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Martian Landform Observations Fill Special Journal Issue
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 12, 2010 Martian landforms shaped by winds, water, lava flow, seasonal icing and other forces are analyzed in 21 journal reports based on data from a camera orbiting Mars. The research in a January special issue of Icarus testifies to the diversity of the planet being examined by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Examples of the findings include: + Valleys associated with light-toned layered deposits in several locations along the plateaus adjacent to the largest canyon system on Mars suggest low-temperature alteration of volcanic rocks by acidic water both before and after formation of the canyons. + The youngest flood-lava flow on Mars, found in the Elysium Planitia region and covering an area the size of Oregon, is the product of a single eruption and was put in place turbulently over a span of several weeks at most. + New details are observed in how seasonal vanishing of carbon-dioxide ice sheets in far-southern latitudes imprints the ground with fan-shaped and spider-shaped patterns via venting of carbon-dioxide gas from the undersurface of the ice. HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and was built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo.
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Goddard Scientist Breakthrough Given Ticket To MarsGreenbelt MD (SPX) Jan 06, 2010 The quest to discover whether Mars ever hosted an environment friendly to microscopic forms of life has just gotten a shot in the arm. "Mars was a lot different 3-1/2 billion years ago. It was more like Earth with liquid water," said Jennifer Eigenbrode, a scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Maybe life existed back then. Maybe it has persisted, which is possible ... read more |
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