Mars

12 Mile High Martian Dust Devil Spotted By NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

April 5, 2012

A Martian dust devil roughly 12 miles (20 kilometers) high was captured winding its way along the Amazonis Planitia region of Northern Mars on March 14, 2012 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Despite its height, the plume is little more than three-quarters of a football field wide (70 yards, or 70 meters). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UA

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has now spotted a gigantic Martian dust devil roughly 20 kilometers (12 miles) high, churning through the Amazonis Planitia region of northern Mars. The HiRISE camera (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) captured the event on March 14, 2012. Scientists say that despite its height, the plume is just 70 meters (70 yards) wide. The image was taken during late northern spring, two weeks short of the northern summer solstice, a time when the ground in the northern mid-latitudes is being heated most strongly by the sun. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured imagery of a Red...

NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Photographs Martian Tornado

March 7, 2012

By Michael Muracco

A towering dust devil, casts a serpentine shadow over the Martian surface in this image acquired by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

An afternoon whirlwind on Mars lofts a twisting column of dust more than half a mile (800 meters) high in an image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. HiRISE captured the image on Feb. 16, 2012, while the orbiter passed over the Amazonis Planitia region of northern Mars. In the area observed, paths of many previous whirlwinds, or dust devils, are visible as streaks on the dusty surface. The active dust devil displays a delicate arc produced by a westerly breeze partway up its height. The dust plume is about 30 ...

NASA’s Mars Rover ‘Opportunity’ Continues Science Experiments As Martian Winter Approaches

February 1, 2012

By Michael Muracco

NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity is positioned on the north end of Cape York on the rim of Endeavour Crater with an approximate 15-degree northerly tilt for favorable solar energy production during the winter. Opportunity is conducting regular radio Doppler tracking measurements to support geo-dynamic investigations of the planet, in-situ (contact) science investigations of the target, “Amboy” including an extended Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic, and continued collection of the 13-filter, 360-degree “Greeley” panorama. Decreasing energy levels with the approach to the winter solstice has constrained Opportunity for conducting both a radio Doppler tracking pass and an afternoon Ultra High Frequency...

Cause Of Russia’s Phobos-Grunt Failure Emerges

January 31, 2012

By Michael Muracco

An official map of the Phobos-Grunt reentry released by Roskosmos by 20:00 Moscow Time on Jan. 15, 2012.

A plausible scenario for quick demise of Phobos-Grunt leaked from industry sources to the online forum of the Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine on January 17. The most likely culprit in the failure of the probe’s propulsion unit to ignite soon after it had entered orbit on November 9 was a programming error in the flight control system. Post-failure tests (apparently simulating in-flight conditions) revealed that the processor usage level in the main flight control computer onboard the spacecraft exceeded 90 percent of its capacity. It could easily lead to crashes and rebooting as more systems were being activated after the...

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity Begins Ninth Year On Mars

January 24, 2012

By Michael Muracco

This mosaic of images taken in mid-January 2012 shows the windswept vista northward (left) to northeastward (right) from the location where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is spending its fifth Martian winter, an outcrop informally named "Greeley Haven." Opportunity's Panoramic Camera (Pancam) took the component images as part of full-circle view being assembled from Greeley Haven. The view includes sand ripples and other wind-sculpted features in the foreground and mid-field. The northern edge of the the "Cape York" segment of the rim of Endeavour Crater forms an arc across the upper half of the scene. Opportunity landed on Mars on Jan. 25, 2004, Universal Time and EST (Jan. 24, PST). It has driven 21.4 miles (34.4 kilometers) as of its eighth anniversary on the planet. In late 2011, the rover team drove Opportunity up onto Greeley Haven to take advantage of the outcrop's sun-facing slope to boost output from the rover's dusty solar panels during the Martian winter. Research activities while at Greeley Haven include a radio-science investigation of the interior of Mars, inspections of mineral compositions and textures on the outcrop, and monitoring of wind-caused changes on scales from dunes to individual soil particles. The image combines exposures taken through Pancam filters centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). The view is presented in approximate true color. This "natural color" is the rover team's best estimate of what the scene would look like if humans were there and able to see it with their own eyes. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.

Eight years after landing on Mars for what was planned as a three-month mission, NASA’s enduring Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is working on what essentially became a new mission five months ago. Opportunity reached a multi-year driving destination, Endeavour Crater, in August 2011. At Endeavour’s rim, it has gained access to geological deposits from an earlier period of Martian history than anything it examined during its first seven years. It also has begun an investigation of the planet’s deep interior that takes advantage of staying in one place for the Martian winter. Opportunity landed in Eagle Crater on Mars...

Could NASA’s MSL Rover “Curiosity” Contaminate Mars?

December 2, 2011

By Michael Muracco

During the preparation for the launch of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity on Nov. 26, a step in the “planetary protection” procedure wasn’t adhered to. The procedure’s key purpose is to make sure organic material from Earth doesn’t get transferred accidentally to the Red Planet. As reported by Space.com’s Leonard David, MSL project developers decided not to send a set of drill bits — attached to the rover’s exterior, ready to be used by the robotic arm’s drill — through a final ultra-cleanliness step before launch. This deviation in protocol wasn’t communicated to NASA’s planetary protection officer Cassie...

NASA’s Mars Science Rover “Curiosity” Launches Toward The Red Planet

November 26, 2011

By Michael Muracco

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA began a historic voyage to Mars with the Nov. 26 launch of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which carries a car-sized rover named Curiosity. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket occurred at 10:02 a.m. EST. “We are very excited about sending the world’s most advanced scientific laboratory to Mars,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. “MSL will tell us critical things we need to know about Mars, and while it advances science, we’ll be working on the capabilities for a human mission to the Red Planet and to other destinations where we’ve never...

Russia’s Phobos-Grunt Spacecraft Finally Calls Home

November 23, 2011

By Michael Muracco

Engineers fought desperately on Wednesday to save Russia’s Phobos-Grunt spacecraft after the Martian probe sent “a first sign of life” more than two weeks after being stranded in orbit. After days of frustrating silence, contact with the probe was made on Tuesday at 2025 GMT at a European Space Agency ground station in Perth, Western Australia, the Paris-based ESA said. “ESA teams are working closely with engineers in Russia to determine how best to maintain communication with the spacecraft,” it said. A spokesman at European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, told AFP: “We sent an instruction to...

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Reveals Possible Flowing Water On Mars

August 4, 2011

By Michael Muracco

This series of images shows warm-season features that might be evidence of salty liquid water active on Mars today. Evidence for that possible interpretation is presented in a report by McEwen et al. in the Aug. 5, 2011, edition of Science.

“NASA’s Mars Exploration Program keeps bringing us closer to determining whether the Red Planet could harbor life in some form,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said, “and it reaffirms Mars as an important future destination for human exploration.” Dark, finger-like features appear and extend down some Martian slopes during late spring through summer, fade in winter, and return during the next spring. Repeated observations have tracked the seasonal changes in these recurring features on several steep slopes in the middle latitudes of Mars’ southern hemisphere. “The best explanation for these observations so far is the flow of briny water,” said...