Category Archives: Mars

As the rover has continued to ascend Mount Sharp, its found distinctive benchlike rock formations

Its been 3,000 Martian days, or sols, since Curiosity touched down on Mars on Aug. 6, 2012, and the rover keeps making new discoveries during its gradual climb up Mount Sharp, the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain it has been exploring since 2014. Geologists were intrigued to see a series of rock benches in the most recent panorama from the mission.

Stitched together from 122 images taken on Nov. 18, 2020, the missions 2,946th sol, the panorama was captured by the Mast Camera, or Mastcam, which serves as the rovers main eyes. Toward the center of the panorama is the floor of Gale Crater, the 96-mile-wide (154 kilometer-wide) bowl that Mount Sharp sits within. On the horizon is the north crater rim. To the right is the upper part of Mount Sharp, which has rock layers that were shaped by lakes and streams billions of years ago.

The curved rock terraces that define the area can form when there are harder and softer layers of rock on a slope. As the softer layers erode, the harder layers form small cliffs, leaving behind the benchlike formations. They can also form during a landslide, when huge, curved slabs of bedrock slide downhill. Curiositys team has seen benches before in Gale Crater, but rarely forming such a scenic grouping of steps.

Our science team is excited to figure out how they formed and what they mean for the ancient environment within Gale, said Curiositys project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which built and manages the rover.

But dont expect a rover this busy to stay put: Soon after capturing the new panorama, it was off for higher ground. This year, the rover has been driving across a clay-bearing region called Glen Torridon. After making a pit stop at a location nicknamed Mary Anning, its continued toward the next major layer, called the sulfate-bearing unit.

For more about Curiosity, visit:

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/

For more about NASAs Mars program, visit:

https://mars.nasa.gov

News Media ContactsAndrew GoodJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-2433andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

Alana Johnson / Grey HautaluomaNASA Headquarters, Washington202-672-4780 / 202-358-0668alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov / grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov

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NASA's Curiosity Rover Reaches Its 3000th Day on Mars - NASA Mars Exploration

Since the 1960s and 70s, scientists have come to view Mars as something of a dead planet. As the first close-up images from orbit and the surface came in, previous speculation about canals, water, and a Martian civilization were dispelled. Subsequent studies also revealed that the geological activity that created features like the Tharsis Mons region (especially Olympus Mons) and Valles Marineris had ceased long ago.

However, in the past few decades, robotic missions have found ample evidence that Mars is still an active place. A recent indication was an image taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which showed relatively fresh landslides in a crater near Nili Fossae. This area is part of the Syrtis Major region and is located just north of the Jezero Crater (where the Perseverance rover will be landing in six weeks!)

The landslide was captured as a part of a larger image (shown below) acquired by the MROs Context Camera (CTX) on September 21st, 2018. The image covers an area that measures close to 5 km (3 mi) across and was taken while the MRO was 284 km (177 mi) above the surface. From all indications, this appears to have been the result of material in the crater wall becoming unstable.

The CTX is designed to provide large-scale background views of the terrain around smaller rock and mineral targets that are studied by other instruments on the MRO like the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) and the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM). It is also responsible for taking mosaic images of large areas to help with landing site selection for future missions.

Last, but not least, the CTX is responsible for monitoring locations on the Martian surface for possible changes over time. That is precisely what this image showed inside a crater wall near Nili Fossae, which experienced an infall of material since it was last photographed. The HiRISE camera also noted a similar infall of wall material on the craters other side.

These features are the result of what geologists characterize as mass wasting processes (or slope processes). This term is rather broad and deals with the downhill movement of rocks and debris, including large landslides, debris avalanches, rockfalls, debris flows, and soil creep. On Mars, previous images have shown a full range of these activities, ranging from giant rock avalanches to tiny slumps and single rockfalls.

As noted, the crater captured in the CTX image lies just northwest of the Jezero Crater, which is the landing site of the Perseverance rover. This site was selected because of the delta fan located near the western wall of the crater. On Earth, these features form in the presence of moving water which slowly deposit sedimentary material over time.

Like many features in the Gale Crater, which the Curiosity rover has been studying since it landed there in 2012, this feature is evidence that Mars had flowing water on its surface billions of years ago in the form of rivers, lakes, and even a large ocean that covered its Northern Lowlands. If life also emerged in this period, then one of the most likely places the fossilized remains would be is within delta fans.

Regardless of whether or not life once existed on Mars (or still does!) it is clear that planet is very much alive. Its geological features are a testament to both the past and present forces that actively shape it. Understanding these forces and the affect they have on the landscape are an essential part of our efforts to characterize the Martian environment (and maybe even live there someday).

Further Reading: University of Arizona

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Mars is Still an Active World. Heres a Landslide in Nili Fossae - Universe Today

Mars was very bright in October, but has faded since then, as the red planet is now over 100 million miles away. Despite that, Mars is still easily found high in the southern Rochester evening sky. Just look for the brightest star-like object in that part of the sky with a distinctive orange-red hue.

If youre still unsure youre looking at Mars in the southern sky, the moon will confirm it for you this coming Wednesday evening. The moon will be parked just below the red planet in a very lovely celestial hugging.

Unfortunately, Mars is no longer much of a telescope target because its just so far away. Even with a larger scope, youll only see a reddish dot. However, with a small telescope, you can use Mars to find the planet George, currently over 1.8 billion miles from Earth. Planet George will be the next brightest star-like object you come across below and a little left of Mars. You might see that it has a pale green glow to it. Thats George.

If youre wondering why you havent heard of the planet George, that's because that was the original name of the planet we now know as Uranus, the seventh planet out from the sun. Its so far away that it takes 84 years to orbit our sun. Uranus is a giant planet, a gaseous globe made of mainly hydrogen, over 31,000 miles in diameter. For comparison, Mars is only 4,000 miles in diameter.

So why was Uranus originally called George? When the famous English astronomer Sir William Herschel discovered his new planet in 1781, he named it George. The name George didnt sit well with other astronomers worldwide, so George's official name was changed to Uranus, after the Greek god who was the father of Zeus, the king of the gods. Personally, I kind of like the name George!

Meanwhile, just above and a little to the right of Mars and George is a male sheep, the small but distinctive constellation Aries the Ram. Three moderately bright stars outline what kind of looks like the horn of a ram.

The two brightest stars are Hamal and Sheratan. Hamal is a humongous star, over 14 times the diameter of our own sun and almost 100 times more luminous! Hamal is over 850 trillion miles, or 66 light-years, away from Earth. Its so far away that the light you see from Hamal today left that star back in 1956, when yours truly was born.

Aries is one of the constellations that make up the zodiac 12 constellations that stretch in a band across the night sky. The zodiac band runs about 8 degrees on either side of the suns apparent path among the stars as Earth orbits the sun. Since all of the planets in our solar system, including Earth, orbit the sun in nearly the same mathematical plane, give or take a few degrees, the planets in our sky are always found somewhere in the zodiac band at any given time. Such is the case now with Mars and George, or Uranus if you prefer!

Not far away from Mars, Uranus and Aries is an incredibly bright array of stars that I'll tell you about next week.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul and is author of the book, Stars, a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations published by Adventure Publications. Send questions to mikewlynch@comcast.net.

The Rochester Astronomy Club welcomes new members and puts on public star parties. Their website is rochesterskies.org.

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Mars meets the planet George with a sheep watching - PostBulletin.com

The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, which has started its approach to the Red Planet, will help answer the next logical question in Mars exploration.

With only about 50 million miles (80 million kilometers) left to go in its 293-million-mile (471-million-kilometer) journey, NASAs Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is nearing its new planetary home. The spacecraft has begun its approach to the Red Planet and in 43 days, on February 18, 2021, Perseverance will blaze through Mars atmosphere at about 12,100 mph (19,500 kph), touching down gently on the surface about seven minutes later.

Were working on our last adjustments to put Perseverance in perfect position to land in one of the most interesting places on Mars, said Fernando Abilleira, deputy mission manager at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The team cant wait to put these wheels in some Martian dirt.

In a clean room at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, engineers observed the first driving test for NASAs Mars 2020 rover on December 17, 2019. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Built and managed by JPL for NASA, Perseverance will be joining another rover and lander currently at work on Mars, with several orbiters in the skies above. What sets this six-wheeled robot apart?

1. Perseverance is searching for signs of ancient life.

While the surface of Mars is a frozen desert today, scientists have learned from previous NASA missions that the Red Planet once hosted running water and warmer environments at the surface that could have supported microbial life.

We want Perseverance to help us answer the next logical question: Are there actually signs of past microbial life on Mars? said Katie Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist at JPL. This demanding goal means sending the most sophisticated robotic scientist yet to Mars.

To tackle this question, which is key in the field of astrobiology, Perseverance carries a new suite of cutting-edge science instruments. Two of them will play a particularly important role in the search for potential signs of past life: SHERLOC (short for Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals), which can detect organic matter and minerals, and PIXL (short for Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry), which maps the chemical composition of rocks and sediments. The instruments will allow scientists to analyze these features together at a higher level of detail than any Mars rover has achieved before.

This illustration shows NASAs Mars 2020 spacecraft carrying the Perseverance rover as it approaches Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Catech

Perseverance will also use some instruments to gather science data from a distance: Mastcam-Zs cameras can zoom in on rock textures from as far away as a soccer field, while SuperCam will use a laser to zap rock and regolith (broken rock and dust) to study their composition in the resulting vapor. RIMFAX (short for Radar Imager for Mars Subsurface Experiment) will use radar waves to probe geological features underground.

2. The rover is landing in a place with a high potential for finding these signs of past microbial life.

Terrain that is interesting to scientists can be challenging to land on. Thanks to new technologies that enable Perseverance to target its landing site more accurately and to autonomously avoid landing hazards, the spacecraft can safely touch down in a place as intriguing as Jezero Crater, a 28-mile-wide (45-kilometer-wide) basin that has steep cliffs, sand dunes, and boulder fields.

NASAs Perseverance rover completes its journey to Mars on Feb. 18, 2021. To reach the surface of the Red Planet, it has to survive the harrowing final phase known as Entry, Descent, and Landing. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

More than 3.5 billion years ago, a river there flowed into a body of water about the size of Lake Tahoe, depositing sediments in a fan shape known as a delta. The Perseverance science team believes this ancient river delta and lake deposits could have collected and preserved organic molecules and other potential signs of microbial life.

3. Perseverance is also collecting important data about Mars geology and climate.

Context is everything. Mars orbiters have been collecting images and data from Jezero Crater from about 200 miles (322 kilometers) above, but finding signs of ancient life on the surface requires much closer inspection. It requires a rover like Perseverance.

This image shows the remains of an ancient delta in Mars Jezero Crater, as seen by the High Resolution Stereo Camera aboard the ESA (European Space Agency) Mars Express orbiter. Credit: ESA/FU-Berlin

Understanding Mars past climate conditions and reading the geological history embedded in its rocks will give scientists a richer sense of what the planet was like in its distant past. Studying the Red Planets geology and climate could also give us a sense of why Earth and Mars despite some early similarities ended up so different.

4. Perseverance is the first leg of a round trip to Mars.

The verification of ancient life on Mars carries an enormous burden of proof. Perseverance is the first rover to bring a sample caching system to Mars in order to package promising samples for return to Earth by a future mission.

Rather than pulverizing rock the way the drill on NASAs Curiosity rover does, Perseverances drill will cut intact rock cores that are about the size of a piece of chalk and will place them in sample tubes that it will store until the rover reaches an appropriate drop-off location on Mars. The rover could also potentially deliver the samples to a lander that is part of the planned Mars sample return campaign by NASA and ESA (the European Space Agency).

Once the samples are here on Earth, we can examine them with instruments too large and complex to send to Mars, providing far more information about them than even the most sophisticated rover could.

5. Perseverance carries instruments and technology that will help pave the way for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Among the future-looking technologies on this mission that will benefit human exploration is Terrain-Relative Navigation. As part of the spacecrafts landing system, Terrain-Relative Navigation will enable the descending spacecraft to quickly and autonomously comprehend its location over the Martian surface and modify its trajectory.

Perseverance will also have more autonomy on the surface than any other rover, including self-driving smarts that will allow it to cover more ground in a days operations with fewer instructions from engineers on Earth. This fast-traverse capability will make exploration of the Moon, Mars, and other celestial bodies more efficient for other vehicles.

In addition, Perseverance carries a technology experiment called MOXIE (short for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) that will produce oxygen from Mars carbon dioxide atmosphere. It will demonstrate a way that future explorers might produce oxygen for rocket propellant as well as for breathing.

Two other instruments will help engineers design systems for future human explorers to land and survive on Mars: The MEDLI2 (Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2) package is a next-generation version of what flew on the Mars Science Laboratory mission that delivered the Curiosity rover, while the MEDA (Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer) instrument suite provides information about weather, climate, and surface ultraviolet radiation and dust.

Perseverance is also giving a ride to the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. A technology experiment separate from the rovers science mission, Ingenuity will attempt the first powered, controlled aircraft flight at another world. If the helicopter is successful in its 30-Martian-day (31-Earth-day) demonstration window, the data could help future explorations of the Red Planet including those by astronauts by adding a new aerial dimension.

6. The Perseverance rover embodies the NASA and the scientific spirit of overcoming challenges.

Getting the spacecraft to the launch pad during a pandemic, searching for signs of ancient life, collecting samples, and proving new technologies are no easy feats. Nor is a soft touchdown on Mars: Only about 50% of Martian landing attempts, by any space agency, have been successful.

The mission team draws inspiration from the name of its rover, with particular awareness of the challenges the entire world is experiencing at this time. With that in mind, the mission installed a special plate to honor the dedication and hard work of the medical community and first responders around the globe. The team hopes to inspire the entire world, and future explorers, to forge new paths and make discoveries on which the next generation can build.

7. You will get to ride along.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission carries more cameras than any interplanetary mission in history, with 19 cameras on the rover itself and four on other parts of the spacecraft involved in entry, descent, and landing. As with previous Mars missions, the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission plans to make raw and processed images available on the missions website.

Follow the Mars 2020 mission in real-time as it travels to the Red Planet. Zoom in and give the spacecraft a spin, or view the full interactive experience at Eyes on the Solar System. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

If all goes well, the public will be able to experience in high-definition what its like to land on Mars and hear the sounds of landing for the first time with an off-the-shelf microphone affixed to the side of the rover. Another microphone on SuperCam will help scientists understand the property of rocks the instrument is examining and can also listen to the wind.

If you are among the 10.9 million people who signed up to send your name to Mars, your name is stenciled on one of three silicon chips embedded on a plate on the rover that carries the words Explore as one in Morse code.

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7 Things to Know About the NASA Perseverance Rover About to Land on Mars - SciTechDaily

James Harden made his Nets debut in a 122-115 win over the Magic on Saturday night at Barclays Center. After a two-point first quarter, he became the first player in NBA history to finish with a 30-point triple-double in his debut with a new team.

Harden totaled 32 points, 14 assists, 12 rebounds, four steals and one blocked shot. OK, he also had nine turnovers, one away from an unhappy quadruple-double.

Even so, his new teammates were thrilled. Kyrie Irving did not play, but Kevin Durant did and scored a Nets career-high 42 points.

Describing Hardens debut, Durant said: "Man, it was incredible. You could see him trying to figure out the best way to play. Early on, I felt like we were overpassing. Trying to make everybody comfortable. Then he just got into his mode of being aggressive to score, and that opened up the whole game for all of us."

Durant totaled 14 points in the fourth quarter and could credit Harden for the assists on seven of those points.

Considering the Nets still didnt have Irving, who missed his sixth straight game and hasnt played since Jan. 5, Durant is supremely optimistic about the future.

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"I cant wait until we have our full team together and seeing how we can create shots for shooters, seeing how we can get our bigs some easy points in the paint," Durant said. "Its going to be tough for anybody to double us, especially from the three-point line."

Durant criticized the fact that he and Harden had a combined 15 turnovers.

"Weve got to be better," he said. "I should probably go talk to him about that right now."

Joe Harris had 17 points and shot 4-for-9 from three-point range. He found himself wide open several times because of the defensive attention paid to Harden and Durant.

"I think its exciting," Harris said of the addition of Harden. "Its one of those things where just the talent, the level of play, but even just the energy and the camaraderie that we had, it felt like we had been playing together for a long time, even though this is the first time this group has ever taken the floor together.

"I thought even early on, it was like we were making too many extra passes, trying to get guys involved and sort of people trying to be aggressive, take the shots they normally would take. It was like everybody was trying to make that extra one, get everybody a touch, get everybody involved.

"It was awesome to see, but at the same time, its one of those things where its the first time playing together and everybody is feeling each other out. But we came together a little bit more in that second half."

Asked how tough the Nets will be to defend when Irving returns to the lineup, Harris said: "Yeah, I think its a very difficult task defensively. Youve got Kevin, who can do it at all three levels. You have James, who can do it at all three levels, and you have Kyrie, who can do it at all three levels.

"A lot has been put on their scoring prowess, but they make the right play. Its an unbelievable luxury in this league."

Greg Logan has worked for Newsday since 1982 covering a wide array of sports and events, currently including the Brooklyn Nets beat.

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Turnovers all that mars Nets' win over Magic - Newsday

Mars Horizon is a much more cunning creature than it seems at first. When I played its demo last year, I thought it was a splendid little management sim about the space race, albeit with the words splendid and little arranged like the wheels of a penny farthing. It seemed a bit simple, if Im honest, with the potential to be a pretty linear walkthrough of the history of space exploration.

But I have been proved wrong, as comprehensively as flat earthers were on December 7th, 1972. I still think the game would benefit from a more lax approach to counterhistorical material (let me build a rocket powered by nuclear bombs, cowards!), but despite keeping you close to reality, it gets a lot deeper as it goes on, and offers some masterfully balanced strategic dilemmas. Indeed, just like in a film where an unassuming training instructor karates the face off a macho braggart, Mars Horizon has taught me a valuable lesson about underestimation. The way I learned this lesson, was by bankrupting myself on the moon.

It all started so well for the Walsall Space Agency. We were the first in the world to launch a satellite into space. Then we chucked a hound up there, and then a lady, and while the dog didnt make it, the lady did and so did the WSA. In the year 1960, the West Midlands was at the undisputed forefront of the final frontier.

This is a piece of piss, I thought, as I selected the obvious best option at every decision point. Of course Ill build the best rocket! click. Of course Ill pay to fix this ominously damaged system before we launch! click. No expense shall be spared, for these brave men and women from the black country!

Because Id played games like this before, I thought I knew the drill. You probably know it too. Risks are underplayed dramatically when first foreshadowed, so that idiots will leap at cheap wins like a wolverine into a carrier bag full of ham, only to face the consequences later when things get out of hand. Thinking myself wise to these pitfalls, I took the sober, sensible route at every turn. And of course, I ploughed resources into research too, because scrambling up the tech tree is always how you win at these things.

But ten years later, at the dawn of the 1970s, the tables had turned. At Bloxwich mission control, the WSAs top brass sat glumly and ate their pies as China, the USSR and then Japan launched crewed moon landings, one by one. Meanwhile, our world-beating booster system, Big Bloke 2.0, was still lying half-finished in a shed, because we couldnt afford a launch pad big enough to assemble it on.

That was when I learned that the moon isnt just a harsh mistress in Mars Horizon; shes a bloody findom. Id thrown everything at my version of the Apollo programme, but it had proved to be a financial bridge too far, and while I had been desperately trying to make it work, other agencies had quietly built themselves up on more humble missions. We made it in the end, of course. But since nobody really cared who was fourth to the moon, the WSA never truly recovered from that loss of momentum.

You know how I could have pulled it off? By cutting corners. By accepting a marginally higher risk of explosions. By condemning a few more of Dudley zoos chimps to the uncaring void. I could have eased off on the throttle in the 50s, and started accruing unsexy long-term infrastructure bonuses, rather than slamming through the early milestones as if my scientists had been working with guns to their heads. Turns out I had been the wolverine, and my bag of ham had gone rotten before Id been able to guzzle it all.

Im not frustrated by this, as I thoroughly deserved it. I was a victim of the very specific hubris of thinking I knew how to avoid hubris. And in tripping me up like this, the game was saying two interesting things.

The first thing was that risk mitigation will only get you so far from the surface of the earth. Space is so insanely dangerous, after all, that if you do everything necessary to make it safe, youll have no cash left to actually get there. You cant make an ISS without breaking a few Ariane 5s, after all, and Mars Horizon does a great, nuanced job of exploring how risk works for space agencies.

The second thing was a reminder that head starts dont always last. To me, one measure of a well-designed management or strategy game is its ability to prevent early wins from snowballing into inevitable victory. Winning stops being fun when you know you cant lose, and Mars Horizon manages to keep things permanently precarious in a way that even giants like the Civ series struggle with.

Next time I play, I wont be complacent in the early game Ill forego a few world firsts for the sake of later successes, and ease off on the research. But at the same time, I will be complacent, at least a little bit, when it comes to safety. Ill risk my rockets, and chance my chimps. I will fuck around, as they say, and find out. And that, Auroch Digital, is why you should totally let me make rockets powered by nuclear bombs, OK?

Disclosure: Alice Liguori, formerly of this parishs YouTube channel, now works for Auroch Digital, the developers of Mars Horizon.

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How I got findommed by the moon in Mars Horizon - Rock Paper Shotgun

Conscientiousness, defined as "wishing to do what is right, especially to do one's work or duty well and thoroughly," has emerged as the key trait requirement for astronauts that will live and work on the surface of Mars millions of miles from Earth, according to a new study.

This trait was identified as more important than honesty, humility, emotionality, extroversion, openness and agreeableness.

"Conscientiousness, an individual personality trait, can be thought of as a pooled team-resource," said Julia McMenamin, the study's first author and a doctoral student in psychology at Western University in Canada, in a statement. "The more conscientiousness a team is, the better they will likely be at accomplishing tasks."

Conversely, traits like "social loafing," or the habit of a team member putting in less effort than when they work solo, are undesirable in a potential Marstronaut. Traits that seem counterproductive and negative behaviors are likely to cause more trouble and disruptions in a team environment.

The researchers consider these traits and behavior "non-negotiable" for long-duration spaceflight crews.

A careful focus on crew selection, emphasizing effective communication and very detailed work and planning processes, could help avoid any negative factors.

Some of the same things identified in the study could be used to help people coping with isolation during the pandemic as well.

Simulating a mission to Mars

Currently, NASA is targeting the 2030s for the first human mission to Mars. Depending on the alignment of Mars and Earth for launch and landing and the duration of the mission on the Martian surface, this crew could spend five years together -- not including training together beforehand.

To test what this crew dynamic might be like ahead of a real mission, researchers studied a team of five "astronauts" during an exercise analogous to a Mars mission. This event was hosted by the Austrian Space Forum in Oman in 2018. The Dhofar region of Oman is a good analog for the Martian environment in terms of isolation and extreme conditions.

McMenamin was joined by Natalie Allen, a professor of psychology at Western Univeristy, and Ottawa-based space exploration company Mission Control Space Services Chief Science Officer Melissa Battler for the study.

The AMADEE-18 analog space mission lasted for four weeks. Five astronauts, including four men and one woman between the ages of 28 to 38, lived in a simulated Mars environment.

Before, during and after the mission, the astronauts filled out surveys addressing the performance of their team and any team conflicts as well as their stress levels.

At the end of the mission, the astronauts rated themselves and each teammate. They also answered questions about their behavior in their respective roles and identified any counterproductive behaviors, including social loafing.

This particular team worked well together as a team, but the researchers were not surprised because they had prepared for their "mission." The team was also supported by field and mission control teams.

The team members were also familiar with each other before the mission began. All of these factors can be identified in examples of positive teamwork on Earth, the researchers said.

"How familiar team members are with one another has been shown to help teams work better together likely because it provides team members with knowledge about each other and helps them communicate better and more efficiently," McMenamin said.

Stress is a common negative factor that can influence team performance on Earth and in space. It's distracting, increases anxiety, causes cooperative difficulty, increases task overload and contributes to destructive emotions.

"Anyone who has worked on a team knows conflict amongst team members can harm team performance and make for a negative experience. When people argue about how to get things done, or get into personal disagreements, there is less time and energy left for completing tasks," McMenamin said.

"What's interesting is that there are different types of conflict, and so long as interpersonal issues and arguments about how to go about accomplishing tasks are avoided, differences in views and opinions might actually improve team performance likely because this allows for the team to benefit from each member's knowledge and perspective."

Given that this particular analog mission only lasted for about a month, the researchers are interested to know how things might play out over the course of a long-duration mission.

"Major issues caused by psychological distress and interpersonal problems don't tend to show up until months or even years spent in an isolated, confined, and extreme environment, which highlights the need for longer-duration simulations," McMenamin said.

Teamwork makes the dream work

Being a good team player has almost always been part of the astronaut playbook, going back to the days of the Apollo missions.

Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino spoke to CNN in September about the Netflix series "Away," which focuses on an international crew leading the first human mission to Mars. Massimino served as a consultant for the show.

The show crew was most interested in hearing about the human side of being an astronaut, Massimino said. For example, they asked him about the emotional aspects of leaving your family behind on Earth, the camaraderie between the crew and "what it's like in your heart and soul, rather than the process," he said.

Massimino, who flew on multiple missions during the Shuttle era, told them that "the Earth looks like heaven. It makes you realize we're so lucky to be here."

Regarding the teamwork aspect of spaceflight, "we really do love each other as astronauts," Massimino said. "It's like a hybrid between a family member and a friend. You really do care about each other. And there were seven of us on the Shuttle crew. We became like a family, having all of these experiences in training and spaceflight. They're extraordinary and there is not anything I wouldn't do for these people."

Massimino was selected to be an astronaut in 1996. When asked about the traits that would be important for astronauts going to Mars, he said he feels that the selection process would be similar to the way NASA chooses astronaut candidates now for long-term spaceflight on the International Space Station.

"We're looking for people who would be good candidates for long-duration spaceflight that get along, personalities that would let things roll. If things go wrong, you make mistakes because you're not perfect, you need to be able to roll with it. They should be able to contribute and be a good positive crew member, not only for their crewmates, but the people helping them back on Earth."

One of the most important aspects that helps the crew's morale and performance is a connection to Earth and the people they care about on it -- something that will be increasingly more difficult as a spacecraft leaves Earth for Mars, causing communication delays.

People tend to think of astronauts as superheroes, Massimino said.

"But we're really just regular people who care about each other and have really awesome jobs."

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Astronauts on a Mars mission will need to be 'conscientious' to work well together - CNN

The Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) is on course to arrive at the Red Planet on 9 February. A third and final major trajectory correction manoeuvre (TCM) was completed on 10 November. An additional minor TCM in December will tee it up for a Mars orbit insertion manoeuvre next year. Without the need for further major course corrections, the mission team can begin early science observations of Mars and interplanetary space.

The EMM spacecraft, also known as Hope, carries three instruments primarily designed to study the tenuous Martian atmosphere. With its arrival, the United Arab Emirates will become the fifth region, after the US, Russia, Europe and India, to reach Mars. Launched in July 2020, it is one of three spacecraft currently en route to the red planet. Chinas Tianwen orbiter and rover, and the US rover Perseverance were also launched at the same time.

EMM is the first interplanetary mission by an Arab nation, and was developed by a team led from the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), Dubai. It was funded by the UAE government through the UAE Space Agency.

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UAE mission to Mars on course to arrive in February 2021 - The Guardian

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is sometimes referred to as "Getaway Day" in the United States. Normally this is one of the most traveled-days of the year, as millions board planes and trains or travel by car in order to spend Thanksgiving with family and friends. Unfortunately, the ongoing pandemic will probably significantly reduce the number of travelers this year.

But if still do plan to travel and even if you don't if the weather is clear in your area on Wednesday evening (Nov. 25), you will have an opportunity to see what probably are, for most people, the two of the "most asked for" objects to look at through a telescope: the moon and Mars. So far as Mars is concerned, recall that during the first half of October, that planet made the closest approach to Earth that it will make until the year 2035. At that time, Mars was absolutely dazzling, holding forth as the third brightest object in the night sky next to the moon and Venus.

But things have quickly changed over the past six or seven weeks.

Related: Get ready for the 'Great Conjunction' of Jupiter and Saturn

About 45 minutes after sunset on Wednesday evening, look toward the east-southeast sky and about one-third of the way up from the horizon you will see a waxing gibbous moon, four days past first-quarter phase and five days before full. Situated about 5 degrees above and slightly to the moon's left you'll see Mars, which continues to steadily draw away from the Earth.

While we call Mars the "Red Planet," you will see that in actuality it shines with more of a yellowish-orange tint. That coloration is due to rusting iron-oxide that covers much of the Martian surface. Here on Earth we have something quite similar to that in the colors of the famous Painted Desert in Arizona. Still, the yellow-orange color apparently suggested blood to ancient skywatchers, and since the "wandering stars" that we know as planets were named for ancient deities, it seemed fitting to name this topaz wanderer after the god of war.

On Nov. 1, Mars blazed at -2.1 magnitude brighter than Sirius, the brightst star in the night sky while at a distance of 43.7 million miles (70.4 million kilometers) from Earth. But on Wednesday night, it will be 12.5 million miles (20.1 million km) farther away from us and consequently will have dimmed noticeably to magnitude -1.3, or only about half as bright as it appeared on Nov. 1.

Make no mistake about it, however; Mars is still a brilliant object, appearing only a trifle dimmer than Sirius. But when you compare it to what it was in early October when it loomed much closer, it has gone through quite a comedown.

Mars now appears more than three times fainter, and by the end of November in telescopes its disk will appear 27% smaller compared to early October.

Nonetheless, both the moon and Mars will still make for an attractive and eye-catching tableau wherever the sky is clear. And it will be most interesting to watch how their orientation to each other will appear to change during the course of the night. At around 6:15 p.m. local time, they will appear high above the southeast horizon, with Mars standing directly above the moon. When they appear highest in the sky due south at 9 p.m., Mars will appear above and slightly to the moon's right. And by around 2 a.m. (early Thanksgiving morning) they'll be hovering low above the western horizon, getting ready to soon set side-by-side, the moon appearing to Mars' left.

From here on, Mars will continue to shrink and get dimmer as its distance from Earth increases. By midwinter, even a large telescope will have difficulty in bringing out any surface features. By then, Mars will only be a tiny dot.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York'sHayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy forNatural History magazine, theFarmers' Almanacand other publications. Follow uson Twitter@Spacedotcomand onFacebook.

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See the moon and Mars shine close together on Thanksgiving eve tonight - Space.com

THANKSGIVING EVE AND THANKSGIVING ARE PROVIDING STARGAZERS WITH A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE THE MOON AND MARS MAKE A CLOSE APPROACH

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Thanksgiving Eve and Thanksgiving are providing stargazers with a rare opportunity to see the Moon and Mars make a close approach.

(CNN) Thanksgiving Eve is providing stargazers a rare opportunity to see the moon and Mars make a close approach in the night sky.

For most of us, you will see the moon in the East-Southeast sky.

Then, situated about five degrees above and slightly to the moons left youll see Mars.

While Mars is called the red planet, in the night sky it actually has more of a yellowish-orange tint.

That color comes from the rusting iron-oxide that covers much of the martian surface.

The rare alignment will repeat itself Thanksgiving night, but Mars orbit will take it gradually farther away from us after that.

Youll have to wait until 2035 for Mars to be this close to earth again.

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See The Moon And Mars Close Together - WLTZ - WLTZ 38 NBC