Mars Links and News

[News] [Links] [Transpermia between Earth and Mars] [Is your name on Mars?] [Mars Indirect - a mission to Phobos]

• The Mars Odyssey picture at right shows the enigmatic gullies in a Martian crater but also a smooth patch (top right, arrow) that, according to Phil Christensen, could be a remnant snowfield (and the source of the gullies).  This is not good news for those who thought the gullies were formed by seeping groundwater but it does open up other opportunities. Click on the picture for the official, stunning image.
  
• Update 1 Jul 03: Page 14 of the May/June 2003 issue of Planetary Report has a "Snow Report for Mars"!
  
• Update 23 Aug 03: Is this Themis image of Koga crater showing a mantle of snow?
• NASA reported this possibility in February 03.
• 30 Aug 03: Themis image showing another Mars crater with an ancient "mantle" and another showing possible evidence of past glaciers.
• 19 Feb 04 MGS: Is this another crater with gullies and a mantle of snow? (speculation)
• THEMIS FAQ: Can THEMIS detect water or ice? Yes. Both water and ice are strongly absorbing in the IR wavelength bands THEMIS uses. Can THEMIS see through dust? THEMIS can see through a small amount of atmospheric dust, but even a thin layer of surface dust (~100um) will obscure any underlying thermal IR signatures. [So a glacier or snowfield covered by a thin layer of dust might not be readily detected?]
• THEMIS: Is It Snow?
• Astrobiology Magazine: Evidence of Snow on Mars - and Perhaps an Abode for Life?
• 25 Nov 04 MSSS Mars Global Surveyor: Small Gullied Crater + A Gullied Crater Wall - still no resolution of the mechanism that formed the gullies on Mars but this looks to me like a stream emerging from a (very dirty) glacier (picture of Fox Glacier, New Zealand for comparison)!
• 17 Feb 05 Science:  And Now, the Younger, Dry Side of Mars Is Coming Out - "Perhaps the most dynamic force shaping the martian surface during those eons ... has been the snow, ice, and glaciers that move between polar and lower latitudes as the planet tilts back and forth on its axis"
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• 22 Feb 05 BBC: Mars pictures reveal frozen sea - a catastrophic event flooded the landscape five million years ago and then froze out...a crust of dust and volcanic ash, perhaps just a few centimetres thick, has prevented [sublimation].
• 26 Feb 05 ESA: Glacial, volcanic and fluvial activity on Mars: latest images
• 6 Mar 05 Science (regn): Ice or Lava Sea on Mars? A Transatlantic Debate Erupts
• 15 Mar 05 LPSC05: EVIDENCE FROM HRSC MARS EXPRESS FOR A FROZEN SEA CLOSE TO MARS’ EQUATOR (PDF)
  
• 15 Mar 05 NAI: The Martian Frozen Sea.
• 17 Mar 05 Nature (abs): Tropical to mid-latitude snow and ice accumulation, flow and glaciation on Mars + Evidence from the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera for a frozen sea close to Mars' equator.
• 17 Mar 05 Space.com: New Signs of Recent Glaciers, Volcanoes and Flowing Water on Mars
• 21 Mar 05 SpaceDaily: Hourglass Shaped Mars Craters Filled With Traces Of Glaciers.
• 9 Sep 05 BBC: Ice belt 'encircled Mars equator' - only 5 million years ago.
• 18 Oct 05 UT: Mid-Latitude Glaciers on Mars (see picture at right)
• 8 Dec 05 MSSS: This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows gullies formed in the walls of an impact crater. Such gullies might result from seepage and runoff of groundwater; others have suggested snowmelt might be involved, although there is no evidence for snow at this location.
• 8 Dec 05 Nature (abs): Planetary science: Are there active glaciers on Mars?
• 21 Jan 06 EPSL: Extensive valley glacier deposits in the northern mid-latitudes of Mars: Evidence for Late Amazonian obliquity-driven climate change
• 22 Jan 06 Space.com: Snow on Mars Created Glaciers Near Equator. (more on Mars snow)
• 27 Jan 06 NewSci: 'Wrecking ball' could break the ice on Mars - Hurling a massive copper ball at the Red Planet's mid-latitudes could reveal if water ice lies beneath its dusty crust, providing clues to the planet's climate
• 2 Feb 06 MSSS: Another "mantle" (snow/ice?) next to gullies.
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• 18 Mar 06 Themis: The gullies in this image of Gali Crater occur on the northfacing/sunfacing slope. [melting glacier?]
• 27 Jul 06 MSSS: Gullied Recesses - The channels in each gully head beneath an eroding overhang of layered rock, providing support for the hypothesis that some—if not all—martian gullies result from release of groundwater to the surface [but is it just rock or a mixture of rock and ice?]
• 7 Dec 06 BBC: Water flowed 'recently' on Mars + New Scientist: Water flows on Mars, before our very eyes.
• 11 Dec 06 Meteoritics & Planetary Science ($): High-latitude cold-based glacial deposits on Mars: Multiple superposed drop moraines in a crater interior at 70°N latitude.
• 26 Dec 06 JPL: Seasonal Frost on Mars.
• 30 Jan 07 BBC: Frozen sea may harbour Mars life
• 16 Mar 07 NASA: Mars' South Pole Ice Deep and Wide.
• 6 May 07 BBC: 'Up to half' of Mars may have ice + UT: Ice Depth Varies Across the Surface of Mars + NS: 'Bumpy' ice on Mars points to active water cycle.
• 17 Sep 07 SpaceDaily: New Theory Explains Ice On Mars
• 21 Sep 07 NASA: NASA Orbiter Provides Insights About Mars Water and Climate. Mixed news about water on the planet: "...the [fresh] deposit is not frost, ice or a mineral left behind by evaporation of salty water...Other gullies, however, offer strong evidence of liquid water flowing on Mars within the last few million years...Another new finding from that camera may help undermine arguments that very ancient Mars had a wet climate on a sustained basis....images from the high-resolution camera [to] show lava flows completely draping a young Martian channel network called Athabasca Valles. This creates ponded lava over an expanse that other researchers had interpreted in 2005 as a frozen sea...."
• 21 Sep 07 Science ($10): Is Mars Looking Drier and Drier for Longer and Longer? + A Closer Look at Water-Related Geologic Activity on Mars. "Boulders ranging up to ~2 meters in diameter are ubiquitous in the middle to high latitudes, which include deposits previously interpreted as finegrained ocean sediments or dusty snow."
• 2 Nov 07 NASA: Mars Express Probes Red Planet's Unusual Deposits - They could be ice-rich deposits, somewhat similar to the layered ice deposits at the poles of the planet, but formed when the spin axis of Mars tilts over, making the equatorial region colder... although the electrical properties are consistent with water-ice layers, there is no other strong evidence for the presence of ice today in the equatorial regions of Mars. "If there is water ice at the equator of Mars, it must be buried at least several meters below the surface"
• 20 Dec 07 BBC: 'Active glacier found' on Mars
• 14 Mar 08 BBC: Huge ice deposits 'seen' on Mars - Water ice has probably been detected below Mars' surface, far from the planet's polar ice caps, say scientists. See also INFRARED OBSERVATIONS OF MARS SOUTH POLAR RESIDUAL CAP:  WHEN EATING SWISS CHEESE – USE A FORK + INTERACTION OF LARGE IMPACT CRATERS WITH THE MARTIAN AQUIFIER.
• 24 Apr 08 UT: Mars Was Recently Blanketed By Glaciers.
• 24 May 08 HiRISE: Gullies of Crater Wall in Terra Sirenum - The wavy, arcuate ridges at the bottom of the slope may have formed by gravity moving ice-rich material off the crater wall. The pitted texture of the crater floor suggests that volatiles (ices that easily turn into gas) escaped from the subsurface, causing the surrounding material to collapse and form small pits.

• 12 Nov 07 NewSci: Mars's tiny moons – one small step for mankind? - see further links on Phobos missions
• 25 Sep 07 SpaceDaily: NASA aims to put man on Mars by 2037.
• 27 May 07 CSA: Canadians Teaming Up to Develop Mars Mission Concepts - Australian Michael West is on the Phobos mission team: Canadian Mission Concept to Mysterious Mars moon Phobos to Feature Unique Rock-Dock Maneuver . Thanks MSA.
• 22 May 07 NASA: Mars Rover Spirit Unearths Surprise Evidence of Wetter Past.
• 6 May 07 SpaceDaily: Mars Rover Spirit Finds Evidence Of Ancient Volcanic Explosion.
• 6 May 07 BBC: 'Up to half' of Mars may have ice + UT: Ice Depth Varies Across the Surface of Mars + NS: 'Bumpy' ice on Mars points to active water cycle.
• 18 Apr 07 TPS: Life Experiment: Phobos - In an ambitious new initiative, the Society is studying the possibility of sending a collection of living organisms on a three-year trip to the Martian moon Phobos and back to Earth. This will be  test of the Transpermia Hypothesis.
• 16 Mar 07 NASA: Mars' South Pole Ice Deep and Wide.
• 15 Mar 07 NASA: Mars Rover Churns Up Questions With Sulfur-Rich Soil.
• 1 Mar 07 ABC Science Show: Mars - were there ever habitable environments for life?
• 16 Feb 07 NewSci: Underground pipes channelled water on Mars.
• 30 Jan 07 BBC: Frozen sea may harbour Mars life - see also Glaciers on Mars - a safe landing for hitchhiking microbes from Earth
• 29 Jan 07 New Scientist ($): 'Life came from Mars' theory survives pressure test
• 7 Dec 06 BBC: Water flowed 'recently' on Mars + New Scientist: Water flows on Mars, before our very eyes + NASA multi-media.
• 26 Nov 06 SciAm ($): The Red Planet's Watery Past - For a billion years, liquid water may have covered much of Mars
• 22 Nov 06 SpaceDaily: China To Participate In Russian Flight To Phobos - a stepping stone to Mars.
• 21 Nov 06 MSSS: Sharp View of [Martian] Gullies in Southern Winter.
• 22 Apr 06 ESA: Mars Express’s OMEGA uncovers possible sites for life - The one most likely to have supported life was the phyllosian, when clay beds could have formed at the bottom of lakes and seas, providing the damp conditions in which the processes of life could begin... Science: Global Mineralogical and Aqueous Mars History Derived from OMEGA/Mars Express Data. + Space.com: Study Reveals Young Mars Was A Wet World.
• 1 Apr 06 PSRD: A Primordial and Complicated Ocean of Magma on Mars.
• 23 Jan 06 UT: Icy Martian Glaciers.
  
• 22 Jan 06 Space.com: Snow on Mars Created Glaciers Near Equator. (Science abstract)
• 21 Jan 06 EPSL: Extensive valley glacier depo
• 21 Aug 05 International Space Development Conference 05: Mars Indirect: Phobos as a Critical Step in Human Mars Exploration. Michael West from Uni Sydney has been working with Pascal Lee on the feasibility of this mission + Extending Human Presence into the Solar System - An Independent Study for The Planetary Society on Strategy for the Proposed U.S. Space Exploration Policy, co-authored by Mike Griffin in 2004, before he became NASA head. This study identifies a Phobos stepping-stone mission as worthwhile. See also page 179 of the book Mining the Sky by John Lewis.
  
• 29 Apr 04 NASA: Mars Rovers Finish Primary Mission and Roll Onward.
• 19 Apr 04 SpaceDaily: Mars Rover Finds Rock Resembling Meteorites That Fell to Earth + Mars Water Past Still Mysterious
• 3 Apr 04 Space.com: Spirit Backs Up Water Finding on 2nd Rock
• 24 Mar 04 NASA: Standing Body of Water Left Its Mark in Mars Rocks - latest annoucement about Opportunity landing site. Excellent view of the crater in which Opportunity landed - what luck!
• 3 Mar 04 6am AEST - NASA LiveTV: Opportunity landed in an area of Mars "that was once drenched by liquid water". NASA media release.
• 1 Feb 04 BBC: Second rover safe on Mars surface - hematite confirmed. NASA PR.
• 11 Jan 04 Space.com: Engineers Urge Caution as Anxious Mars Rover Scientists Await Rolloff + Mars: 'Beautiful, Simply Beautiful!'
• 11 Jan 04 SpaceDaily: The Bright Side of Beagle [loss]
• 20 Jun 03 Space.com: SETI Today: Part of the Growing Astrobiology Community + Race to Mars: Track the Robots En Route.
  
• 20 Jun 03 BBC: Crunch day for [Japanese] Mars Mission + Ancient organism challenges cell evolution.
  

• 18 Jun 03 CA: Live Moderated Chat Event about Panspermia - to be held at 9PM EDT, 19 June 2003.
  
• 18 Jun 03 SpaceDaily: First Mars, Then Venus With Starsem + Launch Of Second US Mars Probe Postponed.
  
• 16 Jun 03 Science: The Tree of Life: View from a Twig.
  

• 8 Jun 03 MP: I was watching Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy the other day and noticed an interesting scene of the mythical planet Magrathea - note the erosion gullies on the hillside in the background of this picture. An analogue for the crater gullies on Mars?

• 5 Jan 02 Space.com: Ancient Mars: [artist's] Renderings Show Raging Floods, Vast Oceans
• 3 Dec 01 NASA AI: Doubts About ALH84001: The JSC Mars Meteorite Team Responds. The Buseck et al. paper appears to be little more than a poorly disguised advertisement... !
• 1 Dec 01 NASA: MARS WAS ONCE ALL WET.
• 22 Nov 01 Space.com: Researcher Says NASA Has Failed To Prove Case for Bacteria Fossils in Martian Meteorite. Arizona Uni: Evidence of Martian Life Dealt Critical Blow
• 27 Oct 01 SpaceDaily: Mars Without Liquid Water (White Mars hypothesis) + Odyssey In Mars Orbit.
• 24 Jul 01 Space.com: Life On Mars: Swimming Right Under the Surface?
• 25 Jan 2001 BBC: Meteorite clue to water on Mars... the [magma that formed] the Shergotty meteorite [must have had]  a lot of water, about 1.8 per cent, much more than has previously been believed... [It] erupted onto the Martian surface only 175 million years ago.
• 23 Jun 2000 Space.com: Scientists Report Water In Gullies On Mars  - incredible images of (what appear to be) newly formed water gullies. PDF of Science paper available. This announcement tends to confirm the findings reported on 25 May. Also Meteorite Indicates Mars Had Earth-Like Oceans, BBC report, Discovery.
• 8 Mar 2000 SpaceRef: NASA releases new high resolution maps of Mars. NASA site.
• 8 Mar 2000 Space.com: Nuclear-Powered Probes In the Plans for Mars - description of revamped Mars robotic missions.
• 7 Mar 2000 Space.com: Mars Exploration Needs a Human Direction by Louis Friedman
• 10 Feb 2000 SciAm: Mars or Bust. Special on manned Mars missions n the March 2000 edition.
• The July 1998 issue of Scientific American has a article "The Mars Pathfinder Mission" by Matthew P. Golombek NASA's Pathfinder spacecraft and the intrepid Sojourner robot confirmed that the Red Planet was once wetter and warmer. Equally important, they proved new space-exploration concepts for the future, including the scientific worth of low-cost unmanned probes to the planets.
• Mars Global Surveyor has successfully entered Mars orbit and is undergoing orbital corrections using innovative aerobraking techniques. You can see "live" images at NASA.
• Congratulations NASA on a successful return to Mars. The Mars Pathfinder landing site is now known as the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.
• 10 Sep 97 - check out the stereo images of Sojourner - the closest most of us will get to being on the surface of Mars the 3D effect is breathtaking! (Stereo viewer required - one came with the NASA publication "The Martian Landscape" published in 1978 after the Viking missions - some excellent stereo images of the Viking Lander sites included in that publication). Also see these great 3-D images

 

• Your ancestors may have been Martian extremophiles
• Mars Explorers to Benefit from Australian Research
• Viking Data Still Cause Stir About Mars Life