Mars, our neighbor, once the dreams of science fiction writers and astronomers, one of which only wrote about the live that could have lived on Mars, and still might; while the other seeks to prove that there might actually have been life on that red planet eons ago.

Part of proving that idea is being able to show that there was water on the surface of Mars, water that would have been the foundation of life, just as it is here on earth.

To help find the facts behind whether there was, or even still is, water on Mars the European Space Agency (ESA) Mars Express space craft which houses the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionsphere Sounding (MARSIS) has detected sediment on the planet, the type of sediment that you would find on the floor of an ocean.

 It is within the boundaries of features tentatively identified in images from various spacecraft as shorelines that MARSIS detected sedimentary deposits reminiscent of an ocean floor.

“MARSIS penetrates deep into the ground, revealing the first 60 – 80 meters (197 – 262 ft) of the planet’s subsurface,” says Wlodek Kofman, leader of the radar team at the Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG). “Throughout all of this depth, we see the evidence for sedimentary material and ice.”

The sediments detected by MARSIS are areas of low radar reflectivity, which typically indicates low-density granular materials that have been eroded away by water and carried to their final resting place.

via GizMag

Scientists are interpreting these sedimentary deposits, which may still be ice-rich, as another indication that there once an ocean in this spot.

At this point scientists have proposed that there were two main oceans on the planet. One was aroun the 4 billion year ago range with the second at around 3 billion years ago.

For the scientist the MARSIS findings provide some of the best evidence yet that Mars did have large bodies of water on its surface and that the water played a major role in the planet’s geological history.

Scientists gets further evidence that Mars once had oceans is a post from: The Inquisitr

Could some form of microbial life possibly exist on Mars? According to the findings of an international team of researchers, it is highly unlikely that life in any form currently exists on Mars, as conditions on the planet have been far too hostile for too long.

The team of researchers spent three years going over soil data collected from NASA’s Phoenix Lander mission. Based on the data, researchers believe that Mars has been arid for as much as 600 million years, which greatly limits the probability that life exists on the planet.

“We found that even though there is an abundance of ice, Mars has been experiencing a super-drought that may well have lasted hundreds of millions of years,” study leader author Tom Pike, from Imperial College London, said in a statement. “We think the Mars we know today contrasts sharply with its earlier history, which had warmer and wetter periods and which may have been more suited to life.”

That doesn’t mean that scientists are ready to rule out life on Mars entirely, however unlikely it may be.

“Future NASA and ESA missions that are planned for Mars will have to dig deeper to search for evidence of life, which may still be taking refuge underground,” Pike said.

via

Mars too dry to support life, researchers say is a post from: The Inquisitr

Russia’s doomed Mars Probe, Phobos-Grunt is going to come crashing back into the Earth’s atmosphere in late January, and it is entirely possible that dozens of pieces may survive the reentry according to scientists.

Russian scientists are supposedly hard at work trying to figure out what is going to happen when the 14 tons satellite  comes crashing back to Earth.

Phobos-Grunt was launched in November but failed to escape Earth’s gravitational pull. Phobos -Grunt was supposed to land on Phobos, one of Mars Moon and bring back rock samples.

A big problem with the reentry is that a good portion of the Phobos-Grunt probe’s weight is highly toxic rocket fuel.  As of this point it is impossible to estimate what pieces of the probe will survive or where they will land.

According to NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office, most of the probe will not survive the heat of the reentry.  Due to the fact that most of the earth is covered by water or uninhabited land the likelyhood of damage is very remote. To date there have been no incidences of anyone being hurt by space junk.

The Phobos-Grunt probe is one of the costlier mistakes made by the Russian Space agency in recent times.  The cost of the mission was expected to exceed $250 million dollars.  By comparison, the United States’ Mars program is estimated ot cost around $8.5 billion.

The US had to shoot down a satellite before it reentered the atmosphere a few years ago due to the fact that is was carrying the same type of fuel that the Phobos-Grunt is carrying.  Like the Phobos-Grunt it was encased in a titanium tank which has the ability to survive reentry.

What do you think Russia and the US should do about the Phobos-Grunt?

Phobos-Grunt, Toxic Russian Mars Probe To Crash to Earth in January is a post from: The Inquisitr

One of man’s dreams has always to be able to go out into space and find a new home for us to screw-up live on and one of the places has always been Mars, even though it has been shown to be barren of any kind of life as we know it.

As much as we might like to think that one day we could see the human race expanded to colonies on Mars the common consensus among scientists is that we couldn’t survive on the planet without a whole lot of help. That opinion could be changing though is a new study of the planet suggests that Mars could be more life-sustaining than was originally thought.

The study was carried out by the Australian National University and working with the most up to date data that is now available they looked at the planet as a whole rather than on particular areas of the planet as previous scientists had done.

What they found was that there is 3% of Mars that could sustain life, the thing is that the areas they are talking about are underground.

The Martian atmosphere has a bad combination of low temperature and low pressure. When put together, it means that liquid water cannot exist in most places on the planet’s surface. However, Lineweaver believes that the additional pressure of soil could mean that water exists below ground. Additionally, warmth from the planet’s core could render some regions of the planet’s subsurface warm enough for bacteria and other micro-organisms.

via Geekosystem

If I was younger I’d sign up in a minute to be able to have a shot at living on Mars. Hell, now that I think of it I’d do it even now, even though my wife might not like the idea.

Turns out that a large part of Mars could support life is a post from: The Inquisitr

NASA officials on Saturday will launch what they are calling “a Mars scientist’s dream machine,” a new Mars Rover that is the largest-ever created.

According to the rover’s lead developer:

It’s not just big—it’s “the largest and most complex piece of equipment ever placed on the surface of another planet.”

The new device is 7-feet high and has been nicknamed Curiosity. 

The new space exploration tool features a jackhammer and laser arm which will be used to break through Mars’ various rocks as it probes Martian soil.

With a price tag of $2.5 million the craft is meant to be used in an attempt to finally determine if Mars was ever capable of sustaining life. The rover will work off recent findings that the planet contains methane.

Speaking to Space.com one expert noted:

“I like to say it’s extraterrestrial real estate appraisal.”

The Mars Science Laboratory as it’s officially known will land on Mars with the help of a specialized crane system that scientists hope can one day be used to land humans on the Red planet.

Do you think the $2.5 billion price tag for the Mars Rover is money well spent or should the U.S. Government be focusing on projects that are closer to home?

NASA Prepares To Launch Largest Mars Rover Ever Created is a post from: The Inquisitr

After 520 days, 6 international researches have completed their mission to Mars. The all-male crew emerged from their windowless module this morning after completing a simulation flight to the red planet. The men were pale, but otherwise healthy.

Team leader Alexey Sitev, said:

“The crew has completed the experiment. The mission is accomplished, the crew is in good health and is ready for new missions.”

The Associated Press reports that the 520 day mission to mars simulated the effects of confinement, stress and fatigue which go along with interplanetary travel. The researchers experienced the same conditions, minus the weightlessness, during the simulation that they would have experienced if they actually traveled to Mars.

One of the researchers, Romain Charles, said:

 ”We hope that we can help in designing the future missions to Mars.”

Psychologists say that the 520 day simulation may have actually been more mentally challenging than a real flight to Mars, since in the simulation, the researchers did not have the excitement of actually traveling through space.

The researchers spent 520 days in living compartments approximately the size of bus. The crew was able to communicate with their families, but to simulate space travel, the communication was delayed and occasionally disrupted. Their diet consisted of the same canned food which is used on the International Space Station.

The crew will now spend three days in quarantine before they are allowed to go out in public.

Stiev, who started the 520 mission to Mars simulation just weeks after getting married, said:

“I want to go somewhere to the warm sea as we have missed two summers here. My thoughts are drifting toward swimming at sea and basking on warm sand.”

Here is a report about the mock Mars mission.

The crew was reportedly paid $100,000 to complete the mission.

Would you be able to spend 520 days in captivity?

520-Day Mission to Mars Simulation Complete [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

It is probably inevitable that man will at some point travel to Mars, and chances are it will be a company behind the expedition rather than NASA but at least now we know that they’ll be able to do some cave spelunking thanks to a discover by NASA’s Mars Orbiter which is currently sending incredibly high-rez images back to earth.

One of the most recent and amazing discoveries made by NASA scientists who are pouring over those images is what looks very much like a large cave at the bottom of a large bowl shaped depression on the surface of Mars.

Earlier this year, the CTX camera team saw a crater containing a dark spot on the dusty slopes of the Pavonis Mons volcano. We took a closer look at this feature with HiRISE and found this unusual geologic feature.

The dark spot turned out to be a “skylight,” an opening to an underground cavern, that is 35 meters (115 feet) across. Caves often form in volcanic regions like this when lava flows solidify on top, but keep flowing underneath their solid crust. These, now underground, rivers of lava can then drain away leaving the tube they flowed through empty. We can use the shadow cast on the floor of the pit to calculate that it is about 20 meters (65 feet) deep.

via HiRISE

There are plans for the HiRISE team to acquire a second image of the location and then create a stereo pair which they hope will let them unravel this mystery a little further.

Mars Orbiter discovers that Mars has caves is a post from: The Inquisitr

NASA have been searching for water on Earth’s sister planet Mars for over a decade, and it appears they may have finally found what they’re looking for – and not in the way they expected, either.

Scientists previously believed that flowing liquid water on Mars was next to impossible, but the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured images of “dark, finger-like” features flowing down steep slopes on the surface of Mars.

The streaks begin to appear during spring on Mars, grow in intensity during the summer season, and then fade away entirely during winter. NASA has observed plenty of ice on Mars’ surface, but never before have they seen evidence of flowing water.

The photographs do not necessarily mean that there is flowing water on Mars, though. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter contains an instrument capable of detecting liquid water, but it has yet to find evidence of any.

Still, this is NASA’s most compelling evidence yet for water on Mars – and where there is water, scientists expect life to not be far away from it.

You can check out an additional image of the dark, finger-like streaks below.

NASA finds evidence of flowing water on Mars is a post from: The Inquisitr

NASA’s previous Mars Rover exceeded all expectations, living and discovering long past the time that they were expected to. The Opportunity rover landed on Mars in 2004 and kept exploring until 2011 until it finally quit sending back data to NASA.

So the hope is high that the next rover mission to Mars will be just as long and fruitful with the Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory, as the rover is being called, is equipped with 10 science instruments is expected to spend a minimum of two years exploring areas of Mars that have not been seen as of yet.

To get everyone a little excited NASA has put together an fantastic 11 minute animated video that follows the Curiosity from launch to exploration on Mars.

via io9

NASA’s awesome animation of the next Mars Rover in action is a post from: The Inquisitr

Who knew that the folks at NASA were so cool. I mean you gotta admit the idea of taking some of the really high resolution images of Mars’ surface, taken by NASA’s HiRISE orbiter, combine them with some really cool music to create a beautiful video.

via io9

NASA gets all cool with a music video of Martian sand dunes is a post from: The Inquisitr

Free Chocolate: How?

Mars Candy announced it’s handing out free chocolate every Friday between now and September as part of its “relief” program. You just have to sign up on RealChocolate.com to get a coupon for a choice of a Snickers, Twix, Dove, 3 Musketeers, or M&Ms.

If you can’t get through today, don’t worry: You have every Friday until September 25 to try. The giveaway opens at 9 a.m. ET each week.

The free chocolate coupons take about five weeks to be mailed to you. Good luck!

Reminder: It’s Free Chocolate Day. Want Yours? is a post from: The Inquisitr

It is often said that we know less about our oceans that we do about the Moon but considering all the technology at our disposal this could very change in the years to come. To this end the Ocean Research & Conservation Association (ORCA) has recently launched a new site that will let you spy in on one small section of the deep sea – 3,000 feet down.

The Eye-in-the-ocean is a 502-pound video camera that is a part of an underwater observatory operating in the deep ocean. The camera is one of many instruments powered by the Monterey Accelerated Research Station (MARS) that began operating last November. The giant metal pyramids shaped platform is connected to the shore by 32 miles of cables that pretty well serves as an electrical outlet for all the instruments.

Unfortunately they haven’t made the video viewer embeddable so you will have to visit the ORCA site to be able to spy in on the happenings 3,000 feet down. Just don’t expect any more exciting that you might see watching paint dry – oh wait .. what was that that just floated by??

[via Discovery Online]

Your personal deep sea webcam is a post from: The Inquisitr

NASA scientists have reported that snow is falling in the atmosphere above Mars.

Snow was first spotted on the red planet last year, although the current observation is far more extensive,.

The Marsian snow does not reach the surface of the planet, and vaporizes in the atmosphere.

Until recently, Mars was believed to be waterless. The Guardian has more.

Snow on Mars? More likely than you think is a post from: The Inquisitr

Scott Maxwell of JPL and the driver of the Mars Rovers presented at Gnomedex this afternoon, and managed what I’m told is only the second standing ovation in the history of Gnomedex.

I haven’t checked the video for quality, but put simply space has a spokesman, and let loose on kiddies and adults alike, Maxwell could inspire an entire new generation to dream of space.

Space has a spokesman: Scott Maxwell is a post from: The Inquisitr