Category Archives: Mars

NASAs Perseverance rover has just passed the halfway mark to Mars, a big milestone for the mission. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.

NASAs newest Mars mission, the Perseverance rover, is now halfway to the red planet, the space agency announced on Tuesday, October 27, 2020. Its the latest milestone for the mission that will be the first since the Viking 1 and 2 landers in the 1970s/1980s to look directly for evidence of microbial life on Mars.

Julie Kangas, a navigator for the mission, said in a statement:

At 1:40 p.m. Pacific Time today, our spacecraft will have just as many miles in its metaphorical rearview mirror as it will out its metaphorical windshield. While I dont think there will be cake, especially since most of us are working from home, its still a pretty neat milestone. Next stop, Jezero Crater.

The Perseverance rover reached its halfway point to Jezero Crater on Mars on Oct. 27, 2020 at 1:40 p.m. PDT (4:40 EDT). There are now 146.3 million miles (235.4 million km) left to travel. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.

Since its launch on July 30, 2020, Perseverance has travelled 146.3 million miles (235.4 million km). That means that as of last Tuesday, the spacecraft is halfway to Mars (kind of). Kangas explained:

Although were halfway into the distance we need to travel to Mars, the rover is not halfway between the two worlds. In straight-line distance, Earth is 26.6 million miles [42.7 million km] behind Perseverance and Mars is 17.9 million miles [28.8 million km] in front.

Perseverances flight path is a curved trajectory due to the gravitational influence of the sun, which also affects the relative motion of the two planets.

By the time the rover reaches Mars on February 18, 2021 it will have covered 292.5 million miles (470.8 million km). At that point, it will take 11.5 minutes for radio signals to get from Earth to Mars, and vice-versa.

The spacecraft also continues to be in good health. The mission team tested the RIMFAX and MOXIE instruments onboard on October 15, and found them to be in good shape. RIMFAX will probe the ground beneath the rover with radar and MOXIE will attempt to produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, aprocedure that could be used by future astronauts for oxygen to breathe and to burn rocket fuel for the return trip back to Earth. On October 16, theX-ray tube in the PIXL instrument was tested, as well as the MEDA instrument on October 19, with similar results. PIXL will analyze the fine scale elemental composition of rocks and soil, while MEDA will study temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity and dust size and shape.

Jezero Crater, the landing site for Perseverance, used to be a lake a few billion years ago, making it a prime location in the search for past microbial life. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.

According to Keith Comeaux, deputy chief engineer:

If it is part of our spacecraft and electricity runs through it, we want to confirm it is still working properly following launch. Between these checkouts along with charging the rovers and Mars Helicopters batteries, uploading files and sequences for surface operations, and planning for and executing trajectory correction maneuvers our plate is full right up to landing.

Perseverance will land in Jezero Crater, which, a few billion years ago, held a lake. There is even an ancient delta where a river once emptied into the lake, and the rover will touch down near it.

Because the crater is an ancient lakebed with clays and sediments, the landing site is considered to be a prime location to search for traces of ancient microbial life. While the Viking landers looked for current life, Perseverance will focus on past life. It is still, however, the first Mars mission since then to have astrobiology as its primary mission. Other rovers, like Spirit and Opportunity (MER) and Curiosity, are more geology-focused, looking for evidence of past habitable conditions rather than life itself.

Artists illustration of the Perseverance rover on Mars. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.

As well as analyzing rock and soil samples in its onboard laboratory, Perseverance will store some of the samples for later return to Earth by another mission. This is the first time such a sample return from Mars will be attempted.

The rover, about the size of a car, is very similar in design to the Curiosity rover, but with updated instruments including ones specifically for searching for trace chemical or fossil evidence of past microbial life.

Perseverance also has a companion on this mission, a small drone-like helicopter called Ingenuity. It will fly ahead of the rover, acting as a scout to view the terrain from above and help spot interesting features for the rover to drive to. If successful, it will be the first-ever aircraft to be flown in the atmosphere of another planet.

The key objectives of the Perseverance mission include:

Explore a geologically diverse landing site Assess ancient habitability Seek signs of ancient life, particularly in special rocks known to preserve signs of life over time Gather rock and soil samples that could be returned to Earth by a future NASA mission Demonstrate technology for future robotic and human exploration

Artists illustration of Ingenuity, a small drone-like helicopter that is going to Mars along with Perseverance. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.

With the halfway mark now attained, there are only about four more months until Perseverance lands on Mars. This will be an exciting mission, one that not only will provide more clues as to what Mars used to be like billions of years ago as a more habitable world but perhaps even discover the first solid evidence for ancient life hidden in the dust-covered rocks and sand.

You can read more about Perseverance on the mission website.

Bottom line: NASAs Perseverance rover mission has passed the halfway mark in its journey to Mars.

Via NASA

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Life-hunting Perseverance rover is halfway to Mars - EarthSky

A group of six researchers will embark on a mission to "Mars" on Monday (Nov. 2). The Martian crew will include artists, scientists and ... me!

The crew will spend two-weeks traveling to a simulated Mars habitat. The mission, known as Sensoria M2, will take place at the HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) habitat on the side of the volcano Mauna Loa. All crew members will have completed a two-week quarantine and COVID-19 tests prior to flying to the habitat to reduce risk as Sensoria M2 is taking place during the coronavirus pandemic.

This mission will be part of the Sensoria program. Sensoria aims to support underrepresented groups in the space sector to "close existing gaps in our ability to support the next generation of crewed missions," the program's website states.

Live updates: Our mission to 'Mars' at the HI-SEAS habitatMore: HI-SEAS' 8-month mock Mars mission in pictures

"All of our missions will be female-led and female-majority. We, of course, will welcome with open arms our male colleagues, but we believe that women need to be placed at the center of our shared vision for space exploration, that women need to be given a platform for professional development, opportunities for research and training," bioengineer J.J. Hastings, who serves as the CEO of Analogs LLC, a company that backs the Sensoria program, told Space.com about the program before its inaugural mission in January 2020.

Hastings will serve as capcom (capsule communicator) for the mission alongside geoscientist Sian Proctor, said about the Sensoria program.

Sensoria M2 is what is known as an "analog mission," or a mission conducted on Earth that simulates a mission in space. At HI-SEAS, researchers complete both analog lunar and Mars missions, and this specific mission will mimic what it would be like to live and work on the Red Planet.

This means that I and the other crew members will not leave the solar-powered habitat unless in a secured spacesuit on an EVA (extravehicular activity, also known as a spacewalk). We will only eat shelf-stable foods and rely entirely on the habitat's solar power, and the team's email communication the only direct contact with the outside world will be delayed by 40 minutes. These are just a few of the ways that this analog mission will make a habitat on Earth as realistic as possible.

The mission will span from Nov. 2 to Nov. 16, which means that we will be on "Mars" both for the U.S. Presidential election (so we will all vote early before leaving for "Mars") and for SpaceX's Crew-1 astronaut launch for NASA, which is scheduled for Nov. 14.

For the mission, each crew member will be working on their own research, but, because teamwork is essential to a successful space mission, each person will also assume a crew position that describes how they will support their fellow crew members and the habitat.

For example, while I will be working to document the mission, I will also be serving as chief science officer, which will entail supporting the team's research projects and ongoing science experiments at the habitat.

I will be joined by fellow crew member Amanda Knutson, an Air Force Airman who will serve as chief engineering officer.

Also on the mission will be veterinarian and microbiologist Dr. Brandy Nunez, who will serve as chief medical officer for the crew.

Astrobiologist Michala Musilova, who is director of the HI-SEAS station, will lead the crew, serving as the mission's commander.

Science writer Beth Mund will join the mission as science communication officer.

Lastly, artist Richelle Gribble will be a part of the crew, serving as vice commander for the mission.

To keep up with me and the rest of the Sensoria M2 crew LIVE throughout this mission, check out Space.com's live mission update page here.

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Space.com is going to 'Mars' on a HI-SEAS habitat simulation - Space.com

Tokyo, November 1

After analysing an ancient Martian meteorite, a team of Japanese researchers has revealed that water on the Red Planet originated some 4.4 billion years ago.

Several years ago, a pair of dark meteorites was discovered in the Sahara Desert. They were dubbed NWA 7034 and NWA 7533. Analysis showed these meteorites are new types of Martian meteorites and are mixtures of different rock fragments.

Rocks like this are rare and can fetch up to $10,000 per gram. Recently, 50 grams of NWA 7533 was acquired for analysis by the international team in which Professor Takashi Mikouchi at the University of Tokyo participated.

"Our samples of NWA 7533 were subjected to four different kinds of spectroscopic analysis, ways of detecting chemical fingerprints. The results led our team to draw some exciting conclusions," said Mikouchi in a paper published in the journal Science Advances.

It's well known to planetary scientists that there has been water on Mars for at least 3.7 billion years.

But from the mineral composition of the meteorite, Mikouchi and his team revealed that it is likely there was water present much earlier, at around 4.4 billion years ago.

"Igneous clasts, or fragmented rock, in the meteorite are formed from magma and are commonly caused by impacts and oxidation," said Mikouchi.

This oxidation could have occurred if there was water present on or in the Martian crust 4.4 billion years ago during an impact that melted part of the crust.

"Our analysis also suggests such an impact would have released a lot of hydrogen, which would have contributed to planetary warming at a time when Mars already had a thick insulating atmosphere of carbon dioxide".

If there was water on Mars earlier than thought, that suggests water is possibly a natural byproduct of some process early on in planet formation.

The finding could help researchers answer the question of where water comes from, which in turn could impact theories on the origins of life and the exploration for life beyond Earth. IANS

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Water was formed 4.4 billion years ago on Mars - The Tribune

Just a couple of days before we are visited by a rare blue moon on Halloween night, two of our closest celestial neighbors will appear side by side in the night sky.

According to Thrillist, the nearly full moon and Mars will appear together in close proximity for the second time this month on the nights of Oct. 28 and 29, and theyll be visible together until approximately 5 a.m. local time.

According to the site, the moon will appear sitting just southwest of Mars, on Oct. 28 and on Oct. 29 itll be situated to the southeast of the red planet.

While the two celestial bodies will be positioned too far apart from each other to be seen together through most telescopes, you still should be able to see them through binoculars. But even without the aid of optical instruments, the two cosmic orbs will be clearly visible with the naked eye.

It helps that Mars temporarily surpassed Jupiter to become the fourth brightest celestial body in our sky (behind the sun, the moon and Venus), according to earthsky.org. This comes as a result of Mars reaching what is referred to as opposition earlier this month. Opposition is the point in which Earth is positioned directly between the red planet and the sun. During this time, Mars is the closest it will be to Earth until September 2035, according to ABC 11. So, now is an ideal time to look for our glowing red neighbor in the night sky.

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Whats the bright star next to the moon tonight? Its Mars - Deseret News

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It's official, I'm on my way to Mars! This morning at approximately 8:30 a.m. PST, I touched down in San Francisco, halfway to the Big Island of Hawaii where the HI-SEAS habitat is located on the slopes of Mauna Loa.

A few of my Mars crewmembers will join me for the flight and, in just a few short hours we will arrive at Kona and quickly begin the drive to the habitat. We will be traveling directly from the airport to "Mars" to eliminate any excess risk of contamination from the novel coronavirus -- it is certainly strange leaving Earth for Mars during a pandemic, the day before a major Presidential election.

It's finally happening, I'm going to Mars! Well, not really, but I will joining a simulated Mars mission at the HI-SEAS habitat in Hawaii in November alongside astrobiologist and crew commander Michaela Musilova (who is also director of HI-SEAS), Air Force airman and chief engineering officer Amanda Knutson, veterinarian and chief medical officer Brandy Nunez, science writer and crew science communication officer Beth Mund and artist and crew vice commander Richelle Gribble.

The mission will be part of the Sensoria program, which aims to support underrepresented groups within the space sector.

"All of our missions will be female-led and female-majority. We, of course, will welcome with open arms our male colleagues, but we believe that women need to be placed at the center of our shared vision for space exploration, that women need to be given a platform for professional development, opportunities for research and training," bioengineer and Sensoria co-founder J.J. Hastings, who serves as the CEO of Analogs LLC, a company that backs the Sensoria program, told Space.com in January.

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A mission to 'Mars' at the HI-SEAS habitat: Live updates - Space.com

A few months ago, amidst Covid, newspapers in West Bengal carried reports about a man who bought an acre of land on Mars. When he brandished the title deed, the media asked whether he planned to spend his honeymoon (he was about to get married) on the red planet. Those who buy a bottle of Laphroaig also get a title deed, with a lease on one square feet of land in Islay. But Islay is terrestrial, Mars is not.

There is indeed a company (perhaps there is more than one) that sells you an acre of land on Mars with a deed registered with the International Association of Human Planetary Exploration (IAOHPE). I havent found anything suggesting this is an authentic organisation. But if there are people gullible enough to pay for this doubtful package (there are standard, deluxe and premium rates) and like the resultant ego trip, why not? It seems to be no different from the idea of purchasing honorary doctorate degrees from places with dubious academic merit.

Anyone who has bought land in India knows that registration of a sale deed does not guarantee ownership or title. But this is an inappropriate analogy. For registering a sale deed, the seller is presumed to possess title. For Mars, or the moon for that matter, there can be no such presumption.While Mars is relatively new, land on the moon has been around for some time, again with deeds registered by IAOHPE, or without it. Sushant Singh Rajput was only one example. There was the German who claimed Frederick the Great gave his ancestor the moon. Interplanetary Development Corporation and Lunar Embassy Commission hawked lunar real estate.

Every science fiction connoisseur will remember Robert Heinleins 1949 novella, The Man who Sold the Moon. That man was a businessman named Delos David Harriman. At the time, at least in fiction, Heinlein invoked a legal maxim that has gone through extremely interesting evolution in jurisprudence. This fancy sounding Latin (law always becomes more impressive when Latin is used) maxim is, Cuius est solum, eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos, abbreviated more simply as the ad coelum doctrine.

In plain English, a person who owns a plot of land not only has rights to the land, but also to the air above and subsurface below the land. In the novella, using this principle, Harriman persuades the United Nations to grant his company rights to the moon. With air travel (the change started with balloon flights) and now space travel, ad coelum has become circumscribed. No infinitely above and infinitely below. There are limits.

On specifics of rights on the moon, Mars and asteroids, there is an Outer Space Treaty (OST, 1967) and this covers the moon and other celestial bodies. Most countries have signed this, though some have signed, but have not yet ratified it. Article II of this Treaty seems clear enough, at least in intent. Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means. All law (and legislation) is overtaken by events, just as the ad coelum doctrine eventually had to be modified.

The world in 2020 is different from that in 1967. Other than in the realm of science fiction, who would have imagined in 1967 that private companies would venture into space, or that chicken nuggets would float around in space? The likes of IAOHPE can argue that Article II applies only to sovereign states, not individual parties. If there is such a legal case, I suspect Article VI of the OST is sufficient to settle matters. States Parties to the Treaty shall bear international responsibility for national activities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or by non-governmental entities, and for assuring that national activities are carried out in conformity with the provisions set forth in the present Treaty.

The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorisation and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty. The problem with the Treaty is elsewhere. Reflecting the vintage, the OST is primarily about peaceful space exploration and limiting the Cold War in space. It didnt anticipate property rights in space. As with land, property rights are a bundle of rights.

Ownership is only one element. Delinking from ownership, what about mining extra-terrestrial resources? There have been add-ons to the OST, such as on return of objects from space (astronauts included), international registration and liability for objects launched and limitations on what governments can do on celestial bodies. India is a party to these. But these dont address the core issue of exploitation of resources, not always by governments, but also private companies. UN treaties are often honoured in the breach.

In any event, such a new treaty under the UN umbrella is unlikely. If the US can enact national legislation in 2015 (Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, one should read what this says about space resource exploration and utilisation), why shouldnt India? We have a space programme and private entry has recently been allowed into these. However, Indian National Space Promotion andAuthorisation Centre (In-Space), New Space India Ltd (NSIL) and Antrix Corporation require legislative backing on commercial exploitation of resources too, even if this conflicts with prior positions India adopted.

Bibek debroyChairman, Economic Advisory Council to the PM (Tweets @bibekdebroy)

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Who can own property on the moon and mars? - The New Indian Express

Mars could have had water more than four billion years ago, suggests a new study.

Scientists say that a meteor that landed on Earth from the Red Planet shows water may have formed naturally on Mars.

Several years ago, a pair of dark meteorites - worth more than gold if the rare rocks were sold - were discovered in the Sahara Desert.

Analysis showed these meteorites are new types of Martian meteorites and are mixtures of different rock fragments, researchers said.

The earliest fragments formed on Mars 4.4 billion years ago, making them the oldest known Martian meteorites and rocks like this are rare and can fetch up to $10,000 per gram.

Researchers have often thought water on planets and satellites came from either asteroids and comets that landed post-formation or was one of many substances that occurred naturally during the formation of planets.

New analysis of this ancient Martian meteorite supports the second hypothesis, scientists said.

The two meteorites were dubbed NWA 7034 and NWA 7533, where NWA stands for North West Africa and the number is the order in which meteorites are officially approved by the Meteoritical Society, an international planetary science organisation.

Recently 50 grams of NWA 7533 was acquired for analysis by the international team in which Professor Takashi Mikouchi at the University of Tokyo participated.

Prof Mikouchi said: "I study minerals in Martian meteorites to understand how Mars formed and its crust and mantle evolved.

"This is the first time I have investigated this particular meteorite, nicknamed Black Beauty for its dark colour.

"Our samples of NWA 7533 were subjected to four different kinds of spectroscopic analysis, ways of detecting chemical fingerprints. The results led our team to draw some exciting conclusions."

It's well known to planetary scientists that there has been water on Mars for at least 3.7 billion years.

But from the mineral composition of the meteorite, Mikouchi and his team deduced it's likely there was water present much earlier, at around 4.4 billion years ago.

Prof Mikouchi added: "Igneous clasts, or fragmented rock, in the meteorite are formed from magma and are commonly caused by impacts and oxidation.

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"This oxidation could have occurred if there was water present on or in the Martian crust 4.4 billion years ago during an impact that melted part of the crust.

"Our analysis also suggests such an impact would have released a lot of hydrogen, which would have contributed to planetary warming at a time when Mars already had a thick insulating atmosphere of carbon dioxide."

If there was water on Mars earlier than thought, that suggests water is possibly a natural by-product of some process early on in planet formation.

This finding could help researchers answer the question of where water comes from, which in turn could impact theories on the origins of life and the exploration of life beyond Earth.

See the article here:

Scientists discover evidence of water on Mars 4.4 billion years ago - Mirror Online

Scientists have discovered a lonely orphaned planet wandering through the Milky Way with no parent star to guide it a "rogue" planet, stuck in endless darkness with no days, nights, or gravitational siblings to keep it company.

It's possible our galaxy is filled to the brim with these rogue planets, but this one is particularly unusual for one special reason: it is the smallest found to date even smaller than Earth with a mass similar to Mars.

Scientists have found over 4,000 "extrasolar" planets, also known as exoplanets, which are planets that orbits a star other than the sun. Many exoplanets for example, one where it rains liquid iron bear no resemblance to planets in our solar system, but they all have one shared trait: they all orbit a star.

But just a few years ago, astronomers in Poland found evidence of free-floating planets, unattached gravitationally to a star, in the Milky Way galaxy. In a new study, the same astronomers have now found the smallest such planet to date.

Exoplanets are difficult to spot, typically found only by observing the light from their host stars. Because free-floating planets have no parent star and emit almost no radiation, astronomers have to take a different approach to find them.

Rogue planets are spotted using gravitational microlensing, a result of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. In this case, the gravity of the planet (lens) acts as a sort of magnifying glass, able to bend the light of a bright star (source) behind it so that an observer on Earth can detect its presence.

"The observer will measure a short brightening of the source star," lead author Dr. Przemek Mroz, a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology, said in anews releaseThursday. "Chances of observing microlensing are extremely slim because three objectssource, lens, and observermust be nearly perfectly aligned. If we observed only one source star, we would have to wait almost a million year to see the source being microlensed."

Researchers on the lookout for these events are monitoring hundreds of millions of stars in the center of the galaxy, which provides the highest chances of microlensing.

The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment survey, led by Warsaw University astronomers, is one of the largest and longest sky surveys, operating for over 28 years. Currently using a telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, the astronomers look to the galaxy's center on clear nights, in search of changes in the brightness of stars.

Because this technique relies only on the brightness of the source and not the lens, it allows astronomers to spot faint or dark objects like rogue planets.

Measuring the duration of such an event, in addition to the shape of its light curve, can provide an estimation for the mass of the object astronomers are searching for. While most observed events, caused by stars, last several days, small planets only provide a window of a few hours.

In this case, OGLE-2016-BLG-1928, the shortest microlensing event ever recorded, lasted just 42 minutes. Based on the event, astronomers estimated the planet to have a Mars-like mass and found it to be rogue.

"When we first spotted this event, it was clear that it must have been caused by an extremely tiny object," said co-author Dr. Radoslaw Poleski from the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Warsaw. "If the lens were orbiting a star, we would detect its presence in the light curve of the event. We can rule out the planet having a star within about 8 astronomical units (the astronomical unit is the distance between the Earth and the sun)."

It's not totally clear why these rogue planets have no parent stars, but scientists don't think the planets had any say in the matter. Rather, they may have originally formed as "ordinary" planets only to be kicked out of their parent systems after gravitational interactions with other planets.

NASA is currently constructing the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to start operations in the mid-2020s. Studying these free-floating planets can help astronomers better understand the unstable histories of young planetary systems including our own solar system.

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Scientists discover Mars-sized rogue planet aimlessly zooming through the Milky Way - CBS News

The fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System is a mysterious, dynamic world once flooded with liquid water, and today frozen into a desert of spectacular dunes, large valleys and extremely tall volcanoes. This, and much more, is Mars, the Red Planet.

Named after the Roman god of war, Mars is also referred to as the Red Planet due to the large presence of iron oxide (rust) in its surface, which gives the planet that flaming reddish appearance that makes it so distinctive among the astronomical bodies visible in our night sky.

Mars is approximately half the Earth size but its rotational period as well as the tilt of the rotational axis relative to the orbit are comparable to those of our home planet, meaning that a Martian day or sol (short for solar day) is only roughly 40 minutes longer than an Earth day. A Martian year on the other hand lasts the equivalent of 687 Earth days.

Other similarities with our planet include the presence of distinct seasons, polar ice caps, vast canyons as well as very high volcanoes. One of these, Olympus Mons, is the largest volcano and highest known mountain in the Solar System: it is 25 km tall, around three times taller than our Mount Everest.

In 1877, during a close approach of Mars and Earth, two relatively small and irregularly shaped natural moons were discovered orbiting the Red Planet: Deimos (12.6 km in diameter) and Phobos (22.2km). The latter is of particular significance as it is on a collision course with its host planet, getting 1.8 metres closer each century: it is estimated that the two will meet closely in around 50 million years.

Scientific evidence proves that millions of years ago Mars had lakes and rivers of liquid water flooding its surface. The lack of a magnetic field, however, caused the majority of the Martian atmosphere to be destroyed and dispersed into space by the strong solar wind, according to NASA, turning the Red Planet into a frozen world with average surface temperature of -62C, with peaks as low as -143C.

Nevertheless, water on Mars can still be found today in the form of ice and in such quantities that, if melted, it would be sufficient to cover the planetary surface to a depth of 11 metres. This is a fundamental notion as NASA as well as other space organisations plan to establish a permanent human colony on Mars in next decades. We can expect some really exciting times ahead!

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Astronomy: The Red Planet: Mars - RTL Today

Arashi, one of Japans longest-running and most popular supergroups, had zero public online footprint until last November: no Twitter, no Spotify, no YouTube, no Instagram, and certainly no TikTok. Online photos were not even allowed; their agency kept a tight grip on all content and required fans to sign up for an official subscription-based Japanese-language fan site to get band updates.

Now, after a 21-year-long career, two huge changes are happening: the five-man boy band is making big moves to break out further in the U.S. and global markets, and then theyre taking a break.

Arashi has bolstered its global social media presence by creating their first accounts, released the behind-the-scenes doc TV series Arashis Diary Voyage on Netflix and put out their first three English-language singles. The most recent, Party Starters, produced by Sam Hollander (Panic at the Disco, Fitz and the Tantrums), dropped last week and follows the ballad Whenever You Call, a collaboration with Bruno Mars.

This all comes just months before theyre set to indefinitely pause activities at the end of 2020 because band leader Satoshi Ohno, 39, wants to take a break from the entertainment world he entered at age 13.

Unlike the export-minded Korean pop industry that has produced digitally savvy supergroups like BTS and Blackpink, Japans industry has historically focused more exclusively on the local market. And its worked: Jun and the other members of Arashi Sho Sakurai, Satoshi Ohno, Masaki Aiba and Kazunari Ninomiya have become household names in their native Japan. Since the groups 1999 debut, theyve recorded 400 songs, sold over 41 million records and performed for 14 million people, making them one of the most successful groups to emerge from their late former manager Johnny Kitagawas powerhouse agency Johnny & Associates, which has dominated the Japanese entertainment world since the 1960s. Their compilation of hit singles 520 All the Best!! 1999-2019 was the worlds top selling album last year, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, outranking even Taylor Swifts Lover and BTS Map of the Soul: Persona, at 3.3 million copies.

The decision to actually really make a push to bridge the gap between Japan and the rest of the world actually happened completely independently of our decision to go on hiatus, Jun explained to Variety over Zoom through a translator. The deadline of the impending hiatus was what really pushed us to keep focused on doing new things, and held our feet to the fire, so to speak, with regards to the challenges we can still undertake.

He framed the push outward as a way of giving back to the legacy of our agencys founder, Johnny Kitagawa, who died last summer at the age of 87.

In the wake of Johnnys passing, our desire as leaders not just of the Japanese entertainment industry but also as leaders within the Johnnys family was to ask how Arashi could carry his torch forward and be a bridge just as he was between Japan and the U.S, he says rather emotionally, adding that a lot had changed in how the agency is run since Kitagawas death. We wanted to do something that wed never done before in our 21 years of existence, and also to inspire the next generation of Johnnys youths the other groups in the roster to carry on and continue to challenge themselves to do more.

Los Angeles-born Kitagawa brought the American concept of boy bands to Japan at a time when men dancing was not a cultural norm in the country. His agency, with its rigorous training system, went on to launch some of the biggest names in Japanese pop, like SMAP and KAT-TUN, landing 232 number one singles between 1974 and 2010.

But he was also plagued with accounts of harassment and sexual abuse of numerous young recruits. Critics say that the allegations have been ignored by Japanese media due to the powerful influence of his agency in Japan.

When asked what he thought Kitagawas legacy really should be, Jun spoke only of the hit-making system the manager had brought to Asia.

Johnny created so many boy bands in his 60 years of working and left an indelible mark not just on the entertainment industry of Japan, by bringing it up to a global standard, but also on Asian pop culture overall, even outside of Japan, [visible in] the rise of the Asian pop generation, he says. What youre currently seeing now with non-Japanese groups as well all really found its roots in the foundational work that Johnny did back in the 1960s.

Even though K-pop is exploding globally, Jun says he harbors no hard feelings.

I feel no sense of the kind of tribalism that some people might imagine, but rather a sense of pride that the architecture that Johnny laid the foundations for decades ago is now finally starting to cross borders. Even if its not being done by Johnny, per se, the legacy still continues and is alive and well. You can see the flowers taking root in other cultures and countries, he says. Laughing, he admitted, Ive definitely heard Dynamite quite a few times, referring to the K-pop group BTS first entirely English-language single that made them the first Korean group to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. While Whenever You Call, the groups collaboration with Bruno Mars, did not reach those chart peaks, its received a warm reception from international fans who appreciate their idols new accessibility on YouTube and social channels.

The Arashi members had long been fans of Mars, Jun says, and felt that he is an international figure who would help bolster the reach of [their] music and translate it for new audiences. Initial plans to physically record together were dashed by the coronavirus, but they proceeded remotely.

To be honest, when we first heard the song after Bruno first sent us the demo track, we were a little surprised, Jun admitted. The band had expected something a little more upbeat, a little faster, rather than a mid-tempo ballad kind of song with an easy listening element, which they found a little shocking at first.

They warmed up to the track because of its lyrics about loyalty and connection, and have come to feel that the message was prescient and perfect for both long-term fans sad about their upcoming hiatus and people around the world separated during the pandemic. (Ill come running whenever you call, goes the chorus.)

None of the band members are fluent in English. Jun says that though mastering the lyrics was a struggle, the texture of the foreign tongue gave them a sense of freedom.

Unlike in Japanese, where every individual sound has to be articulated in order to make sense just as a language, English allows for a lot more flexibility in terms of the way that different words can be extended or shortened in order to fit a particular rhythm, or the way sounds can [blur] from one word into another, says Jun.

While some are delighted by Arashis new online presence, local Japanese fans used to the traditional model of subscription fan sites and exclusive, paid access are not always thrilled.

Jun described the extent of his worries about potential backlash earlier this year when they decided to make previously DVD-only concert footage available to stream for free online for the first time. When [our live tour] Untitled was going to be posted on our YouTube channel, I was sure there would be complaints, he said in an Instagram story. He was moved to tears when core fans accepted the choice. From 11 a.m., I was at home alone watching the comments. I couldnt stop crying for three or four hours.

He explainsthat a constant challenge for the band has been to strike a balance between traditional fans used to a certain way of getting close to us and foreign fans who have a completely different set of expectations, he says.

We really didnt want all the people who have supported us through thick and thin for 21 years and who really want and need, in a sense, the value that more physical goods and the traditional exclusivity provide to feel left out or disrespected, he concludes, especially after all the love and support theyve offered for so long.

Read more here:

J-Pop Titans Arashi on Going Global, Working With Bruno Mars, and Upcoming Hiatus - Variety