whats Mars surface looks. The artist said that the view was created by stitching six individual images taken by NASAs Perseverance Mars rover on February 20, 2021.

Although in the long description, the artist explains: The sky does not represent the real sky from Mars, it failed to get noticed by most people. As the image went viral, the fact that it was misleading and fake irked many online, who later commented they feel cheated.

Disclaimer: the original photo does not have the full sky, I edited the sky to have a full 360 experience inside a VR headset like Oculus Quest 2, he added in a comment. This is an art, he clarified again.

Now, in case youre wondering how it actually looks like to stand on Mars, NASAs JPL released a video of the high-definition 360 degree view of landing site the Jezero Crater as captured by the rovers colour Navigation Cameras, or Navcams. Unlike Hous version, in NASAs video Red Plants sky appears to be misty and in rusty hues.

NASAs Mars 2020 Perseverance rover got its first high-definition look around its new home in Jezero Crater on Feb. 21, after rotating its mast, or head, 360 degrees, allowing the rovers Mastcam-Z instrument to capture its first panorama after touching down on the Red Planet, NASA wrote in a press release.

The US space agency also released a first picture of the panoramic view taken by Mastcam-Z, a zoomable pair of cameras aboard NASAs Perseverance Mars rover. The panorama was stitched together on Earth from 142 individual images taken on Sol 3, the third Martian day of the mission (Feb. 21, 2021), it added in a statement.

NASA said that they will use these mast cameras to determine which rocks are worth sampling and which should be collected and returned to Earth in the future.

A key objective of 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 (broken rock and dust).

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Incredible: 360 degree visualisation from Mars surface goes viral but its not what its seems - The Indian Express

Nearly 11 million people landed on Mars last week- even if it was just in names only.

When NASA's Perseverance rover touched down on the red planet, it did so bearing three silicon chips.

Upon these small pieces of silicon - each one no larger than a fingernail - millions of names were etched with an electron beam.

The beam allows for the writing to be less than one micron across - much less than the width of a human hair.

In total, 10,932,295 people from around 250 countries and territories had their names travel the 300 million miles through the solar system aboard the rover.

And 284,350 of those were people in the UK, with participating countries stretching from the United States to Niue as part of the "Send Your Name To Mars" project.

The silicon chips were attached to a plate on one of Perseverance's central beams, ensuring the camera on the rover could see them.

A virtual boarding pass was also sent to those who signed up for the scheme.

The previous NASA landing on Mars was InSight in November 2018 - this craft had 2,429,807 earthling names on it.

Meanwhile, 7,289,416 people have already signed up to have their names transported across the cosmos on the agency's next mission to the red planet.

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Perseverance: NASA's rover takes 11 million earthling names to Mars - Sky News

Smithsonian Voices National Air and Space Museum

Is there life on Mars? is a question people have asked for more than a century. But in order to finally get the answer, we have to know what to look for and where to go on the planet to look for evidence of past life. With the succesful landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars on February 18, 2021, we are finally in a position to know where to go, what to look for, and knowing whether there is, or ever was, life on the Red Planet.

Science fiction aside, we know that there were not ancient civilizations or a population of little green people on Mars. So, what sort of things do we need to look for to know whether there was ever life on Mars? Fortunately, a robust Mars exploration program, including orbiters, landers, and rovers, has enabled detailed mapping of the planet and constrained important information about the environment.

We now know that there were times in the ancient past on Mars when conditions were wetter and at least a little warmer than the fairly inhospitable conditions that are present today. And there were once habitable environments that existed on the surface. For example, the Curiosity rover has shown that more than three billion years ago, Gale crater was the location of a lake that held water likely suitable for sustaining life. Armed with information about the conditions and chemical environments on the surface, the Perseverance rover is outfitted with a science payload of instruments finely tuned for extracting information related to any biosignatures that might be present and signal the occurrence of life.

But where should we go on Mars to maximize the chances of accessing the rocks most likely to have held and preserve any evidence of past life? To get at that answer, I co-led a series of workshops attended by the Mars science community to consider various candidate landing sites and help determine which one had the highest potential for preserving evidence of past life. Using data from Mars orbiters coupled with more detailed information from landers and rovers, we started with around thirty candidate sites and narrowed the list over the course of four workshops and five years. Some sites were clearly less viable than others and were weeded out fairly quickly. But once the discussion focused on a couple of different types of potentially viable sites, the process became much tougher. In the end, the science community feltand the Perseverance mission and NASA agreedthat Jezero crater was the best place to look for evidence of past life on Mars.

What is so special about Jezero crater and where is it? Jezero crater is ~30 miles (~49 km) across, was formed by the impact of a large meteorite, and is located in the northern hemisphere of Mars (18.38N 77.58E) on the western margin of the ancient and much larger Isidis impact basin. But what makes it special relates to events that happened 3.5 billion years ago when water was more active on the surface of Mars than it is today. Ancient rivers on the western side of Jezero breached the crater rim and drained into the crater, forming a river delta and filling the crater with a lake. From the study of river deltas on the Earth, we know that they typically build outwards into lakes as sediment carried by the associated river enters the lake, slows down, and is deposited. As this process continues, the delta builds out over the top of lake beds and can bury and preserve delicate and subtle signatures of past life. These biosignatures are what Perseverance will be looking for when it lands on the floor of the crater and explores the ancient lake beds and nearby delta deposits.

Perseverance will use its instruments to look for signs of ancient life in the delta and lake deposits in Jezero crater and will hopefully allow us to finally answer the question of whether there was ever life on Mars. In addition, Perseverance will begin the process of collecting samples that could one day be returned to Earth. The importance of sample return cannot be overstated. Whether or not evidence of past life is found by Perseverances instruments, the legacy enabled by samples the rover collects will be the scientific gift that keeps on giving. Once returned to Earth by a future mission, these Mars samples can be subjected to more detailed analysis by a much wider set of instruments than can be carried by Perseverance. Moreover, sample archiving can preserve material for future analysis here on Earth by new and/or more detailed instruments that may not yet exist. So even if Perseverance does not find evidence of past life, it will collect samples that, once returned to Earth, could provide new insight into the evolution of Mars and whether there was ever life on the Red Planet.

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Is There Life on Mars? | Smithsonian Voices | National Air and Space Museum - Smithsonian Magazine

(NEXSTAR) With NASAs Perseverance Rover landing on Mars last week, the search for life on the Red Planet continues.

But could earthly life survive on Mars?

According to a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, microbes from earth could briefly survive in Mars-like conditions.

In September 2019, the researchers launched four fungal and bacterial samples from earth on a large NASA scientific balloon into the middle of the stratosphere, where radiation levels resemble those on the surface of Mars.

Some of the samples survived the trip, suggesting that earthly life may have a chance at survival on the planet.

If a microbe can hack it up there, above much of the protective ozone layer, it just might be able to survive however briefly on a journey to the surface of Mars, said study co-author David J. Smith, MARSBOx co-principal investigator and researcher at NASAs Ames Research Center, in a statement.

The research provides insight into the surface of Mars and gives us clues about how to avoid unintentionally bringing tiny hitchhikers with us to off-world destinations, said Ralf Moeller, head of theAerospace Microbiology Research Groupat the German Aerospace Center and study co-author, in a statement.

To conduct the study, the researchers secured millions of microbes onto special quartz disks inside aluminum boxes. The boxes were then filled with a mixture of gases that mimic the Martian atmosphere.

Once the microbes reached their destination 24 miles above the surface of the earth they were exposed to celestial radiation, extreme temperatures and dry air with a thousand times less pressure than at sea level.

After the specimens returned to earth, the scientists discovered two of the four had survived. One of the survivors included the fungus Aspergillus niger, which is sometimes used to produce antibiotics.

Spores from the A. niger fungus are incredibly resistant to heat, harsh chemicals, and other stressors but no one had ever studied whether they could survive exposed in space or under intense radiation like we see on Mars, said Marta Corteso, microbiologist at DLR and co-lead author of the study, in a statement. The fact that after their MARSBOx flight we could revive them demonstrates they are hearty enough to endure wherever humans go, even off-planet.

With further research, scientists hope to determine which genes or genetic mutations are responsible for the microbes survival.

The team plans to launch a second test flight from Antarctica in the coming years as these balloon-flown aerobiology experiments allow us to study the microbes resiliency in ways that are impossible in the lab, according to Smith.

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Earth microbes could survive on Mars, study finds - wreg.com

The Red Planet meets up with a famous asterism this week.

Mars will meet up with a famous asterism this week. On Wednesday night, the Red Planet will pass close by the Seven Sisters or The Pleiades."

This asterism is famous in many cultures and has been watched for centuries. Theyre mentioned in Homers Iliad & Odyssey alone with Chinese literature dating back to 2350 B.C.

The First Quarter Moon arrives this week as well. On Friday evening the Moon will reach this phase at 8:30 which means you can look for the half-moon if youre out on the town.

The planet Mercury reaches something known as its Greatest Western Elongation at about 6:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. This is when itll appear at its farthest from the Sun when viewed here on Earth.

Its also a great time to see the planet because itll be bright & at its highest point in the morning sky. Look in the east-southeastern sky just before sunrise to find it. Right next to it will be Jupiter & Saturn wont be far off.

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Skywatch: Look for Mars and the 'Seven Sisters' - 10TV

The first helicopter ever sent to another world is doing just fine on Mars after surviving a "seven minutes of terror" landing aboard NASA's Perseverance.

The Ingenuity helicopter, which landed on Mars with Perseverance on Thursday (Feb. 18), is awake and communicating with controllers on Earth.

Controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) received a downlink on Friday at 6:30 p.m. EST (2330 GMT) through the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, indicating the 4-lb. (2 kilograms) helicopter and its base station are both operating normally.

Related: The Ingenuity helicopter on Mars, here's what to knowLive updates: NASA's Perseverance Mars rover mission

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"Both appear to be working great. With this positive report, we will move forward with tomorrow's charge of the helicopter's batteries," Tim Canham, Ingenuity Mars helicopter operations lead at JPL, said in a statement on Friday.

That power-up procedure, which occurred Saturday (Feb. 20), will charge the six lithium-ion "rotorcraft" batteries to roughly 30% of their planned capacity, and data will be sent back to Earth to decide how to proceed with future battery-charging sessions.

Amazing photo: Wow! See the Perseverance rover dangling above Mars

For now, JPL plans to charge the batteries to 35% capacity in a few more days, and then to do weekly charging sessions to keep the helicopter warm on the cold Martian surface and ready for its eventual flight in a few months.

Ingenuity is getting its power from Perseverance from the time being, but once the rover lets go of the helicopter, the drone will be charging fully on its own, using solar panels.

"After Perseverance deploys Ingenuity to the surface, the helicopter will then have a 30-Martian-day [31-Earth-day] experimental flight test window," JPL said in a statement. A Martian day or "sol" is 24 hours and 37 minutes, compared to Earth's 24 hours, and controllers are operating on Mars time for the first 90 sols of the mission.

"If Ingenuity survives its first bone-chilling Martian nights where temperatures dip as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit [minus 90 degrees Celsius] the team will proceed with the first flight of an aircraft on another world," JPL added. "If Ingenuity succeeds in taking off and hovering during its first flight, over 90 percent of the project's goals will have been achieved. If the rotorcraft lands successfully and remains operable, up to four more flights could be attempted, each one building on the success of the last."

Ingenuity's flights could pioneer a new generation of soaring Mars explorers working either independently, or alongside far-future human landing missions. Flying drones on Mars could scout ahead of rovers to plan the best routes, or hover above dangerous terrain to perform scientific studies, among other applications.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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The first helicopter on Mars phones home after Perseverance rover landing - Space.com