MAVEN mission observes ups and downs of water escape from Mars
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 21, 2016 -
After investigating the upper atmosphere of the Red Planet for a full Martian year, NASA's MAVEN mission has determined that the escaping water does not always go gently into space. Sophisticated measurements made by a suite of instruments on the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft revealed the ups and downs of hydrogen escape - and therefore water loss.
The escape ...
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Going Out in a Blaze of Glory: Cassini's Grand Finale
Pasadena CA (JPL) Oct 21, 2016 -
With the conclusion of the international Cassini mission set for September 15, 2017, the spacecraft is poised to soon begin a thrilling two-part endgame. Cassini will enter the first part of this denouement on November 30, 2016, when the spacecraft begins a series of 20 passes just beyond the outer edge of the main rings. These weekly loops around Saturn are called the F ring orbits, and they se ...
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Microbial life on mars
New Rochelle NY (SPX) Oct 21, 2016 -
The existence of microbial life on Mars remains highly controversial, but recent evidence of water, complex organic molecules, and methane in the Martian environment, combined with findings from the 1976 Viking mission, have led to the conclusion that existing life on Mars is a possibility that must be considered, as presented in an article in Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann ...
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Did it crash or land? Search on for Europe's Mars craft
Paris (AFP) Oct 20, 2016 -
Europe's second attempt to reach Mars' surface appeared in peril Thursday as initial analysis suggested the latest lander may have plummeted to its demise.
While holding out faint hope, ground controllers said it seemed the paddling pool-sized lander's parachute may have been discarded too early, and its fall-breaking thrusters switched off too soon.
The lander, dubbed Schiaparelli, was ...
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A graveyard of broken dreams and landers
Paris (AFP) Oct 20, 2016 -
Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has become a veritable graveyard for landers and rovers despatched to its surface from neighbouring Earth.
Only the United States has successfully operated rovers on the Red Planet, four in all, and has lost only one stationary lander.
The former Soviet Union had chalked up repeated failures, while Russia's first attempt at a rover will be a joint mi ...
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